Circa February 1863, the New York Times reported:[4] The fine regiment of Col. ROBERT JOHNSON, son of the Military Governor of Tennessee, is daily expected to arrive here.

[5] On December 6, 1862, the occasion of the organization of the 1st Tennessee as cavalry (rather than infantry), Col. Johnson and Major William B. Tracy presented their soldiers with a "splendid flag" inscribed with the words For Chattanooga, Knoxville and Greeneville, "indicating the determination of the regiment to assist in driving the rebels out of Tennessee, and redeeming the State.

"[9][10] The 34-star American flag, also inscribed Johnson's 1st Tennessee Cavalry and "bound round the edge with yellow silk fringe," was produced by Hamlin of Cincinnati, "the prince of military furnishers in the West.

"[10] The Civil War diary of a soldier named John Coffee Williamson reported this flag, or a successor to it, was captured on September 1, 1864, along with Jim Brownlow breaking both legs.

"[13] Tracy later resigned, dated June 22, 1863,[12] after a practical joke went sideways and he garnered the enmity of the men.