Exhibits


Title information is available upon specific request. Additional information available upon request to researchers, writers and others demonstrating special circumstances. In some situations, information may not be available.
Exhibition Copy Exhibition History
Flag was used at the 1996 North American Vexillological Association, Sacramento, CA.
It was used in the presentation by Howard Madaus.

First Presidio Exhibit
(ZFC1452)
TWENTY-SEVEN-STAR UNITED STATES FLAG
Date: 1845-1846
Media: Wool bunting with cotton stars; all hand sewn
Comment: Florida Territory, which the United States purchased from Spain in 1819, achieved statehood on March 3rd, 1845. The star representing Florida was officially added to the union in the United States flag on July 4th of that year. However, on December 29th, 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state. Accordingly the 27-star flag became obsolete on July 4th of 1846. This flag bears the inked name C.H. Green inscribed on its white canvas heading. This is likely the owner of the flag or the name of the individual who originally purchased it. At nearly six feet by eleven feet, it is likely that this was a merchant ship's ensign.
Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC1452) in 1995 from Hank Ford of Bedford, New Hampshire.

Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003 Gallery II
(ZFC1452)
27-Star United States Flag
Date: 1845-1846 27 Stars: July 4, 1845-July 3, 1846 (Florida statehood March 3, 1845)
Media: Wool bunting with cotton stars; hand-sewn
Comment: The Territory of Florida, which the United States had purchased from Spain in 1819, achieved statehood on March 3rd, 1845. The star representing the new state was officially added to the union of the United States flag on July 4th of that year. However, since Texas was admitted as the 28th state later that same year, the 27-star flag became obsolete on Independence Day in 1846. This particular flag bears the inked name C.H. Green inscribed on its white canvas heading. He is likely to have been the original owner of the flag or an individual who later acquired it. At nearly six feet by eleven feet, it is likely that this was utilized as a merchant ship ensign.
Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC1452) in 1995 from Hank Ford of Bedford, New Hampshire.

H. Madaus notes: Twenty-seven star flags represent the ninth official version of the United States flag, consequent to the inclusion of Florida as the 27th state, admitted to the Union on 3 March 1845 and official (in accordance with the 1818 flag act) on 4 July 1845. This was the official U.S. flag at the outbreak of the War with Mexico and became "obsolete" with the admission of Texas to the Union on 29 December 1845 (with the 28 star flag becoming official on 4 July 1846.) The flag's size and materials suggest a military camp or recruiting flag or a ship's ensign.

74" hoist by 134" fly (overall), consisting of a field of thirteen alternating horizontal red and white wool bunting stripes, varying in width from 5 1/2" to 6", sewn together by hand, with a dark blue wool bunting canton, 37" on the hoist by 38" on the fly, formed from three pieces (17 1/2", 17 1/2" and 3 1/4" wide) of bunting joined by hand horizontally and inset into the field of stripes so as to extend through the seventh (from the top) stripe. The canton bears twenty-seven (27) white cotton, five-pointed stars, each measuring about 4" across their points, appliqued to each side of the canton by hand and set in five horizontal staggered rows: 5,6,5,6,5. White canvas heading formed into a sleeve, 1 1/2" wide when flat, encompasses as a single hemp rope extended at each end and knotted into a rope eyelet for attaching to a halyard. The heading bears the inked name "C H Green".

Publications


Title information is available upon specific request. Additional information available upon request to researchers, writers and others demonstrating special circumstances. In some situations, information may not be available.
Publication Copy Publication History:
Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 43.

27-Star United States Flag

The Territory of Florida, which the United States had purchased from Spain in 1819, achieved statehood on March 3rd, 1845. The star representing the new state was officially added to the union of the United States flag on July 4th of that year. However, since Texas was admitted as the 28th state later that same year, the 27-star flag became obsolete on Independence Day in 1846. This particular flag bears the inked name C.H. Green inscribed on its white canvas heading. He is likely to have been the original owner of the flag or an individual who later acquired it. At nearly six feet by eleven feet, it is likely that this was utilized as a merchant ship ensign. In 1846 the United States, under the leadership of James K. Polk, went to war with Mexico, and the American settlers in California proclaimed the Bear Flag Republic shortly before United States naval officers seized the area. The American star was used as a symbol on both the Texas and California flags.

Title information is available upon specific request. Additional information available upon request to researchers, writers and others demonstrating special circumstances. In some situations, information may not be available.