Flags of the 12th Virginia Infantry ("Petersburg Regiment"), Part 4: The Second Battle Flag, Late 1863

Caption:  Captain Nathaniel Harris’ Sketch of the Petersburg Regiment’s Second Battle Flag

Credit:  George S. Bernard Papers, Southern Historical Collection

Toward the end of 1863, the 12th Virginia's flag bore the names of more than a dozen battles from Seven Pines through Second Brandy Station according to the sketch drawn by the Commissioner chosen by the Cockade City to carry extra food and clothing to its soldiers, Captain Nathaniel Cole Harrison, who had a son in one of those companies:  Cpl. William Henry Harrison of the Petersburg City Guard, the Petersburg Regiment's Company A.  Shortly after the beginning of March 1864 a new battle flag arrived at the 12th’s camp, replacing the regiment’s old rag and reminding the troops that fighting would soon resume; it would be the 12th's last battle flag. [1]   

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[1] George S. Bernard, War Talks of Confederate Veterans (Petersburg: Fenn & Owen, 1892), 184.