thecivilwarparlor:Few American flags capture the essence of the Civil War like this 35 star homemade
thecivilwarparlor:Few American flags capture the essence of the Civil War like this 35 star homemade flag, made in 1863 along the Ohio-West Virginia border to celebrate West Virginia statehood. West Virginia was born amidst the conflict of the Civil War when the northwestern counties of Virginia voted to secede from the confederacy and form a new state for the Union. This flag was flown from the Olive Green General Store in Olive Green, Ohio, a town which no longer exists. The flag, created by the Ohioans to boldly welcome their West Virginia countrymen back to the Union, stands as a testament to the tensions stirred by West Virginia’s secession. According to family lore (and apparent upon close visual inspection), the three holes to the right-center of the flag are bullet holes shot through the flag by dissenting southern sympathizers as it hung on the general store. The flag itself is a masterpiece of American folk art. It exhibits several extremely rare characteristics seldom found on American flags of any era. The entire flag is constructed of a sheet of thick cotton cloth onto which the blue canton and red stripes are hand sewn. The practice of sewing a cut-through canton and red stripes onto a solid white sheet is known as “reverse appliqué”. It is extremely rare and almost never seen on American flags of any era.http://www.rareflags.com/RareFlags_Showcase_IAS_00090.htm -- source link