Flags of the 22nd Virginia Infantry Regiment

Over the last few years, I have received several emails regarding the regimental flag the 22nd Virginia Infantry would have carried into battle. The first flag that is mentioned in the history of the 22nd Virginia Infantry is the flag belonging to the Kanawha Riflemen. Their flag resembled the American Flag for it had 13 stripes with the Virginia Coat of Arms in the canton where the stars would be on an American Flag.

After the Civil War had begun in South Carolina, the Kanawha Riflemen had their flag altered to resemble the 1st National Flag of the Confederacy. The stripes of Kanawha flag would have been torn apart and re-sewn together to give it the 1st National appearance, the blue canton still had the Virginia Coat the Arms still in place until they were organized into the 1st Kanawha Regiment and a new regimental flag would have been issued or made by local women in the area. Several military organizations throughout the Southern States did the same thing, altering the American Flag and reusing it.

During the 1861 campaigns in Western Virginia, many regiments including the 22nd Virginia were issued the 1st National Flag or what is known as the "Stars and Bars". The 1st National boasted three stripes of in the color of red, white and red and the blue canton featured 7 stars as the war progressed, 4 more stars were added. The standard 3 foot by 5 foot was the size of the 1st National Flag. The white stripe in the center would have read something similar to this: 1st Kanawha Regt.

Another type of flag the issued or made was the Virginia State Flag. It featured the Virginia state seal painted into a blue field of silk measuring almost 3 feet by 5 feet. Gold fringe would have been sewn onto the fly end of the flag. This was a popular flag that many of the regiments in the South Western Army of Virginia carried throughout the Civil War. During the earlier portion of the Civil War, regimental flags such as the Virginia State Flag were made of two pieces of silk and painted on one side and sewn together to keep the paint from bleeding through. After silk became unattainable, cotton, cotton or wool bunting, and flannel were substituted. After the reorganization in May of 1862, the transformation from the 1st Kanawha Regiment to the 22nd Virginia Infantry Regiment another regimental flag would have been issued.

During the battle of Droop Mountain in November of 1863, Major Bailey was recorded before falling dead on the battlefield holding the "Stars and Bars" of the regimental flag rallying the troops to stand and fight. Using the term "Stars and Bars", the 22nd Virginia Infantry was defiantly carrying the 1st National Flag in 1863. A month later, in December of 1863, the 36th Virginia Infantry and the 26th Virginia Infantry Battalion along with 9 other regiments of Infantry and Cavalry was reissued a new Virginia State Flag. The 22nd Virginia would have been reissued the same flag providing the status of their old flag.

In early 1864, the newly made 2nd National flag was being issued to the units of the Army of South Western Virginia. They were made at the Staunton Depot. These flags were made from white cotton flannel rather white bunting. The canton was made from cotton bunting.

Many are surprised to hear that the 22nd Virginia Infantry was never issued the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. The Battle Flag was created and used by the Army of Northern Virginia before the other armies of the Confederacy adopted the same Battle Flag. Most of the Battle Flags that the Army of Northern Virginia used was made in the depots in Richmond.

Since several regiments had their own flags, the Army of Northern Virginia wanted to create a more uniformed army and the flags were among the first thing to change. After the regiments of the ANV were issued their battle flags, the other state flags and company flags were no longer authorized due to special orders of the Army Regulations of the ANV.

So why didn't this effect the 22nd Virginia? First off, they were not part of the Army of Northern Virginia; therefore ANV regulations were not applied to the 22nd Virginia Infantry Regiment. The 22nd Virginia Infantry Regiment served in several Virginia Military Districts, mainly in modern day West Virginia. Secondly, North Carolina and Virginia were the only two states in the Confederacy that provided state flags to its troops.