Chinese Imperial Army, Forbidden City Designating Flag - Boxer Rebellion, 1900, Capture by 14th US Infantry.
This silk pennant with Chinese characters was previously represented as a flag associated with the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, or "Boxers." Their uprising against Christianity and foreign influence in 1900 is called the Boxer Rebellion. In 1900 they besieged the foreign legations and seized large portions of the Chinese capital. A coalition of allies called the Eight-Nation Alliance joined forces to relieve the siege of the foreign legations in Peking (modern Beijing) and eventually suppressed the uprising.
Troops from Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States retained possession of the city until a peace treaty was signed in 1901. The 14th infantry was one of the units sent by the United States and it won great fame for scaling the Tatar Wall in order to open the gates of Peking to the China Relief Expedition. They led the victorious allies into the Forbidden City and garrisoned it until it was returned to Chinese control.
A preliminary translation of the ideograms has led to an alternative conclusion on the flag, which roughly reads, "Peking and Military Station Headquarters". This had led to a reassessment that this was instead a flag designating a unit of the Imperial Chinese Army stationed in the Forbidden City. Additionally this theory more closely conforms to a paper tag accompanying the flag, which states "[sic] From Walls Flag from entrance of the Forbidden City Relic taken in China Pvt. Carl Michelsen 14th Infty." Thus, it is more plausible that this was a Chinese Army pennant, taken by a US soldier as a trophy of war.
After the 14th returned to the United States in 1902 the pennant we acquired by the Chicago confectioner C.F. Gunther, who maintained a museum of curios in which he displayed this flag. After his death in 1920 the Chicago Historical Society who used the flag as the centerpiece of their new Chicago History Museum purchased the contents of the museum. It remained there until it was deaccessed to the Tumbling Waters Museum of Flags in Montgomery, Alabama. When that institution closed the collection was dispersed, and this flag was among them.
Exhibition History:
Until 1920 - C.F. Gunther, Manufacturing Confectioner, 212 Stars St., Chicago, IL.
Provenance:
• Peking and Military Station Headquarters, Beijing, China, 1900s.
• Captured by Pvt. Pvt. Carl Michelsen 14th Infty. , 1900.
• Returned to U.S., 1902.
• Acquired by C.F. Gunther, confectioner, Chicago, IL, until passing, 1920.
• To Gunther estate, 1920
• Purchase the Chicago Historical Society, held until deaccession in 1960s.
• Acquired by the Tumbling Waters Museum of Flags, Montgomery Alabama, until dissolution, 1990s.
• By repute to Alabama Historical Association, until disposal, 2000s.
• Acquired by Edwin Miller, Autaugaville, Alabama, 2008.
• Acquired at Internet auction from Edwin's Art, Autaugaville, AL, 2009.
ZFC Significant Flag
Sources:
Boxer Rebellion, Wikipedia, 10 October 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righteous_Harmony_Society
Eight-Nation Alliance, Wikipedia, 10 October 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-Nation_Alliance
Charles Frederick Gunther, Wikipedia, 10 October 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_F._Gunther
Chicago History Museum, 10 October 2011, from: http://chicagohistory.org/aboutus
(Formerly in the Chicago Historical Society Sub-collection.)
Tumbling Waters Museum of Flags, Flags of the World, 10 October 2011, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/vex-twmf.html
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
