Wrentham Man Seizes Historic Flag

One of the emblems which has been placed in the naval headquarters at Camp Mathew E. Emory is a United States flag taken from the Black Warrior in the fight at Elizabeth City on February 10 1862, at the mouth of the Dismal Swamp Canal. The Black Warrior was a small schooner carrying two thirty-two pounders and she was eventually burned. The flag was found by William F. Gragg of Wrentham, who was an officer aboard the Whitehead, which gave chase to the Black Warrior. He was ordered by Commander Rowan to board the Black Warrior, put out the fires, move her to deep water and take charge. He boarded the schooner, but had no means to put out the fires that had already started. He looked around and the flag was the one thing that caught his gaze. He took the flag, but forgot to report it. Mr. Gragg served as watch officer on the General Putnam and the Young Rover and the flag with it's 32 small stars and one large star in the center flew from the peak of these vessels after he had captured it. The flag has been in the possession of Captain Gragg until the present time, it has been carried in many GAR parades, has been used to decorate many churches, halls and figured in Fourth  of July celebrations. The flag is somewhat of a curiosity, because it must have been made by hand and not by a government manufacturer, as its stars are not symmetrical, which had been the rule for government flags since 1818.  After the war Gragg became a harness maker and lived on Franklin Street. JJM