Captain Christopher Fagan at the auction (photo by Scott Miskimon)

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.

Re-enactors saluting the colors at the auction (photo by Scott Miskimon)

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. Hopefully, they will end up somewhere on public display, though that does seem rather questionable now. A correspondent of mine, knowledgable in the antiquities industry, believes the anonymous buyer to be a collector who keeps his purchases strictly private. Too bad, after all the hype about them finally coming "home."

David Redden kindly provided the following images of the flags themselves, which will be of interest since they are considerably larger than most of the published photos. To view any of the images full-sized, just click on the accompanying thumbnails.

Scott Miskimon has also sent along some photos which he took at the auction itself. He has written an article on the sale, including an interview with Captain Fagan, which appears in the Summer 2006 issue of Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. (See the links page for a connection to the newsletter archives.)

 
[Thanks to David Redden for information and images, Scott Miskimon for the auction photos, 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 ]