U.S. Army Artillery Regimental Color, Civil War,1862-1865, former Madaus Collection.
This flag's field dimensions consist of a single layer of yellow silk, approximately 72" on its hoist by approximately 78" on its fly, excluding the yellow silk, 2 1/4 deep fringe circumventing the three exterior sides. The leading edge bears no fringe and has been doubled over and sewn to form a sleeve for the staff. Painted in the center of the field on each side is a pair of crossed cannons, each approximately 30" long, painted in gold with shading and shadows of black and brown. Over the crossed cannons, painted on each side of the field is a small five piece red scroll edged in gold, approximately 2 1/2 wide, inclusive of the gold edging. This scroll consists of five sections, with the center and two exterior and swallowtail end pieces raised higher than the intermediary sections; the center portion was intended for the letters U.S. but is unmarked. Below the crossed cannons, again painted on each side of the field is a large, three-piece red scroll with gold edges, approximately 3 wide, inclusive of the edges. The center section is raised, while the two exterior sections outstretch in arcs that terminate with an acanthus flourish that winds behind the exterior ends of the scroll sections. The lower scroll was intended for regimental designation. However, like the upper scroll, the lower three pieces of the designation scroll are unmarked.

The flag was treated by Robert D. Needham of Columbus, Ohio (who also conserved the regimental flags of Ohio and West Virginia) prior to acquisition by attaching the somewhat tattered pieces of silk with polyvinyl chloride to a nylon mesh backing. This process is reversible and should be water-soluble.

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.

Historical Significance:

In 1834, the United States Army made its first efforts to supply its military units with the United States flag for field use. The first units so selected consisted of the four regiments of regular army artillery. The General Regulations for the Army printed by Francis P. Blair of Washington, D.C. in 1834 specified the change in Article LV, which, in part, reads:
Each regiment of artillery shall have two silken colors. The first, or the national colors, of stars and stripes, as ... for the garrison flag. The number and name of the regiment (is) to be embroidered with gold on the centre stripe. The second, or regimental color, (is) to be yellow, of the same dimensions as the first, bearing in the centre, two cannons crossing, with the letters U.S. above, and the number of the regiment below; fringe yellow. Each color (is) to be six feet six inches fly, and six feet deep on the pike….

Between 1834 and 1861, the regular army artillery consisted of only four regiments (the fifth being added in 1861), and flags of this description were furnished through the Quartermaster's Department main clothing depot near Philadelphia; the Schuykill Arsenal.

With the onset of the American Civil War, the regular army artillery was supplemented with a new regiment, the 5th Artillery. The federal government relied upon the formation of a volunteer army recruited and organized and equipped under the auspices of the loyal states. While most light field artillery was organized in separate batteries (companies), eventually the states (and in the case of Colored Troops the U.S. federal government) raised a total 48 regiments of heavy (garrison and siege) artillery as well as twelve regiments of light artillery beyond the independent companies and batteries. Most of these heavy artillery regiments were raised in the east, with the states of New York (14) and Pennsylvania (5) and Massachusetts (4) contributing the majority, while Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin raised single regiments. Ohio raised two. Additionally, the occupied states of the Southern Confederacy and some northern states provided an additional fourteen regiments of heavy artillery from northern freemen or recently emancipated slaves. Light Artillery regimental formations were rare, with Illinois, Missouri and New York forming two and Ohio one. As the companies (batteries) of these units seldom served in a regimental capacity, the use of regulation artillery colors by these light artillery regiments was rare.

By early 1862, the federal government assumed the responsibility of equipping the state volunteers. To provision the light and heavy artillery regiments, several contracts were initiated with private flag makers through three (Philadelphia, New York City, and Cincinnati) of the major clothing depots for regimental colors (both artillery and infantry). As a result, from 3 November o1862 until 12 August 1864, a total of 212 regimental artillery colors were provided to these depots. Cincinnati contracted for 77; Philadelphia for 25, and New York for 110. Those made at Philadelphia and Cincinnati followed the pre-War (Model of 1834) pattern, while those made for the New York City depot followed a slightly modified pattern which included a partly inscribed regimental scroll.

These federal flags were issued to the heavy and light artillery regiments as called for on requisitions. These flags were issued without inscriptions, the application of designations being the responsibility of the receiving unit. A comparison of the colors received by the five regiments of Heavy Artillery formed in Pennsylvania (see Richard A. Sauers book, "Foreward the Colors," pages 23, 372, 454, 507, and 518), only two of the five units actually had their regimental flags properly marked. The 2nd and the 6th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery's flags bear inscriptions, while those of the 3rd and 5th do not, as apparently was also the case for the short lived 4th Heavy Artillery- 189th P.V. As the number of flags contracted for (110) exceeded the number of potential units to obtain such flags (60), a surplus remained at the end of the Civil War. The Quartermaster's Department continued to issue colors from the Civil War stock until 1880, at which time, inspections found that those still in storage were beginning to rot. Accordingly, with authorization, the Quartermasters Department began to turn over stored colors upon requests from soldiers' homes, G.A.R. posts, and other veterans groups. It is thought that the flag obtained from Mr. Nannos from the State Fencibles collection represents one of these surplus flags.

Supporting documentation:

A. Scale drawing (1=1) of Model 1834 (Philadelphia/Cincinnati Depot) Artillery Color.
B. Copy of 1834 General Regulations for the Army
C. Scale drawing (1=1) of Model 1834 (New York City Depot) Artillery Color
D. Xerox copy of photograph of West Point Museum collection no. 2556, an unmarked New York City Depot artillery regimental color.
E. Transcript list of contracts for Regimental Flags from National Archives records.

Provenance:
• Made under contract U.S. Army Quartermaster Depot, 1862-1865
• Artillery Regimental Color, 1862-1864
• Acquired from the Collection of the Pennsylvania State Fencible Armory by Craig Nannos after dissolution early 1970's.
• Conservation work done by Robert D. Needham of Columbus, Ohio
• Purchased by Howard Madaus from Craig Nannos (Sentry Post) of Broomhall, Pennsylvania on January 26, 1979.
• Acquired by ZFC by Private Sale from the Madaus Flag Collection, 2000

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. Artillery regimental.

ZFC Significant Flag

Sources:



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. Artillery regimental.

Madaus, Howard M.- Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict, VZ Publications, Santa Cruz, 2006.

US Army Quartermaster General, 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, Washington, D.C., 1887.

Todd, Frederick P., American Military Equipage 1851-1872, Volume 2, Providence, The Company of Military Historians, 1977.

Katcher, Phillip, Flags of the American Civil War, 2: Union, London, Osprey, 1993.

Madaus, Howard M., correspondence to Ben Zaricor, 29 March 2000, Zaricor Flag Collection Archives.

Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection


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