Rare Civil War flag to be sold at Columbus auction

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A long-lost Confederate flag, captured at the Battle of Gettysburg and among the rarest Civil War artifacts, will be a top lot for bidders at an Ohio auction house this month.

Carried by the 11th Virginia Infantry during Pickett's Charge, a failed Confederacy assault in 1863 on the Gettysburg battle's third day, the flag is one in a series of items open to bidders on April 26 at Fleischer's Auctions in Columbus. The charge, named after Gen. George Pickett, who steered more than 12,500 soldiers that day, resulted in mass casualties and ultimately led to the Confederacy's defeat.

"The Battle of Gettysburg was what most historians consider to be the turning point of the Civil War," auction president Adam Fleischer said. "After the battle was lost by the Confederate Army, it really represented a decline in their momentum. It was the Confederacy's last attempt to invade the North. Pickett's Charge was the focal point of the battle."

While all Confederate battle flags are rare, this one is significant because it's the only unaccounted-for flag that was captured from a regiment in Pickett's division, Fleischer said. Other such flags are accounted for and reside in museums or institutions, which means this flag is the only one left that's privately owned.

Several Virginia color bearers who carried the flag were wounded or killed before it was captured by Cyren B. Lawton, a Union lieutenant from the 16th Vermont Infantry who died shortly after in hand-to-hand combat. The flag was preserved by fellow Vermont officer Henry F. Dix, who quietly passed down the artifact through generations of his family.

Still, the flag's whereabouts were generally unknown for more than 150 years, Fleischer said. Dix's family held onto the artifact until about the 1940s or '50s, when it was given to a family friend who also passed it down. The flag didn't resurface until the owner brought it to a Georgia collector show in 2021, and the discovery was announced to the collecting community.

The artifact's current owner turned to Fleischer's, which also sold the sword of Civil War Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman last May, to list the flag for bidding. The auction house, one of the nation's leading purveyors of early American antiques and artifacts, estimates the flag could sell for $150,000 to $300,000, or more.

Fleischer recognizes the flag's contentious symbolism, as a long-standing reminder of the nation's racist history that also now holds dueling associations with white supremacy and southern heritage. However, the auction president noted that the item remains as a historical artifact, not a monument.

"I know that as a symbol, it can be divisive but I would remind people, who I think are upset by its mere existence, that a Union officer lost his life to capture it," Fleischer said. "When learning about the history of the flag, I think it's important to meditate, not just on what it represents as a symbol, but also the actual history of the artifact."