27 Stars U.S. Military Storm Flag - Florida's admission into the Union March 3, 1845.
This period example 27 Star United States flag was made to indicate the admission of Florida as the 27th state to the Union. Florida Territory, which the United States purchased from Spain in 1819, achieved statehood on March 3rd, 1845. The star representing Florida was officially added to the union in the United States flag on July 4th of that year. However, on December 29th, 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state. Accordingly the 27-star flag became obsolete on July 4th of 1846, thus 27 star flags are quite rare. This flag bears the inked name "C.H. Green" inscribed on its white canvas heading. This is likely the owner of the flag or the name of the individual who originally purchased it.

Twenty-seven star flags represent the ninth official and the 16th actual, version of the United States flag, and was the official U.S. flag at the outbreak of the War with Mexico and the flag's size and materials suggest a military storm flag; or possibly a ship's ensign.

It is 74" on the hoist by 134" on the fly (overall), consisting of a field of thirteen alternating horizontal red and white wool bunting stripes, varying in width from 5 1/2" to 6", sewn together by hand, with a dark blue wool bunting canton, 37" on the hoist by 38" on the fly, formed from three pieces (17 1/2", 17 1/2" and 3 1/4" wide) of bunting joined by hand horizontally and inset into the field of stripes so as to extend through the seventh (from the top) stripe. The canton bears twenty-seven (27) white cotton, five-pointed stars, each measuring about 4" across their points, appliquéd to each side of the canton by hand and set in five horizontal staggered rows: 5, 6,5,6,5. White canvas heading formed into a sleeve, 1 1/2" wide when flat, encompasses as a single hemp rope extended at each end and knotted into a rope eyelet for attaching to a halyard. The heading bears the inked name "C H Green", likely the purchaser, or a previous owner of the flag.

The Howard Michael Madaus sub-collection of Civil War Military Flags was assembled from a variety of sources over a thirty year period of collecting (1970-2000) before being acquired by the Zaricor Collection in 2000. The sub-collection attempts to present an example of each of the major types of depot contractor regulation flags and colors carried by Union forces at the basic unit level, i.e. regiment, battalion, company, and battery, as well as the types of general military flags.

This sub-collection (Howard Michael Madaus collection) added to the Zaricor Civil War collection is the largest and (while not complete) most comprehensive collection of the military flags carried by the Union Army during the Civil War outside of state repositories designated by the War Department for the disposition of these flags after the War or in public museum collections. In fact this private collection is larger and more comprehensive than many of the public museum collections in the United States.

Exhibition History:

Flag was exhibited at the 1996 meeting of North American Vexillological Association, Sacramento, CA.
It was used in the presentation by Howard M. Madaus.

First Presidio Exhibit, 2003
Twenty-Seven-Star United States Flag

Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003 Gallery II
27-Star United States Flag

Publication History:
Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 43

Provenance:
• C.H. Green, 19th century.
• Acquired by Hank Ford, Bedford, NH, 1995.
• Acquired Zaricor Flag Collection via Howard M. Madaus, Cody, WY in 1972.



ZFC Significant Flag
Item is Framed

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