One of the most interesting and exciting documentary productions ever undertaken by Witnessing History, LLC is nearing completion.  The fifty-six minute production chronicles the history of the design and creation of a flag that became the prototype for all of the St. Andrews Cross battle flags carried by Confederate armed forces.  The hand-stitched silk flag with gold painted stars was borne by the Fifth Company of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans through the Battles of Shiloh and Perryville.
The story of the flag’s creation will surprise and delight viewers everywhere.  The flag was designed and made for the army after the first battle of Manassas as a military necessity and wholly without the authority or even the knowledge of the Confederate government.  Mary Lyon Jones of Richmond, Virginia stitched the flag together.  After Generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Joseph E. Johnston approved Ms. Jones’s flag, sewing circles of more than two hundred women in Richmond sewed 120 flags made from Ms. Jones’s original design.

A collection of photographic images of the officers and men of the Fifth Company, along with a rich collection of documents, has been assembled.  The script has been completed and the “voice-over” took place at Neil Kesterson’s Dynamix Studio in Lexington on April 9; the actors will be “voicing-over” elements of the script through the end of May.  All the “stand-ups” were filmed in Cincinnati on May 8.  Senior Editor, Chris Yelton, will begin assembling the film and applying it to the sound track in June.

Action scenes are being planned depicting Mary Lyon Jones being given the design for the flag and stitching the prototype, and, the Richmond sewing circles stitching the 120 battle flags to be given to the army in November 1861.  The Executive Producer of the documentary is Lon W. Keim, M.D. of Omaha, Nebraska.