In June, 2006, several battle flags taken by Tarleton in various skirmishes were put up for sale at Sotheby's in New York, and sold to an anonymous buyer for $17.4 million. These flags were captured at Poundridge and Waxhaws, and taken to England as battle prizes. They remained in the possession of the Tarleton family, and until to their recent sale belonged to Captain Christopher Tarleton Fagan, a former officer of the Grenadier Guards who is Ban Tarleton's 4-x-great nephew. According to an article in the London Daily Telegraph, Capt. Fagan decided to sell the items because "their value is such that one can no longer afford to insure them."¹

The auction took place June 14, 2006, at Sotheby's in New York City. David Redden, Vice-Chairman of Sotheby's, arranged the sale. He noted that the Tarleton family had taken particularly good care of the flags, leaving them in far better condition than most of the (few) others which survive. They were never placed on public display while in the possession of the Tarleton/Fagan family. Predictions were that the flags would fetch £2.3-5.8 million, i.e. $4-10M US. As it turned out that estimate was massively conservative.

There was quite a bit of newspaper coverage on the event, and much of it can probably still be found if you hunt around on the Net. While I was checking it out, I stumbled over is a write-up on "House Joint Resolution No. 106" in the Virginia Legislature, which was just so bizarre that I'd assume it's a joke if it weren't filed on an official website. Some oddster (and it may be someone named "Morgan", which would be supremely ironic, though I'm not quite sure how to read the thing) apparently decided that Capt. Fagan ought to have simply given them back, and was so set on this notion that he took it to the legislature. Behold, your tax dollars being put to work as usefully as ever...

Anyhow, such peripheral lunacy aside, it will be interesting to see where the flags end up. In all the post-auction coverage I've read, the buyer was not named. Hopefully, they will end up somewhere we can visit, though that does seem rather questionable now.

David Redden kindly provided the accompanying images, which will be of interest to flag buffs. To view any of the images full-sized, just click on the accompanying thumbnails.

 
[Thanks to David Redden for information and images, and to Elizabeth Gibbons, Don Hagist and others who made sure I was tuned-in to the sale. ]

Notes:

¹ Will Bennett, "Battle Flag Captured by Bloody Ban Return," London Daily Telegraph, 22 Nov 2005. Online version, accessible as of 05 Feb 2006. [ back ]