Civil War-era flag to be on display

By GINA KINSLOW
Glasgow Daily Times

CAVE CITY October 02, 2008 01:03 pm

— A replica of the flag representing the regimental colors of the 6th Kentucky Infantry, Company C, is now on display at the Cave City Welcome Center.
The 6th Kentucky Infantry, Company C was made up of men from central and southcentral Kentucky. Company C came from Barren and surrounding counties and began service in November 1861 in Cave City.
“We are so excited,” said Carol DeGroft, executive secretary for the Cave City Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a real honor to have this on display here at the Welcome Center. Cave City’s part of the Civil War is being recognized.”
“We recreated the flag from that data sheet as close as we could,” said Capt. Shannon Jeffries of the 6th Kentucky Infantry, Company C, Civil War Reenacting Unit.
By following the information on the data sheet, Jeffries said the flag was made according to exact measurements.
While the flag is a Confederate flag, Jeffries said, it doesn’t look like what most people would consider a Confederate flag.
“It’s the first national pattern of the Confederate flag,” he said. “It’s not the ‘X’ that you normally see when you think of the flag.”
The flag was carried by the 6th Kentucky Infantry.
“They mustered in Cave City in November 1861. Joseph Lewis raised that regiment from that area and he became a general before the end of the Civil War,” Jeffries said. “He is buried up here in Glasgow in the city cemetery.”
Jeffries has offered to loan the flag to the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center and may talk to other museums about displaying.
Jeffries will set up a small period camp near the Floyd Collins pavilion during the Cave City Good Ole Days on Saturday. Visitors will be able to see the flag and learn more about the 6th Infantry Unit.
Jeffries will also be distributing information about the re-enactment unit.
“We are a fairly new unit,” he said. “I’m going to set up one tent and try to bring some stuff with me. We’re trying to get the word out and get more people from the local area to join our unit.”
More information about the 6th Kentucky Infantry can be found by visiting www.6thkentuckyinfantry.org.