Los Angeles herald., 1908-02-23
STORY OF
FLAG TOLD
ARTICLE BRINGS UNLOCKED FOR
RESPONSE
TOWEL USED AS A SIGNAL OF
TRUCE
One of the Men Who Was with Col.
n. M. Sims at Tmie of Surrender
to General Sheridan Tells
of Historical Event

Recently Maj Ben C. Truman had
tba article thar follows in the Con-
federate veteran, which brought out an
interesting "Reminiscences in a letter
fron, former Confederate in Balt1-
more Thomas L. Winder of Los An
yeles The article in the Veteran is as
follows and is as historical as 1t IS
breezy and entertaining:
Among the scarcest and most pree-
ious relics of the Confederacy are l az
onlv four coins manufactured by us
government, In 1866 l was SHOWN one
of these at his home in Galveston by
Gen, Nichols. 1t was silver half dol
lar. and a very pretty one. lie
liberty side was much the same as
that of the United States; but the re-
verse side contained Y stalk OF cotton,
= stollx Of sugar cane seven bars, and
r think eleven stars, perhaps more, anu
fhe words. 1.-THE Confederate states OF
America Gen. Nichols oHered IL 70
me as a present; but, as L was ms
guest. I declined. to accept IT,. since
then oscar Taylor of MerrlWetner
county, Ca. an owner s OF one N9ess sr.
four coins, sold it for Sl5OO. Messrs'
Roberts and Collins Of Cartersville' ca.'
wore the owners of one of these COINS
and in 1880 valued it at $200O. Inc
fourth was for long time owned py
Frank Welch of Mckinney, rex wno
has refused $500 for 1t. These Iour
balfdollar coins had just gone through
tha en;shine process when the mint IN
New orleans was taken possession Oh
Inv United States troops. and they We're
fhe only ones made by the ConIeoeracS
from any metal.
Valuable Relics
prohablv the most valuable of all the
,alics of the Confederacy is the ollglnd,
of the Constitution for the ProVlsioiiai
Covernment of tbs Confederate StaeeS
81 America" for a long time the prop
ertv of Mrs. W. f. de Fontalne, pu.
who. l believe sold 1t to the b sel
,',,,sauu for $40, O0O--at least she ofteren
= 10 that institution for that amount.
1Iou, Mrs. de Fontaine came into pos
<.assion Of so valuable a document %
fhe most precious heirloom OF the I'm
federacv is romantic and interesting.
A. the time of the collapse her nus,
hand. Felix Gregory de Fontalle, d W.
brown Journalist and war correspoii-
dant was the editor and publisher OF
s.sner in Columbia, S. G. AFTER tile
aas-ic,,ation of Richmond trainloao OIL
,,oSes containing public documents, etc,
was shipped to Columbia. De foIitai, y
needed paper on which TO prlhl III! NE
journal but where to get 1t "a T~o ~
III, banpened to be in Columbia at lne
4,,,,e and to him the journallst eH,
I..i,,od the situation. go down, saiu
ir1anbolm. 10 the depot and help YOUR
self to some of the Confederate po1 1,s
in which something may TURN up ne Sns,'
will answer your purpose; the
taine acted upon this, ana one VI e.le
hoxes contained the Confederate corr
*it,tion Mrs. de Fontaine lald Claim
~ this relic, and held sacred poss So
..s,,n Of n nm to 1882, at which time she
offered 1t for sale.
Shown Original Flag
D,r;ng the exposition at Ne" Or
1aans in 1SS4-S5 l was shown the oris
inal Confederate flag, which Wq'
hibited by some women IN the ~
iana section, and which was g4tfu l5,
with great sacredness ana care. II We
,1esigned by Col Walton OF Loulsialie
and presented by him to Gen. p.S G ~
gard who in turn presented II 10 1eil
Iosanh r. Johnston, who wrote as loi
1on,s concerning it: "At the DattIe VI
Manassas the stars and pars pIoNeu,
failure because they were SO nluch my
the Union colors. Indeed, both aihiles
mistook their enemies for trlenns, anu
vice versa After the battle l resolVe ~
10 discard the flag and called TOT eaicn
reyiment to procure its state colors
mis- thew were not able to do, ana
ASKED the army for new designs
Among those presented one by Gen
Beauregard was chosen, and l altered
this only in making it square lnsteac
of oblong. This flag was afterwaro
adonfad bv the Confederate armies
generally. 1t was a Greek. cross Of
blue on a red field, with white stars
on the blue bars" This origlna: mas
was carried in a number of battles
and then returned to Col. Walton al
most as good as new.
Captured in 1861
The first Confederate flag captured
was that taken down by Col. ELLSWORTH
at the Marshall house at Alexandra
on the oath of May, 1861. Ellsworth
was colonel of the New York Fir
Zouaves; and as he moved up a stree
at the head of his command he saw
a large new secession banner way1ni
from the Marshall house, the leadinI
inn of Alexandria. Ellsworth at one
entered the hotel and meeting mai
in the hall inquired "Who put tina
/. ! !.