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U.S. BUNTING COMPANY PRESS DYED 13 STAR U.S. NAVY

Currency:USD Category:Music / CDs Start Price:1,000.00 USD Estimated At:2,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
U.S. BUNTING COMPANY PRESS DYED 13 STAR U.S. NAVY
U.S. BUNTING COMPANY PRESS DYED 13 STAR U.S. NAVY "BOAT FLAG" ONCE OWNED BY GETTYSBURG HISTORIAN JOHN BADGER BATCHELDER. U.S. Navy "7 Ft." Boat Ensign once owned by famed Gettysburg Historian and Monument Authority, "Colonel" John Badger Batchelder. This flag measures 45" on its hoist by 74" (currently, but was 84" when made) on the fly. The flag was manufactured in accordance with the 1867 and 1870 patents of John Holt of Lowell, Massachusetts, which were assigned to the United States Bunting Company, founded two years earlier by former Maj-Gen Benjamin Butler and D.W.C. Farrington. The field is composed of two sheets of wool bunting, the upper 25" wide imprinted with 7 stripes, the lower 20-1/2" wide and imprinted with 6 stripes, jointed horizontally by hand to form a field of thirteen horizontal, alternating red and white stripes. Inset into the upper, hoist corner (mainly by hand but with one vertical machine seam) is a sgl width of wool bunting, 24-1/2" high on the hoist by 37" long on the fly, press dyed dark blue so as to leave clear impressions of thirteen (13) white, 5-pointed stars, each 5-1/2" across their points, set in five horizontal, staggered rows: 3-2-3-2-3. A white canvas heading has been hand sewn to the leading edge of the flag and bears a brass grommet (7/8" OD, 3/8" ID) at each end for ties to affix the flag to a staff or halyard. This heading is marked on the reverse side (first in black but over printed in blue), "GETTYSBURG 1863". According to a label attached to the box in which this flag was found, this "flag carried at Battle of Gettysburg. From Col. John Badger Batchelder, who wrote the history of the Battle of Gettysburg for the U.S. Government, and he also was the man who promoted the marking of the Battlefield and compiles the data regarding the position of the troops during the battle". While Batchelder may have carried this flag with him on one of his numerous post-War trips to the Gettysburg battlefield, it could not have been made prior to 1868. Since Batchelder married Elizabeth Barber Stevens (in 1854), a niece of Benjamin Butler, it is highly likely that the flag was a post-War gift from Butler (who co-owned the U.S. Bunting Company) to the Batchelders. (See Gettysburg magazine, Issue No. 3 (July, 1990), pages 116-127 for an extensive analysis of Batchelder's career). CONDITION: Dark blue canton is in very good condition with only a few minor holes. Two panels composing the stripes are moth holed in various places, and a 3" cut along the lower edge has been patched with a period material. 4-57368 HMM (2,000-4,000)