Fighting and Dying for the Colors at Gettysburg

Colonel Robert C. Allen, commander of the 28th, picked up the standard only to be knocked down with a mortal head wound near the fence. Somehow he handed off the flag to Lieutenant John A.J. Lee of Company C. After receiving the colors from the dying Colonel Allen, the 24-year-old farmer from sparsely populated Craig County, Va., earned the distinction of being the first man from Pickett’s Division to enter the Union lines. As the 28th Virginia forged ahead of the other regiments in Garnett’s Brigade, the Union defenders in their front pulled back and re-formed a short distance to the rear. Lieutenant Lee sprang over the low stone fence and struggled forward until a shell knocked the flag out of his hands.

After he fell with a slight wound, the dauntless officer retrieved the broken standard and attempted to break his sword to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. A Union soldier described as a “big burly German” commanded Lee to surrender, but a nearby comrade stabbed the would-be captor with his bayonet. Another Yankee soon stood over the Confederate officer. Lee must have been shocked by the bedraggled appearance of the man who placed the tip of his bayonet just inches from his chest, demanding, “Throw down that flag, or I’ll run you through.” Although Confederate soldiers were habitually destitute, the grueling campaign also had been hard on their Union counterparts. Barefoot and wearing a torn and soiled frock coat and trousers, Private Marshall Sherman of the 1st Minnesota could not pass up the “opportunity of depriving the Rebs of the stimulus of their colors.” The “ragged and blackened” private received the wild applause of his comrades as he passed to the rear with the captured banner of the 28th Virginia and his prisoner.

As Lee was being led away, Colonel Allen took his last breath. His final thoughts concerned the fate of his flag—“Whar was the colors?” he asked. Actually, a portion of the 28th Virginia’s flag would continue to see service. During the close-quarters fighting the staff of the 1st Minnesota’s flag had also been shattered. After the Southern attack had been repulsed, the Minnesota infantrymen used a splintered section from the Virginia flagstaff to repair their own. To one of the men this event “fore-shadowed the time when Union and Confederate should unite in upholding the colors of the old Union forever.”

During the 50th anniversary celebration of the battle, a former member of the 28th Virginia was attempting to locate his quarters when he stumbled into the tent occupied by Captain Thomas Pressnell and several other veterans of the 1st Minnesota. After learning of the Confederate’s unit affiliation, Pressnell informed him that they had captured his regiment’s flag at Gettysburg and that it was now in St. Paul. They invited their former adversary to spend the night with them. Before departing the next morning, the Virginian remarked, “I’m sorry we lost that flag, but if we had to lose it, I’m glad it was you fellows who got it.”

Michael Dreese is the author of Never Desert the Old Flag! 50 Stories of Union Battle Flags and Color-Bearers at Gettysburg and This Flag Never Goes Down! 40 Stories of Confederate Battle Flags and Color-Bearers at Gettysburg. For additional reading Richard A. Sauers’ Advance the Colors!, two volumes.

This article was written by Michael Dreese and originally published in the July 2007 issue of Civil War Times Magazine. For more great articles, subscribe to Civil War Times magazine today!

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