Boat Flags of the U.S. Navy 1782 - 1919

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Boat Flags of the U.S. Navy 1782 - 1919

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ZFC0707 - 13 Star U.S. 4-5-4 Boat Flag of the revolutionary privateer Minerva, 1782. The 4-5-4 horizontal star pattern is the oldest found on U.S. flags and would reappear in the decades between the 1850s and the 1870s.


ZFC0625 - 20 Star U.S. 5-5-5-5 Navy Boat Flag, - 3rd official U.S. flag which confirms to the circular issued by the US Navy in September of 1818 following the recommendation of President James Monroe, from the Mastai Collection.1818 to 1819.


ZFC0421 - 20 Star U.S. 5-5-5-5 Navy Boat Flag - marked "6 ft Ensign," a typical naval method of titling flags and conforms to known sizes used by the U.S. Navy, from the Flayderman Collection, 1818 to 1819.


ZFC2386 - 26 Star US Boat Flag - in the first half of the 19th century US Navy Boat Flags generally bore the full compliment of stars as in this 26 star example. one of the smaller flags used for this purpose, 1837 to 1845.


ZFC1453 - 31 star US Boat Flag - this flag bears a striking resemblance to a 31 star Boat Flag, with a reversed canton, that accompanied Commodore Oliver Hazard Parry to Japan in 1853. Later this flag would be displayed during the 1861 Pratt St, Riots in Baltimore, 1851 to 1858.


ZFC0029 - 16 Star U.S. 4-4-4-4 Navy Boat Flag - Navy Yard Charleston - this flag is marked with both its size and place of manufacture, "6 Ft. BOAT ENSIGN" and "N Y C", a prime example of a Navy Yard made flag. From the collections of the Star Spangled Banner Flag House and Museum, 1850s.


ZFC2385 - 16 Star U.S. 4-4-4-4 Boat Flag - Johnson Bros. Bath Maine. This flag is marked "(U.S.) Ensign from Johnson Bros: Bath, Maine" a firm that has it origins in the 1840s. The size suggests that this is a civilian Boat Flag, mimicking ZFC0029, 1850s.


ZFC3535 - 13 Star U.S. Navy 4-5-4 Navy 6 foot Boat Flag, from Commodore Stephen Decatur, preserved by his wife. Anna Rowell Philbrick Decatur, and is marked accordingly, 1850s or 1860s.


ZFC0359 - 13 Star 4-5-4 hand sewn cotton civilian Boat Flag, very similar in size to US Navy Size Number 10, but likely a civilian copy, 1850s to 1860s.


ZFC0632 - 13 Star U.S. 3-2-3-2-3, #12 Navy Boat Flag, "The Old Flag of the War 1861-1865". Contract wool Boat Flag, vessel unknown, but flag conforms to the new style introduced in the 1860s.


ZFC2483 - 13 Star U.S. 3-2-3-2-3, #12 Navy Boat Flag, Captured-Battery Wagner by Confederate Captain Charles E. Chichester of independent South Carolina heavy artillery at Battery Wagner, nicknamed the Gist Guard, July 1863.


ZFC3536 - 13 Star U.S. 3-2-3-2-3, #11 Navy Boat Flag, from Commodore Stephen Decatur, preserved by his wife, Anna Roell Philbrick Decatur, and is marked accordingly, 1860s.


ZFC2507 - 13 star U.S. 4-5-4, #12 Navy Boat Flag used at the amphibious landings at Ft. Fisher, North Carolina. The flag was ravaged in several places by Confederate cannon fire, which killed a Union bluejacket in the boat displaying this flag in January of 1865.


ZFC0583 - 13 star U.S. 3-2-3-2-3 wool, hand sewn Boat Flag, very similar in size to US Navy Size Number 12, this flag was from the courtroom display collection of Superior Court Judge John T. Ball, of Santa Clara County, California, 1860s to 1870s.


ZFC2458 - 13 Star U.S. 3-2-3-2-3 #11 Navy Boat Flag, this sewn wool flag was acquired from the descendants of W. Stokes Kirk, a Philadelphia, PA dealer in Civil War surplus. 1860s.


ZFC0633 - 13 Star U.S 3-2-3-2-3, printed, #14 Navy Boat Flag, manufactured by United States Bunting Co. of Lowell, Massachusetts. By former General Benjamin Butler in the late 1860s or early 1870s.


ZFC0013 - 13 Star U.S 3-2-3-2-3, printed, #14 Navy Boat Flag, manufactured with Holt's patented resist dye process by United States Bunting Co. of Lowell, Massachusetts. by former General Benjamin Butler in the late 1860s or early 1870s. From the Star Spangled Banner Flag House and Museum Collection.


ZFC2382 - 13 Star U.S 3-2-3-2-3, printed, # 14 Navy Boat Flag, manufactured with Holt's resist dye process by United States Bunting Co. of Lowell, Massachusetts. by former General Benjamin Butler in the late 1860s or early 1870s. From the personal collection of Gettysburg historian John Badger Batchelder, late 1860s through the 1880s.


ZFC0675 - 13 Star U.S 3-2-3-2-3, sewn, # 8 Navy Boat Flag, from the late 19th century. Note the vertical 3 up and 2 down rows which were a feature of flags made between 1882 and 1899.


ZFC0683 - 13 Star U.S. 3-2-3-2-3, sewn, #7 Navy Boat Flag, manufactured by Navy Yard N.Y. in Brooklyn in April 1891.


ZFC3546 - 13 Star U.S 3-2-3-2-3, sewn, #11 Navy Boat Flag, manufactured by Navy Yard, New York in Brooklyn, from the Decatur Family Collection, 1910 to 1915.


ZFC2598 - 48 Star U.S 8-8-8-8-8-8, sewn, # 12 Navy Boat Flag, manufactured by Navy Yard at Mare Island, California, after the 13 star US Navy Boat Flag was abolished in 1916. This flag is dated 1919.