Claim:
The state of Minnesota has refused multiple requests from the state of Virginia to return a Confederate battle flag captured during the U.S. Civil War.
Rating:
True ( About this rating? )
For years, a claim has circulated on social media that the state of Minnesota has repeatedly refused requests from the state of Virginia to return a battle flag captured from Confederate troops during the U.S. Civil War .
One example of the alleged story appeared on the Facebook page Best of Minnesota on July 6, 2024. The account posted a photo ( archived ) of children surrounding a display case containing what appeared to be a Confederate battle flag.
(Facebook account Best of Minnesota)
The post's caption read:
Minnesota troops defeated and captured a confederate flag from Virginia troops during the Civil War. To this day, Virginia keeps asking for it back and Minnesota keeps telling those losers they can't have it.
The same claim has frequently appeared on other social media networks, including X ( archived ), Bluesky ( archived ) and Reddit ( archived ), where it has been posted multiple times on the r/todayilearned subreddit.
One such post ( archived ), which was created in 2018 and linked to a blog post ( archived ) making the same claim, read:
TIL Minnesota Has Been Refusing to Return a Captured Confederate Flag to Virginia for More Than a Century.
One commenter quipped in response: "Well, what are the rules for capture the flag?"
In short, the claim is true: A member of the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment did capture the flag from the 28th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment on July 3, 1863, during the Battle of Gettysburg.
The flag is now part of the collection of the Minnesota Historical Society, where it has remained despite the state of Virginia and others making multiple requests to return it.
According to an article published by the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 2017 ( archived ), the MNHS has denied seven separate requests to return the flag — in 1905, 1961, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2013. A representative of the MNHS confirmed the organization had received no additional requests since 2013.
Four of those requests — those made in 1961, 2000, 2003 and 2013 — were made by Virginia governors or legislators, according to the Pioneer Press. Meanwhile, the 1905 request resulted from a nationwide order to return relics captured during the Civil War, the 1998 request was made by a group of Civil War reenactors based in Virginia and the 2002 request came from the U.S. Army's chief of military history.
Although the claim is true, two points of clarification are worth noting.
Flag Is Not the Official National Flag of the Confederacy
First, because the flag is square in shape, it is most accurately described as the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia.
As explained in an article on the website of the American Civil War Museum , the Confederate States of America adopted a national flag that incorporated the iconography of the ANV's battle flag in May 1863, two months before the Battle of Gettysburg.
However, as explained in an entry of the Encyclopedia Virginia , a website operated by Virginia Humanities in partnership with the Library of Virginia, this national flag was rectangular in shape, and the majority of it consisted of a plain white field. An image of what the national flag of the CSA looked like at the time of the Battle of Gettysburg can be seen here , courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica's entry on the history of the flag.
In other words, while the flag at the MNHS was indeed captured from a Confederate soldier, it was not the official national flag of the CSA.
MNHS Owns the Flag, Not the State of Minnesota
Second, the flag is not technically owned by the state of Minnesota. It is owned by the MNHS — although the historical society is closely associated with the state. Describing the exact relationship between the society and the state, an MNHS representative said:
MNHS is a non-profit organization that has had a long-standing partnership with the State of Minnesota since our founding by the MN Territorial Legislature in 1849. We receive significant funding from the state of Minnesota. Our business structure is that of an independent non-profit and, as such, we acquire, own, and steward all of our collections, including the flag. We carry out that work under our statutory obligation to preserve Minnesota history for all Minnesotans now and in the future.
According to group's annual report for 2023, the most recent year available, around two-thirds of the society's operating support comes from the state of Minnesota. This budgetary support means the state of Minnesota does have some degree of sway over the society's policies, which is why Minnesota governors have been involved in some of the decisions not to return the flag.
In 2000, for example, then-Gov. Jesse Ventura was asked whether the state would consider returning the flag to Virginia, to which he responded: "Absolutely not. … Why? I mean, we won," according to a Chicago Tribune report .
Similarly, according to an MPR News report , then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty said of the 2013 request:
I think it would be a sacrilege to return it to them. It was something that was earned through the incredible courage and valor [of] men who gave their lives and risked their lives to obtain it. And as far as I'm concerned, it's a closed subject.
In summary, despite caveats about details of the ownership of the flag and the precise terminology used to describe it, the central claim is true: The state of Virginia has made multiple requests for the flag to be returned, and the state of Minnesota has been involved in denying several of those requests.
Sources:
Clemens, Thomas G. "Confederate Battle Flag." Encyclopedia Virginia, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/confederate-battle-flag/ . Accessed 18 Sept. 2024.
colabadmin. "Myths & Misunderstandings | The Confederate Flag." American Civil War Museum, 9 Jan. 2018, https://acwm.org/blog/myths-misunderstandings-confederate-flag/ .
Collections Record | Minnesota Historical Society. https://collections.mnhs.org/search/collections/record/34df762d-1248-4368-9476-59f2fa2ae85e . Accessed 18 Sept. 2024.
Flag of the Confederate States of America | Facts, Origin, Battle Flag, & Images | Britannica. 12 Sept. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-the-Confederate-States-of-America .
"No, Virginia, There Will Be No Battle Flag for the Gettysburg Anniversary." MPR News, 25 June 2013, https://www.mprnews.org/story/2013/06/25/no-virginia-there-will-be-no-battle-flag-for-the-gettysburg-anniversary .
Press, Rachel E. Stassen-Berger |. Pioneer. "Minnesota Has a Confederate Symbol — and It Is Going to Keep It." Twin Cities, 20 Aug. 2017, https://www.twincities.com/2017/08/20/minnesota-has-a-confederate-symbol-and-it-is-going-to-keep-it/ .
Services, Tribune News. "VENTURA WON'T GIVE FLAG BACK TO VIRGINIA." Chicago Tribune, 29 Feb. 2000, https://www.chicagotribune.com/2000/02/29/ventura-wont-give-flag-back-to-virginia/ .
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