32 Collections
Symbols of Battle: Civil War Flags
This collection includes flags from several National Park Service sites.
Flags serve many purposes. They symbolize a people and represent national pride. Flags convey a shared history. Over the centuries, military units have carried flags and colors. Colors and flags affirm group identity. They build pride and morale, and represent the group's honor. In battle, flags served as a rallying point when a formation was broken. Troops gathered around the flag to regroup, attack or retreat. Flags marked specific individuals, locations and functions such as hospitals and ambulances.
Infantry regiments regularly held trooping ceremonies. Colors were paraded up and down the line of assembled soldiers to music to make sure the men remembered the colors. A guard of non-commissioned officers usually protected flags and colors. Held in great reverence, a regiment's honor was embodied in its colors. The entire regiment was humiliated if its colors were lost in battle.
From the establishment of the United States Army in 1785, US regular infantry regiments carried colors. Regiments didn't carry the United States flag, as it was felt that no one unit could carry the national honor into battle. By the 1840's, the infantry carried the United States flag with the regimental number or title printed on one of the white stripes. If the flag was lost in battle, only that regiment's honor, and not the national honor, was lost. During the Civil War, a soldier who captured enemy colors or saved his unit's colors frequently was honored. In addition to receiving a medal honor, a soldier was sometimes given a leave of absence. Soldiers who captured enemy colors were often mentioned in dispatches or listed on a role of honor.
The Doughboy Foundation
The Doughboy Foundation supports and encourages planning and execution of programs, projects, and activities commemorating and educating the public on America's role in World War I
The Foundation has as its vision to "Keep Faith with the American Doughboy". Its programs are:
Daily sounding of Taps at the National World War I Memorial.
Providing access to the WWI Memorial via mobile apps.
Organizing signature events to encourage and enhance learning about WWI, "the War that Changed the World".
The Doughboy Foundation worked hand in glove with the US WWI Centennial Commission to make the new National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC a reality. This started with the Memorial's conception in 2014, continuing through an international design competition in 2015, through the design selection in 2016, through a three-year design refinements process involving the Commission of Fine Arts, the National Capital Planning Commission, the National Park Service and other stakeholders.. The result was a final approved design in 2019.
The Foundation also took on the lead role in the raising of the requisite $50 Million for construction and the supervision of the construction between the groundbreaking in late 2019 to the opening of the Memorial to the public on April 16, 2021. Throughout, the Doughboy Foundation has been an integral part of the effort to complete this long-overdue Memorial in the Nation's capitol.
As the WWI Centennial Commission sunsets at the end of September in 2024, the Doughboy Foundation will continue its mission of stewardship for the National WWI Memorial and the remembrance of all those who served and sacrificed in WWI.
The Doughboy Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Not For Profit Foundation established in the District of Columbia.
