Twice Lost
How the Louisiana Tigers' flag was lost at Gettysburg, then found, then lost again
On December 8, 1941, Richard C. S. Drummond of New York’s Cayuga County Historical Society wrote a letter to Louisiana Governor Sam Houston Jones. Drummond informed Jones that Cayuga’s last Civil War soldier had died, and the historical society was cleaning out the veterans’ meeting hall. Among the items found was “a battle flag . . . marked in large blue letters with a stamp or brush ‘Louisiana Tigers.’”
Drummond told the governor that the flag was believed to have been captured at Gettysburg and offered to return it to Louisiana. What happened to the flag remains a mystery.
Approximately 12,000 Louisianans served in Robert E. Lee’s army during the Civil War and became nicknamed the Louisiana Tigers because of their ferocity on the battlefield and sometimes drunken misbehavior in camp. The Tigers were among the most famous Civil War soldiers, and in 1896 Dr. Charles Coates, LSU’s football coach, chose them for his team’s mascot name.
One of the Tigers’ most notable wartime exploits occurred at the Battle of Gettysburg when they attacked two Union artillery batteries atop Cemetery Hill. After intense hand-to-hand fighting, the Confederates captured the batteries but were forced to retreat when superior Union forces counterattacked. It was an important “might have been” moment, for if the rebels had managed to hold their position, the Union line would have been broken and Gettysburg might have been a great victory for General Lee.
During the bitter fight, the Yankees killed the 8th Louisiana Volunteers’ color bearer and captured the regiment’s flag. Drummond believed that banner was the very one he had stumbled upon.
Drummond’s flag was a curious one. Most Confederate battle flags had a red background with a blue St. Andrew’s cross containing thirteen white stars. The flag in New York, however, was made of white bunting and had a red St. Andrew’s cross with eleven stars. The stars were cut out of the red cross to reveal the white bunting beneath it, and “Louisiana Tigers” was painted in blue on the fly end.
The circumstances of the flag’s capture were quite dramatic. General Harry T. Hays was ordered to attack the enemy’s artillery on Cemetery Hill with his five regiments of Louisiana Tigers and three regiments of North Carolinians, about two thousand men in all. As darkness settled in on July 2, 1863, a single bugle wailed across the field to signal the attack. Hays’ men came under intense artillery fire as they advanced across an open field and then slammed into a stone wall at the base of the hill. One of the Tigers wrote that the twelve hundred Yankees defending the wall put up a stubborn fight, “but with bayonets & clubbed guns we drove them back.”
The Tarheels attacked a Union battery on the left while Hays’ Louisiana Tigers charged one on the right. Private Arthur Duchamp carried the 8th Louisiana’s flag but was wounded as he raced up Cemetery Hill. Corporal Leon Gusman, a twenty-one-year-old former student, then picked up the flag and made his way up the steep slope. When Gusman reached one cannon, a small group of soldiers rallied around him as he proudly waved his flag over the captured guns.
Union Lt. Peter Young looked back as he retreated from the battery, saw the Confederates “yelling like demons,” and ordered his men to fire on the rebels crowded around the flag. The volley riddled Gusman and sent the others scurrying away. Although shot six times, Gusman stubbornly held onto his flag as he dropped to one knee. Lieutenant Young ran up to Gusman, finished him off with a pistol shot and hurried back towards his men with the prized colors. Just as Young reached safety, a Confederate bullet tore through his arm and into his lung, and he collapsed into the arms of a sergeant.
A Union counterattack then forced Hays to retreat after losing approximately four hundred men in the short fight. The 8th Louisiana’s flag were the only colors the Tigers left behind.
Sadly, the flag’s ultimate fate remains unknown because it was never returned to Louisiana. America entered World War II the very day Drummond wrote his letter, and that new war may have distracted state officials from following up on Drummond’s generous offer to return the flag.
One question that was never answered is whether or not Drummond’s flag actually was the one the 8th Louisiana lost at Gettysburg. Some historians are skeptical about its authenticity. Lieutenant Young wrote that the regiment’s identity was inscribed on “the vile rag” that he captured, but Drummond’s flag simply had “Louisiana Tigers” on it. Perhaps Young knew from prisoners that his foe was the 8th Louisiana and his reference was simply to the “Louisiana Tigers” written on the flag. Or, perhaps the flag was fraudulent.
The flag’s unusual color has also raised doubts as to its authenticity, since it resembles some Confederate flags made during the post-war period. However, there is a similar flag from Lee’s army that has a white background with the stars cut out of the St. Andrews Cross. It was said to have belonged to Louisiana’s 1st Zouave Battalion (Coppens’ Battalion) and supposedly was captured at the Battle of Williamsburg.
A number of years ago, the author and other historians made inquiries to Cayuga County officials but no one there seemed to know anything about the mysterious rebel flag. Hopefully, someday the Tiger flag will be discovered in someone’s attic and its true identity can be established.
Dr. Terry L. Jones is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. For an autographed copy of “Louisiana Pastimes,” a collection of the author’s stories, send $25 to Terry L. Jones, P.O Box 1581, West Monroe, LA 71294.