U.S. 34 Star Army Mounted Troops Guidon, 1862.
Although the cavalry of the United States Army was not provided with the Stars & Stripes at regimental level officially until 1895, in January of 1862 the War Department changed the pattern of the swallow-tailed guidons that were carried by each company (troop) of a regimen to the design of the Stars & Stripes. More than ten thousand of these Stars & Stripes guidons were made and carried during the Civil War. In fact, so many remained after the close of the conflict that they were issued (unchanged as to number of stars) until 1883. Indeed, the individual Troops of Custer's command were still carrying guidons of this pattern when they met their fate at the Little Big Horn in Montana Territory in 1876, and five were lost to the hostile Indians that obliterated Custer's battalion. This particular guidon, which served both mounted cavalry companies and light artillery field companies was either lost in Arkansas or carried by a Union Arkansas volunteer unit from that state during the Civil War.
The Howard Michael Madaus sub-collection of Civil War Military Flags was assembled from a variety of sources over a thirty year period of collecting (1970-2000) before being acquired by the Zaricor Collection in 2000. The sub-collection attempts to present an example of each of the major types of depot contractor regulation flags and colors carried by Union forces at the basic unit level, i.e. regiment, battalion, company, and battery, as well as the types of general military flags.
This sub-collection (Howard Michael Madaus collection) added to the Zaricor Civil War collection is the largest and (while not complete) most comprehensive collection of the military flags carried by the Union Army during the Civil War outside of state repositories designated by the War Department for the disposition of these flags after the War or in public museum collections. In fact this private collection is larger and more comprehensive than many of the public museum collections in the United States.
1862- 1863 U.S. Cavalry Guidon.
In 1862, the War Department elected to henceforth provide each cavalry company in the Union Army with a swallowtail guidon that conformed to the general design of the "Stars & Stripes". Thousands were produced during the Civil War, so many, in fact, that the surplus continued in use on the western plains until 1883. In 1885 the War Department reverted to the guidon pattern it had used from 1833 until 1862, the swallowtail guidon composed of a red bar over a white bar, with contrasting letters and figures thereupon.
The silk field is cut swallowtail and is composed of 13 horizontal alternating red and white stripes, top stripe is red, and bottom stripe is red. Inset into the field, and extending through seven stripes from the top, is a dark blue canton (union) 15 inches wide on the fly by 14" high on the hoist. The canton is decorated with 34 stars painted gold. Thirty of these stars form a pair of concentric circles (12 in the inner and 18 in the outer) while one star also graces each corner. The stars are painted on both the obverse and reverse sides. The forward edge of the flag has been doubled over and formed into a sleeve, 2" wide when flat. Framed (outside dimensions 33 x 46).
Exhibition History:
First Presidio Exhibit
34-Star United States Army, Cavalry Guidon, Model of 1862
Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003 - Gallery III
34-Star United States Army Cavalry Guidon, 1862 Model
Publication History:
Wright, Horatio, editor, Flags of the Army of the United States Carried During The War of the Rebellion 1861-1865, To Designate the Headquarters of the different Armies, Army Corps, Divisions and Brigades, or "Designating Flags of the United States Army, 1861-1865", Philadelphia, Burk & McFetridge, 1887/1888, P. Cavalry & Light Artillery.
Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 83.
Provenance:
• Made in Philadelphia, PA, 1862.
• By repute used in Arkansas, 1862-1865.
• Gifted to Mr. Harrison by sister Miss M.E. Harrison, Arkansas, 1919.
• Acquired by Marcus Chernoff, until 1974.
• Purchased by Howard Michael Madaus, 1974.
• Madaus Flag Collection, Madaus #6, until 2000.
• Acquired by Zaricor Flag Collection by Private Sale from the Madaus Flag Collection, 2000
ZFC Significant Flag
Item is Framed
Sources:
Madaus, Howard M.- Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict, VZ Publications, Santa Cruz, 2006.
Wright, Horatio, editor, Flags of the Army of the United States Carried During The War of the Rebellion 1861-1865, To Designate the Headquarters of the different Armies, Army Corps, Divisions and Brigades, or "Designating Flags of the United States Army, 1861-1865", Philadelphia, Burk & McFetridge, 1887/1888
Todd, Frederick P., American Military Equipage 1851-1872, Volume 2, Providence, The Company of Military Historians, 1977.
Woodhead, Henry, ed., Flags, Echoes of Glory: Arms and Equipment of The Union, New York, Time Life Books, 1998,
Madaus, Howard M., correspondence to Ben Zaricor, 29 March 2000, Zaricor Flag Collection Archives.
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection