Beschreibung:

Likely cotton, 36.375 x 25.375 in., hand-sewn flag constructed on one side with seven white polished cotton stars. Hoist edge appears to be loosely woven wool bunting. The Confederate First National flag first flew on March 4, 1861 over the capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama. Designed by the Committee on Flag and Seal, chaired by William Porcher Miles of South Carolina, the banner not only represented to the rest of the world a new nation but also would serve as the first battle flag for its troops and navy. Additionally, the flag would see use at forts, military posts and related sites as well as on blockade runners that brought goods into the nascent Confederate States of America. Its description carried by telegraph to newspapers across the South as well as the North, examples of the flag were hoisted on flag poles within a day of its initial hoisting in Alabama, not only in the then seven states of the Confederacy but also in states that would eventually secede. Some examples were even flown in the North by Southern sympathizers. In addition to serving as a political and military flag, the First National was also used for patriotic purposes. Many Southern homes made such flags to hang on a wall in their houses or to fly over their businesses. Period newspapers made note in particular of local business that had made and soon hoisted these flags. Less covered were those for homes, but some examples have been found over the years not only in documentation but also in the period press as well as diaries. While no comparative study of these flags has been done, the patriotic banners seem to be broken down in to two classes. The first are the smaller, so-called “Bible” flags; that is small flags sewn for use in Bibles and other books. Often these would be made and issued to men going off to war by their wives or sweethearts. Since not all of the flags of this class are that small, perhaps the better name would be “personal flags” as some were also large enough to fly on a tent for example. A famous picture of a well known Georgia unit exists with such a flag attached to the top of a tent with several soldiers before it. The next group would be simply patriotic banners sewn for home use. Some were captured from homes during the war, including one in Fredericksburg, Virginia. This flag was made like a typical First National; that is both sides could be clearly seen including stars. Others, however, seem to be constructed differently with only a single side showing. That is the case with the flag that is the subject of this letter. Construction Details The flag is constructed on one side only, with the reverse side being entirely red. The material appears to be cotton. The only color variance on the reverse side is a bit of the blue from the canton folded over and sewn down. On the obverse side, a blue canton and white bar were cut from different cloth and sewn to the red backing. These also appear to be cotton. Typically for First National flags, the canton and bars would be sewn together with flat fell seams to create a whole flag. In both cases the edges of these pieces are well tucked under showing great skill and sewing technique for these are very clean and straight. The two red bars are the backing itself. The canton bears seven white polished cotton stars sewn only on the obverse side before the canton had been attached to the flag itself. The loop stitches that were used to sew the stars to the canton do not appear to have penetrated through the canton to the red backing which is further evidence that the stars were sewn on before the canton was attached to the red portion. This can only be fully determined by removing the canton itself however. The reverse side has stitching somewhat outlining a few of the stars. It has been my experience that stars are usually sewn along the outer edges to the canton or cross using loop stitches staying within the outer edge of the stars themselves. Usually there’s far more stitches