The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-13

George Gs Round UaNes Ahtefeshns g
 History Of CaIifoFnia-COnnectic
 Flag.
 At the annual reunion of the First Connecticut Heavy artillery held in Hartford June 10 President E. D. Riley read the following interesting letter from George c. Round, of Manassas, Va, a former member of the regiment: President E. D. Riley, Regimental As
 sociatiOn of First Connecticut Heavy
 Artillery:
 Comrades:-Some time since l was requested by the San Francisco com mittee of arrangements for the Ma tional Grand Army encampment to write for the press an account of the California Connecticut Flag and the Boys. who followed it." Pursuant to this request I began inquiTing regard ing this most interesting incident of our history. No reference to it could be found ill Major Hatfield's history or ill Chaplain Walkers book. Three eXten- ded searches were made among the rec ords of the war department at Wash ington with no result. The History of Battle Flag Day did give brief statement regarding it, but as it was incorrect in at least one particular, and was written many years after the close of the war, some positive contempOra- neous proof seemed desirable and ne- cessary.
 1 therefore began a correspondence which proved very extensive, including up to this time at least one hundred letters from the adjutant general of the state. from Colonel Abbot. Major Hat field and over thirty other comrades. Among the officers and soldiers of our regiment an astonishing difference of opinion was found to exist as to some details connected with the flag and its history, and one prominent officer eX- pressed the opinion that the whole sto- ry was a myth. Major Osborne's ob- servation in one of his letters that memory is a fading dream" is aptly illustrated by the correspondence re- ferred to. But believing that I now have sufficient contemporaneous proof to establish the main facts connected with this incident, I beg leave to ask all my comrades to consider il careful ly and to write me at once if they can make any corrections and additions thereto. As soon as the history is as complete as possible desire to file with the adjutant-general of the state the full results of my investigation, which I hope will meet with the approval of all my comrades. Special thanks are due to Historian John c. Taylor and to Lieutenant O. w. Raymond of Hart ford for assistance rendered in this in- vest;gation.
 STATEMENT OF FACTS.
 The Alta Californian for Wednesday, June 19, 1S61,, published in San Fran cisco, contained the following editorial: California to Connecticut" "A large and beautiful silk flag, to be sent by the next steamer to the Con- | necticut First regiment, who have en- listed for three years, was on exhibition yesterday in the wiiidow of Fisher &. Co.'S hat store on Montgomery street. It was made by order of Connecticut men, resident in this city. Suspended from the staff are stripes of silk, one blue and the other red, bearing the | words California" "Connecticut." It attracted much attention from the | passers."
 Local items in the same paper later prove conclusively that the flag was sent by the steamer Sonora on June 21. probably by one of the passengers. It adds: This will be another testimony to our brothers in the east that in their patriotic struggle the sympathies of California are with them"
 The New Haven Journal and Courier for July 20, 1861, publishes the follow ing:
 Prom California to Connecticut"
 ''The adjutant-general received yes terday a beautiful silken flag anG streamers from California. The streamers are red, white and blue and inscribed in golden letters California, > ! "Connecticut." The silk of which this flag is made is of the heaviest and cost Hest description. A heavy silver plate 1 to be affixed to the staff has an inscrip- tion which tells the story: Presented l to the first regiment of Connecticut enlisted for three years by the Con- necticut men of California, June IS, 1S61.'' Of course the splendid present goes to the Fourth regiment, Colonel Woodhouse."
 It is reasonable to suppose that the date June 1S 1861, was the day when the flag was complete and put on exhi- bition in San Francisco, as described , in the Alta Californian for June 19. The diary of Comrade Fred W. WaIdron, of Company F. now resident in New Haven, under date of Friday, July 26, at Hagerstown, Md, after a description of the weather and other details says: "Our brass band and coIors from California arrived to-day, and all the regiment that could be spared went down town to receive them"
 The Hartford Courant of August 1 publishes extracts from a letter dated at Hagerstown, July 27, as follows: Our band arrived about seven o'clock and was escorted through the principal streets. They then marched to camp with the flag Che refers to the magnificent present from Connecticut men of California to the first three years regiment in Connecticut) There is no use in my telling you how hand some it is, for you have seen it. and a v,,a,7 would pnt 6obf ,-,,+il lao xx-o