U.S. 34 Star National Color St. Louis Home Guard, 1861.
This United States 34-star flag was formerly part of the collection of the M.H. de Young Museum. Founded in 1895 in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the de Young Museum was San Francisco's first museum. It was a great success from its opening and has been an integral part of the cultural fabric of the city and a cherished destination for millions of residents and visitors to the region for over 100 years.
Michael Henry de Young, 1849 -1925, was an American journalist and businessman who owned and published the San Francisco Chronicle. He used his wealth to further his eclectic tastes and accumulated a collection of immense variety, and such diverse objects such as sculptures, paintings, flags, polished tree slabs, paintings, objet d'art, jewelry, a door reputedly from Newgate Prison, birds' eggs, handcuffs and thumbscrews, and a collection of knives and forks.
As San Francisco's premier repository, the de Young Museum came to house a number of flags associated with the American acquisition of the Philippines after the Spanish American War.
According to the De Young Museum records, this flag came from the St. Louis, Missouri area as a gift from Laura S. Edwards in 1924. The heading is marked 'Home Guard' or 'Honor Guard', but the size and type of flag suggest that it was used as a militia regitmental flag. Research revealed that it was carried by the "St. Louis Home Guard" which played a significant role in 1861 ensuring that St. Louis and the state remained in the Union. During the transition period of border states deciding whether to stay in the Union or join the new Confederate States of America Northern sympathizers learned that a military move was going to be initiated by citizens in favor of establishing St. Louis a supporter of the Southern Cause using force if necessary. At that time the German community was a major influential ethnic group in favour of the city remaining loyal to the United States. Using this flag, the Regitmental Color of the St. Louis Home Guards, the militia surrounded the armed camp of the citizen army formed to take over the city for the South, and put down the rebellion.
The flag is said to have been half-staffed on the death of Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon, who was the first Union general killed during the Civil War. He commanded volunteers in Missouri and died at the Battle of Wilson's Creek on 10 August 1861. Subsequently, the flag is said to have been half-staffed for every US president from Lincoln to Harding.
The arrangement of the stars in this flag is irregular. There are "rows" of four stars each on the top, the bottom and the two sides of the canton. In the center, it is difficult to make out any regularity in the arrangement; many of the stars even point in different directions. The canton is also unusual in that its horizontal measurement is shorter than the vertical, a design characteristic usually limited to regimental national colors; which this might well be. An interesting star pattern and history.
ZFC Significant Flag
Item is Framed
Provenance:
• Made in St. Louis, MO, 1861.
• Brought to San Francisco in 1871.
• By descent to Mrs. Laura S. Edwards, until 1924.
• Gifted to de Young Museum, 1924.
• Sold via Butterfield & Butterfield Auctions, SF, CA, to the Zaricor Flag Collection, 1997
Deaccessed at auction via Bonham's 21 November 2023, Auction #BOK23110NY, - 28447 -
Lot #101
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