Flag, Confederate - Dobbins' 1st Arkansas Cavalry

Object number1962.002.01

Date1861 - 1863

MediumCotton

DimensionsFlag: 53 × 71 1/2 in. (134.6 × 181.6 cm) Framed: 59 × 78 in. (149.9 × 198.1 cm)

Credit LineOld State House Museum Collection

Terms

Flag
Flag

DescriptionDobbins' 1st Regiment Arkansas Volunteer Cavalry battle flag used from 1861 until 1863. The flag has a dark blue field with a red "upright" cross. Thirteen white five-pointed stars are located on the crossbars. The leading edge has been doubled back to form a sleeve, two inches wide when flat with pairs of ties at each end for securing the flag to its staff. According the Indiana register of captured battle flags a card was attached to the flag which read, “Headquarters Ind. Cav., Pine Bluff, Ark. October 20, 1863, This Rebel flag was captured at Tulip, Ark. October 11, 1863, from Col. Dobbins if Ark. Vols., by the 1st Indiana Cavalry.”

The flag was formerly referred to as the Unknown Unit, Polk’s Corp, Army of Mississippi unit new research confirmed it as the flag used by Dobbins' 1st Arkansas Cavalry.
The flag was formally returned to the State of Arkansas on June 1, 1962 Governor Matthew E. Walsh of Indiana, after it had been found in the basement of an archives building in Indianapolis by Indianan history officials.

Status

Not on view

Collections