6th Corps Headquarters Guidon

6th Corps Headquarters Guidon

6th Corps headquarters guidon. Swallowtail in shape, blue worsted ties attached flag to staff. Wool on wool, ground plain weave. Applique is a twill weave, red 6 in a cross bonnelly. Date of issue: Post July, 1863. On March 24, 1862 General George B. McClellan issued General Orders No. 102 creating a system of headquarters flags for the Army of the Potomac. The 6th Corps standard in the State House marked the headquarters of Major General John Sedgwick. Quite beloved by his men, "Uncle John" Sedgwick commanded the corps from early 1863 to his unfortunate death by a sharpshooter bullet at Spotsylvania, Virginia on May 9, 1864. Shortly after his fall, "his body was placed under a bower of evergreens . . . his old headquarters flag, was thrown over his face..." Afterwards the wool flag fell into the possession of a member of Sedgwick's staff, James H. Platt. Platt retained the headquarters flag until 1868 when he decided to send it to Peter Washburn, Vermont's Adjutant General during the war, to be presented at the fifth gathering of the Reunion Society of Vermont Officers. Samuel Pingree accepted the flag and with great emotion echoed the sentiments of Platt by stating memories of Sedgwick and the flag.

1863

57 x 65 inches

1870.001.003

Vermont State Curator's Office, 2 Gov. Aiken Avenue,
Montpelier, VT 05633