35-Star United States Parade Flag.
This small, wool, block-printed parade flag was made as a full flag print. It bears evidence of once being tacked or nailed to a staff as there is a narrow heading sewn to the hoist edge for reinforcement. Parade flags like this example were extremely popular for patriotic purposes during the American Civil War, and this flag emanates from Baltimore - a city that had a strong federal presence after the Pratt St. Riots in 1861, (see ZFC0021 & ZFC1453).
The flag was donated to the Star Spangled Banner Flag House and Museum in 1970 by Mr. Lloyd Kirkley, a Maryland philanthropist, who had an interest in local history and ephemera and made numerous donations of artifacts to Baltimore institutions, including a homemade wood and mesh flour sifter that was once the property of Charles J. Bonaparte, the 37th US Secretary of the Navy and great-nephew of Napoleon I. He then gifted it to the Maryland Historical Society as well as a baseball from the 1870s that commemorated the victory of Baltimore's team the Marylands over the New York Mutuals, which he purchased and donated to the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum.
The flag is large (18" x 32") by parade flag standards and could also have been used for patriotic display in front of a home or business. How it came to the Kirkley family remains unknown but it is more than probable that this flag was flown in support of any or all of the four Kirkleys: John, Joseph, Joseph W. and Thomas all served in Maryland units during the Civil War.
Provenance: Acquired by private purchase from Star Spangled Banner Flag House & Museum, 1998.
ZFC Important Flag
Item is Framed
Sources:
Bready, James, Baseball in Baltimore: The First 100 Years, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998, p.
Maryland Historical Society, Maryland History Notes, Volumes 27-29, Baltimore, Maryland Historical Society, p.22.
35 Star Flag - (1863-1865) (U.S.), Flags of the World, 22 April 2012, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-1863.html
Kirkley, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System - National Park Service, 22 April 2012, from: http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm
