United States Flag Raised Over Alabama Capitol
Apr. 12, 1865
MG J.H.Wilson’s Cavalry Corps raised U.S. flag over Alabama’s and Confederacy’s first Capitol on 4/12/65, three days after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. Wilson had defeated LTG N.B. Forrest’s depleted and vastly outnumbered troops at the Confederate Arsenal city of Selma. Before fleeing Montgomery, BG D.W. Adams, CSA ordered 85,000 bales of cotton and 40,000
bushels of corn set afire to deny them to the Federals. But for the wind’s change and the heroic Montgomery firefighters, the city would have burned. Wilson left Montgomery for Columbus, GA on Friday 4/14/65, the day Lincoln was shot by Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington
Marker can be reached from the intersection of Monroe Street and North Union Street, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
