Frame Size (H x L): 12” x 14.25”
Flag Size (H x L): 4.25” x 6.25”

Offered is a paper broadside, featuring a flag and the following overprint: The Nation Mourns a Martyred Father. It was made to mourn the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and was likely handed out along his funeral route.

Flags printed on paper trade cards and broadsides tend to have unusual star patterns, and the flag offered herein aligns with this notion. It includes thirty-four stars that are neither arranged by column; nor by row; nor by concentric rings; nor by any logical manner, for that matter. Rather, the stars are arranged randomly, such that there is no distinct, recognizable pattern. The flag offered herein was made in 1865, even though thirty-four star flags were official only between 1861 and 1863. During the nineteenth century, makers sometimes used greater or fewer stars than the official number of stars, likely because it did not make a big difference to either the maker or the user, just as long as the number was relatively close to what was official.

More unique than the star pattern and count, however, is that the flag includes red, white, and black stripes—a feature that is unique, in our experience, to this broadside. It also includes red; white; and black tassels, flowing horizontally above the blue canton. Per Victorian-era tradition, black was used to show mourning and grief. Thus, following the assassination of Lincoln, everything from buildings, to homes, to outfits, and flags were draped in black (or made to include black, like in the case of the flag offered herein).

Paper mourning flags, made following Lincoln’s assassination, have survived in several different forms with several different overprints. For example, such flags featured in the Stars and Stripes, written by J. Richard Pierce, include the following overprints:

· GOD’S Illustrious Servant! FAITHFUL TO THE END.

· WE MOURN! OUR CHIEF HAS FALLEN.

· WE LOVE HIM—LIVING. WE REVERE HIM—DEAD

· THE NATION MOURNS A MARTYRED FATHER.

Lincoln mourning flags are as rare as these overprints are interesting, and they are a highly desirable subset of antique American flags. They also offer a comparatively affordable entry point into Lincoln related flags, as compared to Lincoln campaign flags, for example.

THE ASSASSINATION
On April 9^th, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, ending the Civil War. It was assumed that the country would return to a peaceful state, and that such a return would be relatively swift and widespread. But just five days later, on April 14^th, chaos erupted and sadness ensured yet again when John Wilkes Booth—a Confederate Sympathizer and famous actor—assassinated Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C.

Booth was born, in 1838, in Maryland, a state that allowed the slave trade, yet also a state that remained part of the Union. During the 1860s, he was one of America’s best known and most popular stage actors. He had leading roles from New Orleans to Chicago to Boston and many other cities therebetween. He was good looking, he was charming, and he was a heartthrob—so much so that he is thought to be the first actor to ever have his clothes torn off by adoring fans.

Booth hated abolitionists, whom he thought were destroying the country. He considered fighting for the Confederacy, but his mother talked him out of doing so. The guilt associated with staying on the sidelines was overwhelming to him, particularly as the defeat of the South was becoming more and more likely. The guilt was so debilitating that he and a group of associates—in a desperate attempt “to do something”—conspired to kidnap Lincoln, in Richmond, Virginia, the Capital of the Confederacy. They planned to kidnap Lincoln on March 20^th, 1865, but their planned attack point never overlapped with his movements. Thus, their plan had been foiled.

Thereafter, Booth and his co-conspirators were growing increasingly desperate and becoming increasingly sinister, so much so that they pivoted their plan from kidnapping Lincoln to killing him. Booth saw an opening in which to assassinate Lincoln, after learning that Lincoln would attend Laura Keene’s performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre. In coordination therewith, Booth’s associate, George Atzerodt, planned to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood Hotel, and Booth’s associates, Lewis Powell and David Herold, planned to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward at his home, the thinking being that killing Lincoln and his possible successors would throw the U.S. government into chaos. These two subplots were failures: Seward was only wounded, and Johnson was spared entirely as his would-be attacker lost his nerve.

Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln arrived late for the show, but even so, witnesses reported that Lincoln was happy, relaxed, and laughing throughout the production. They sat in a private box above the stage, along with Henry Rathbone, a young army officer, and Clara Harris, Rathbone’s fiancé and daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris.

At 10:15, Booth slipped into Lincoln’s private box and shot him in the head, using a .44-caliber derringer pistol and just a single shot therefrom. Rathbone rushed Booth. Booth countered by stabbing Rathbone in the shoulder. Booth then jumped out of the box and onto the stage. He broke his leg upon his landing and then shouted the Latin phrase “sic semper tyrannis,” which translates to “thus always to tyrants” in English, which translates to “I bring death to tyrants” in plain English. The audience initially thought that commotion was part of the production, but Mary Todd’s screams quickly suggested otherwise. Immediately thereafter, Booth left the theater and escaped by horseback. Despite this all happening in just seconds, many in the audience were still able to recognize the assassin as Booth, due to his widespread fame.

LINCOLN’S DEATH
After Lincoln was shot, Charles Leale, a young doctor who was in the audience, rushed to his side and found him slumped in his chair, unable to move, and struggling to breath. Soldiers carried Lincoln to a boardinghouse across from the theater and placed him into a bed. The surgeon general rushed to the boardinghouse, only to determine that Lincoln would die, likely sometime in the night.

Vice President Andrew Johnson, members of Lincoln’s cabinet, and several of Lincoln’s friends stood at his bedside. Mary Todd was in bed, in an adjoining room, overwhelmed with shock and grief, while Robert Todd, her eldest son, stood by her side in support. Lincoln died at 7:22 A.M. on April 15^th. He was 56 years old.

BOOTH’S CAPTURE AND DEATH
On April 26^th, Union soldiers found Booth and David Herold, an accomplice, in a Virginia barn. The soldiers set the barn on fire, the purpose being to flush them from the barn and to capture them. Indeed, Herold surrendered. But in contrast, Booth stayed in the barn and allegedly raised his gun to shoot at the surrounding soldiers. To counter, one of the soldiers shot Booth in his neck. Thereafter, the soldiers carried Booth from the barn. He died just three hours later, but not before gazing at his hands and uttering his last words, “useless, useless.”

MOURNING LINCOLN
The news of Lincoln’s death spread like wildfire and sent shockwaves through the nation. By the end of April 15^th, flags were at half-mast, the country was shut down, and the jubilee associated with the War’s end was replaced with the mourning associated with Lincoln’s assassination. Also, by the end of April 15^th, Lincoln’s body was back at the White House, specifically in the East Room thereof for several days of public viewing. On April 19^th, there was a funeral service and, thereafter, his body was transported down Pennsylvania Avenue and placed in the Capitol Rotunda for further viewings and services.

On April 21^st, the honor guard took Lincoln’s body to the train depot, and the train then departed from Washington D.C. with 10,000 people in attendance, including cabinet secretaries, Edwin Stanton, Gideon Welles, Hugh McCulloch, and John Palmer Usher; the Commanding General of the U.S. Army, Ulysses S. Grant; and the Quartermaster General, Montgomery C. Meigs. The last stop on the train route was Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln’s hometown. The trip thereto generally traced (in reverse) Lincoln’s route, from Springfield to Washington, in 1860, to attend fist first inauguration.

In total, citizens observed, honored, and mourned Lincoln along 1,654 miles of track and at stops in Washington D.C.; Baltimore, Maryland; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York City; Albany, New York; Buffalo, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Michigan City, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln’s funeral train was the first commemoration of a president’s death via rail.

THIRTY-FOUR STAR FLAGS GENERALLY
The thirty-four star flag represents the inclusion of Kansas to the Union. Kansas was admitted on January 29th, 1861, and this flag became official on July 4th, 1861. President Lincoln served, and the Civil War was fought, under this star count. Many thirty-four star flags predate the first shots of the Civil War in 1861, as flag makers began producing them upon the admission of the Kansas, instead of the time at which the flag was officially admitted to the Union later in the same year. The thirty-four star flag was official until July 4th 1863, the time at which the thirty-five star flag became official and began to represent the inclusion of West Virginia in the Union.

Thirty-four and thirty-five star flags were the official flags for the majority of the Civil War, and for this reason, both are extremely collectible. Flags associated with this time period (1861-1865) and earlier are among the rarest and most desirable of all US flags. Prior to the Civil War, Americans did not typically display flags for patriotic purposes. In fact, even the military did not regularly use the flag, as it was not until 1834 that the army field artillery was permitted to carry the traditional US flag, and not until 1841 that regiments carried it. Instead, most flags prior to the Civil War were used to mark ships, and were massive in scale so as to be seen from large distances. The surge in small US flags for patriotic purposes began primarily with onset of the Civil War.

Conservation Process: The flag is mounted behind a mat and Optium Museum Acrylic.

Frame: The flag offered herein is in an outstanding, modern black frame.

Condition Report: There is some age-appropriate toning. Overall, the flag is in excellent condition.

Collectability Level: The Great – Perfect for Rising Collectors
Date of Origin: 1865
Number of Stars: 34
Associated War: The Civil War (1861-1865)
Associated State: Kansas