| Show chaft erected at portsmouth va bear the stars and stripe and the confederate flag ek portsmouth va has only one roll tary artillery company it waa or in 1809 when john oyier tha father of president oyier waa gov ernar 0 the state ay capt arthur emmerson the company was named the portsmouth light artillery corn pany and under capt emmerson fought gallantly at craney island june 22 1813 the roll of the meni who fought in that under the stars and stripes when the flag con talked only 18 stars has been preserved by the descendants of capt emmerson arthur the fourth ot the generation Is now resident 0 portsmouth the company organization was kept up and when the war between the states began enrolled over men who mustered into active service on april 20 1861 under capt carey F grimes its career was marked la the confederate service it was hotly engaged at malvern hill second manassas and sharpsburg Sharps burg where its A MONUMENT bears both the confederate nag and the stars and stripes captain was shot from bis horse whilo directing the alre of its guns after this engagement its ranks were so depleted that it was disorganized and its men divided between two other artillery companies after the war ia was reorganized for the virginia vol gunteer corps under capt G W R mcdonel and when he retired capt carey R warren was elected its cap tain and now it Is commanded by capt charles A cutherell a son ot one of its war veterans on june 8 a monument was erected to the company s members who tell under each flag the shaft of the monument Is 18 feet high of rough virginia granite with four polished sides on one side are inscribed the names of capt arthur emmerson s men who fought with him at craney island surmounted by two united states flags crossed and on this front base craney island in raised letters the other three faces con tain the roll of the confederate sol diers who served under capt grimes and these names are surmounted by confederate flags crossed and on the base malvern hill second manas sas and sharpsburg Sharps burg this Is to be the first monument in the unit ed states containing both the stare and stripes and the confederate flag it will be called the peace monument ot portsmouth SAVING THE FLAG A beautiful example of devotion taken from the civil war records one of the most touching as well as the most beautiful examples of de botlon to the flag la to be found in the records of our civil war the six regiment of connecticut volun after three days of the hardest and bloodiest of fighting became con vinced that defeat and capture by the enemy was the ranks were depleted and to hold out longer would only involve needlessly further sacrifice of life but even in their hour of peril the zealous patriots thought more of the fate of their bat tie scarred flag than their own just before the enemy made his final as sault on the breastworks the gallant colonel shouted to hta men what ever you do boys dont give up our flag save that at any price in an instant the flag waa torn from its staff and cut and torn into hundreds of small fragments each piece being hidden about the person of some one of its brave defenders the survivors of the regiment about in number were sent to a prison camp where mos of them ra bained until the end of the war each cherishing his mite of the regimental colors through long months of am many died from sickness brought on by exposure and terrible privation and in all such cases the scraps of bunting guarded by the poor unfortunates were In trusted to the are of some surviving comrade at the end of the war when the prisoners returned to their homes a meeting of the survivors was held and all the priceless fragments of the flag were sewn together gut a very few pieces had been lost so that the restored emblem waa made nearly complete that flag sas the st nicholas patched and tattered as it Is forms one of the proudest possessions ot connecticut to day and Is preserved n the state capitol at hartford bear ing mute testimony to the devollo dev otlo of the beave men |
