Thirty-Four Star American Flag.

Item Number: 130988

Rare thirty-four star Civil War era American National Flag commemorating Kansas statehood 1861-1863. With ‘akimbo” cotton stars arranged in 7-7-6-7-7 pattern hand-sewn a wool canton, the reverse has painted stars, hand-sewn wool buntng stripes, blue wool header, mounted in a plexiglass frame. The entire piece measures 53 inches by 41 inches. In very good condition. A rare and exceptional piece of American history.

Kansas became the 34th state admitted to the Union on January 29, 1861. The 1860s saw several important developments in the history of Kansas, including participation in the Civil War, the beginning of the cattle drives, the roots of Prohibition in Kansas (which would fully take hold in the 1880s), and the start of the Indian Wars on the western plains. James Lane was elected to the Senate from the state of Kansas in 1861, and reelected in 1865. After years of small-scale civil war, Kansas was admitted into the Union as a free state under the "Wyandotte Constitution" on January 29, 1861. "While Civil War flags escaped much of the mortal rigidity of mechanical mass production, their artistic merit was more particularly due to the delicate design relationship of the elements and to numerous subtle details - such as the directions of the arms of the stars, which we never entirely regimented, as they are on modern flags. And truly no modern replica can either do justice to the artistic character, or render the 'patina' of one of these antique flags" (Mastai & Mastai, 124).