The Maine Military Museum is the proud owner of the original civil war flag that was planted in Texas by the 15th Maine Regiment. The flag was given to the museum after a long history in the hands of one family.
Come in and see it today!
‘Upon the organization of the expedition to southern Texas, by Major-Gen Banks, the 13th Maine Regiment and 15th Maine Regiment were ordered to report to General Napoleon Dana and left New Orleans for the Rio Grande, on Oct. 23rd. After a seavoyage of ten days, during which they encountered a very furious gale, and barely escaped ship-wreck, they landed on the Island of Brazos Santiago, Texas, the flag of the 15th Maine being the first to spread to the breeze upon Texas soil.’
‘The steamer Gen. Banks -in a disabled condition- was the first to cross the bar, followed closely by the Clinton: the two vessels containing two Maine regiments. The first boat-load of troops to reach the shore were from the Clinton, but by some oversight, the boat carried no flag; and, it is well understood that “the planting of the stars and stripes upon Texas soil” was one of the chief objects of the expedition, there was very naturally more or less rivalry among the soldiers on the two vessels as to who should first accomplish that great desideratum. The honor fell to the lot of a detachment of Company B, of Fifteenth Maine. The company happened to be the owner of a company flag, and this was taken ashore in the first boat landing from the Banks -the agile Private James R. Oliver most expeditiously taking it to the roof of an old building on the island, and waving it in the breeze, amidst the tumultuous cheers of the soldiers on the vessels within view of the very romantic and inspiring spectacle. The men from Maine-the extreme north-eastern state of the Union -had restored the country’s flag to a point upon the extreme southwestern portion of the territory so long held by the confederate forces, and almost within sight of the inhabitants of foreign nationality. The Maine boys were a long distance from the “State of the Pine Tree,” but they were entirely “at home” even upon a barren island, with “Old Glory ” proudly floating over their heads!’
References:
The Northern Monthly: A Magazine of Original Literature and Military Affairs. “The 13th and 15th Maine Veteran Volunteers.” p. 498 {1864). United States: Bailey and Noyes.
Shorey, Henry A. The Story of the Maine Fifteenth; Being a Brief Narrative of the Most Important Events in the History of the Fifteenth Maine Regiment. Bridgton, Maine: Press of the Bridgton News, 1890.