Aiken

[BettyO]

(07-13-2012 01:59 PM)Christine Wrote:  Lindsey, that's what makes him so interesting! All those contradictions - hero, traitor, spy for the Union, spy for the Rebels. . . . Who knows if we'll ever get the real story. But I do agree, he is a tad different from the movie's Freddie. But, even the Baker report is a bit contradictory - why would Baker arrest him in Beauregard's headquarters if he was destroying paper? Wouldn't that be a good thing for him to do? Why arrest him for taking reports of Beauregard's officers IF he was intending to give them to Union officers? How would Baker have known he wasn't, and, again, how did Baker gain entrance to the headquarters himself?

And, nobody answered if the tribunal ever accused Frederick of disloyalty? Does anyone know?

Another Aiken question: Do you think a Confederate officer would possess (and keep) a Union unit flag? I asked my husband if his Georgia/Alabama/North Carolina relatives would have kept something from the Union and he said that he would guess they would have burned it. Even his mom (who has lived most of her adult life out of the south) - has some hard feelings, especially towards Sherman. I just can't imagine her keeping anything that would have been attached to the conquering Northern Army.

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A link to info about the Potter Papers: http://library.indstate.edu/about/units/...f-idx.html

Interesting question, Christine. I know that the North kept a great many Confederate flags AND the Virginia State Flag which flew over the State Capitol Building in Richmond when it was evacuated! That was returned to Virginia about 20 years ago or so. A gentleman in New England had it and it had been in his family for years. His great-great grandfather had taken the flag when the Union army entered Richmond and ran up the Star Spangled Banner.

I could see a southern family perhaps keeping a Union flag which had been captured in battle by one of their ancestors. One never knows about these things --- but I certainly agree about Sherman. That fellow sure liked to play with matches! I have a friend from Atlanta - and one doesn't mention Sherman's name in her presence!