Confederate Personal or Bible flag found with personal belongings of the wife of General John Hunt Morgan; First National pattern, 15 stars; hand sewn silk striped field and blue canton with fourteen embroidered stars encircling a large single star. Red or burgundy silk cord and tassels. 5" x 8 1/2". Circa 1862. Housed in a contemporary shadowbox. Note: This flag is documented and photographed in the book, CIVIL WAR FLAGS OF TENNESSEE, by Stephen D. Cox, with commentary from Cox stating it is of a similar pattern to that of Morgan's brigade. (Pictured as Plate #154 and documented on page 540). Provenance: This flag was found in a box containing 4 envelopes addressed to General John Hunt Morgan and his wife, Mattie Ready Morgan, which are included with this lot. 1st envelope: addressed to Mrs. M.R. (Mattie Ready) Morgan, Murfreesboro, TN, postmarked Vicksburg, Mississippi, November 23. 2nd envelope: addressed to Genl. John H. Morgan, McMinnville, Tenn., postmarked Atlanta, GA (date illegible, possibly March, with two CSA five-cent Jefferson Davis blue stamps). 3rd envelope addressed to Mrs. Genl. Jno. H. Morgan, care of Hon. C.W. Ready, Murfreesboro Tenn, postmarked Abingdon, VA, Feb. 7. 4th envelope: addressed to Mrs. Jno. H. Morgan, Murfreesboro Tenn., postmarked Memphis (?) Tenn., __ 28. All with 3 cent US Washington rose stamps except as noted. Biography: Known as "the Thunderbolt of the Confederacy," John Hunt Morgan was born in Alabama but is most closely associated with Kentucky. He equipped a militia company, known as the "Lexington Rifles," out of his own pocket and led them to Bowling Green at the start of the war to join forces with General Buckner. Morgan was made a colonel in 1862 and fought at Shiloh before being attached to Joseph Wheeler's division in General Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee. However, Morgan frequently defied orders and struck out on his own across "enemy" lines, destroying railroad and telegraph lines, seizing supplies and taking prisoners. In 1862, his marriage to Mattie Ready Morgan was regarded as the social event of the year in Confederate circles. Mattie Ready was the daughter of a successful Murfreesboro, TN mayor and U.S. Representative (before the war); she attended Soule College in Murfreesboro and the Nashville Female Academy. John Hunt Morgan's most ambitious raid began in 1863, when against Bragg's explicit orders, Morgan and his 2,400 men crossed the Ohio River and rode over a thousand miles to terrorize the defenses of Southern Indiana and Ohio. Bragg was captured and sent to prison in Columbus, but escaped and made his way back to Confederate lines. In 1864 he set out to attack the largely pro-Union city of Knoxville, Tennessee, but was caught in a surprise attack in Greeneville and shot to death by a Union private who had once served under him. His death left Mattie Ready Morgan a pregnant widow after only 630 days of marriage. Source: Stephen Cox, "Civil War Flags of Tennessee"; and The American Battlefield Trust.

Flag is in fragile condition with losses and full separation to white stripe and significant fraying to top red stripe along line where the flag was folded in half. Fading, particularly to red stripes, and scattered light grime/discoloration, particularly to white stripe. Tiny hole to blue canton. Tiny holes to lower red stripe and scattered small spots of light discoloration.