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Civil War flag returned to home state of Maine

The 15th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment carried it into battle in 1863, and it later became the first Union flag to fly over Texas shores during the war.
Credit: Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald
Lee Humiston of the Maine Military Museum receives flag from the Civil War that he says was the first to fly over Texas shores. The flag belonged to Major James H. Whitmore of the Fifteenth Maine Regiment.

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — An American flag that a Maine regiment brought into battles in Louisiana and Texas during the Civil War has returned to its home state.

The Portland Press Herald reports the torn and tattered 156-year-old flag has been delivered in a wooden frame to the Maine Military Museum in South Portland.

The flag will be on display as part of an exhibit on the 15th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

The regiment carried it into battle in 1863, and it later became the first Union flag to fly over Texas shores during the war.

The flag had been stored for years at the home of a Colorado woman who was married to the regiment commander's great-grandson.

The woman donated the flag after her husband's death five years ago.

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