On May 26, 1865, General Joseph Orville Shelby and several hundred of his men of the Iron Brigade crossed the Rio Grande River into Mexico. After four long years of battle and hardship during the War for Southern Independence, these brave men refused to surrender to the forces of the Federal government.
Upon crossing the Rio Grande, General Shelby ordered that the unsurrendered Brigade flag be weighted with stones and thrown into the river as he wanted to offer his men's services to Emperor Maximillian of Mexico, but not as Confederate soldiers.
Private Jarrett Todd of Company B, 4th Missouri Cavalry later retrieved the large silk flag from its watery grave. His descendants donated the flag to the Oklahoma State Historical Society museum on April 1, 1938, where it is still on display there today.
General Shelbys Flag is the camp flag of the Private John Slagle SCV Camp #1972.
The flag on the left side of our home page is the Missouri Battle Flag. The flag on the right side of our home page is General Earl Van Dorn's Battle Flag. Private John Slagle fought proudly under all three flags.
There will always be a special place in our hearts for the flag and the men that NEVER surrendered.
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