Philadelphia Antiques & Art Show 2017

nation struggling with the debts of war and general public opinion among residents of the territory favored support for the Republican ticket. While the 36th star wasn’t officially added until July 4th of 1865, the makers of printed parade flags (also called handwavers), are known to have begun adding the 36th star as early as July of 1864. This was several months before the addition of Nevada actually occurred and a full year before its star was formally sanctioned per the Flag Act of 1818. As previously suggested, the presumptive addition of stars was common practice. Anticipatory star counts reflected the nation’s desire for Westward Expansion, as well as the hope of flag-makers to bring new star counts to market before their competitors. Makers of pieced-and-sewn flags for civilian consumption probably added the 36th star early as well, but military contracts were complete by this time. Available stock was in great surplus and it is highly unordinary to find a 36 star flag slated for wartime military function. So far I have explained how several star counts were in use in the North during the war. There were leftover 33, already in active service and there were probably others among the existing stock of flag-makers or sellers. There may have also been a tiny handful made by the odd individual who was stuck to congressional law and didn’t add the next star until the proper time came. Most of the wartime flags were 34s, while a significant, yet smaller number were 35s. 36s appeared as well, just not in active military service, with the rarest of possible exceptions. This summary would hardly explain, however, the wide spectrum of star counts actually produced in the North, and I have not yet even touched on the South, where different variants of the Stars & Stripes appeared. At the onset of the war, Lincoln fervently urged the American people not to remove those stars from the flag that represented seceded states. He felt strongly that there was great need to demonstrate that he had not written off American (Figure 10) North Carolina Secessionist flag with 11 stars in a tombstone pattern, 11 stripes, and the letters “LPF” presumed to stand for “Liberty, Plenty, Freedom,” 1861​. ​​ Photo courtesy Jeff R. Bridgman Antiques, Inc. citizens who were living in the South, yet did not support Confederate views. He also understood the need to show both the nation and the world that the federal government was strong and would do everything in its power to ensure victory. Despite Lincoln’s pleas, some flag makers did as they chose, removing stars for states in the Confederate cause. Interestingly enough, the same was actually true in the South, both on Confederate flags and on adaptations of the Stars & Stripes that displayed Southern sympathies. Here stars were removed that represented the North (fig. 10). The number of stars selected for an “exclusionary” or “inclusionary” flag, as they are called—either term being anatomically correct depending on one’s position—was based on the number of states that the maker felt were loyal to the Union or the Confederacy at any given time. Because the number of both Confederate and Union States changed during the course of the war, while several states had mixed loyalties, the list of possible calculations is quite complicated. Among Union sympathizing exclusionary flags, for example, the number of stars can conceivably range between 18 and 27. Among their Southern counterparts, the number can presumably range between 1 and 16, though in almost all cases one would expect a figure of somewhere between 7 and 15. Seven states agreed to secede together to show solidarity on February 2nd, 1861, in what is termed the “First Wave of Secession.” These included South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Some exclusionary flags appear to highlight a particular state, however, within these first 7, because there was an actual order in which each state government ratified its popular vote of the people. I once owned a flag with 6 stars, for example, that was passed down through a family in New Orleans who had no idea as to what the star count meant. Louisiana was the 6th state to approve secession with ratification by the state legislature. A total of 11 states eventually would, adding to the list Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina to the original list of 7. Two of the 4 remaining Slave States, Missouri and Kentucky, were considered Border States, but were formally accepted into the Confederacy by Jefferson Davis. This occurred as a result of the loyalty of key figures within those states, plus a willingness and capability of contributing to the war effort. This is why most Confederate flags in the Southern Cross format (a.k.a. “Confederate Battle Flag” or “Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia”) display 13 stars. Each of these states supplied Union regiments and neither approved secession by proper legislative channels. The two remaining Slave States of Maryland and Delaware are seldom ever represented by stars on either military flags or homemade examples, but on rare occasion W 121 W