Divided Loyalties

Divided Loyalties. A U.S. Flag Goes South. During the Civil War, some Westminster families supported the Confederacy while others stood by the Union. Among the latter was Mary Ann “Mollie” Huber, who organized a dozen other like minded ladies into a sewing circle that met at her house. Together, they sewed a large United States flag and embroidered their names across the stars (Mollie Huber’s name was on the central star). The flag was flying atop the courthouse cupola on June 29, 1863, when news arrived that “The Rebels are coming!” Abraham Huber, Mollie’s husband, had the flag immediately hauled down and hidden in the courthouse’s fireproof vault for safekeeping., After the cavalry engagement that ensued in Westminster’s streets with the 1st Delaware Cavalry, Gen. J.E.B. Stuart learned of the flag and its location from Southern sympathizers. His interest piqued, he ordered Capt. John Esten Cooke, the noted author, to remove the flag from the vault. Cooke later wrote that he “got a candle and axe, broke open vault of Clerks office by hewing out bricks from the iron staple of lock, and I grabbed the flag…which has been sent to Richmond.”, Efforts to have this spoil of war returned to Westminster began after the war and continued into the 20th century, but to no avail., (Sidebar): Among the shattered equipment from the Gettysburg battlefield that lined the street in front of you was a cannon that became famous as the “Gettysburg Gun.” On July 3rd, this piece from Battery B, 1st Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteer Light Artillery – stationed on Cemetery Ridge – sustained damage when a Confederate shell lodged in its barrel. Westminster residents vividly recalled seeing the gun on Court St. among the many that passed through Westminster on their way to repair shops. The Gettysburg Gun – with the shell still lodged in its barrel – is now at the Rhode Island statehouse.