Fort Sumter U.S. Flag Re-raising Program, April 14th, 1865.
Program of the Order of Exercises at the Re-raising of the United States Flag on Fort Sumter, Charleston, S.C., April 14th, 1865, Upon the Fourth Anniversary of the fall of the Fort.

On February 17, 1865, after repeated Union bombardments, the Confederates evacuated Fort Sumter, which had been reduced to little more than rubble. Recognizing the symbolic importance of recapturing the key fort in Charleston harbor, a ceremony was planned in which the Fort's former commander, Major General Robert Anderson would raise the same tattered, 33-star garrison flag he was forced to lower in 1861 at the war's onset. The special event was open to dignitaries by invitation only and on April 14, 1865, precisely four years after the capitulation of the Confederate garrison at Sumter and as part of a celebration of Union triumph, Anderson re-raised the flag and a garland of roses over the bombarded remnants of the fortress.

The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher was the key speaker at the 1865 ceremony, giving a protracted and florid speech, in keeping with contemporary etiquette. He said:
"On this solemn and joyful day, we again lift to the breeze our fathers flag, now, again, the banner of the United States, with the fervent prayer that God would crown it with honor, protect it from treason, and send it down to our children.... Terrible in battle, may it be beneficent in peace [and] as long as the sun endures, or the stars, may it wave over a nation neither enslaved nor enslaving.... We lift up our banner, and dedicate it to peace, Union, and liberty, now and forevermore."

Later that same evening, President Lincoln was murdered at Ford's Theatre in Washington.

This Program was for the Order of Exercises which included:
I. Opening Prayer by Rev. Matthias Harris, Chaplain US Army
II. Reading of Psalms 126; 47; 98 & excerpts of Psalm 20
III. Reading of Major Andersons dispatch to government
IV. Raising of the flag on the ruins & a national salute of 100 guns
V. Singing of the Star Spangled Banner
VI. Address of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher
VII. Doxology to the tune of One Hundred
VIII. Closing Prayer & Benediction by Rev. R.S. Storris, Jr., DD

These Programs were printed at The New South Office, Port Royal, S.C.

Exhibition History:
Second Presidio Exhibit

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

Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection in 1998 from a rarebook store Margolis & Moss, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

ZFC Significant Flag
Item is Framed

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