• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Human Interest / Iowa battle flags go back on display

Iowa battle flags go back on display

February 11, 2006 By admin

A collection of restored flags that were carried by Iowa soldiers into battle during the Civil War is going on display this month at the State Historical Museum. The exhibit is called “Civil War Survivors: Iowa’s Battle Flags Tell Stories from the Front.”

Jeff Morgan, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, says many of the flags were hanging at the state capitol for well over 100 years and in the past few years, they were transferred to the state historical building where the staff has been busy conserving and preserving them and making them ready for display. He says the display will include only a fraction of the 260-some battle flags in the museum’s collection, from the Civil War as well as the Spanish American War and World War One.

Morgan says some of the flags have blood stains on them from the soldiers who carried them into battle while others have bullet holes in them from Confederate fire. He says it’s a moving experience to see the flags and to understand what they meant to the people in the Iowa communities that went to fight in the Civil War. Morgan says some of the flags demand up to 240 hours each of meticulous work to preserve and can cost nearly five-thousand dollars per flag to restore.

The preservation methods of the 1890s called for conservators to stitch gauze to the fabrics which, over years of exposure to sunlight, smoke and even the weight of the gauze itself was misshaping the flags and eventually would have destroyed them. Morgan says battle flags during the Civil War were more than simple pieces of cloth or symbols. They were essential members of the regiments. In battle, amid the noise, smoke and confusion, the flag directed the movements of the soldiers and identified the regiment to leaders in the distance. If the flag was lost, so were the regiment’s position, identity and honor. The exhibit opens February 18th. For more information call (515) 281-5111.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Human Interest, Military

Featured Stories

Exhibit features lesser known works of Grant Wood

Testing finds 21 new CWD cases in deer

It may become a crime in Iowa to use fake urine in workplace drug tests

February trending 18 degrees below average temperature

Iowa House Education Committee votes to end tenure at UI, ISU, UNI

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Confusion at MVC Tournament as UNI exits prior to quarterfinal round game

Iowa State looks to avoid winless Big-12 season

New look and new format at girls’ state basketball

Youngstown State takes action against assistant football coach

Iowa’s Jack Nunge lost for the season

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2021 · Learfield News & Ag, LLC