Evening star., 1902-02-11
A BIT OF TOWEL.
It is Treasured as a Remembrance of
Fort Lee, Vicksburg.

From the Detroit Free Press.
piece Of the flag that surrendered Fort
Lee, Nicksburg. July 4, 1862. This inscrip-
ton, written upon a piece OF damask
towel, which was hung out from Fort Lee
at Nicksburg, a flag OF truce, is now
destined to settle the name Of fort which
has since been In doubt and which for the
want of real name 1t bore has been
marked upon certain plats of the Vicksburg
battlefield merely as Square Fort" Some
time ago Gen. Rigby of Iowa, who is chair
man Of a committee that has charge Of
erecting monuments on the scene Of the
celebrated siege, showing the defenses
where the various regiments were stationed
and the like, sent platS Of the field to Gen.
McGinniss of Indianapolis and asked that
points of interest, with which his brigade
were familiar, should be marked on the
maps.
as the Square Fort" marked on the plats
but he did recall that there was fort in
that place. He had recourse to w. c.
Phipps, who is now a bailif in the superior
court and Phipps recognized the location as
that occupied by Fort Lee. In proof Of this
fact he produced the damask towel brown
with age, upon which was written the IN
scription on the day Of the surrender, and
in connection with 1t told the following
story of the incident:
Il was a member of Company A, nth
Indiana Volunteers, durikS the siege of
Nicksburg, and our company was almost
Immediately In front Of Fort Lee, one Of
the strongest forts that guarded the city. /
often did picket duty, and on such occa-
sions our picket lines and those of the
enemy were so close together that we talked
back and forth with each other. There was
an understanding between US that there
should be no firing at night, and we got SO
chummy with the 'Johnnies' that we dis
cussed the war. the probabilities of the city
holding out and other things as famiharly
as though we had been messmates instead
Of enemies who might fire upon each other
the next day. One night, remember, there
was a contention between us and the rebels
as to how far out our picket lines extended,
for when the rebel pickets came out they
declared that we were on their lines and
we, Of course, contended that We We're not.
Finally the officers Of the day on each
side were called to settle the dispute, and
and down side by side all night. On the
morning of the surrender the damask towel
was hung out from Fort Lee, and soon
after 1t appeared A. ]. Williams, a member
of our mess, ran to the fort and took 1t
down. When he returned with 1t We cut
the towel, which was about three and one
half feet long, into pieces six by twelve
inches, and they were distributed among Us
far as they would go. / wrote the in
scription on my piece Of the flag Of truce
and sent 1t home TO my mother, and 1t has
been kept as a souvenir of the surrender
ever since. There was no fort known
merely as Square Fort and the name on
the plats of Gen. Rigby results possibly
from the figure Of the fort, which was
square, and has been given to 1t because
Of the want of better one. / am positive,
though, that Fort Lee occupied the site in
dicated on the plats and that 1t was from
this fort that the damask towel was hung
out as flag of truce"