Last modified: 2015-04-04 by rick wyatt
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I have done some degree of research on the CS Marine Corps. I can find no evidence of any flag specifically attributed to them.
The Marine Corps for the most part served in small detachments on ships and at various shore installations. The only time I can discover that they went into battle under circumstances that warranted carrying colours was in 1865. When Richmond and
Petersburg were evacuated, sailors and marines were organized into a Naval Brigade under the command of Commodore Tucker, and attached to the Army of Northern Virginia. They were likely issued a standard Army of Northern Virginia battle flag, issued by the army's Richmond Clothing Depot. Tucker's Naval Brigade was engaged, and among the troops captured, at the Battle of Saylor's Creek, shortly before the surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox Court House.
The naval and marine personnel that made up the James River Fleet were also organized into a brigade under the command of Admiral Raphael Semmes. They accompanied President Davis as far as Danville, Virginia, and afterwards went to
North Carolina, where they came under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston of the Army of Tennessee. That unit also probably used a Richmond Depot battle flag.
The only other information I can find about marine units indicates that they served under the ships ensigns or garrison flags of the posts to which they were assigned.
Devereaux Cannon, 3 June 2002
The only CS Marines flag I know of - attributed to the detachment on the CSS Nansemond - is indeed a Richmond Depot ANV battle flag. This is in private hands today.
Greg Biggs, 4 June 2002
