Famous battle flag fetches nearly $1M
Confederate banner used by Jeb Stuart goes to anonymous bidder
12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, December 5, 2006
By KATIE MENZER / The Dallas Morning NewsWhoever bought Gen. Jeb Stuart’s Confederate battle flag last weekend wasn’t just
whistling Dixie.The anonymous bidder shelled out almost $1 million for the 150-year-old piece
of charred and tattered cloth in Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries’ Civil
War auction.At least five people fought over the flag – which had an opening bid
of $300,000 – during the auction held Friday and Saturday in Nashville.The Civil War auction was the most lucrative of its kind in history, auction
officials said. About 900 bidders spent more than $3.9 million on the auction’s
563 Civil War items.Stuart’s flag, which was sewn by his wife and accompanied the famous cavalryman
into battle, fetched $956,000. That price included the 19.5 percent buyer’s
premium, the fee the buyer pays the auctioneer.The flag was saved for posterity only by accident. The banner fell into a campfire
by mistake, and Stuart sent it home to his wife to be mended. Char marks are
visible on the flag.Stuart’s gold spurs – a gift from a group of Confederate-supporting Baltimore
women – also prompted bidders. The spurs sold for $119,500, including
the premium.And a lock of Stuart’s sandy brown hair was bought for $44,812. His wife, Flora,
snipped it from his head on the night he died from battle wounds.Although she had rushed to him through a rainstorm after hearing that he’d
been hurt, she arrived too late to speak to him. Stuart died four hours before
she arrived.So don’t be too grossed out by the artifact – or the price paid for it.
"The story behind it is what added the pathos to it," said Tom Slater,
Heritage’s director of acquisitions.© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co.
