The National tribune., 1909-06-17
TIM REaGaN's FLAG.
a Curiosity Sure, but Breathing Pas
trioiism Clear Thru.

During the Seven Days battle in Vir-
gnia in the Summer of 1862 number
of Union soldiers were taken prisoners
by the enemy. and confined in the sew
eral rebel prisons. Among them was
one Timothy J. Reagan. a patriotic
Irishman. who emigrated from his own
country just before the outbreak of the
rebellion and came to the United States
to enjoy as he said, the blessings of
civil and religious liberty which were
denied to him in the land of his birth.
When Lincoln called for men to de-
fend the Union it was not strange that
the call was heard by Reagan. who
waited only to settle his affairs. and
then enlisted on the 11th of June, 1861,
IA Co. z, 9Th Mass. from which organ
i.s ion ne was honoraIiy discharged by
- piration of servicn June 81, 1864.
It fell to Tins lot 10 be assigned to
abbey Prison. where re and others
mained stanch anti / ''l in the face or
suffering and starya The Fourth
of July in 1862 was .apidIy approach
ing. and the Union prisoners grieved
that Independence Day might come and
go and they be deprived of the sight of
the dear old Flag for which they fought.
The thought was so bitter to them that
they consulted togeter, and exercised
their ingenuity for n possible way out
of the difficulty. They finally decided
upon a plan. Tim had new white
WOODEN shirt. for which he had paid an
exorbitant sum a little while before.
Others had blue shirts. These they cut
up for the stars and the blue ground
But what were they to do for the
stripes? They took up a collection.
each man contributing all he had. and
with this they succeeded in getting
somebody on the outside to buy strips
of red and white wooden. which they
were ostensibly to make into shirts
They succeeded, and with their needles
and thread they sewed the stripes to.
gether. inserted the Union in the corner.
and, finally. on the Sd day Of July in
1862, had completed an American Fla
with the strangest history known
mankind. On the morning of IT,
Fourth. while some watched the guard.
who was at the extreme end of the
great hall ana could not see beyond
and up into the dome of the building
others climbed up into the rafters UNI
der the roof and there spread the
American Flag. and under it they sat
during the day, singing patriotic songs
at the top of their voices. and We're
many times ordered by the guard to
stop singing their - Yankee songs.
at sundown they removed the Flag, and
then came the question what DISPOSE
ton to make of t. There Tins native
shrewdness came into play. He sug-
gested that they zip the Flag into strips,
and that each man wrap a strip of it
around his body on the inside of his
shirt. This they did. They had been
unknown to each other up to their en-
trance into the prison. and when re-
moved from there they would never
see each other again in all probability
Tim, with a foresight worthy of the sub
ject, wrote in his memorandum book
the full address of every, man who had
a piece of the Flag. A little later some
were transferred to other prisons and
some exchanged or paYoled. They scat
tered, and the same men never met
again.
Soon after the war Tim began his
search for the Flag. He wrote to the
addresses. Some he found readily and
secured the pieces. Others had moved;
but he was insistent, and never gave up
the search. and. finally. after many
years, he secured the last piece of that
historic Flag. He then sewed the pieces
together with his own hands, and kept
the Flag until his death several years
ago. wnen he bequeathed it to Thomas1
C. Stevenson PoSt, &c, G. A. r., of RoS-
bury, Mass, of which Post he had been
Sentinel for over 20 years
The Post, while lamenting Tins
death, was rejoiced to secure the Flag.
for 1t realized it's historic value, and re-
garded 1t as the greatest and grandest
of patriotism ever known 1t
has hung in the Post hall ever since in
a glass case. protected from the raw
ages due to exposure. II has been re-
moved frequently to serve as an exam
pie to the present generation of the
great love borne by men of foreign birth
for the Flag that stood for liberty and
E. Gilman.