FIRST NATIONAL CONFEDERATE REGIMENTAL SILK FLAG OF THE “BOONE RANGERS,” COMPANY D, 36TH VIRGINIA INFANTRY (2ND KANAWHA REGIMENT)​

First National pattern, hand-sewn throughout and constructed of a single layer of pieced silk. The field is hand-painted with twelve 3-in. gilt stars surrounding a red riband reading “Boone Rangers” on the obverse and “Our Land Our Law” on the reverse. Silk-covered canvas hoist with sewn-in rope; two silk tassels and cords. 66 5/8 × 47 in.; canton 27 1/4 × 30 1/2 in.; framed 76 1/2 × 50 3/8 in.

According to accompanying documentation, the flag was commissioned by Jonathan Theodore Rundle (1836–1915), publisher of the Kanawha Valley Star (1858–61), a newspaper that printed “some of the most ardent pro-secessionist editorials of any paper in western Virginia” (Scott A. MacKenzie, “The Slaveholders’ War: The Secession Crisis in Kanawha County, Western Virginia, 1860–1861,” West Virginia History, 4:1, 2010). The flag was constructed by Edward Scott.

At the outbreak of war, two regiments, the 22nd and 36th Virginia Volunteer Infantry, were organized in Charleston as the First and Second Kanawha Regiments. Rundle, an enthusiastic secessionist, helped organize them, consolidating militia units formed after John Brown’s raid; he mustered into Company B of the 36th.

The Boone Rangers, recruited in Boone County, Virginia (now West Virginia), formed Company D of the 36th Virginia (Second Kanawha). Assigned to Floyd’s Brigade, they fought at Kessler’s Cross Lanes and Carnifex Ferry.

A contemporary report on Carnifex Ferry—published 10 September 1861 in the Daily Columbus Enquirer (Georgia) and the Memphis Daily Appeal—records the temporary capture of the Boone Rangers’ colors: “…taking one man a prisoner, with the flag of the ‘Boone Rangers.’ The man who was taken was waving the flag to his company, and unarmed—a trophy without any honor attaching to its capture…. The residue of the enemy fled in disorder and were pursued by Col. McCauseland’s regiment….”

This was almost certainly the present flag, briefly taken and then recovered from the unarmed Union private.

After leaving the state, the regiment moved across Kentucky to Fort Donelson, where the flag was reportedly “badly shot up.” Although part of the regiment escaped, Rundle was wounded, captured, and sent to a hospital in Nashville.

Per the documentation, the damaged colors were soon retired from service. During a return to Charleston in October 1862, Rundle gave the flag to Mayor Jacob Goshorn for safekeeping. It remained with Goshorn for the rest of his life and then descended in his family to Mary Virginia Hubbard Teter, who loaned it to the Fayette County Historical Society in 1961. The Society later noted that, due to fragility, “the complete flag was never displayed; the canton was displayed at Contentment for a time.”

An important early-war regimental flag, remarkably preserved and accompanied by exceptional provenance.

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.

Provenance: Attributed to Lt. John Rundle (1836–1915), 36th Virginia Infantry; Jacob Goshorn (1818–1905), Mayor of Charleston; by descent to his granddaughter Mary Virginia Hubbard Teter (1891–1968); Harry Rimmer, Fayette County Historical Society; Shirley Donnelly, Oak Hill, West Virginia (1979); Private collection, Maryland; Alejandro de Quesada, Jr.

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

Professionally conserved and mounted, with silk support fabric of corresponding color. The complete conservation report is available upon request.