This Confederate First National or “Stars and Bars” flag was recovered on a portion of the battlefield used as a campsite by Texas, Arkansas and Missouri cavalry units, including the Third Texas Cavalry, First Arkansas Mounted Rifles, First Arkansas Cavalry (State Troops) and Missouri State Guard Cavalry.
Theodore Cline Albright, a private in Company C, 1st U. S. Cavalry Regiment, was temporarily detached from his company and served with Company C, 2nd U. S. Dragoon Regiment at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. He described how he found the flag in an interview in 1883: “In the confusion of the battle or skirmish I was unhorsed and the animal ran off into the woods. I stooped to pick up a rebel cavalry guidon and came very near being shot by a big German who did not know me as a federal from the fact that my cap being lost I replaced it with a Confederate cap.”
According to Albright family stories, Albright lost one of the flag’s stars as a souvenir to his company commander, and apparently lost a few other pieces to souvenir hunters as well. He brought the remainder of the flag to St. Louis after his discharge in November 1861.
Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR10236
