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One of North Carolina’s most famous flags soon will be publicly displayed for the first time since Union forces captured it nearly 150 years ago at the Battle of Gettysburg.

A group of Civil War re-enactors has agreed to raise the money needed to conserve the battle flag of the 22nd N.C. Regiment, which included men from Guilford, Randolph and Caswell counties.

Lost during Pickett’s Charge on July 3, 1863, the flag has been kept in storage at the North Carolina Museum of History for more than 100 years, but hasn’t been displayed because of its condition.

“We want to feel like we are not just out there re-creating battles,” said Skip Smith of Lenoir, commander of the 26th N.C. re-enactors group. “We can make a difference and help our own state museum.”

Since 2004, the 300 plus members of the 26th have raised more than $65,000 to place battlefield monuments as well as conserve four of the museum’s collection of Civil War battle flags.

The conservation of the 22nd flag, which will take nearly a year and cost $6,400, is part of the museum’s Adopt-An-Artifact program, an effort that allows residents to make tax-deductible contributions that will help protect some of the state’s most valuable treasures.

Museum officials estimate they have hundreds of objects — flags, paintings, furniture, uniforms, sculptures, quilts — that need hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of conservation work.

“With the budget crunch, they don’t have the money to conserve any of these items,” said Smith, a middle school teacher. “That’s another reason we are there to help them out.”

Museum officials say Smith’s group has led the way in raising money for conservation.

“These are not a bunch of yahoos,” said Tom Belton, the museum’s curator of military history. “They have a great love and appreciation for North Carolina’s involvement in the Civil War. They are certainly the regiment most involved in historic preservation.”

Smith said his group wants to help conserve one flag a year.

To promote efforts to conserve the 22nd flag, Smith has sent posters and brochures to historic sites across the state, but most of the money will be raised through raffles held by the re-enactors.

The group selected the 22nd flag after a News & Record story on the tattered wool banner appeared July 3, 2008. After the story ran, the museum received more than $500 in donations from readers, but not nearly enough to pay for the conservation.

“I said, 'We need to finish that flag,’” Smith said. “We love the history of the 22nd.”

Organized July 11, 1861, in Raleigh, the 22nd consisted of nearly 1,000 men from Guilford and several other counties from the western half of the state.

By the time the regiment reached Gettysburg, the unit had fought in a dozen battles.

On July 1, 1863, the first day of fighting at Gettysburg, the 22nd sustained heavy losses. Then, on July 3, the regiment would be decimated in one of the most famous charges in military history.

In all, the unit lost 157 men at Gettysburg, or 59 percent of its force.

The unit’s bravery during the charge was captured in a painting by Civil War artist Mort Kunstler. Called “The High Water Mark,” it shows the flags of the 22nd and the 26th regiments as they approach the Union line.

The Yankees held, drove back their attackers and captured their flags.

In 1905, the government agreed to return the flags to their respective states, including more than 30 to North Carolina.

Today, the museum has 115 Civil War flags, about 80 percent of which need conservation work.

The 22nd flag shows the story of combat: the regiment name in yellow; the battles where it flew in blue; holes that curators say could be from bullets; stains that could be from blood; a black identification number placed on it by its captors.

“This flag has everything,” said Cathy Heffner, president of Textile Preservation Associates, a company in Ranson, W.Va., which will do the conservation work. “It is telling you everything you need to know about that unit.”

Heffner explained that conservation doesn’t mean repairing the flag, but halting its deterioration.

After a year of fund-raising and a year of conservation, Smith hopes to hold a dedication ceremony for the flag in January 2012. It will be an opportunity to honor the men who rallied around it.

“You can conserve uniforms, but uniforms only represent one person,” Smith said. “The battle flags represent the whole regiment, everybody who marched under it. That’s why we do battle flags.”

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com