Dowling Walsh Gallery

36 Stars, 'Great Star'

Civil War Era, 1864-67, Nevada Statehood, Rare small size for the 19th Century.

Flag Size: 42" x 68"

36 Star American national flag. The stars are arranged in what is known as the "Great Star" configuration, a star made out of stars. Among collectors, the Great Star configuration is the most coveted of all 19th century geometric patterns. Shortly after the War of 1812, American naval hero, Captain Samuel Reid, suggested to the president that the Great Star should be considered to become the first official star design. Reid's primary concern was that, as more and more states joined the Union, our flag needed to be kept recognizable on the open seas. Naval use was the primary reason for the American ensign in the first place, and Reid's proposal would have kept the star constellation in roughly the same form, and in an easily recognized design that could be quickly identified through a spyglass as the number of states grew.

Sadly, Reid's proposal was rejected due to the increased cost of arranging the stars in this manner. Never-the-less, since there was no official star pattern, the great star was produced by anyone willing to make it.

Adding to the appeal of this flag is its small size when compared to others of the 19th century. Today, in the 21st century, a flag with 5 foot (60") length is common, and some would consider this 68" example to be large. But in the 19th century, this flag is unusually small when compared to its counterparts with sewn construction. Printed parade flags were generally 3 feet long or smaller, but flags with sewn construction were generally between 7-10 feet long and larger. This is because flags needed to be seen from a distance to be effective in their purpose as signals.

Flags in the 36 star count in the Great Star pattern were seen on Lincoln's funeral train as it traveled the country in the mourning of his death in 1865.

The 36th state, Nevada, entered the Union during the Civil War on October 31st, 1864. The last Confederate general surrendered on May 26th, 1865. The 36 star flag became official on July 4th of that year, but makers of printed flags would have begun adding a 36th star to their flags in 1864, even before the addition of the new state occurred. Lincoln pushed Nevada through just 8 days before the November election to increase his support. While the population of the state was quite small, its primary industry was silver mining and the political alignment was generally Republican. The 36 star flag was replaced by the 37 star flag in 1867, with the addition of Nebraska.

The canton and stripes of the flag are made of a fine, blended wool fabric that often appears in the cantons of homemade, Civil War era flags, like this one, but is seldom seen used to create the stripes. This fabric would have been significantly more costly that the coarse wool bunting or lightweight cotton used in many homemade and commercial flags. It thus stands to reason that either the maker or recipient of the flag was of well-to-do means. Also testament to this is the fact that the flag is entirely sewn by a treadle machine. Sewing machines were relatively new in private homes, having been mass-marketed by Singer less than ten years before the 36th state was added to the Union. While the Stripes of commercially-made flags are often treadle-sewn in the Civil war era, the stripes of homemade flags are typically hand-sewn and it is unusual for any flags of this period to have treadle-sewn stars, no matter who made them. Flag-makers did not yet feel comfortable turning the fabric while peddling the wheel and keeping the edges of the stars folded. It was much easier for someone with relatively good sewing skills, in this era, to stitch the stars by hand. Then they might use a treadle machine to do all or some of the linear stitches needed to complete the rest of the process, piecing or finishing the stripes, joining the canton to the stripes, binding edges or attaching the hoist. Lack of comfort with the stitching of stars by treadle machine is evidenced in the double-appliqué of the stars on this flag, which were tacked down with glue to hold them in place so that the maker could turn the fabric without holding the stars, This also served to keep the edges of the stars intact during use, so that they need not be turned under. The stars made of cotton and the hoist is of a heavy, twill-weave cotton with two tiny brass grommets.