Lot 71

Historic Framed 2nd North Carolina 3rd Bunting Confederate Flag

Previous image preload Next image preload
Back to catalog
Lot 71
image_0 image_1 image_2 image_3 image_4 image_5 image_6 image_7
Historic Framed 2nd North Carolina 3rd Bunting Confederate Flag
Historic Framed 2nd North Carolina 3rd Bunting Confederate Flag
image_0 image_1 image_2 image_3 image_4 image_5 image_6 image_7

Historic Framed 2nd North Carolina 3rd Bunting Confederate Flag

Estimate: $200,000 - $350,000

Starting Bid: $150,000

(0 Bids)
by Rock Island Auction Company
June 27, 2026 5:00 PM CDT
Live Auction
3600 Harwood Road
Bedford, TX, US 76021

Immensely Historic and Well-Documented 2nd North Carolina Third Bunting Army of Northern Virginia Confederate Flag with Battle Honors Captured at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863 by the 7th New Jersey Volunteers The American Civil War was a defining conflict that determined whether the United States would remain an indivisible nation or divide into sovereign states. Sectional tensions, present even before the Constitution, produced repeated political crises that culminated in secession and war. In late 1860 and early 1861, the expansion of slavery into the western territories became the central issue. Many in the North, including newly elected Republican Abraham Lincoln, opposed expansion, while Southern leaders viewed limits on slave states as a direct threat to their political power and economic system. Seven states—South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas—seceded before Lincoln’s inauguration. After the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, and Lincoln’s call for troops on April 15, additional states followed, forming the Confederate States of America. Men on both sides enlisted to defend their homes, their causes, and their flags. Flags are important symbols, especially during war time. For centuries, flags on the battlefields had been used to coordinate units and inspire their men. National flags represented the nation they were fighting for, state flags the men’s own communities, and regimental flags their comrades in arms. A flag flying signified the men had not given up while striking the colors signified surrender. The stubborn defiance of the American defenders at Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in 1814 famously inspired our national anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner. During the Civil War, the rebelling Confederate States of America adopted their own new national flag, the “Stars and Bars” with a blue field with stars representing each Confederate state, a pair of red “bars” over and under a central white bar, but many southern soldiers identified themselves more with their home states than their new government. Capturing flags was a major objective, disrupting cohesion and delivering a powerful psychological blow. Color bearers were prime targets, and fierce fighting often centered on the colors. Losing a flag meant disgrace; capturing one brought honors, including Medals of Honor. Many captured flags went to the War Department, while others were taken as trophies and later donated to historical societies. Some were eventually returned, including the 2nd North Carolina State Troops flag returned by New Jersey in 1928. Only a limited number remain in private hands. At the first major battle, the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas), the new Confederate "Stars and Bars" was easily confused in the fog of war with the Union “Stars and Stripes.” Thus, after the first Confederate victory, a new battle flag was born of necessity. It was based on a design by William P. Miles that had been rejected for use as the national flag. Once adopted by the Army of Northern Virginia as its battle flag, it soon became the most iconic symbol of the Confederacy in multiple variations, including an elongated rectangular flag for the Army of Tennessee. It was not officially adopted by the Confederate government but proved very popular. In 1863, when the Confederate Congress sought a new national flag, the battle flag was naturally considered. General P. G. T. Beauregard, the first commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, was instrumental in the adoption of the battle flag and stated, "Why change our battle flag, consecrated by the best blood of our country on so many battlefields? A good design for the national flag would be the present battle flag as Union jack, and the rest all white or all blue." The white background was adopted (the “Stainless Banner”), and near the end of the war the national flag was also updated with a red vertical stripe on the right, the so called “Blood Stained Banner”. Relatively few Americans think about the Confederate national flags, but the battle flag has remained the enduring symbol of the Confederacy, the Lost Cause myth, and the most iconic symbol of the American South. This historic framed third bunting Confederate battle flag was displayed at the Texas Civil War Museum prior to its closing in October 2024 and is accompanied by a detailed analysis report from Fonda Thomsen LLC dated September 14, 2009, that states: "The flag is intact as originally constructed with no alterations or additions. The condition shows some evidence of use." It also concludes: "this flag is a 3rd bunting, Richmond depot issue of an Army of Northern Virginia, Confederate battle flag that has had a period of limited use in an engagement." A March 11, 2026, analysis by military historian Greg Biggs is also included. The flag is listed as 44 inches tall and 50 inches wide and features thirteen stars, "2" above and "N.C." below the central star in yellow, and six battle honors: "MECHANICSVILLE./COLD HARBOR." in the upper quadrant, "MALVERN HILL." in the left quadrant, "BOONSBORO." in the right quadrant, and "SHARPSBURG./FREDERICKSBURG." in the lower quadrant. The unit designation and battle honors are only applied to the obverse side. Biggs in his analysis of the current flag notes, “The Confederate War Department issued an order on July 23, 1862 authorizing battle honors on flags for units that had performed very well in battle. This merely made official what had begun in the field already in the Eastern and Western Theaters…in early 1863, whole divisions began to receive new flags bearing battle honors in dark blue paint which was executed by Lewis Montague of Richmond…The first ANV division to receive a new set of colors with battle honors on them was D. H. Hill’s Division. Later commanded by Robert Rodes, these flags bore honors emplaced in in chronological order with the oldest being in the upper quadrant, second oldest in the left quadrant, third oldest in the right quadrant and the most recent in the lower quadrant. The last honor for this divisional issue was for ‘Fredericksburg,’ fought in mid-December 1862. Flags from this issue were first used in battle at Chancellorsville in May 1863. The flag of the 2nd North Carolina State Troops ANV flag, is one of these issues.” The 2nd Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, (2nd North Carolina State Troops) was first assembled at Garysburg, North Carolina, in May-June 1861 with approximately 1,300 men. It was recruited from the counties of New Hanover, Wilson, Surry, Carteret, Duplin, Guilford, Sampson, Craven, Jones, and Pamlico and served through the end of the war and the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. The battle honors on the flag represent their engagements at Mechanicsville, Virginia, June 26, 1862; 1st Battle of Cold Harbor (Battle of Gaines Mill), June 27, 1862; Malvern Hill, Virginia, July 1, 1862; Boonsboro Gap, Maryland, September 14, 1862; Sharpsburg (Antietam), Maryland, September 17, 1862; and Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 11-15, 1862. As noted above, the honors indicate the flag was issued between the Battle of Fredericksburg and the Battle of Chancellorsville. This flag of the 2nd North Carolina was captured at the pivotal Battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863, by the 7th New Jersey Volunteers. Advancing in the vanguard of the climactic Confederate assaults west of the Chancellor House, the regiment moved forward with its colors against entrenched Union positions during some of the most violent fighting of the campaign. In a span of roughly fifteen minutes, the 2nd North Carolina suffered catastrophic losses, approximately 75% of the command, while pressing the attack. The 2nd North Carolina served in Lane’s Brigade of A.P. Hill’s Division, Army of Northern Virginia, part of the Confederate force driving the decisive May 3 assaults following the flank attack initiated the previous evening by General Stonewall Jackson. With Jackson mortally wounded and Hill also injured, Confederate command during the morning attacks fell to General J.E.B. Stuart, who coordinated the renewed advance toward the Chancellor House. Lane’s Brigade, including the 2nd North Carolina, advanced against strong Union positions held by elements of the Federal line under Major General Joseph Hooker’s army, in fierce close-range fighting that ultimately broke Union resistance. Shortly before the battle, the regiment reorganized its color guard, selecting Sergeant Kindred Lewis to carry the flag. Regimental history records that when the order to charge was given, Lewis surged forward with the colors raised high, described as moving “like the herald Mercury,” and leapt upon the enemy’s defensive wall. In the instant that followed, every member of the color guard was shot down. Lewis fell forward beyond the works, killed instantly, and the colors were lost in the maelstrom. It was in this desperate assault—at the decisive moment of the May 3 fighting—that this flag was captured by the 7th New Jersey. The action occurred during the culminating struggle of Chancellorsville, when Confederate forces launched coordinated morning attacks that shattered Union resistance and forced a withdrawal. Few moments of the battle were more costly or dramatic than the charge of the 2nd North Carolina, whose advance in the vanguard ended with devastating losses and the capture of its colors—one of the most tangible battlefield trophies from one of the Civil War’s most consequential engagements. Colonel Louis Francis of the 7th New Jersey Volunteers in his report stated: "The colors were taken from the Twenty-first Virginia, Eighteenth North Carolina, First Louisiana, Second North Carolina, and the fifth from some Alabama regiment. The Second North Carolina Regiment was captured almost in toto.” Given the color-guard had only recently been reformed before the battle, the flag's high condition may be explained by its capture in the battle shortly after it was brought into service. Gibbs notes that the battle flag does not appear in official reports as captured, and “This can only be because it was never reported on any level as being captured with the design to retain the flag by some officer. This also happened during the war including the 80 plus flags taken at Vicksburg which were reported by General U. S. Grant but never sent to the War Department.” The Thomsen analysis indicates the flag came from the family of Samuel Schlear of Company E of the 151st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry which fought at both Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. The 2nd North Carolina Infantry was notably also engaged in both battles, but the two units did not fight one another directly at Chancellorsville. The 2nd sustained 214 casualties at Chancellorsville and a quarter of their 243 men engaged at Gettysburg. Schlear was wounded in action at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. His family is reported to have later moved to New Jersey and indicated: "A commanding officer gave the flag to [Schlear] for something he did." Though no further details are documented, perhaps the flag was presented to him while he was recovering from his wounds for his bravery in action. Various sources confirm Private Samuel Schlear (1828-1918) of Shoemakersville, Berks County, Pennsylvania, served in Company E of the 151st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and was wounded at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. Newspaper reports indicate he was wounded in the leg. The 151st had 21 officers and 446 enlisted men present at Gettysburg and sustained 2 officers and 79 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 9 officers and 172 enlisted men wounded, and 4 officers and 71 enlisted men captured for a total loss of 15 officers and 322 enlisted men. They had the second highest casualty total of all Union regiments at Gettysburg after only the 24th Michigan which suffered a combined loss of 363 out of a total of 496 who went into battle. General Abner Doubleday, commander of the First Corps, stated regarding the 151st Pennsylvania: "At Gettysburg, they won, under the brave McFarland, an imperishable fame. They defended the left front of the First Corps against vastly superior numbers; covered its retreat against the overwhelming masses of the enemy at the Seminary, west of the town, and enabled me, by their determined resistance, to withdraw the corps in comparative safety. This was on the first day. In the crowning charge of the third day of the battle, the shattered remnants of the One Hundred and Fifty-First Pennsylvania, with the Twentieth New York State Militia, flung themselves upon the front of the rebel column, and drove it from the shelter of a slashing in which it had taken shelter from a flank attack of the Vermont troops. I can never forget the services rendered me by this regiment, directed by the gallantry and genius of McFarland. I believe they saved the First Corps, and were among the chief instruments to save the Army of the Potomac, and the country from unimaginable disaster." The 151st mustered out on July 27, 1863. Gibbs indicates Schlear made plaster and spectacles after the war. The 1880 Census listed his occupation as "boating," and he was a member of the McLean Post, No. 16 of the Grand Army of the Republic in Reading, Pennsylvania. He spent time in the Soldiers' Home in Dayton, Ohio, due to ill health in the 1890s before returning to live with his family in Pennsylvania. Company E of the 151st Pennsylvania was recruited in Ontelaunee Township and led by Captain Jacob S. Graeff. The regiment was one of the nine-month regiments raised in 1862 to bolster the Army of the Potomac. The 2nd North Carolina continued to serve with the Army of Northern Virginia through the end of the war, suffering repeated heavy losses in some of the conflict’s most brutal fighting. After Chancellorsville, the regiment endured significant casualties in the November 7, 1863, actions at Kelly’s Ford and Rappahannock Bridge, followed by the Mine Run Campaign and the Battle of the Wilderness. At Spotsylvania Court House in May 1864, the regiment again fought around its colors, losing three color bearers in the fighting, while Lieutenant James Hobson pursued a Union color bearer to the Federal lines and was captured. Detached with Jubal Early’s Army of the Valley in the summer of 1864, the regiment advanced to the outskirts of Washington, D.C., before suffering severe losses in the Shenandoah Valley, including the mortal wounding of Lieutenant Colonel Stallings at Snickers Ferry. Further attrition followed at the Third Battle of Winchester, Fisher’s Hill, and Cedar Creek. The remnants later rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia during the Petersburg Campaign and retreated with Lee in April 1865. At Appomattox Court House, only six officers and forty-eight enlisted men of the 2nd North Carolina remained to surrender—testament to the staggering attrition endured by the regiment whose colors fell at Chancellorsville. After the war, hundreds of captured Confederate flags remained in Union hands or with the War Department; others were destroyed or carried home by veterans. These flags became powerful and contested symbols. In the North, they represented rebellion defeated and Union preserved. For freedmen and their descendants, they marked the destruction of a system fought to keep them in bondage. In the South, however, the battle flag endured as a memorial to the men who fought and died under it, adopted by veterans’ organizations and carried in reunions and commemorations for decades. It remains, undeniably, one of the most recognized and consequential symbols to emerge from the Civil War—woven deeply into the nation’s history. Some Confederates, including Robert E. Lee, regarded the issues of the war as settled and encouraged reconciliation. That sentiment was captured by former Confederate chaplain Abram J. Ryan in “The Conquered Banner,” honoring the bravery of those who fought while acknowledging the end of their cause: “Furl that banner, softly, slowly! Treat it gently — it is holy — For it droops above the dead. Touch it not — unfold it never, Let it droop there, furled forever, For its people's hopes are dead!”

Manufacturer: None

Model: None

Class: Other

  • Provenance: The 2nd North Carolina Infantry; The Family of Samuel Schlear of Company E of the 151st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; The Texas Civil War Museum Fort Worth, TX; Private Collection
  • Condition: This historic flag remains in exceptional condition for a battle flag of its age and retains vibrant colors. It has been dry cleaned some time ago and has four darning repairs located in the lower hoist arm of the cross, in the bottom quadrant near the tip of the triangle, in the bottom border near the middle, and in the top quadrant four inches from the hoist. The main wear consists of small holes and tears as well as limited tar-like staining. The analysis noted: "Some of the holes still have burned fibers suggesting hot shrapnel or sparks." The yellow 2nd North Carolina marking and dark blue battle honors remain distinct. It is still easy to picture this battle flag flying above the 2nd North Carolina's men during the violent struggles of the American Civil War as they fought in vain to fend of the Army of the Potomac.

Accepted Forms of Payment:

American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Money Order / Cashiers Check, Personal Check, Visa, Wire Transfer

Shipping

Rock Island Auction will contact you shortly after the auction has completed. We will arrange for shipping and or pickup.

Rock Island Auction Company

You agree to pay a buyer's premium of 30% and any applicable taxes and shipping.

View full terms and conditions

Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $199 $10
$200 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $25,000