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THE FLAGS
The South Carolina Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum is the home of a vast collection of flags, standards, and banners that date back to the War for Southern Independence. Almost all of its WBTS-related flags belonged to units from the Palmetto State. The Relic Room in its infancy was a logical place for individuals, organizations, and survivors associations to place these hallow banners for display and safekeeping. Even those flags that were given back to the State of South Carolina ultimately found their way into the Relic Room. In the past quarter century, the Relic Room has moved from just a storage space for these artifacts into a first-class museum. They have made great strides not only in the display and presentation of its collection, but also the conservation of these articles. Funding for conservation efforts has always been---and continues to be---the main restraint to saving the artifacts of our history.
Despite this, the Relic Room has done a fantastic job in its attempts to save and display the flags in its collection. If you visit the museum today, you will see results of those efforts hanging on the walls---magnificent company flags, battleflags, national flags of the Confederate States of America---saved from oblivion and out for all South Carolinians to see and enjoy. There are, however, two dozen or so flags that are in desperate need of preservation. Many are the flags of individual companies of infantry or troops of cavalry that volunteered early in the war; a few are representative of entire regiments or batteries of artillery. For many years, those involved with the Relic Room have warned of the fragility of and dangers to these flags. Indeed, some are in such bad condition that few have ever seen them since they were donated to the museum.
These flags---the precious reminders of our great state’s military heritage---are quietly turning into dust. Although they are kept in the best conditions possible, the flags are succumbing to the ravages of time. Almost all the remaining flags that need preservation are made of silk. While silk creates a beautiful and inspiring banner, it nevertheless is one of the worst materials to make a flag out of. Silk does not weather well. It tears more easily and fades quicker than the cotton or wool bunting flags of the latter-war years. It also does not do well in storage. Only through proper conservation techniques can these flags be preserved for future generations to see.
Below is a partial list of some of the flags that need preservation. The Relic Room continues to catalog and research all of its flags and we will expand the list once that work is concluded. Please note that the order of the flags by no means implies an order by which we are planning to preserve each flag. It is merely here for informational purposes. Click on the unit name to read and short unit history, detailed description of the flag's current conditions, and pictures of the flag as it is now.
***Photos and text found at the following links are courtesy of the Confederate Relic Room. They ask that you do not use them for any purpose without their specific permission***
