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A number of United States military units, including those of the United States Army, Continental Army, Legion of the United States, and the various state militias, have had their colors captured in battle. So, too, have foreign military units had their colors captured by United States forces.

Captured colors

List of captured colors

Unit	Conflict	Lost to	Current Location	Notes	Reference
2nd Continental Light Dragoons	American War of Independence	Great Britain	private collection	The colors were captured by the 1st King's Dragoon Guards on 2 July 1779. In 2006 it was sold, along with three flags of the 3rd Virginia Detachment, to an anonymous buyer in a Sotheby's auction for $17.4 million. The four flags were previously in the possession of Christopher Tarleton Fagan, a descendant of Guards officer Banastre Tarleton, under whose command the colors were taken.
3rd Virginia Detachment	American War of Independence	Great Britain	private collection	Three flags of the 3rd Virginia Detachment - an ad hoc unit composed of elements of the 2nd Virginia Regiment and 3rd Virginia Regiment - were captured by the 1st King's Dragoon Guards in May 1780 at the Battle of Waxhaws. In 2006 they was sold, along with the colors of the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons, to an anonymous buyer in a Sotheby's auction for $17.4 million. The four flags were previously in the possession of Christopher Tarleton Fagan, a descendant of Guards officer Banastre Tarleton, under whose command the colors were taken.
4th Infantry Regiment	War of 1812	Great Britain	Royal Hospital Chelsea	The national and regimental colors were captured at Fort Detroit in August 1812.
unknown New York Militia regiment	War of 1812	Great Britain	Royal Hospital Chelsea	The colors of a New York militia regiment were captured at the Battle of Queenston Heights in October 1812.
2nd Infantry Regiment	War of 1812	Great Britain	Royal Hospital Chelsea	The colors of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, which has since been consolidated into the 1st Infantry Regiment, were lost at Fort Bowyer in February 1814.
Regiment of Light Dragoons	War of 1812	Great Britain	Shrewsbury Castle	The colors of the United States Regiment of Light Dragoons were captured at the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814.
424th Infantry Regiment	World War II	Germany	Recovered	According to the official history of the 106th Infantry Division, the 424th regiment's colors were captured during the Battle of the Bulge when its parent unit, the 106th Infantry Division, collapsed in the face of an intense German attack. Following the surrender of Germany, a medic from the 2nd Infantry Division recovered the colors from a German prisoner of war and returned them to the regiment. According to the website of the Center for Military History, however, "official Army records contain no mention of any unit of the United States Army having lost its colors to the enemy during World War II".
31st Infantry Regiment	Korean War	People's Republic of China	Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution	According to the website of the 31st Infantry Regiment Association, in 1950 - during their rapid withdrawal from North Korea - the 31st Regiment accidentally abandoned their colors which were, subsequently, captured by the People's Liberation Army. According to the website of the Center for Military History, however, "official Army records contain no mention of any unit of the United States Army having lost its colors to the enemy during ... the Korean War".
3rd Cavalry Regiment	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example

Rumors of captured colors

According to the U.S. Army's Center for Military History, rumors that the 7th Cavalry Regiment and 8th Cavalry Regiment lost their colors during the Korean War are unfounded. A similar rumor that the 27th Infantry Regiment lost its colors has been traced to a misinterpretation of an order by that unit's commanding officer for new colors due to the state of disrepair of the extant colors.

There is a possibility the 7th Cavalry Regiment lost its colors at the Battle of the Little Bighorn to the combined Lakota-Dakota-Northern Cheyenne armies, however, the Center for Military History states it "has no conclusive evidence one way or the other".

Colors captured

George Washington is presented with colors of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel captured at the Battle of Trenton.

The United States captured a large number of Mexican colors during the Mexican-American War. In 1950, 70 were returned to Mexico, however, a number of others remain in private collections, museums, or under control of individual states.

As a result of the American Civil War, some colors of military units operating under the authority of the United States have been captured and held by other states of the United States. Similarly, some colors of military forces of the former Confederate States are held by other states of the United States. As of 2013 the Minnesota Historical Society, for instance, holds a Confederate battle standard captured by the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg. Minnesota's refusal to return the flag to Virginia has been the source of litigation between the two states.

In 1887 the Presidency of Grover Cleveland began the process of returning to individual states colors held by the United States government that were captured from the forces of the former Confederate States, however, suspended the returns pending further direction from the United States Congress. Thereafter, a 1905 law mandated the United States Department of War return any unit colors of the former Confederate States to their respective state governments.