The Regimental and National Colors

A Regular Army Regiment of Artillery was authorized two flags (or colors), a regimental flag and a national flag.

The regimental colors represented the unit.  The 4^th U.S. Field Artillery Regimental Colors looked like this.

The national colors represented the United States.  The National Colors for the 4^th U.S. Field Artillery looked like this.

These two colors remained with regimental headquarters.  They rarely took the field, and were almost never present at a battle.  This is because the regiment was never all in one place during the Civil War.  The colors were use for ceremonies and parades.

The Guidon

The Guidon was carried with the individual batteries.  Each guidon was unique to the battery, however each followed the same basic design.  To identify the battery, the regimental number is on top of the crossed cannons, and the battery letter (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M) is underneath.  There were 12 guidons, one for each battery in the regiment.  The guidon for Battery B of the 4^th U.S. Light Artillery looked like this.