34 star flag questions??

[nkcsweetie]

i'm new at this i'm thinking my first posting didn't make it but i just ran across this flag in the mtns of NC, i had to get it, i'm not a collector but thought it was cool to find, it's a huge flag 14ft x 8ft, so displaying it will be hard, so i have no clue on what to do with it. my question is where did this flag come from and how was it used?? it has a name "cushman" written on it, please any information would help, hoping it was a good find...thanks Pictures by nkcsweetie - Photobucket

[NAVA1974]

i just ran across this flag in the mtns of NC,... it's a huge flag 14ft x 8ft, so displaying it will be hard, so i have no clue on what to do with it. my question is where did this flag come from and how was it used?? it has a name "cushman" written on it, please any information would help, hoping it was a good find...thanks

Welcome to the USA Flag Forum, and thanks for posting the picture.

North Carolina is an odd place to find such a large Yankee flag! I own a 34-star flag that measures 15ft x 23ft and it was flown from a yacht owned by a wealthy New Englander. Your flag has a heading and grommets (hand worked) that generally indicate use on land. (Flags on ships usually had a rope sewn into the heading.) It looks like a professionally made flag that may have been used in the early days of the secession debate but was quietly put away after NC seceded from the Union. Unless you can find a local connection to that name on the heading, your flag is just one of thousands made during the Civil War to honor the good ole USA.

May I ask how much you had to pay for that flag?

Nick A
Columbia MD

[nkcsweetie]

THanks....I paid $250 for the flag, don't know if that was a little to much. I've always been interested in the civil war era so i couldn't leave it, LOL....The guy I bought it from told me he bought it from a school auction near little switzerland NC around 1960, the school would get some items from Philadelphia PA. There is some other writing near the the cushman name but i can't seem to make it out. I would love to know the value of the flag. Thanks again for helping

[NAVA1974]

THanks....I paid $250 for the flag, don't know if that was a little to much. ... I would love to know the value of the flag. Thanks again for helping

If the flag was a lot smaller, say only 5 or 6 feet long, it would be worth $3000 to $4000. If it had an interesting star pattern, even more. However, huge flags are a real problem to display, and a pattern of stars in rows is commonplace. Recently a 10x18 foot 38-star flag in excellent condition sold on eBay for about $1000, so your Civil War era flag should be worth at least that much.

Nick A

[nkcsweetie]

thanks again..i'm really curious on the maker, i've tried to do some research on the name but came up with nothing....right now i've folded it and have it on display in a shadow box, probably going to take it to some civil war events going on in town to share it... also I forgot to ask, my husband was curious on some of the stains on the flag looks like tar spots, they seems to be all over the red and white stripes, does that have any effect on value of the flag. thanks

[nkcsweetie]

hello, just letting some of you know i just udated some pictures of the flag, trying to show just how large it really is (was very stressful for me, trying to be EXTRA careful..) after looking more closely to the name "cushman" it does look to say 5 yd briga?? thinking it was suppose to be brigade...i'm hoping this will help try to see where this flag was at.... Pictures by nkcsweetie - Photobucket

[NAVA1974]

hello, just letting some of you know i just udated some pictures of the flag, trying to show just how large it really is (was very stressful for me, trying to be EXTRA careful..) after looking more closely to the name "cushman" it does look to say 5 yd briga?? thinking it was suppose to be brigade...i'm hoping this will help try to see where this flag was at.... Pictures by nkcsweetie - Photobucket

Very curious. I'm not sure that flags of this size would have been used by a bridgade headquarters. It IS the size that I would expect to see flying from a brig (two-mast square sailed ship).

Nick

[nkcsweetie]

thanks for the help....we will look into that

[csaanv]

There was a Lt. Cassius E. Cushman on the USS Shawmut during the War Between the States. It served in my neck of the woods, Hampton Roads, Virginia. Maybe it was his flag?

Navy directory: officers of the ... - Google Books

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Shawmut_(1863)

[nkcsweetie]

There was a Lt. Cassius E. Cushman on the USS Shawmut during the War Between the States. It served in my neck of the woods, Hampton Roads, Virginia. Maybe it was his flag?

Navy directory: officers of the ... - Google Books

USS Shawmut (1863) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

very interesting