Hood’s Brigade 4th Texas Infantry 3×5 Battle Flag

The 4th Texas was one of three Texas infantry Regiments (the 1st, 4th, and 5th) that mainly made up the famed “Hood’s Texas Brigade” which was formed in Richmond in 1861 and named after General John Bell Hood. The 4th Texas Infantry regiment was assembled in Richmond Virginia from 10 companies of 1187 men who had traveled 2000 miles east from Texas to join the conflict. This design was based upon the First National Flag of the Confederacy, with the differences being one larger star inside a circle of ten stars, the single larger star representing Texas. Also “Victory or Death” was inscribed upon the white bar towards the fly-end of the flag. This 1st National style was one of two different style flags the 4th Texas carried throughout the course of the war, the other one being a square battle flag modeled after the standard issue Army of Northern Virginia “ANV” flag. It is not clear exactly which campaigns the 1st National style flag was used in or what happened to the flag after the war, but the 1st and 5th Texas infantries also had a Texas flag carried by the 1st and a 1st National style flag carried by the 5th in addition to the standard issue ANV flags that were used in battle. The 4th Texas fought the entire war attached to Hood’s Texas Brigade alongside the 1st and 5th Texas infantries starting with the Battle of Eltham’s Landing all the way through Appomattox. They saw heavy action all throughout the Peninsula Campaign, Second Bull Run, and Antietam, where they suffered their heaviest losses while fighting in the “corn field”. They also sustained heavy losses at Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg. General Longstreet’s Corps (to which Hood’s Texas Brigade was assigned) was sent to the western theatre where they joined General Braxton Bragg and the Army of Tennessee and fought in the battles of Chickamauga and Wauhatchie before returning to Virginia and rejoining General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Hood’s Texas Brigade continued to serve and fight in all of the major battles in the eastern theatre including the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, and St. Petersburg just to name a few. When General Lee surrendered at Appomattox, the 4th Texas had only 15 officers and 143 enlisted men fit for duty. During the entire course of the war, 1343 men served in the 4th Texas Infantry Regiment. 256 were killed, 486 were wounded (some more than once), 162 were captured, 161 died of disease, 251 were discharged for illness, and 51 deserted.

This is a reproduction of the 4th Texas Infantry flag. The actual dimensions are not exactly the same as the original flag. The artwork is visible on both sides. The lettering reads right on one side only.