ST. PAUL, Minn.--While the nation debates the symbolism of the confederate flag the significance of the one housed at the Minnesota Historical Society lies in its century old story.
"It really does resonate with a lot of our visitors," senior curator Adam Scher said of the battle flag.
The flag was obtained at the turning point of the civil war. Private Marshall Sherman of the First Minnesota Infantry captured the flag during Pickett's charge at Gettysburg. He turned the flag into the war department in Washington and it was marked for inventory, according to Scher. Little did Sherman know he would soon get it back.
In 1864, as the First Minnesota Infantry was traveling west from the east coast to recruit more members. They stopped in Washington DC and a banquet was held in their honor, according to Scher. The secretary of war took this flag out of the custody of the war department and brought it to the banquet.
Scher believes the flag was left with the group by accident. Sherman brought it home and kept it for a years, then gave it to the state capitol, who then gave it to the historical society in 1920. But Virginia never forgot. Fast forward to 1998 when a re-enactment group from Virginia that portrays the unit requested that the flag be returned citing a statue that was passed by congress in 1905 stating that all the flags that had been captured during the civil war had to be returned, Scher said.
But Minnesota's attorney general said there was no legal standing so the flag remains along with the stories of the men who died fighting.
"It's a very strong and emotional symbol for Minnesotans but also for Virginians," Scher said.
