37 star U.S. flag

[mommas worry]

Can anyone lend me any history on the flag. Mine is a U.S. Army garrison flag flown over a fort in the west during the time period 1866-77. I am trying to gather as much information as possible on it as I plan to offer it for presentation at special events and would like to have some detail as to its history. Size is approx. 4 x 12 ft. and has a readable stamp of the manufacturer of "U.S. Bunting" Lowell, Mass.

[NAVA1974]

Check the size again. Flags are not usually three times longer than their width. Your flag is made of wool bunting as the US Bunting Co. was the first maker of woolen flag bunting in this country. Prior to the US Civil War all wool bunting was imported from England. Benjamin Butler, a US Civil War General and Congressman from Massachusetts, was an owner of the US Bunting Co. That company had a patented method for resist-dyeing wool to make flags. Gen. Butler got the US Congress to pass a law giving preference to US made bunting when buying flags for the government. Since his company was the only one making wool bunting in the US this was definitely a conflict of interest, but was business as usual in those days. I flags made by the US Bunting company with 13 stars, 37 stars, and 38 stars, and I know they also made 44 star flags so they were in business up to the early 1890's at least.

[fast1]

woah can i ask where did you get all this info from? i dont think google puts things like that together

[american_flag_uk]

Well people like myself, Nava, and peter, are vexillologists - that is - people who study and take a special interest in flags.
it is amazing once you focus your interest onto a certain area what you can learn, when you read all kinds of information from a variety of sources- including the internet - but also books, and discussing what you learn with other likeminded people

[NAVA1974]

woah can i ask where did you get all this info from? i dont think google puts things like that together

Thanks for that!

american_flag_uk is correct that Vexillologists love flags and flag history. I happen to also collect antique flags and have a few made by the United States Bunting Company of Lowell Mass. I have attached a photo of my 37-star flag (well, at least the canton) and you can just barely see on the heading "UNITED STATES ENSIGN 6 FT" but it also has the stamp for the US Bunting Co.

For info on flag manufacturing in the US during the 19th century see Grace Rogers Cooper's book "Thirteen Star Flags - Keys to Identification" available online at the Smithsonian:
http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancon.../SSHT-0021.pdf

Regards,
Nick
(NAVA1974 is my handle as that is the year I joined the North American Vexillolgical Association)