Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 12.djvu/41

 Flog Presentation to the Wasliingtoji Artillery. 31

wherever he may be, and whatever may have been his fate, and from his children when he will have passed away, a most endeared remembrance and an unbounded gratitude.

Two young ladies of Baltimore, of uncommon beauty and great intellectual attainments — Miss Hettie Carey and her sister. Miss Jen- nie Carey, had been compelled to leave their native State, Maryland by reason of what was termed ^'seditious sentiments and co7iduct;" the plain meaning of which was their outspoken sympathy for the South. After being transferred across the lines, they made their temporary home in Richmond, with a near relative. Miss Constance Carey, formerly of Alexandria, Va., their equal, it appears, in every respect. Being true women of the South, and living as they did in the Confederate capital, they soon became informed of the action taken by Generals Johnston and Beauregard, to procure a battle-flag for our troops. Their programme was adopted at once, and, with busy and skillful hands, cutting up and using their own silk dresses for the purpose, they fashioned the three beautiful banners I have described, which were sent to the three Generals who had most attracted their admiration. The note accompanying this gracious gift — note which unfortunately cannot be found — was written by Miss Hettie Carey, whose fair and nimble fingers had made the flag specially intended for General Beauregard.

What Generals Johnston and Van Dorn did with their flag, I can- not say, though I am sure they valued them much; but I know that General Beauregard, almost religiously preserved his, and looked upon it somewhat in the light of a relic. We have the proof of it before us now, for here is the identical flag given him by Miss Hettie Carey, afterwards the wife of General i-*egram, the heroic Pegram, killed in battle around Petersburg, at the end of the war, leaving to mourn his 'dhtimely death, besides near relatives and comrades in arms, a widowed bride of scarce two weeks' marriage.

After keeping this precious memento a short time at his headquar- ters, at Centreville, where it was greatly admired, and shown as a model for those ordered for the army, General Beauregard finally sent it to New Orleans for security and preservation. When our city fell, in April, 1862, that banner and General Beauregard's swords of honor were conveyed to a French war steamer, then lying in the port, and taken to Havana. There they remained, under the care of a Spanish gentleman known to be in sympathy with the South, until safely re- turned, some three years after the close of the struggle.