13 Star U.S. Flag #12 Navy Boat Flag, "The Old Flag of the War 1861-1865".
Within the allowances for loose tolerances and shrinkage, this thirteen-star, United States flag conforms to the dimensions specified from 1863 through 1882 for the No. 12 (7 feet fly dimension) boat flag. The attached panel indicates that it saw Civil War service, though a ship's name has not been recorded. The heading has a pair of brass grommets. Although brass grommets began to be popular substitutes for hand-sewn buttonhole eyelets among commercial flag manufacturers of the 1860s, they were not used with U.S. Navy boat flags until the 1890s. Hence, it is thought that this flag was furnished to the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War by a contracted flag maker.

Exhibition History:

First Presidio Exhibit
(ZFC0632)
Thirteen-Star, United States Navy Boat Flag, No. 12

Second Presidio Exhibit Gallery One Copy 2003
ZFC0632
13-Star United States Navy Boat Flag No.12

Publication History:
Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 22.

Provenance:
• Acquired by Mr. & Mrs. Boleslaw & Marie-Louise D'Otrange Mastai, New York City, and Amagansett, NY, The Mastai Collection, until 2002.
• Sold via Sotheby's Auction in New York City to the Zaricor Flag Collection, 2002.


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.

Mastai, Boleslaw and Marie-Louise D'Otrange, The Stars and The Stripes: The American Flag as Art and as History from the Birth of the republic to the Present, Knopf, New York, 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, 10 October 2011, from: http://www.vexman.net/smalboat.htm

Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection.