Thirty-Eight Star American Flag.

[CHAMBERLAIN, Joshua].

Item Number: 137247

Rare thirty-eight star American flag from the collection of Civil War Union Army General Joshua Chamberlain. The thirty-eight star flag was in use between July 4, 1877 when the state of Colorado was admitted into the Union as the 38th state and July 4, 1890 when North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Idaho were admitted as the 39th, 40th, 41st, 42nd, and 43rd states. Printed on cloth, the flag is stamped, “Mountfort Post Maine Dept.” Union General Joshua Chamberlain served in the 20th Regiment of the Maine Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War and belonged to to Grand Army of the Republic Post No. 22, named after Captain Vincent Mountfort (1825-1864) of the 24th Regiment of the Maine Volunteer Infantry, who died at Sycamore Church, Virginia. G.A.R. Post No. 22 at Brunswick, Maine was organized in January 1868. Chamberlain’s adept leadership at Little Round Top in the Battle of Gettysburg earned him a Medal of Honor and national acclaim. After the Civil War, Chamberlain was involved in the state militia and served as the Governor of Maine and president of his alma mater, Bowdoin College. In very good condition. Matted and framed with three pieces of memorabilia from the 20th Regiment of the Maine Volunteer Infantry, Chamberlain’s Civil War fighting unit. The entire piece measures 23 inches by 20 inches. 

One of the nation’s most widely recognized symbols, the flag of the United States of America has been officially modified a total of 26 times since its first appearance in 1777. The flag’s initial design, bearing thirteen stars and thirteen stripes, has been credited to several historic figures including naval flag designer Francis Hopkinson, Elizabeth “Betsy” Ross, and flagmaker Rebecca Young. On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution which stated: “Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”