I hope you are wrong robin, but you do raise some interesting points about souveniring. from my reading I understand that it was a common practice in the 19th century to remove souvenirs from flags to commemorate significant events such as battles, campaigns, and the death of leaders/ officers.

This is somewhat interesting as the stenciled name on the hoist H.R.Jennings corresponds to one Captain Henry R. Jennings from the Connecticut 21st volunteer infantry company E. He was mortally wounded at petersburg, and died on November 21 st 1864 of his wounds. Now while the 36 star flag wasn't official July 1965, Nevada was officially added as a state to the union on October 31,1964. Thus it seems possible to me that this potentially could have been his flag or a funeral flag from which a souvenir was taken from for his family or his company men.

Anyways, I don't think that this is conclusive evidence by any means, but it does seem overall consistent with the overall period being in 1864 - 1867. Anyways, I would love to get more insight on the use of souveniring, and whether this scenario that I laid out seems possible or far fetched. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Nicholas