Northwest Territory Saves Another Historic Battle Flag

National battle flag of the 1^st Michigan Infantry

NWT Commander Ed Walters, Army Command Historian Adam Betz,

Save the Flags Director Matt VanAcker, 1^st Michigan Commander Bruce Miller

Northwest Territory Saves Another Historic Battle Flag

By Bruce W. Miller

N-SSA Public Information Officer

Every year the unit commanders of the North-South Skirmish Association’s Northwest Territory (NWT) identify a historically-based 501c3 organization and donate $1,000 to that cause.  Past donations have gone to the Gettysburg Foundation, Civil War Trust, American Civil War Museum at Tredegar, Ohio Historical Museum and Detroit’s Historic Fort Wayne where many Michigan regiments were mustered into service.  For 2026, the NWT again approved the State of Michigan’s Save the Flags project.  Based on unit seniority, NWT commanders selected a flag of the 1^st Michigan Veteran Volunteer Infantry for adoption. 

Those adopted flags are honored in a special ceremony.  The State Director and Curator of the Save the Flags project, Matt VanAcker, attended the regional skirmish at Laingsburg, Michigan on July 26, 2026.  A Legislative Tribute signed by the Governor along with a photograph of the adopted battle flag was presented to 1^st Michigan commander Bruce Miller.  The NWT will again be added to the Roll of Honor plaque displayed in the flag exhibit area at the Michigan Historical Center at the capitol complex in Lansing.  Previously, the NWT has adopted flags of the 4^th, 5^th, 19^th and 24^th Michigan Infantry regiments and Battery C, Michigan Light Artillery.  The ceremony also included a special guest, Adam Betz, the Command Historian of the Michigan National Guard.  Betz presented NWT Regional Commander Ed Walters with a Department of the Army Certificate of Appreciation.  He spoke about how many of the units the NWT regiments can trace their Civil War formation to today’s Michigan Army National Guard.

Save the Flags is Michigan’s project to preserve, research and display 240 battle flags carried by Michigan soldiers in the Civil War, Spanish-American War and World War I.  One of the projects great successes has been its “adoption” program.  For a donation of $1,000 individuals, families, organizations, schools and communities help with the preservation, research and display of the flags by “adopting” flags in the collection.  To date, over 150 flags, mostly from the Civil War, have been adopted, providing the project with much needed funds.  Adoptions also help preserve history by commemorating particular regiments and individuals.  Adoptions are often made in the name of the original regiment which carried that flag into battle or adopted in the name of a veteran by his descendants.