The Regimental Colors of the 11th PA Cavalry Regiment |
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| Source: Advance the Colors! Pennsylvania Civil War
Battle Flags by Richard A. Sauers, Capitol Preservation Committee (CPC), Harrisburg, PA. |
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| Special thanks to the Southern Chester County Republican Women's Council for contributing $1,000 towards the conservation of the 11th PA Cav's Regimental colors under the CPC's flag sponsorship program. | |
| You can visit the CPC in Harrisburg, PA and view the 11th PA Cav's Regimental Colors by appointment. Professional photos are also available. I highly recommend the book. | |
| The study of Union battle flags can be a little confusing. Words such as Colors, Standard and Flag are used interchangeably. Technically, a color is the flag of a military unit. A standard is type of flag carried by cavalry units. It is smaller than the colors found in infantry or artillery regiments. Most Pennsylvania cavalry regiments carried the National standard, the State standard, and the Regimental colors. Companies would have carried a company guidon. Pennsylvania battle flags were made of silk with the national or state coat of arms painted on. This did not make for a long-lasting flag. In fact most units replaced their colors at least once during the war. The 11th PA Cav is fortunate that we have our Regimental colors mostly intact. | This is probably due to the colors having been replaced late in the war. Our State standard was lost/stolen in late June 1863. There is no record of the 11th's National standard. Determining what the 11th's company guidons looked like can be a little confusing as well. Initially, Army regulations called for the traditional swallow-tail red and white guidon with the company letter on it. Later on in the war, regulations were changed and company guidons retained their swallow-tail shape but used a stars and stripes pattern instead. To make matters more confusing, in the case of the 11th PA Cav, the only photo we have of a company guidon shows a rectangular U.S. flag with the stars arranged in a circular pattern. |
| Examples of Unit Battle Flags & the 11th PA
Cav Regiment. Colors Source: Advance the Colors! Pennsylvania Civil War Battle Flags by Richard A. Sauers |
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The National Standard There is no record of the 11th PA Cav's. This one belonged to another unit. |
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The State Standard. The 11th PA Cav's was lost or stolen, The one belonged to the 137th Inf Regiment. |
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Our Regimental Colors 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment (108th Volunteers) |
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Company B's guidon.(Nonstandard) Private collection. |
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Early Army regulation type cavalry company guidon with Pennsylvania coat of arms. This one belonged to Co. G, 1st Cav. |
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Later Army regulation type cavalry company guidon. This one belonged to Co. E, 6th Cav. |
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This page was last updated 09/06/01 |