Civil War flag faces new battle
Paul Dye never doubted that the stain on the old battle flag was the blood of his ancestor.
When a cousin gave the relic to him and his brother, pulling it out of a dress box she kept under a bed, she told them the story of their kinsman, William D. Whitehead, who was shot down as he carried the banner into combat in Virginia.
Decades later, Dye related that tale to Richard D. Hatch, an auctioneer who plans to sell the heirloom -- one of the rarest Civil War flags in Georgia -- Friday night in Flat Rock, N.C.
There's only one problem: Experts have raised questions about the lore behind the colors.
"It's a great artifact, but there's no way it could have gone into all the battles they claim it went into," says Greg Biggs, a military historian in Tennessee who has researched Confederate flags for 18 years.
Read entire article at Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When a cousin gave the relic to him and his brother, pulling it out of a dress box she kept under a bed, she told them the story of their kinsman, William D. Whitehead, who was shot down as he carried the banner into combat in Virginia.
Decades later, Dye related that tale to Richard D. Hatch, an auctioneer who plans to sell the heirloom -- one of the rarest Civil War flags in Georgia -- Friday night in Flat Rock, N.C.
There's only one problem: Experts have raised questions about the lore behind the colors.
"It's a great artifact, but there's no way it could have gone into all the battles they claim it went into," says Greg Biggs, a military historian in Tennessee who has researched Confederate flags for 18 years.