<p>The <strong>28th Virginia battle flag</strong> is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_battle_flag" title="Confederate battle flag">Confederate battle flag</a> that belonged to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28th_Virginia_Infantry_Regiment" title="28th Virginia Infantry Regiment">28th Virginia Infantry Regiment</a>. Captured by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Minnesota_Infantry_Regiment" title="1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment">1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment</a> at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gettysburg" title="Battle of Gettysburg">Battle of Gettysburg</a>, the flag was brought to Minnesota and exhibited at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_State_Capitol" title="Minnesota State Capitol">the state's capitol</a> for several years before passing into the permanent collection of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Historical_Society" title="Minnesota Historical Society">Minnesota Historical Society</a> after 1896 where it has remained since. Although various groups in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia" title="Virginia">Virginia</a> have requested that the flag be returned, beginning as early as 1960, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota" title="Minnesota">Minnesota</a> has repeatedly declined to return it, with Governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura" title="Jesse Ventura">Jesse Ventura</a> asking "Why? I mean, we won."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28th_Virginia_battle_flag#cite_note-:4-1">[1]</a></p> <p>The battle flag was captured at the Battle of Gettysburg by Private <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Sherman" title="Marshall Sherman">Marshall Sherman</a> of the 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment, and remained in Sherman's possession in Minnesota after being inventoried by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_War" title="United States Department of War">United States War Department</a> in 1867. A 1905 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resolution_(law)" title="Resolution (law)">congressional resolution</a> that flags from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War" title="American Civil War">American Civil War</a> should be returned to their places of origin did not lead to the return of the flag to Virginia, nor did requests by Virginia or groups therein for its return in 1961, 1998, 2000, and 2003; a request by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Virginia" title="Governor of Virginia">governor of Virginia</a> to borrow the flag in 2013 was also declined.</p> <p>The flag is stored in a drawer at the Minnesota Historical Society, with its exact location undisclosed for security reasons. There are several holes in the flag, and the middle <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grommet" title="Grommet">eyelet</a> is torn; however, it is mostly intact with less than one percent of its fabric missing.</p>