34-star flag. Printed in blue and red on cotton. Canton arranged in four rows of 7 stars and one row of 6. FRAMED WITH note reading: "Presented To Henry A. Harkness, By Uncle Peck. Aug. 18th 1862." Handsomely presented in modern frame and mat with modern inscription reading: "34 Star Flag / belonged to / Henry A. Harkness / Private- Company K- Seventh Regiment / Rhode Island Volunteers / 1862-1865." Visible 23 1/2" x 16 3/4", matted and framed to 30 3/4" x 24 5/8".

Henry A. Harkness, a 33-year-old from Coventry, Rhode Island, was given this flag by his uncle four days after he enlisted as a private on 14 August 1862. He was mustered into Company K of the 7th Rhode Island Infantry a few weeks later. The regiment joined the IX Corps outside Sharpsburg, Maryland, about a month after the Battle of Antietam and fought its first engagement at the Battle of Fredericksburg, where it received heavy losses in an assault on the Sunken Road. Colonel Zenas Bliss, the regiment's commanding officer, exclaimed to his men, "You have covered yourself with mud and glory."

Following Fredericksburg, the regiment moved West and joined the Mississippi Campaign. In 1863 it reinforced Grant's army during the Siege of Vicksburg and participated in stopping Johnston's effort to save Vicksburg at Jackson. Despite its success, the regiment was hit hard by losses from both battle and disease.

It then returned to the Eastern Theater to join the Overland Campaign. The regiment saw nearly continuous action from the beginning of May 1864, when it was heavily engaged at the Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse, Cold Harbor, and Totopotomoy Creek. During a skirmish at Bethesda Church, Harkness was wounded in the abdomen. By 7 June he was hospitalized at Carver Hospital in Washington, D.C, before ultimately being transferred to Lovell Hospital at Portsmouth Grove in his home state of Rhode Island. It was from there that he was discharged on 26 January 1865.

A lovely flag with a fantastic and patriotic history.

Note: This lot cannot be packaged and shipped in-house. Successful bidders winning items marked as being packaged and shipped by a third-party service are responsible for paying the third party directly. We are happy to offer complimentary drop-off service to local third-party packing/shipping companies in Columbus, Ohio.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Flags, Patriotic Textiles]