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Fragile Civil War Flag Preserved For NC History Museum

The confederate flag with a star cut out, preserved for the NC Museum of History.
NC Museum of History

A battle-worn confederate flag has undergone a $6500 dollar preservation and has now been returned to the North Carolina Museum of History. The flag was lost in the final months of the Civil War and was carried by the 6th Regiment of North Carolina in the Battle of Sailor's Creek in Virginia. It was captured by Union forces in 1865.

Jackson Marshall, the museum's assistant director of programming, says the flag has been cleaned and placed under glass in an acid-free environment that should last another 50 years.

“We do not restore things,” he says. “We simply preserve them just the way they are. On one side, you'll see that a star has been cut out probably by a federal soldier - perhaps by the one who captured it as a souvenir. And we left the holes there, because it's part of the history of the flag.”

Funding for the conservation comes entirely from private donors. The flag has been in storage at the museum since 1905, and it will go on view as part of the Civil War Sesquicentennial Exhibitsometime next year.

Fed up with the frigid winters of her native state, Catherine was lured to North Carolina in 2006. She grew up in Wisconsin where she spent much of her time making music and telling stories. Prior to joining WUNC, Catherine hosted All Things Considered and classical music at Wisconsin Public Radio. She got her start hosting late-nights and producing current events talk shows for the station's Ideas Network. She later became a fill-in talk show host and recorded books for WPR's popular daily program, Chapter A Day.
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