5th Texas Regiment Flag

[CoB4thTEXAS]

The Confederate Veteran Vol. Xi

FIFTH TEXAS REGIMENT FLAG.

Mrs. M. J. Young was a daughter of Col. N. Fuller, of Houston, Tex., and was a loyal daughter of the South. Hers was a life of service, and she sacrificed it in the sacred office of ministering to the sick during a yellow fever epidemic. The following letter is the outcome of the return of the Fifth Regiment flag to Mrs. Young, its donor, in 1864:

THE FIFTH REGIMENT OF TEXAS VOLUNTEERS.
HEADQUARTERS FIFTH TEXAS REGIMENT,
NEAR RICHMOND, VA., Jan.14, 1865.



To the Editor of the [Richmond] Wig:

Enclosed I send you for publication a letter written by Mrs. M. J. Young, of Houston, Texas., to the officers and men of the Fifth Texas Regiment upon the receipt of a battle flag sent to her by the command. Mrs. Young made and presented the flag to this regiment in June 1862 and after it had withstood the clash of arms on many and memorable battlefields, and had become but a worn and tattered remnant of an ensign, it was returned to her by the regiment. By giving the letter publicity in your valuable journal, you will confer a great. favor upon the soldiers of this regiment.

W. P. McGowan, Adit. Fifth Regt., Texas Volunteer Inf.


Houston, Tex., November, 1864.

My Dear Brothers [Soldiers and officers of the Fifth Regiment of Hood’s Texas Brigade]:

I received front Capt. Farmer the letter and the worn and battle-torn flag you did me the honor to send. Words are totally inadequate to express my feelings. The 8th of October will ever be remembered by me as the proudest of my life, yet mingled with the deepest sadness; for more eloquent than speech, more powerful than Caesar’s gaping wounds, was the story told by its blood-stained, weather-beaten, and bullet-scarred folds.

The weary march, the aching feet and throbbing brow, the cold bivouac, the lonely picket, the perilous scout, the gloomy hospital, the pride and pomp of battle array, the shock of arms, the victory, and, O, those silent, nameless grass grown mounds, strewn from Richmond to Gettysburg, from Chickamauga and Knoxville to the Wilderness and Petersburg - mounds whose shadows rest cold and dark upon a thousand hearts and homes in our once bright and happy Texas. All these came rushing thick and trooping over heart and brain; and, clasping the blood-banner to my heart, with a burst of tearful anguish, I could not but exclaim: '0 that my eyes were a fountain of tears, that I might weep over the slain of my people!

Maximilian's august dame felt not half the pride and delight when upon her brow was placed the glittering crown of the empire of Mexico that I do in being made the custodian of your flag. It shall be preserved as long as one of my name or blood exists. And when my son and younger brother gird them for the strife, I shall place the Bible and that flag before them, and on those swear them to fidelity to God and our Confederacy, to Liberty and Truth; and, invoking the benediction and guardianship of heaven, and the noble army of martyrs-swelled to countless number by the slain of our Southland-deem them fully panoplied and armed for the Battlefield of armies, Or the battlefield of life."

You bid me "hang the flag upon the outer walls," to strike terror to the hearts of the cowards skulking at home. Ah! my noble brothers of the Fifth, if the sable-clad forms of the mourning women and children, if the numberless maimed soldiers who greet us at every turn, if the cold contempt of proud beauty's eye, the averted faces of our gray-haired sires, if the form of the Confederacy, beleaguered with foes and bleeding at every vein, strike no remorse and inspire no patriotic deeds, think you this flag will? They are joined to their idols-money-making and selfish ease-so we will let them alone, hoping for the day soon to come when you shall return and scourge them from the land. If honor or peace or safety were depending upon them, we would long ago have worn the Yankee yoke and eaten the bread of slaves.

But, thank God, our liberties have not been in their keeping, but in theirs who sprung to arms as the first gun from Sumter awoke the echoes of the South, and well have you proved yourselves worthy of the task. You have saved us (under God) from destruction, and made our name the most glorious on earth. Already we see the dawning of the day star of peace, and no men have so contributed to its rising as 'the soldiers under Lee.' With a worshipful love and enthusiasm our State contemplates the deeds of Hood's Brigade. From the first hour that you drew your battle blades, Glory adopted you as her own; and Fame, plucking the brightest star from her crown, placed it on your banner, and the world has watched it since, growing in magnificence and brilliancy even in the forefront of conflict, gleaming like a Pharos of hope and success over the black sod Surging billows of a hundred battles.

Methinks in ages to come, should our beloved land he called to pass through another long and bloody struggle like this, that the old, worn, and tattered banner of the Fifth will be taken like the 'heart of Bruce' along to the field, aid when numbers overwhelm and all seems lost, they will fling it to the breeze, knowing that powel; almost to waken the dead, lives in its heart-stirring folds, and that its faded cross and bloodstained Stars will call to them like a clarion to rise and strike, to be worthy of being the countrymen and descendants of 'The Old Texas Brigade."

You ask that I shall, with it, wave you a welcome when you return. Ah! the very thought of that return thrills me with emotion. I weep for joy. The day so long looked for, so long delayed, so sought for at God's throne, day and night, by a thousand grief-worn, anxious hearts in that day how doubly sacred shall this flag seem, when, with tearful eyes, we shall speak of the noble dead who fell bearing it onward! We will remember that-

Never yet was royal banner

Steeped in such a costly dye;

It hath lain on many bosoms

Where no other shroud shall lie.

And this revering them, doubly dear shall be the blessed fruits that their toils and yours have won for us. God in his mercy grant that no more of your numbers shall fall, and that ere many months have rolled away you may crown your muskets with roses, and with your hands playing 'Home, Sweet Home,' turn your feet away from the bloody ground of the old mother State to the quiet hearths and loving hearts in your proud prairie homes. Then will our State rise up to meet you, streets and thoroughfares will be crowded, old men leaning upon their staves, with trembling hands, will shade their eyes to better behold the warriors who have won such imperishable renown, such good things for the country, as to enable them, when the summons comes, to lay their gray heads calmly down in the grave, feeling that all is well in the land that you defended. In the name of the God of Israel, they will bless you. Matrons, feeling nobler than the grandest old Roman mothers will hail you as sons. Young men will say; 'They are my countrymen,' and will grow braver and purer and nobler with the thought. Young maidens, blushing at the very excess of their enthusiasm and admiration, will wave you a loving welcome of smiles and tears. Your mothers, wives, sisters – ah! I cannot proceed, my feelings overwhelm me, God hasten the day-hasten the day!

With deep gratitude and affection, honored Fifth Regiment, I remain ever your friend and proud countrywoman.