Wool bunting. N.p., 1861–1863. Thirty-two stars printed to the canton, with two additional stars separately sewn on as applied patches. Approx. 78 1/2 x 42 in.; canton approx. 37 x 22 1/2 in. Accompanied by a slip of paper reading: “This Flag was Carried in Civil War By Patrick H. Foley.”

A rare and unusual 34-star American flag, almost certainly produced at the outset of the Civil War to acknowledge Kansas’s admission to the Union in January 1861. Its most distinctive feature lies in the construction of the canton. Rather than printing an entirely new 34-star pattern, the maker appears to have employed a pre-existing 32-star field and then added two stars by hand, sewing them onto the canton as separate patches. Though such a method would seem a practical solution for makers seeking to adapt older stock in moments of political change, it appears to have been quite uncommon. 

The result is an object of considerable visual and historical interest- a national emblem that captures the improvisational realities of flag production at a moment of national rupture. 

A rare survival, notable both for its early wartime date and for its highly unusual method of construction.

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