""Flanker flags" how were they used?" Topic

Hi everyone;
I've been researching the 43rd NY Volunteer Infantry Regiment and I came across and image of "Flanker flags".
I've never heard of that kind of flag and am thinking that maybe they were carried by a member of the regiment to identify the extreme right and left of the unit.
Does that sound right?
Where they used in battle?
Thanks
Joe

Joe:
Their use is described in Hardee adn Casey to name a few of the places you can read about them

Yes, they were used to not only mark the right and left of the unit during movement, but to help the line remain aligned on the regulating unit. [Which would be on the right, left or middle with the main colors.

The same system was used during the Napoleonic wars and earlier. It wasn't something that was used by all units all the time.

Here is the 43rd NY:

link

Here are some other NY examples:

link

link

link

link

Like camp colors, there was a plethora of designs.

Thanks MacLaddie and 79th PA for the great info.
The links furnished by the 79thPA was the same site I found the flanker flags of the 43rd on, but I hadn't looked at the other regiments.
I have family and friends from the Saratoga NY area, I will share the pics with them.
Good gaming;
Joe

Yup. They were known as "Right & Left General Guides".

When the command "Forward" was given, the two general guides, as well as the color guard, stepped forward 6 paces. When the command "March!" was given they stepped forward, along with the regiment, and the regiment maintained it's alignment and distance from them. When halting, the guides and color guard moved back into the line.

Also, when the unit was preparing to fire, the color guard and guides all stepped BACK onto the line of file closers.

Every regiment had these, and many of them were made like a cavalry guidon, but with the pattern of the national colors. In other words, a swallow-tail national flag, with the stars in a circle, and the unit's name painted upon the center stripe.

Here's an example of one for the 51st PVI. Like all the others, this one is made from silk, with the stars and lettering applied by hand with oil-based gold paint.

Yes, TKindred has it correct. The General Guides were sergeants and chosen for their good marching ability. Consistency of step, and maintaining their direction were critical since the regiment was keying its movements to them.

TKindred's description is for their use when in line of battle. The general guides also had functions when the regiment was in a column. Depending whether the 'guide' was right or left, one the general guides would be at the head of the column and the guiding company sergeants would align themselves behind him.

Wow, I am seeing more and more good and belivable information about how ACW units conducted and regulated themselves on the battlefield. My picture is that they had flags in the center and the flanks, the colonel with bugles (for orders) and maybe drums (for setting the pace of resultant continuing action) behind the line and NCO & leutenant file closers behind the line. It was NOT a colonel with the regimental flag in the center, at the front waving his sword and leading the men onward….Maybe everyone else already knew this and have been keeping quiet.

Great feedback everyone;
Thanks;
Joe

My picture is that they had flags in the center and the flanks, the colonel with bugles (for orders) and maybe drums (for setting the pace of resultant continuing action) behind the line and NCO & leutenant file closers behind the line. It was NOT a colonel with the regimental flag in the center, at the front waving his sword and leading the men onward…

Pretty much true except for the bugles for orders. Imagine trying to remember even ten separate orders by different tunes the bugler played… That is not the basic method for giving orders. The colonel or brigadier for that matter, voiced the order to the regulating company or regimental commander, which was then repeated by all officers in the other companies and regiments, shouting down the line. Much faster than a messengers. This could create problems. On the second day of Gettysburg, Kershaw split his brigade into two wings. At one point Kershaw gave orders to the wing he was with, and the other wing, hearing the orders shouted out, thought they applied to them too and the wing marched directly into Union guns.

The basic rule was: Follow the directing/guide/regulating unit. Standard practice from ancient times through to the Napoleonic and ACW.

Except that regiments, batteries and squadrons CONSTANTLY trained to respond to bugle commands. Initial training WAS given by word of mouth so that the men understood what the command/tune meant. Once they were proficient in the maneuver, they were taught the bugle command/tune for it and from that point on, it was how they were drilled.

Bugles were consistently used upon the field of battle because it was the one command you could almost always hear over musketry, artillery, etc.

Were mistakes made? certainly they were, but the whole " The colonel or brigadier for that matter, voiced the order to the regulating company or regimental commander, which was then repeated by all officers in the other companies and regiments, shouting down the line." is a reenactorism made common at events by a misunderstanding/misreading ove the manuals. In those various tomes, when a command is given by the regimental commander, it is only to be repeated by the individual company officers in a quiet, hushed manner, and then only if the men have failed to adequately hear the commanding officer's voice.

The embarrassing situation which we hear at reenactments is more like a confederate remedial command school, where every self-appointed stripe-wearing individual considers it his personal responsibility to repeat loudly (and often poorly) whatever commands they may overhear when not conversing with their filemates.

Soldiers were to keep quiet in the ranks at all times, so that they could hear whatever commands came down to them. But, even in the smaller units, when under fire it was virtually impossible to hear the commanding officer's voice, and thus bugles were commonly and consistently employed to pass commands.

V/R

As far as war-gaming, the common error seen is to have the regimental flag at the front of a regiment in column. If any flag, it will be the small guide flag. In general, the large regimental and national flag always marks the center rally point of the regiment.

^^ But it is an easy way to tell where one regiment starts and another ends.

Bugle calls could be used for some commands, but not all. Some of the more complicated formation changes (such as "Close column, by company, on the first company, right in front, battalion right face, march!") have no corresponding bugle calls :)

@EJNashill, the position of the colors in the column will vary depending on the type of column. A typical march column will have the colors in the center, with a guidon at front and rear. A column of companies or division would be similar. But a double column will have the colors at the front center.