Return of the 149th NY regimental colors to Syracuse
Onondaga County Court House July 14, 2007
Restored flag back in Onondaga County
Thursday, June 14, 2007 By John Mariani Staff writer
As the nation turns its attention this Flag Day to the Stars and Stripes,
Onondaga County will also take time to embrace another banner.
The regimental flag of the 149th New York Volunteer Infantry, an Onondaga County
unit that served with distinction during the Civil War, has returned home after
142 years in state custody.
At 2 p.m. today, county officials and residents will gather at the second-floor
lobby of the Onondaga County Courthouse for a dedication ceremony in honor of
the flag's homecoming.
It will remain in the flag display case there for 12 months before it's returned
to the New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research
Center in Saratoga Springs.
The flag bears little resemblance to Old Glory. Dark blue silk with gold fringe,
it bears a stylized federal coat of arms on one side and the state's on the
other. Streamers above and below both seals proclaim that the flag was
"Presented to the 149th Reg't N.Y.S.V. by the Jewish Ladies of Syracuse,
N.Y. Sep. 1862." The decorations are painted on, not embroidered, typical
of the era.
Nonetheless, the flag of the 149th is an appropriate one to honor on Flag Day
because of its rich history and the values it represents, those familiar with
the banner and its story say.
The 149th Volunteer Infantry was raised in Onondaga County in 1862, weeks after
the local 122th Volunteers had filled its own ranks.
Syracuse's Jewish community led the creation of the 149th's Company A. The
regiment left for the war on Sept. 23; less than a month later, the Jewish
Ladies presented the flag they had made to the regiment's commander, Col. Henry
Barnum, a veteran who had remained behind to recover from war wounds.
"In today's world, I think people kind of forget the sacrifices made and
the number of people killed in the Civil War. These (regimental) flags meant
everything to these soldiers," said M. Ann Ciarpelli, who as county clerk
is custodian of the county's historic flags.
In the smoke and din of combat, soldiers and generals alike focused on
regimental flags to find their way around a battlefield. Soldiers advanced or
retreated with their flag. Color guards, whose sole duty was to keep the flag
flying, fell defending their banners as enemy gunners targeted them.
Civil War regiments were supposed to give their flags to the state adjutant
general when the banners became too battle worn or the units mustered out of the
Army. Somehow, 10 flags made their way into Onondaga County's possession.
Veterans would visit the old county courthouse on Clinton Square, where the
flags hung on display, just to be near them, Ciarpelli said.
For nearly a century and a half, county officials believed the 149th's
regimental flag was among the 10. Then, in 2005, county officials sent the
collection to a South Carolina company for conservation. The tattered flag
thought to be the one created by the Jewish Ladies was discovered to be a
different one carried by the regiment.
"We were pretty much shocked, almost devastated" by the discovery,
said Christopher Piering, of Syracuse, treasurer of the 122nd Regiment New York
Volunteers Inc., a Civil War living history group.
Eventually, Piering saw a photograph that someone took during the 1970s of the
real flag. He found the owner of the photo, who told him he had shot the picture
in Albany.
Further research brought Piering to Christopher Morton, assistant curator of the
state Military Museum. Morton was part of the New York State Battle Flag
Presentation Project, designed to preserve the state's collection of more than
1,800 military flags. Morton found the flag and determined that it could be
sponsored for preservation.
"It was a bargain at $4,000," Piering said. The 122nd raised the
money.
In 1965, the last time the state acted to preserve the flag, conservators
stitched black nylon netting into the fabric. That actually may have harmed it
rather than helped, said Sarah Stevens, associate textile conservator for the
state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
This time, she said, the preservation attempt included flattening the flag under
controlled humidity and gently vacuuming dirt from the fabric. The goal isn't to
restore it to new condition, but to stabilize it to keep it from deteriorating
even more.
The 149th Volunteers fought at Gettysburg and marched with Sherman to the sea.
But it's unlikely this flag accompanied them, Piering believes. The flag was
still being painted when the regiment left Syracuse. Other colors the unit
carried came back tattered. This one is nearly intact, except for a patch
missing near a corner that may have been snipped out by souvenir hunters.
That it didn't see the war doesn't diminish its significance. "This is an
irreplaceable part of Onondaga County and Jewish history. We felt this was a
hugely important flag to preserve," he said.