1864 American Flag Found in Closet

[Johnny Lloyd]

1864 American Flag Found in Closet
Tuesday, January 08, 2008


HARTLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A 36-star American flag has been unfurled at a Livingston County museum in Hartland Township.

The Hartland Area Historical Society recently found the flag, which would have been flown shortly after Nevada became a state in 1864.

Collections chairwoman Nadine Cloutier told The Detroit News on Monday that it was rolled up in a sheet inside a broom closet at the Florence B. Dearing Museum.

The flag is one of the first artifacts donated to the museum in 1958 by resident Mae Dexter.

It will cost about $8,000 to restore and mount, Cloutier said.

From foxnews.com- 08 JAN 08

Thanks- Johnny Lloyd

[markj]

Re: 1864 American Flag Found in Closet

Interesting story. Thanks for sharing it. However, the odds are quite good the flag was not produced while hostilities were still ongoing.

Nevada formally entered the Union as the 36th state on 31 October 1864. By custom, its star was not formally added to the national flag until 4 July 1865 (i.e., nearly three months after the de facto end of the war) although it certainly wasn't uncommon for flag manufacturers to "get a jump on things" prior to that date.

By the same token, Nebraska entered the Union as the 37th state on 1 March 1867 with, presumably, its star being formally added to the flag on 4 July 1867.

The long and short of it is that the flag in question could theoretically date to anywhere between 31 October 1864 through 3 July 1867. Given that the "peacetime" side of the "dating window" was much lengthier (two years) than the "wartime side" (eight months at most even if we include the post-Appomattox surrenders of Johnston, Taylor, Kirby Smith, Stand Watie, et. al.), I'd be willing to bet my granny's farm that this flag was produced well after the war ended unless, of course, further provenance can be established.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger