This was a laudable gesture, but it went unreturned. The former Confederate states, by 1905, were in the grip of Democrat/Klan dictatorships. Republicans were not allowed to organize or vote in many states.
The vote for the law to return the flags was unanimous in both houses of Congress
Wasn’t 1905 about the time Illinois had a Klan governor?
“Republicans were not allowed to organize or vote in many states.”
If this is a true statement, it must have occurred with the tacit approval of the North. After Appomattox the North had the courts, the congress, and the executive branch. And the guns.