Photo Diary:
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A Photo Diary
August 31, 2003
Click on the photo to view a larger version of the image.
The
Ceremony at Market Square
Photo:
Meri Schoof |
The
Ceremony of Return
Both Michigan and Virginia historians and dignitaries gathered on the steps
of the Fredericksburg Area Museum to honor the return of the flag. The Mayor of Fredericksburg,
William Beck, served as the master of ceremonies and commented that this was
"the most important historic event in Fredericksburg in the last 100 years."
Among the speakers were descendants of families living in town during the Civil War, a descendant
of Henry Seage, and state officials from Michigan and Virginia. |
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"See
That Flag? How It Talks!" (H.G. Magee, Fourth Michigan
Infantry, 1844)
Leading the remarks was Dr. William B. Anderson, Director of the Michigan
Department of History, Arts and Libraries. The flag itself can be seen in its oaken case between
Union and Confederate color guards. Recognizing that flags can “tell the story of the war like
nothing else,” as veterans said themselves, Michigan speakers emphasized the importance of
returning the flag home where it can best tell its story—and of the part Michigan played in the
Civil War. |
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Union
and Confederate Descendants
Milton DeVinney, Henry Seage’s great-grandson and the person responsible for donating the flag to Michigan in 1951, stands with Mrs. Brooke Snead, age 90, the daughter of a Confederate soldier from the Fredericksburg area. Also attending was Reginald Lucas, whose grandfather was a slave forced into the war by his master. The flag provides an opportunity to tell the story of the most devastating and transforming period in America’s history from different points of view. |
Photo:
Meri Schoof |
Leaving
the Square
Carried by the color guard, the flag leaves Market Square for the Fredericksburg Area Museum,
where it will be on display for several years. When the National Park Service finishes renovations
to the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center, the flag will be placed on display there—telling
its story. |
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Special
Tribute
At a dinner hosted by Fourth Michigan
reenactors on August 30, the evening before the return ceremony, Michigan State Senator Cameron Brown
presented a special tribute from the Michigan State Legislature and Governor Jennifer Granholm
to the Fourth Michigan Infantry and the descendants of Henry Seage. The tribute stated that
the Fredericksburg flag would serve "as a mute reminder of a city under siege, caught between
two sides of a titanic and tragic struggle; an emblem of the thousands of brave men who died
there; a reminder of the role one Michigan regiment played in the battle for one Virginia city;
and a reminder of the flag’s faithful custodian, Henry Seage."
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(Eric Perkins of the Michigan Historical Museum
Collections Unit and Kerry Chartkoff of the Save the Flags Committee provided this diary of the flag return. Michigan Historical Museum staff photos, except where noted.)
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The Fredericksburg Flag Homecoming
