Civil War flag coming back to Will County, will be displayed at Joliet museum

JOLIET – A four-year mission to bring a Civil War flag back to Will County has been completed.

The flag of the 100th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was primarily made up of soldiers from Will County, will be part of a special exhibit that starts June 30 at the Joliet Area Historical Museum.

Museum board President Robert Kuzma has been working on the project since 2012.

“It’s an actual artifact of our Civil War heritage in Will County, which was substantial,” Kuzma said Monday. “Probably everyone in the county knew or knew of someone in this regiment.”

The flag is the actual flag carried into battle by the 100th Illinois, Kuzma said.

Kuzma initiated the effort to bring back the flag, which has been located in a Springfield museum. Before it could be moved to Joliet, the silk flag, which is more than 150 years old, needed to be restored to a condition in which it could be put on display.

Kuzma said the flag has been “cleaned, flattened and stabilized as much as possible to make sure no further deterioration occurs.”

The flag, which is 6 feet by 6.5 feet, is at the museum now.

“It’s a very large flag,” said museum Director Greg Peerbolte. “They were large by design. Back before the days of computers, you would have to physically locate your regiment on the field.”

The flag was in the Illinois State Military Museum, where flags are stored from Civil War regiments from across the state.

“They have these flags and are trying to send them back to the communities,” Peerbolte said. “We’re kind of an experimental case for them.”

It cost $25,000, which was generated through fundraising efforts, to restore the flag, so that it was in a condition that it could be brought to Joliet, Peerbolte said.

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KNOW MORE

Visit www.jolietmuseum.org/ to learn more about the Joliet Area Historical Museum