From immemorial time the armies of every warlike people have set
the highest value upon the standards they bore to battle. To
guard one's own flag against capture is the pride, to capture the
flag of one's enemy the ambition, of every valiant soldier. In
consequence, in every war between peoples of good military
record, feats of daring performed by color-bearers are honorably
common. The Civil War was full of such incidents. Out of very
many two or three may be mentioned as noteworthy.

One occurred at Fredericksburg on the day when half the brigades
of Meagher and Caldwell lay on the bloody slope leading up to the
Confederate entrenchments. Among the assaulting regiments was the
5th New Hampshire, and it lost one hundred and eighty-six out of
three hundred men who made the charge. The survivors fell
sullenly back behind a fence, within easy range of the
Confederate rifle-pits. Just before reaching it the last of the
color guard was shot, and the flag fell in the open. A Captain
Perry instantly ran out to rescue it, and as he reached it was
shot through the heart; another, Captain Murray, made the same
attempt and was also killed; and so was a third, Moore. Several
private soldiers met a like fate. They were all killed close to
the flag, and their dead bodies fell across one another. Taking
advantage of this breastwork, Lieutenant Nettleton crawled from
behind the fence to the colors, seized them, and bore back the
bloodwon trophy.

Another took place at Gaines' Mill, where Gregg's 1st South
Carolina formed part of the attacking force. The resistance was
desperate, and the fury of the assault unsurpassed. At one point