Michigan wants Ionia County's Civil War flag for its collection. Ionia veterans have another plan

IONIA — Worn, but not tattered, a handmade silk Civil War battle flag is slowly fading away in the Ionia County Courthouse.

The former Union Army's 21st Volunteer Infantry Regiment battle flag is believed to be the last Michigan Civil War flag on public display that is not part of the state's official collection. That could change soon, however.

It's wanted by state officials at the Michigan History Museum in Lansing, where about 160 other Civil War flags rest in archival-safe storage, for the sake of preservation.

It would be safeguarded from the wear and tear of time, tucked in the museum alongside other Civil War flags, said Matt Van Acker, curator of Save The Flags, a state program to "preserve, research and display 240 battle flags carried by Michigan soldiers in the Civil War, the Spanish American War and World War I."

The Ionia regiment's battle flag is a more costly and finer design than most Civil War flags, and the banner has been sought by Civil War conservationists for decades. It will require a pricey restoration to stop its deterioration, said Van Acker, who is also the Michigan State Capitol Tours director. The state could restore the flag, but it would then go into the museum.

Some military veterans in Ionia County and mid-Michigan aren't ready to give up their flag, which hangs in a glass display case on the lower floor of the courthouse: They want to keep it close, for their children and grandchildren to see and learn about whenever they visit downtown.

"It's an important part of our history. The ladies of Ionia County had the flag made and presented it to the 21st Infantry," said Shane Houghton, an Army veteran and one of several veterans and supporters attempting to raise $50,000 to preserve the flag that has spent decades at the courthouse.

According to state historians, the Union's 21st Infantry Regiment was filled out during the summer of 1862, going to war in September with 2,423 soldiers and several flags. Four of those flags that still exist today are now part of the state museum.

The fifth surviving flag is at the center of a tug of war between the state museum and Ionia County.

After the war, which took the lives of 377 men in the regiment through battle or disease with many others wounded, the flag was not returned to state officials as most of the other state regimental flags were. Local officials said the women of the county raised money for the embroidered flag, paid for it in coins, and gave it to the regiment. Veterans and community members decided to keep it, given they had paid for it, in coin as well as blood.

"We accepted stewardship of that flag," Houghton said, "and it's important we continue to do that."

The flag is Michigan blue with a sun-bleached American flag embroidered in the middle, hoisted above an eagle wielding a banner that says "Union" and "Constitution." A later additional banner is housed in the same frame, attached to the same truncated staff: A blue rectangle with gold embroidery naming eight major battles the regiment fought.

State historians said the soldiers of the regiment were recruited from 17 counties, led by Ionia and Kent counties, and the unit saw disease claim more lives than battle. The unit saw three officers and 80 enlisted soldiers die in combat. The rest of the 377 recorded deaths were due to disease or other hardships.

They fought in several battles, did engineering work and were assigned to scavenge for food during Gen. William Sherman's march. The brutal campaign, to Atlanta and eventually Savannah, was intended to break the Confederate will to fight and it left a destructive swath in the Southern homeland, according to the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution.

The regimental flag has long been considered notable for its fine embroidery work, even among its contemporary flags, Van Acker said.

"Every flag in that collection has unique stories to tell of undaunted courage and bravery that modern people have no conception," he said. "They were willing to give their lives to defend this flag in battle."

The battle flags are all special, such as a Gettysburg example from Michigan that is "covered with blood stains from the nine boys who were mortally wounded carrying it into combat," Van Acker said.

'As intact as it is'

The Ionia flag is quickly deteriorating, despite a 1960s restoration that added a thin mesh netting and thousands of tiny holes to keep it together.

"It kept the flag as intact as it is. It may have caused irreversible damage, but probably that's all that's holding it together right now," Van Acker said. He said exposure to temperature, moisture and light have also deteriorated the flag while it rests behind glass.

"There are groups out in Ionia, and I don’t blame them one bit, that would hate to see the flag leave their courthouse," said Van Acker, who has spent three decades helping to preserve historic flags.

Even in its current state, it is in better condition than many other battle flags, many of which ended the war seriously damaged, he said.

Sending the flag to the state museum means it would be safe, protected in climate-controlled archives, and professionally maintained by staff, including two full-time flag experts.

The state would pick up the tab, but the flag would go from permanent courthouse display to being part of a monthly rotation with hundreds of other flags, meaning fewer chances for people to catch a glimpse of the banner.

The state displays one flag at a time in a dedicated space for the old flags, and the rotation minimizes the damage that can happen when flags hang vertically and are on display, even in protected cases, Van Acker said.

With a collection of about 160 Civil War flags, and around another 100 from the Spanish-American War and WW I, the state's monthly rotation means each individual flag could only be on display once every 13 years outside of an occasional larger exhibit of flags.

'We want to do the right thing'

Van Acker and Houghton would both be happy if Houghton's group could raise $50,000 through the Lyons-based Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4646's dedicated account for preserving the flag.

The flag would likely need to be taken apart and reconstructed, essentially stitch by stitch, to remove the netting and preserve it, Van Acker said.

Ionia County commissioners Gordon Kelley and Phil Hesche met with Houghton and others the last week of September to map out the next step — raising money. While the county might consider contributing time or equipment, Kelley said, officials are not likely to chip in dollars.

Kelley and Hesche both said they support the fundraising and would love to see the flag stay in Ionia.

The $50,000 would cover the restoration by the same experts the state has used, the Textile Preservation Association in West Virginia, said Eric Calley, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and another leader of the restoration effort.

Houghton, Calley, the commissioners and Ionia County Historic Society President Kathleen Cook talked in late September about what to hang in the flag's place at the courthouse during the 18 months or more that it would likely take to fix the flag. They may get a replacement flag, costing several thousand dollars, or hang photos of the 21st Regiment as a placeholder until the restored flag can be hung once more.

Van Acker has volunteered to drive the flag to the West Virginia offices of the Textile Preservation Association and pick it up, a year and a half later or so, and deliver it back to the Ionia Courthouse.

"Oh, we'd love to have it," he said of the state's museum. "But more than anything, we want to do the right thing for the flag, whether they donate and we properly care for it or whether that means they have the work done by a conservator and it stays."

Houghton knows what he wants: A restored flag hanging in the Ionia Courthouse, where anyone can visit and remember the sacrifices made by hundreds of mid-Michigan soldiers and their families.

"We're lucky to have that flag," Houghton said. "And we need to keep the last one on public display, keep it for the public. A lot of people died for that."

Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan wants Ionia County's Civil War flag for its collection. Ionia veterans have another plan