ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Lynn GAR curator Bob Matthias puts one of the 22 Civil War flags from the GAR in a truck headed for the State House in Boston.
By THOR JOURGENSEN
LYNN — The curator and historians who maintain the city’s Civil War museum walked in Union Army veterans’ footsteps Tuesday when they participated in a State House ceremony installing battle flags in a place of honor.
Grand Army of the Republic Building curator Robert Matthias, Lynn native and researcher Larry Campbell and Civil War Roundtable of Greater Boston President Dexter Bishop brought 22 replica Civil War-era flags to the State House to re-enact the Dec. 22, 1865 ceremony when battle-scarred veterans returned their flags to Massachusetts’ seat of government.
“Most of the flags were bloodied and battle-torn,” Campbell said.
Some of the uniformed participants in the ceremony depicted soldiers in the 54th Massachusetts — the African-American regiment depicted in the movie, “Glory.” Matthias said photographs of three members of the storied unit hang among photographs of 1,243 Civil War veterans displayed on the GAR building’s meeting hall walls.
Tuesday’s ceremony included a march by participants from Boston Common to the State House, where Sons of Union Veterans members with Bishop in command oversaw the ceremony.
“This is living history,” Matthias said.
Campbell said the ceremony was a chance to appreciate the sacrifices Union Army members made, including Lynn-area residents who fought in the 19th and 34th Massachusetts Regiments. He said veterans attending the original ceremony in 1865 included a soldier who lost both arms to a cannon ball.
“I think back to that day and the guys who came back. They were so proud,” he said.
Matthias said state and federal money paid the roughly $10,000 cost involved in creating historically exact replicas of the original battle flags. The restoration work took several months.
Once a meeting place for more than 2,000 Civil War veterans who fought for the North between 1861 and 1865, the Grand Army building became city property in 1919 and evolved into a museum after aging Civil War veterans held their final meetings in the post in the 1930s.
The building’s display rooms are filled with Civil War military uniforms and weapons, as well as books, with researchers and student groups taking advantage of the historical treasures.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected]
