On Sunday, March 12th at 3 P.M., the Franklin Civil War Round Table will present Franklin native Ronny Mangrum, who will speak on state-wide efforts to preserve Confederate flags housed at the Tennessee State Museum.

Two of the flags first preserved by his efforts are the First National Flag of the 20th Tennessee Infantry and most recently the Second National flag of the 11th Tennessee Infantry. Both units saw intense action at Franklin. Mangrum will share a presentation about the numerous flags preserved, as well as replica banners to be handled by the audience. He will discuss the tremendous costs associated with conserving these fragile artifacts while noting upcoming projects with the Tennessee State Museum.

Mangrum was raised in the Peytonsville area of Williamson County in an antebellum home where his grandmother inspired his passion of Civil War history. She introduced him to Sgt. Vachel I.Barnhill, her grandfather, who fought in Franklin during the war. He has been a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans for thirty years, where he helped start the flag adoption program assisting the Tennessee State Museum conserve their most fragile and endangered flags. Mangrum notes the Tennessee museum has a large collection of these priceless flags, “second only to Virginia.”

The event is free to the public. The Franklin Civil War Round Table is an educational program of Franklin’s Charge, and meets each month at Carnton Plantation's Fleming Center, 1345 Eastern Flank Circle. For more information, email fcwrt@yahoo.com, or visit http://www.franklinscharge.org/the-round-table.