34 Norto Caroumna Troops, 1861-’65.

Soon thereafter, in front of Petersburg, the regiment be-
came severely engaged with the enemy and suffered heavy
loss. The flag several times fell, as its bearers were shot
down in quick succession. Tilman seized it and again car-
ried it to the front. It was but an instant and he, too, fell.
As one of his comrades stooped to raise the flag again, the
dying soldier touched him, and in tones made weak by the
approach of death, said: “Tell the General I died with the
flag.” The tender memories and happy associations connected
with his boyhood’s home faded from his vision as he rejoiced
in the consciousness that he had proved himself worthy of
the trust which had been confided to him.

The old battle flag of the regiment tattered and torn by ball
and shell, its staff riddled, and its folds in shreds, was pre-
sented to Mrs. Della Worth Bingham, wife of Captain Robert |
Bingham, Company G, by the Major commanding, as a
_ mark of respect and esteem in behalf of officers and men to a
woman who had won their affectionate regard, and whose hus-
band had ever followed it with fidelity and fortitude upon
every field where it waved. Captain Bingham, whose home
is in Asheville, N. C., still has it in his possession.

Its folds shall become mouldy with the lapse of years. The
time will come when the Civil War shall only be remembered —
as a shadow of days long passed, but the memories of the
great deeds of the sons of Carolina who followed that flag,
and who sleep in unknown graves upon the fields of Northern
Virginia, shall survive unshaken amidst the ruins of time.

Cuas. M. Stepman.
GreeEnszoro, N. C., \
Aprit 9, 1901.