After writing about "rallying around the flags" yesterday, I was surprised to read in this morning's Montgomery Advertiser an article about a Confederate flag being returned to a Georgia fort after it had been in Maine for 150 years.
The Yankee artillery officer that seized it when Fort McAllister, Ga. fell to Sherman, kept it in a box along with a handwritten note that said "to be returned to Savannah or Atlanta sometime". Recently, his great-grandson, Robert Clayton, honored his wishes by donating the flag to the Fort McAllister State Historic Park in coastal Georgia.
"I suspect his ancestor wanted to pay back his former enemies after a Bible taken from him by Confederate troops during the war was returned to him by mail 63 years later", said Clayton. "I think he had a little sympathy for the plight of the Confederates", he added.
Fort McAllister was where the hated Sherman won the final battle of his devastating march to the sea that followed the burning of Atlanta. Taking the fort cleared the way for him to capture Savannah.
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