SF 1282

as introduced - 82nd Legislature (2001 - 2002) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             urging the Minnesota Historical Society to keep the 
  1.3             Confederate battle flag in Minnesota. 
  1.4      
  1.5      WHEREAS, the battle flag of the 28th Virginia Infantry 
  1.6   Regiment was captured by the soldiers of the First Minnesota 
  1.7   Infantry on July 3, 1863, during the Battle of Gettysburg, in 
  1.8   the assault known today as Pickett's Charge; and 
  1.9      WHEREAS, the charge of the First Minnesota at Gettysburg, 
  1.10  in which its 262 men took on six times their number, was among 
  1.11  the state's proudest moments; and 
  1.12     WHEREAS, Private Marshall Sherman of Company C was awarded 
  1.13  the Congressional Medal of Honor for his part in the capture of 
  1.14  the flag; and 
  1.15     WHEREAS, Sherman properly turned the flag over to the War 
  1.16  Department, and historical evidence suggests that the department 
  1.17  returned the flag to him; and 
  1.18     WHEREAS, after being displayed at Sherman's funeral in 
  1.19  1896, the flag came into the custody of the Minnesota Historical 
  1.20  Society in 1905 and has been continuously in the society's care 
  1.21  since that date; and 
  1.22     WHEREAS, during the ensuing years the question of the 
  1.23  possible return of the flag to Virginia has arisen at various 
  1.24  times, and has recently prompted the issuance of Senate Joint 
  2.1   Resolution No. 196 (February 10, 2000) of the State of Virginia, 
  2.2   which requests and strongly urges the State of Minnesota to 
  2.3   expedite the return of the flag; and 
  2.4      WHEREAS, the Minnesota Historical Society has sought the 
  2.5   opinion of the attorney general on the matter, and that opinion 
  2.6   holds that there is no federal requirement to return the flag, 
  2.7   since the 1905 joint resolution of Congress ordering the return 
  2.8   of captured and inventoried battle flags applies only to those 
  2.9   flags in the custody of the War Department, and the battle flag 
  2.10  of the 28th Virginia Infantry is absent from the department's 
  2.11  1888 list of banners held; and 
  2.12     WHEREAS, the flag is receiving the conservation and 
  2.13  preservation it needs and deserves, and the need for care in 
  2.14  conserving such a fragile textile argues against transporting 
  2.15  the flag unnecessarily; and 
  2.16     WHEREAS, the flags of the Third Minnesota Regiment are, in 
  2.17  all probability, somewhere in Texas, and Minnesota has 
  2.18  considered it appropriate to leave them to those who captured 
  2.19  them in battle; and 
  2.20     WHEREAS, Virginia retains 13 captured Union flags in the 
  2.21  Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.22     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.23  that it urges the Minnesota Historical Society not to return the 
  2.24  flag of the 28th Virginia Infantry Regiment to Virginia but to 
  2.25  keep it in Minnesota. 
  2.26     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.27  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.28  memorial and transmit them to the Minnesota Historical Society, 
  2.29  the Governor of Virginia, the President of the Virginia Senate, 
  2.30  and the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates.