Wool bunting and polished cotton, 40.5 x 88.5 in., with one hand-sewn, single-appliqued cotton star at center of blue, polished cotton canton. The fly is constructed of three hand-sewn, wool bunting stripes. While the sewing on the flag is consistent with 1860s styles and runs in nice, hand-sewn lines, the handwork used in sewing the canton to the rest of the flag is mediocre by comparison. The stitching and thread used for attaching the canton are different from the rest of the flag as well. These are indications that the canton displaying the single star is a replacement, added post-Civil War. The hoist is cotton with two whip-stitched eyelets, jute rope tied through each eyelet.
The consignor relates that this flag was found among family belongings, which included a fife identified to her ancestor, Henry Moses, who served with the 6th Ohio Cavalry. However, we are unable to find a connection between the flag and Private Moses, and the flag has no further provenance. Although it has been suggested that it is linked with the Confederacy, this cannot be confirmed. Nevertheless, it is an interesting textile, worthy of additional research.
Our sincere thanks to Greg Biggs for providing information regarding this flag.
AUCTIONEER'S NOTE: Flag and Militaria Specialist, Greg Biggs, examined the flag in person and compiled the following report:
FIRST NATIONAL FLAG WITH A LONE STAR
This letter will detail Mr. Bigg's findings and analysis of a First National flag bearing a lone star that he examined in late April, 2014 for Cowan’s Auctions.
First National flags and their stars
The Confederate First National flag was adopted by the Provisional Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama on March 4th, 1861. The flag was designed by the Committee on Flag and Seal of that congress. According to period newspaper reports as well as the official report by the committee’s chairman, William Porcher Miles, the flag was designed by that committee as none of the various submissions were deemed “suitable.”
As designed, the number of stars in the canton, typically configured in a circle, would reflect the number of seceded states at the time; in this case seven states had gone out of the union thus the first models of the flag bore seven stars. As with the flag of the United States, as more states joined the Confederacy more stars were added. The official number of seceded states was eleven but two more stars were added in late 1861 recognizing pro-Confederate secessions of Missouri and Kentucky, even though neither state could actually leave the union due to Union military activity.
There are some examples of First National flags bearing fifteen stars recognizing the slave states of Delaware and Maryland. Examples of these flags were made often in 1861 in the hopes that all fifteen slave states would secede from the union. There is even one example of a seventeen star First National flag in a museum in California, the two extra stars being probably for New Mexico Territory and southern California, both very pro-South at the time.
One of the things that makes the flag in question unique is that it bears only one star. At no time was any official First National flag issued with one star but with the 1860s time frame being the tail end of Jacksonian America, people tended to do what they pleased. Thus, this banner is an expression of the maker’s tastes and the single star probably represents whatever state they lived in. While certainly not conclusive, the flag could have a Texas genesis as that state’s nickname and flag history is of a lone star.
Other existing single star First National flags
Lone star First Nationals are probably the rarest of the pattern save for the seventeen star flag in California. Based on my files and the research of the late Howard Madaus, noted Civil War flags historian, there are the following flags bearing only one star:
25th Virginia Infantry (War Department capture number 29 – 50 inches on the hoist by 104 inches on the fly) (Museum of the Confederacy)
12th North Carolina Troops (formerly the 2nd North Carolina Volunteers), Company B, Cleveland Guards (34 inches on the hoist by 65 ½ inches on the fly, fringe borders inclusive) (North Carolina Museum of History)
5th Texas Infantry (57 ¾ inches on the hoist by 81 ¾ inches on the fly, fringe borders inclusive) (Texas State Archives)
Unknown First National (42 ¼ inches on the hoist by 67 ¼ inches on the fly) (Private Collection, ex-Norm Flayderman)
6th Texas Cavalry Battalion (57 inches on the hoist by 76 inches on the fly) (This flag has one large red star with eleven smaller white stars within it.) (Texas State Archives)
Unknown First National (no details at this time) (Relics dealer in Virginia, November 2013)
S.S. William, British schooner (26 ½ inches on the hoist by 80 inches on the fly) (Texas State Archives)
It is the latter flag which the flag I have examined most closely resembles. This is for three reasons; the overall size, type of wool bunting used and the whipped eyelets for use by rope hoist attachments.
Details on the Lone Star First National Flag Offered by Cowan’s Auctions
Based on my examination of the flag I offer these details as to its size, construction, etc.
Hoist width – 38 1/4 inches (measures 39 ¾ inches along the fly edge)
Fly length – 88 inches
Upper red bar – 13 ¼ inches wide (wool bunting)
Middle white bar – 13 ½ inches wide (wool bunting)
Bottom red bar – 13 inches wide (wool bunting)
Canton – two pieces sewn with a vertical flat fell seam; 9 ¾ inches (closest to the hoist edge) and 10 ¼ inches (closest to the bars) (polished cotton of two different shades of blue). The canton on the obverse side is blank. There is a single star on the reverse side of the canton.
Star – 6 ½ inches across the points along one side; 7 inches across on another (polished
cotton, edges turned under before being sewn to the flag)
Hoist edge – 1 ¾ inches wide (cotton canvas). The hoist contains two whipped eyelets and two pieces of knotted rope 2 ¼ inches long are within these eyelets.
This flag is sewn in the typical style of Confederate flags made in the mid-19th Century. Flat fell seams are placed between the three bars and the two pieces of the canton and these measure ½ inches in width. The fly edge of the flag is folded over and sewn down with three lines of thread. This measures 1 inch in width. The threads used on the bars appear to be S-Twist in nature which was typical thread used for Confederate flags. The wool bunting bars are a looser weave usually indicative of single ply bunting being used. Along the upper edge of the flag on the obverse side is a thin strip of white polished cotton as well as white wool bunting. The former is 13 ¼ inches long and 3/8th inches wide while the latter is 52 ½ inches long with a similar width.
The canton is made from polished cotton in two pieces. However, the thread used here does not resemble the thread used on the bars of the flag; it is a different type and make of thread. This thread not only held the two pieces of the canton together but also attached it to the bars of the flag using flat fell seams.
Analysis
The single ply wool bunting was most often used on First National flags for posts, forts and buildings as well as naval/merchant marine flags. Single ply bunting allowed for much of the air striking a flag while flying to pass through the flag and reduce stress on its hoist edge and attachments. This flag is not large enough to have been used on a building or fort so its history is probably naval/merchant marine. Within the merchant marine classification are not only merchant ships serving the Confederacy directly but also the many blockade runners bringing supplies into the Confederacy from Europe. The rope hoist edge attachments are also found on nautical flags for attachment to the flag halliards of a ship (although forts also used flag halliards on their flag poles).
As the flag I examined closely resembles the aforementioned flag of the S.S. William, used by a British vessel during the Civil War, the history of this flag is most likely nautical in nature. The S.S. William’s flag is also made of single ply wool bunting and has a similar measurement. There are no rope attachments remaining on the William’s flag which does have whipped eyelets on its hoist edge, but that was probably how their flag was attached to the William’s halliards. Its single star is on the obverse side of the flag (and probably the reverse as well). Additionally, the canton of the S.S. William’s flag is also single ply wool bunting made from three pieces.
As mentioned, there is a narrow strip of white bunting and white polished cotton along the upper edge of the flag. I have never seen anything like this on a Confederate First National flag before. I can only speculate that this was sewn to the flag post-war to allow it to be hung horizontally by nails or something similar to a wall.
Additionally, the polished cotton canton and the type of thread used therein also strikes me as post war. The single star is quite crude when compared to the flag of the S.S. William and almost all other First National flags I have examined over the years. It can be speculated that something happened to the original canton, which should have been made of wool bunting along with the three bars. It is unknown if the original canton contained a single star or had more stars. I suggest that the flag be sent to a textiles expert for analysis especially to check on the type of blue thread used in the canton’s construction and attachment to the rest of the flag. Such an expert could also check the polished cotton of the canton to see if it is period or post-war.
The consignor had an ancestor that served in the 6th Ohio Cavalry regiment. This regiment formed in Ohio in October 1861 and served its entire career in the Union Army of the Potomac fighting in the Civil War’s Eastern Theater. Its first engagements were in Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley. It was part of the famous cavalry battle of Bandy Station of June 1863 and took part in the Gettysburg Campaign. In May 1864 it was part of the Union advance into Virginia’s Wilderness and took part in Phillip Sheridan’s raid to the James River. The regiment was also part of the raid to Trevillian Station. The regiment took part in the remaining campaigns of the Army of the Potomac operating in the Richmond-Petersburg campaign that culminated with the escape of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia as it moved west towards its surrender at Appomattox, April 9, 1865.
None of these engagements offer a chance for a trooper of this regiment to have obtained a Confederate flag with a nautical connection unless he was allowed to tour Richmond at the end of the war. Richmond was home to the James River Squadron of the Confederate Navy and some merchant vessels also ported there. This is pure speculation but this would be the only conceivable opportunity for this type of flag to have been captured. The other option is that the flag is not nautical in nature and was found in some CS Army post during the trooper’s career. With the information known we may never know its origins.
Conclusion
Based on my examination and in my opinion the majority of this flag is of the Civil War period. This constitutes the three bars. The canton and star are probably, also my opinion, post-war replacements for the originals. All of this can be confirmed one way or another by the analysis of a qualified textiles expert through cloth and thread examinations.
Greg Biggs
May 25, 2014
Bibliography
Bonner, Robert E., Colors and Blood: Flag Passions of the Confederate South (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2002).
Cannon, Devereaux D., The Flags of the Confederacy: An Illustrated History (St. Lukes Press, Memphis, 1988).
Dyer, Frederick H., A Compedium of the War of the Rebellion, Volume 2 (Morningside Press, Dayton, 1979).
Greg Biggs Flag Files, Clarksville, TN.
Howard Michael Madaus Papers, U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA.
Condition
Although we have suggested that the main part of the flag is Civil War-period based on construction (with the exception of the canton), a full textile check by an expert is needed for confirmation.