Hello,

There is a large Confederate First National flag held in the Iowa State collections with the word "Independence" on the white bar. A post-war newspaper account states that this flag was captured in Tennessee in 1864 by the 8th Iowa Cavalry.

I cannot find any accounts for this capture in the Official Records and would appreciate any help.

Greg Biggs

There is monograph written in 1918 by Joseph Rich about the captured Confederate flags at the State Historical Society of Iowa, but nothing about this flag (the book is digitized online http://tinyurl.com/l53oyj). Books by Byers and Ingersoll about Iowa and the CW discuss the 8th Cav, but I could find nothing about a flag. Where is this article you're referring to?