Battle Flag

by Bernard Cornwell Book 3 in the Starbuck Chronicles series.

First published 1995

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4.4(2,083)

In the summer of 1862, Nathaniel Starbuck returns to field service as command within the Faulconer Legion becomes increasingly dangerous. Personal enemies inside the Confederate hierarchy threaten his position, while the regiment’s battle flag becomes a symbol of honour, ownership and the loyalty of soldiers who have already endured a year of war.

The campaign carries Starbuck through the fighting in northern Virginia and towards the Second Battle of Bull Run. Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson attempt to outmanoeuvre the Union army while Starbuck must hold together men divided by ambition, fear and revenge. The novel treats regimental colours not as decoration but as objects around which command, memory and survival are contested.