Karen, I think there is a big difference between a flag destroyed by a terrorist act you describe, and it's deliberate destruction in order to arouse emotion by individuals in a protest.
I believe that you have a perfect right to violently destroy the American flag as a protest; I believe I have a perfect right to violently protect said flag. These men did.
geocities.com
excerpt:
Handling the Flag
The position of guidon bearer or color bearer is on which is not as well understood today as it was during the War. If the position was anything at all, it was at least these three things: a position of necessity, a position of honor, and a position of extreme risk in battle.
The guidon bearer’s task was one of necessity, for when any action was to be relayed or noted on the battlefield, men of different companies clothed alike were hard to distinguish one from another, particularly as their companies mixed together or closed ranks with one another, being side-by-side. A color bearer was one who would be in the forefront of the action, leading the way for the other soldiers in his company so that they would move in the proper direction. Although it would seem unnecessary to have someone "blaze a trail", so to speak, yet in the confusion and excitement of battle when the din of gunfire and the shouts of men on both sides can be positively disorienting, having a marker to look to for direction is necessary. The color bearer provides a rallying point for the rank and file.
Too, in order for a commander over multiple companies to be able to ascertain company position and command hierarchy with a single look, the presence of company flags makes that possible. Orders may be given to communicate to the company with some high degree of confidence that the orders will be delivered to the proper company when the company has a color bearer responsible to keep the colors prominent and flying.
As a position of honor, there is none greater. The color bearer was not a man who carried the flag because he was generally unable to contribute much else, but rather he was a man who had most likely demonstrated great courage, a man who could be depended upon to stand steadfast in the face of fire for the sake of his fellows. Emblematic of all of the history and glory of the company was the flag borne by the color bearer, a visible testimony of the company’s legacy and pride. There are higher ranks, but no greater honor and privilege than to be chosen as the color bearer.
For all these reasons, the color bearer knew that his position was vital. A color bearer needed to be prepared to die rather than lose the colors to the enemy because that man knew how important his role was. The color bearer was also the man in greatest risk of injury or death within a company.
As a position of necessity, the enemy needed to eliminate the man who carried the flag in the hope of creating confusion not only for the company, but also for the command structure. Killing the color bearer would make it more difficult for the company to know where they should be at any given time, adding to the confusion of the battle. To cause the colors to fall once and for all, or to seize the colors from the enemy, was to eliminate the rallying point for the company. The color bearer was the target for all who understood his importance.
As a position of honor, the risk was great for when a color bearer was slain, the men of the company saw a man of uncommon courage who was lost to them all. To lose the color bearer was tantamount to losing the best of their numbers. To lose the company colors was likewise a grave loss, for not only did it accomplish all that has been described, but their pride and honor were wrapped within the folds of their flag. Taking an enemy’s flag was prestigious, a matter of counting coup, and losing a company’s colors was a great loss indeed.
That is why proper handling of the flags used by a company is so very important in re-enacting. Casual handling of the flag would have been unthinkable in the days of the War, and should be equally unthinkable now. Since so few people have ever had occasion to handle a flag and because it is a highly visible aspect of what we do as re-enactors, particularly with so much unwarranted controversy today concerning the Confederate battle flag, it is fitting and proper to discuss flag etiquette.
awod.com
Excerpt:
The Color Bearer Tradition
The War Between the States was the heyday of American battleflags and their bearers. With unusual historical accuracy, many stirring battle paintings show the colors and their intrepid bearers in the forefront of the fray or as a rallying point in a retreat. The colors of a Civil War regiment embodied its honor, and the men chosen to bear them made up an elite. Tall, muscular men were preferred, because holding aloft a large, heavy banner, to keep it visible through battle smoke and at a distance, demanded physical strength. Courage was likewise required to carry a flag into combat, as the colors "drew lead like a magnet." South Carolina's Palmetto Sharpshooters, for example, lost 10 out of 11 of its bearers and color guard at the Battle of Seven Pines, the flag passing through four hands without touching the ground.
Capitalizing on their battlefield visibiliy and the physical demands and extra hazards of their duty, more than a few color bearers would emerge as heroes in their nation's bloodiest war, though not all would survive the experience. On the Confederate side, surely one of the most improbable of these heroic color bearers was Private Charles Whilden of the 1st (Gregg's) South Carolina Infantry, an aging, physically impaired intellectual and dreamer, who would impulsively take up his regiment's battleflag and bear it fearlessly through one of the war's fiercest fights
A Confederate description of destroying their flag:
colquitt.k12.ga.us
A Union description:
bpmlegal.com
Color Bearer of the 76th Regiment
Cherry Valley Gazette, Nov. 12, 1862
Excerpt
No line of very devils could have stood that charge of blazing steel. The enemy reeled, faltered, fell back in confusion to the woods. In a moment the colors of the 76th were planted on that wall. The bearer is yet unscathed. He holds them firmly, though a thousand bullets split the air about him at ever breath. Brave boy, immortal youth, full ready to die, God keep thee. - The sun was set, its last rays lingered on his flushed brow. On the wall, the glory crowned flag above him; fair mark for dastard foe. The great soul flashing from his eye, in that hour should have withered the arm lifted to strike him. His work was done, his niche finished high up in the temple of fame.
The arm of a concealed foe was lifted. - The fatal ball came hissing from the rifle, and the brave spirit of Charles E. Stamp went shining into the presence of God. Full on the brow, crushing into the brain, he fell amid fire and smoke, bringing for the first time since he took the colors to the earth. They were prostrate but a moment. Lieut. Goddard caught them as they fell. The Lieutenant looked down upon the face of the dead, and with an eye of more than fire and a voice that will not be forgotten by those that heard it, he called out: "Who is the next brave who dare take these colors?" "I am the boy," was heard above the din of battle, and Earl Evens, another light-haired, blue-eyed boy, grasped the flag and waved the colors defiantly in the face of the enemy.
For a moment, the battle raged with intenser fury. The fate of the day was being decided. No mortal could divine on which side victory would turn. The time that tries men’s souls had come. The material out of which Northern hearts is made was being tried by fire. It stood the heat.
Charles E. Stamp died on the 14th of September 1862. He was buried on the top of South Mountain, an oak slab marks the spot where he lies. A truer, braver soldier does not live. Earl Evens is now the color bearer of the 76th, through the terrible battle of Antietam he carried them with distinguished bravery and honor. May heaven shield him in the storms of death, through which he may soon be called to pass.
H.S. RICHARDSON. Chaplain, 76th N. Vols.
(Note: Evens, from Dryden, survived the war, eventually becoming a first lieutenant.)
- provided by Richard Palmer
medalofhonor.com
Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients from the Battle of Fredericksburg
ADAMS, JOHN G. B.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, Company I, 19th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Fredericksburg, Va., 13 December 1862. Entered service at: ------. Birth: Groveland, Mass. Date of issue: 16 December 1896. Citation: Seized the 2 colors from the hands of a corporal and a lieutenant as they fell mortally wounded, and with a color in each hand advanced across the field to a point where the regiment was reformed on those colors.
CART, JACOB
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 7th Pennsylvania Reserve Corps. Place and date: At Fredericksburg, Va., 13 December, 1862. Entered service at:------. Birth: Carlisle, Pa. Date of issue: 25 November 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 19th Georgia Infantry (C.S.A.), wresting it from the hands of the color bearer.
COPP, CHARLES D.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, Company C, 9th New Hampshire Infantry. Place and date: At Fredericksburg, Va., 13 December 1862. Entered service at: Nashua, N.H. Born: 12 April 1840, Warren County, N.H. Date of issue: 28 June 1890. Citation: Seized the regimental colors, the color bearer having been shot down, and, waving them, rallied the regiment under a heavy fire.
FRICK, JACOB G.
Rank and organization: Colonel, 129th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Fredericksburg, Va., 13 December 1862. At Chancellorsville, Va., 3 May 1863. Entered service at. Pottsville, Pa. Born: 23 January 1838, Northumberland, Pa. Date of issue: 7 June 1892. Citation: At Fredericksburg seized the colors and led the command through a terrible fire of cannon and musketry. In a hand-to-hand fight at Chancellorsville, recaptured the colors of his regiment.
KEENE, JOSEPH.
Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 26th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Fredericksburg, Va., 13 December 1862. Entered service at: ------. Birth: England. Date of issue: 2 December 1892. Citation: Voluntarily seized the colors after several color bearers had been shot down and led the regiment in the charge.
PETTY, PHILIP.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company A, 136th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Fredericksburg, Va., 13 December 1862. Entered service at: Tioga County, Pa. Born: 7 May 1840, England. Date of issue: 21 August 1893. Citation: Took up the colors as they fell out of the hands of the wounded color bearer and carried them forward in the charge.
PLUNKETT, THOMAS.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company E, 21st Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date. At Fredericksburg, Va., 11 December 1862. Entered service at: West Boylston, Mass. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 30 March 1866. Citation: Seized the colors of his regiment, the color bearer having been shot down, and bore them to the front where both his arms were carried off by a shell.
SCHUBERT, MARTIN
Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 26th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Fredericksburg, Va., 13 December 1862. Entered service at: ------. Birth: Germany. Date of issue. 1 September 1893. Citation. Relinquished a furlough granted for wounds, entered the battle, where he picked up the colors after several bearers had been killed or wounded, and carried them until himself again wounded.
WOODWARD, EVAN M.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant and Adjutant, 2d Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry. Place and date: At Fredericksburg, Va., 13 December 1862. Entered service at: ------. Born: 11 March 1838, Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 14 December 1894. Citation: Advanced between the lines, demanded and received the surrender of the 19th Georgia Infantry and captured their battle flag.
Web site MoH winners 100th Pa.Volunteers:
100thpenn.com
mansfieldnewsjournal.com
George Thayer, a VFW Post 3494 color bearer, listens to the Veterans Day ceremonies in Mansfield on Thursday morning. He is a Vietnam veteran and retired from the U.S. Army with 24 years of service.
iwojima.com |
