Jackson considers battle flag at cemetery

A Civil War heritage group has asked the Jackson Board of Aldermen to allow a Missouri Confederate battle flag to be flown at the city cemetery to honor one of the area's most heralded Confederate Civil War leaders.

The board discussed the request by the Southeast Missouri chapter of the Missouri League of the South at Monday night's study session, but the board members hesitated, saying they need more information about the flag before they make a decision. They said they were also concerned about setting a precedent.

Mary Boner, a city attorney, told the board that it could allow the flag, but it should first come up with a policy for which it would allow flags in the future.

Mayor Paul Sander was out of town and did not attend the meeting, but he left a note for the rest of the board that the request received the blessing of the local VFW and American Legion.

The Missouri battle flag is a blue banner, trimmed in red, with a white cross in the upper left corner. It would be flown at the grave of Col. William Jeffers, who died Feb. 21, 1903. He led Confederate troops into several battles, including some local ones.

The Missouri battle flag is also called the Gen. Sterling Price Flag, said Clint Lacy, the vice chairman of the Missouri League of the South. Price, a former Missouri governor, led the 1864 invasion of Missouri and Jeffers served under Price in that battle, Lacy said, making the battle flag an appropriate banner to fly over the grave.

Such flags were used to lead troops into battle rather than the Stars and Bars, the official Confederate flag.

"We feel like the U.S. flag honors his service in the Mexican War," Lacy said. "We feel like a soldier should have the honor and privilege of being buried under the flag in which they fought."

Many Confederate soldiers, Lacy said, weren't fighting for slavery.

"In Missouri, a lot were fighting because they thought their state was being invaded," he said. "They were fighting for their homes and their family."

Lacy said the league is willing to pay for and maintain the flag and flagpole. He said communities all over the country allow such requests.

Lacy said Jeffers became a "well-respected and established citizen" after the war. He lived for a time in Dunklin County, and set up militia that fought against "night riders," which were Ku Klux Klan-type groups. He then lived in Stoddard County, Lacy said, where he owned a hotel. He helped take care of many Confederate veterans there.

At the outset of the Civil War, Jeffers enlisted in the Missouri State Guard. In 1861, he commanded a unit of "Mounted Rangers" from Cape Girardeau County. He battled Union militia at what is now known as Marble Hill and at Apple Creek.

In 1862, he resigned his command and joined the Confederate cavalry, eventually commanding the 8th Missouri Cavalry.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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