Sutherlin Confederate Flag: "On to Victory"

"On to Victory"

Lee Sherrill is writing a history of the 21st Regiment North Carolina Troops (Confederate States of America). As part of his research, he became interested in a flag housed at the North Carolina State Museum (Raleigh, North Carolina). An image of that flag is shown here. For many years the Museum identified the flag as being associated with the 13th Regiment North Carolina Troops, which regiment is the Milton Blues (Caswell County, North Carolina).

The flag was captured by Yankee troops at the Battle of Cedar Creek at the same time General Stephen Dodson Ramseur was wounded and captured (and soon died). The flag apparently was in the ambulance that transported General Ramseur. After being housed in Washington, D.C., for years, the flag was sent to the North Carolina State Museum. Because of General Ramseur's connection with Milton, Caswell County, North Carolina (he married Ellen Ella Richmond from Milton), the Museum assumed the flag had been carried by the 13th Regiment North Carolina Troops. However, General Ramseur was never associated with the 13th North Carolina Troops. Nor did that unit participate in the Battle of Cedar Creek.