Flag of the Petersburg City Guard

A silk Confederate flag bears an oil-painted seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which depicts the Roman goddess of virtue standing with her foot atop a figure representing tyranny. As indicated by the inscription, the flag had been presented to the Petersburg City Guard (Company A, 12th Virginia Infantry Regiment) by the "ladies of Petersburg." The flag was carried during the war and eventually donated to the Virginia Historical Society by the widow of Fletcher H. Archer, a Confederate army officer who, in 1861, raised a company of 100 men who were designated Company K, "Archer Rifles," 12th Virginia Infantry Regiment.