ZFC Item Section - U.S. 31 Star Flag, Pratt St. Riots, Baltimore, MD

Exhibits Title information is available upon specific request. Additional information available upon request to researchers, writers and others demonstrating special circumstances. In some situations, information may not be available.
Exhibition Copy	University of California - Santa Cruz Board of Councilors Meeting, Rare Flags Exhibit Santa Cruz, CA 7 June 2012 Santa Cruz, CA, June 7, 2012: The Zaricor Flag Collection exhibited 34 flags and artifacts at the University of California Santa Cruz Campus for the Board of Councilors Meeting. 31 Star U.S. Flag, Pratt St. Riots Baltimore, MD. Date: 1851-1858 Media: Wool with cotton stars. Comment: This small hand-sewn 31 star wool flag is remarkable. It was made in Baltimore, at the Pratt Street shop of the flag maker Mark Pickersgill. It was later discovered in a Baltimore home, a few blocks from the site of the infamous 19 April 1861 event now known as the Baltimore Riot of 1861. Also called the Pratt St. Riots, they were between southern sympathizers and members of the 6th Massachusetts Infantry en route to Washington for federal service. It is regarded by many historians as the first bloodshed of the Civil War. This flag was displayed by Union supporters. The noted flag historian Howard Madaus examined the flag in the 1990s and speculated that it was also of the size and type of flags used by the U.S. Navy for Boat Flags. Curiously, it is of the same size and type of flag Commodore Perry took to Japan in 1853. Perry's surviving flag at the U.S. Naval Academy is almost identical to this flag; the only exception is the vertical row of six stars on the hoist side of Perry's flag, the same flag that was placed on the quarter deck of the USS Missouri in September 1945 when the instrument of surrender of Imperial Japan was signed. It is likely that this 31 star United States flag, which became current upon the admission of California in 1851, was made for the Navy by Mary Pickersgill, used by as a small boat flag in the 1850s, and then returned to Baltimore where it was displayed during the Baltimore Riot of 1861. Provenance: Acquired by private purchase in 1998 by the Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC1453), from Star Spangled Banner Flag House & Museum, Baltimore, MD. www.FlagCollection.com

Exhibits

Title information is available upon specific request. Additional information available upon request to researchers, writers and others demonstrating special circumstances. In some situations, information may not be available.

Exhibition Copy

University of California - Santa Cruz
Board of Councilors Meeting, Rare Flags Exhibit
Santa Cruz, CA
7 June 2012

Santa Cruz, CA, June 7, 2012: The Zaricor Flag Collection exhibited 34 flags and artifacts at the University of California Santa Cruz Campus for the Board of Councilors Meeting.

31 Star U.S. Flag,
Pratt St. Riots Baltimore, MD.

Date: 1851-1858

Media: Wool with cotton stars.

Comment: This small hand-sewn 31 star wool flag is remarkable. It was made
in Baltimore, at the Pratt Street shop of the flag maker Mark Pickersgill. It was
later discovered in a Baltimore home, a few blocks from the site of the infamous
19 April 1861 event now known as the Baltimore Riot of 1861. Also called the
Pratt St. Riots, they were between southern sympathizers and members of the 6th
Massachusetts Infantry en route to Washington for federal service. It is regarded
by many historians as the first bloodshed of the Civil War. This flag was displayed
by Union supporters.
The noted flag historian Howard Madaus examined the flag in the 1990s
and speculated that it was also of the size and type of flags used by the U.S. Navy
for Boat Flags. Curiously, it is of the same size and type of flag Commodore Perry
took to Japan in 1853. Perry's surviving flag at the U.S. Naval Academy is almost
identical to this flag; the only exception is the vertical row of six stars on the hoist
side of Perry's flag, the same flag that was placed on the quarter deck of the USS
Missouri in September 1945 when the instrument of surrender of Imperial Japan
was signed.
It is likely that this 31 star United States flag, which became current upon
the admission of California in 1851, was made for the Navy by Mary Pickersgill,
used by as a small boat flag in the 1850s, and then returned to Baltimore where it
was displayed during the Baltimore Riot of 1861.

Provenance: Acquired by private purchase in 1998 by the Zaricor Flag Collection
(ZFC1453), from Star Spangled Banner Flag House & Museum, Baltimore,
MD. www.FlagCollection.com