U.S. 16 Star Navy Boat Flag.

16 Star U.S. Navy Boat Flag - Navy Yard Charleston, 1850's.
This is a U.S. Navy Boat Ensign (Boat Flag) from the Naval Yard in Boston, Massachusetts, 1854-63. According to the Flag House records, the ensign once belonged to an elderly man in Abbesville, Alabama. After his death the flag was found in an old sideboard. The elderly man told the individual who received the flag from him that his grandfather, a Southern sympathizer, owned many old pre-Revolutionary articles and in his work took many mules and horses into Virginia, a trip which may have required need of the flag. The elderly man explained that he was trading mules and horses from Virgina into Union lines.. The story implies these trips were some what frequent and his grandfather felt no danger but the flag was his back up increasing his chances to get thru the lines do his business and return home to Virginia. He found it convenient to take this flag with him on trips when he needed to cross into the Union lines and the confederates gave him no trouble when they heard his story..

The field is composed of thirteen alternating, horizontal, red and white wool/bunting stripes, stitched together by hand. The top and bottoms stripes are red. Inset into the upper hoist corner and extending through seven stripes is a dark blue wool/bunting union canton 23.5" x 20.5". 16 white cotton, 5-pointed stars, each 3" across, are hand sewn on the obverse and reverse sides in four horizontal rows of four stars each. The flag is finished with a 2" wide white linen canvas heading bearing a hand sewn button hole eyelet at each end. Marked in ink upon the heading are the inscriptions: "6 Ft. BOAT ENSIGN" and "N Y C" (the latter indicating manufacture at the United States Naval Yard at Charlestown (Boston Harbor).

Exhibition History:

Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003 GALLERY III
(ZFC0029)
16-Star United States Navy Boat Flag

Provenance:
• Navy Yard Charleston, Boston, Mass., 1850s.
• Used by unnamed Southern sympathizer in Abbesville, Alabama, 1861- 1865.
• By descent to Colonel & Mrs. Jesse J. Hinson, Baltimore, MD, until 1966.
• Gifted to The Star Spangled Banner Flag House & Museum, until 1996.
• Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection from the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Collection of Baltimore, MD. in 1996.


Publication History:

Cooper, Grace Rogers, Thirteen Star Flags: Keys to Identification. Washington D.C., 1973, pp. 33-34.

Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 67.



Provenance:
Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC0029) in 1996 from the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Collection of Baltimore, MD.

ZFC Significant Flag
Item is Framed

Sources:

---

Madaus, Howard M.- Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict, VZ Publications, Santa Cruz, 2006.

Cooper, Grace Rogers, Thirteen-Star Flags: Keys to Identification, Smithsonian Institution Press, City of Washington, 1973.

Preble, George Henry, The History of the Flag of the United States of America, Boston, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1894.

US Navy "Boat" Flag, Dave Martucci's Flag Pages, 14 November 2011, from: http://www.vexman.net/smalboat.htm

Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection

Hoist & Fly
Width of Hoist	38
Length of Fly	71

Union/Canton
Width of Union/Canton	22.25
Length of Union/Canton	20.25

Stars
Size of Stars	3

Stripes
Width of 1st Stripe	3
Width of 3rd Stripe	3.5
Width of 8th Stripe	2.75
Width of Last Stripe	3
Size of Hoist	2

Frame
Is it framed?	yes
Frame Height	44
Frame Length	78

Stars
Number of Stars	16
How are the stars embeded?	Sewn
Are there stars on obverse?	yes
Are there stars on reverse?	yes

Stripes
Number of Stripes	13
Color of Top Stripe	Red
Color of Bottom Stripe	Red
Has a Blood Stripe?	no

Nationality
Nation Represented	United States

Fabric
Fabric	Wool
Comments on Fabric	Bunting

Stitching
Stitching	Hand

Documentation
Documents
Drawings
Research Documents	Cover p.33 p.34
Public Copy & Signs

Condition
Condition	Good
Damage	Two larges losses (3")-Old repairs, covering original stars done w/ heavy thread damaging-discolored
Displayable	yes

Date
Date	Civil War Period

Exhibits

Exhibition Copy

Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003 GALLERY III (ZFC0029) 16-Star United States Navy Boat Flag Date: 18571861 Media: Wool bunting with cotton stars; hand-stitched Comment: Although this flag bears only 16 stars, it does not date from immediately after 1796 when Tennessee became the Unions sixteenth state. Rather it is clearly a U.S. Navy boat flag dating from 1855-1860. It is one of the boat flags of the first pattern adopted, characterized by a reduced complement of stars, as is clear from its design and the NYC (Navy Yard Charlestown) stamped on its heading. From 1798 through the mid-1850s U.S. Navy ensigns manufactured at navy yards had as many stars as there were states in the Union. By 1855, when the total of the states had grown to 31, it was discovered that the great number of stars in the canton of smaller ensigns, when viewed from a distance, became indeterminate. By 1857 authorities at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston had resolved this problem by reducing the number of stars to 16 for the five authorized boat flag sizes. While it is possible that local abolitionists influenced that decision, it is more likely that practicality and aesthetics induced the flag makers to choose the four rows of four stars each as the star pattern. By 1862, the navy yards were using a different pattern involving only 13 stars.

Publications
Publication Copy	Cooper, Grace Rogers, Thirteen Star Flags: Keys to Identification. Washington D.C., 1973, pp. 33-34. Sixteen-Star Flags The sixteen-star style was not adopted as official. There are no known surviving sixteen-star flags contemporary with the period of sixteen states from June 1, 1796 to March 1, 1803. At least, that is, none from this period have come to light. (Since this was published some have been discovered.) There were, however, sixteen-star flags. Another sixteen-star is in the collection of The Flag House, Baltimore, Maryland. (It is now ZFC0029.) Although it is not stamped with a date, it seems to be of the same period (1861) and is stamped "6 ft Boat Ensign NYC." The bunting is the same single-ply warp type. There are two selvedge to selvedge widths in the blue; one is 9 inches and the other is 12 inches, the size suggested by Farrington in his letter 1869 to the brigadier general of the quartermaster station in New York City." (See PDF of book below) Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 67. 16-Star United States Navy Boat Flag Although this flag bears only 16 stars, it does not date from immediately after 1796 when Tennessee became the Unions sixteenth state. Rather it is clearly a U.S. Navy boat flag dating from 1857 to 1861 during the presidency of James Buchanan. It is one of those boat flags of the first pattern adopted, characterized by a reduced complement of stars, as is clear from its design and the NYC (Navy Yard Charlestown) stamped on its heading. From 1798 through the mid-1850s U.S. Navy ensigns manufactured at navy yards had as many stars as there were states in the Union. By 1855, when the total of the states had grown to 31, it was discovered that the great number of stars in the canton of smaller ensigns, when viewed from a distance, became indeterminate. By at least 1857 authorities at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston had resolved this problem by reducing the number of stars to 16 for the 5 authorized boat flag sizes. While it is possible that local abolitionists influenced that decision, it is more likely that practicality and aesthetics induced the flag makers to choose the four rows of four stars each as the star pattern. By 1862, the navy yards were using a different pattern involving only 13 stars. Date: 1857 1861 Size: 38" hoist x 71" fly Media: Wool bunting with cotton stars; hand-stitched Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection in 1996 from the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Collection of Baltimore, MD. Gifted to the Flag House by Col. & Mrs. Jesse J. Hinson of Baltimore in 1966. ZFC0029
Publication Images	Cover P.33 P.34