Stolen Civil War battle flag recovered

News from Indiana:

A Civil War battle flag stolen more than 20 years ago was returned to the Indiana World War Memorial on Monday, thanks to the keen eye of an auctioneer and a group of FBI agents who track down stolen relics.

Give thanks to the FBI if they manage to track down whoever stole the flag in the first place. Credit for the identification and return is the auctioneer's alone.

The flag of the Evansville-based 25th Indiana Volunteer Regiment disappeared from the memorial about 1985 and had hung in a bank lobby in Fremont, Ind., since 2000. It was rediscovered in September after the bank went out of business. . .

At the time of the flag's theft, in the 1980s, security at the Indiana World War Memorial was lax, Goodwin said, and someone was able to walk off with it. At least two other Indiana battle flags remain missing.

One of Ohio's missing Civil War battle flags was recovered a few months back -- another case of lax custodianship, to the extent that the flag's absence wasn't noted until the man who had bought it brought it to the Ohio Historical Society's attention.

Posted by David on January 30, 2007 2:21 PM