Collection Highlights
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Date:
1805
Object Number:
1867.306
Medium:
Oil on linen
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Museum Collections
Luce Center
Flag
Object Number:
1949.188
Date:
1864-1867
Medium:
Wool, cotton, linen, metal grommets
Dimensions:
Overall: 38 1/2 x 75 in. ( 97.8 x 190.5 cm )
Description:
Wool machine sewn U.S. flag with thirty-six cotton hand applied white stars (six rows of six stars) on each side of the blue canton; thirteen red and white stripes; natural linen hoist with metal grommets at each end.
Gallery Label:
According to the donor, this flag was flown during the Draft riots of 1863. Several private homes along Fifth Avenue opened their doors to African-American refugees fleeing from Irish mobs who feared competition from newly freed blacks under the Emancipation Proclamation. This flag was flown over the Bushnell boarding-house from a top story window to notify those fleeing that a guard at the basement would give them admission. A tenant, wife of Maj. Gen. Solomon Merideth, preserved the flag.
Credit Line:
Gift of Emma D. Wilcox, M.D.
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
