The Killer Angels

Battle and unit flags were one of the most powerful symbols used during the Civil War and are found throughout the novel as well. One use of the flags is functional as they served as a visual means of communication on the battlefield when bugle calls and vocal commands became impossible to hear. Flags often show where a unit is positioned or approaching, providing information to the commanders in that army or in that of the enemy. For example, when Buford sees the flags of Gamble’s brigade the day before the battle begins, he knows he is facing a much bigger force than he anticipated. This allows him to prepare for a bigger fight knowing the size of the infantry approaching him based on the number of flags it carries. In another instance, a soldier from Illinois sees a flag approaching in the mist on the first day of the battle, alerting Buford’s pickets of the approaching force. Later that day, the narrator says that Lee sees Confederate “flags floating through white smoke, disembodied, like walking sticks” (101), helping him follow the movement of his army.

On Little Round Top, Chamberlain knows that a fellow commander is down because he sees his company’s battle flag fall, and on the final day of the battle, Chamberlain sees General Hancock walking the Union line in front of his corps’ flag. In the calm before the Confederates’ final attack at the end of the third day, Armistead sees his men lying in the tall grass to avoid the Union shells, yet he sees “here and there an officer standing, a color sergeant, the flags erect in the earth” (301). (This example also shows the role of the color bearers of each army. To be a color bearer was a great honor, yet it came with great responsibility and danger. Color bearers could not retreat—for fear that the regiment or unit would follow—and they were often targets of the enemy’s rifles.) Later, Armistead notices the array of battle flags as he watches the mile-long Confederate line approach for their last assault. He sees the men “advancing in superb order, line after line, a stunning sight, red battle flags, row on row” (310).

Another function of flags in the novel is as an expression of pride and honor. One instance occurs when Longstreet reflects on an experience he had with Pickett during the Mexican War. He says that he will “never forget the sight of Pickett with the flag going over the wall in the smoke and flame of Chapultepec” (51). When Reynolds arrives to support and relieve Buford on the first day at Gettysburg, they watch together as “the lovely flags” of the 1st Corps round a bend, a symbol of coming help and unity (88). As he is leading his regiment to Gettysburg, Chamberlain talks to Colonel Vincent, who shows him the new brigade flag. Chamberlain looks at it without a lot of interest because the flag doesn’t mean much yet. It had not seen battle or earned its power and symbolism. Finally, Longstreet observes a flag being used to cover the dead after his division’s assault on the Union flank.

The capturing of a battle flag was a disgrace to the defeated unit and a great moment of pride for the victors. The first of the Confederate flags begin to drop as Armistead makes his final push toward the Union center. He watches the “growing confusion, the flags dropping” and soon realizes that the assault has failed and that they cannot break the Union line (314). After the Confederates begin their retreat, Longstreet watches as his division “come[s] apart as they crossed the road and no order beyond that but black struggling clots and a few flags in the smoke, tilting like sails above a white sea, going down one by one” (317). This image of sinking flags symbolizes the Confederate defeat. Later, Longstreet sees an officer riding along the ridge where the Union line held against the Rebels, surrounded by flags and men. He then sees “a man raise a captured battle flag, blue flag of Virginia” (323). This final image illustrates the depth of meaning flags had both during the Civil War and in the novel. They symbolized pride, honor, and, sometimes, defeat.

The Rebel yell was a Confederate battle cry used to intimidate their enemy and encourage one another when charging in an attack. Although the yell helped to boost the morale of a Confederate unit, it was often terrifying to those on the other side. Buford describes the sound as “unbodied and terrible, inhuman” (84). Lee likewise describes it as the “inhuman screaming of the onrushing dead” (101). When Chamberlain is thick in the defense of Little Round Top, he is alerted to a new Rebel assault. He hears a “weird sound, a wail, a ghost, high and thin. For a vague second he thought it was the sound of a man in awful pain, many men. Then he knew: the Rebel yell. Here they come” (206). This terrifying sound of pain and horror did reflect a gruesome death, as many of the assaulting Rebels would die during the charge. So, while the yell reflects pride and morale, it is followed by violent death for many who produced it.