NJ Civil War Flags on Display
NJ State Museum Main Building, 205 West State Street, Trenton
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What: New Jersey Civil War Flag Exhibition Unveiling and Flag Lecture
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Where: NJ State Museum, Main Building, 1st Fl, 205 West State St, Trenton, NJ
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When: Friday, June 28th 2019 at 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
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Cost: FREE, no reservation required
[TRENTON, NJ - June 22, 2019] - New Jersey contributed over 80,000 men to the Civil War and the New
Jersey State Museum has over 100 flags carried by New Jersey's troops in the war in its collection.
Five of these historic flags will be unveiled in their specially designed exhibit cases on Friday, June 28th
and some are of the most distinctive in the entire collection. These flags have not been on display for
several years and include:
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1st New Jersey Regimental Colors
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12th New Jersey Infantry National Colors
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25th New Jersey Infantry National Colors
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38th New Jersey Infantry Regimental Colors
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C.S.A. 1st National Colors
Each flag has it's own amazing story to tell:
The 1st New Jersey flag dates to 1863 and was first carried into action
during the Chancellorsville campaign, where it was pierced by a dozen
or more bullets. This flag was probably also carried at Gettysburg later
that year.
The 12th New Jersey flag was also carried at Gettysburg, where it had to
be rolled up on the ground in order to escape being torn to pieces during
the great Confederate artillery bombardment that preceded Pickett's
Charge.
The most interesting flag of this group is a Confederate first National
banner from 1861. New Jersey troops captured over twenty Confederate
flags during the war, most of which have been returned to the Southern
states. This is one of a few that we still have in our collection. It has a
unique design and probably belonged to the 21st Virginia Infantry, being
one of several Confederate flags that were captured by the 7th New
Jersey Infantry at the battle of Chancellorsville in 1863.
Organized by the New Jersey State Museum and the New Jersey Civil
War Heritage Association, the unveiling event will feature an educational
gallery walk by flag historian Dr. David Martin, author of the award
winning New Jersey at Gettysburg Guidebook. His most recent book,
"Stars over New Jersey" (written with John Kuhl) contains biographies of
all New Jersey's generals and admirals of the Civil War era.
Dr. Martin is currently preparing a detailed history of the State's Civil War flags for publication with the
assistance of New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association. The exhibit was prepared by Nicholas Ciotola,
Curator of Cultural History at the New Jersey State Museum,
These flags will be shown until late December, when a new group of other civil war flags will
be put on display.
For more information and details about these specific flags
contact David G. Martin at dmartin@peddie.org
