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Robert Anderson.

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:80.00 USD Estimated At:160.00 - 220.00 USD
Robert Anderson.
Of Ky. Union Maj. Gen., defender of Fort Sumter against bombardment by Beauregard, his former student at West Point. During the Black Hawk War of 1832, Anderson had personally mustered in a young soldier - twice - by the name of Abraham Lincoln. (He was also assisted in transporting Chief Black Hawk by ... Jefferson Davis.) Becoming an instant national hero, Anderson's stand at Sumter has been credited with "forging the modern meaning of the American flag...During the war the flag was used throughout the North to symbolize American nationalism and rejection of secessionism. 'Historian Adam] Goodheart explains the flag was transformed into a sacred symbol of patriotism: 'Before that day, the flag had served mostly as a military ensign or a convenient marking of American territory...and displayed on special occasions like the Fourth of July. But in the weeks after Maj. Anderson's surprising stand, it became something different. Suddenly the Stars and Stripes flew... from houses, from storefronts, from churches; above the village greens and college quads...That old flag meant something new. The abstraction of the Union cause was transfigured into a physical thing: strips of cloth that millions of people would fight for, and many thousands die for.'"--1861: The Civil War Awakening, Vintage Books, 2011. Present at Sumter upon re-raising of the Stars and Stripes on Apr. 14, 1865, just hours before Lincoln's assassination. With "Bt. Gen. U.S.A." in his hand. Minor glue spots at blank right edge, light toning, else very fine. A key name for Civil War collections.