1st Michigan 3-Month Volunteer Infantry
SC-4-90: Silk national ▪ Dimensions: 73”x 77” ▪ Cotton Fringe: 2.5”
Description:
The flag has 34 five-pointed, painted gold stars in the blue canton, indicating that it was produced in the early years of the war, prior to West Virginia’s entry into the Union in 1863, which added a 35th star. The stars are in two concentric ovals with nine stars in the inner oval, twenty stars in the outer, one star at each corner and one star in the center. In many areas, dye from the red silk stripes has bled onto the white stripes. Fabric on the hoist was fashioned into a sleeve for attachment to the staff.
The staff, which measures 100” long x 1.25” in diameter is intact, with a regulation brass spade finial. The staffs of flags returned to the state at the 1866 Detroit ceremony marking the end of the war all bear identical brass plaques. There is no brass plaque on this staff instead there is a different metal band attached to the staff and inscribed “First Reg’t, infantry.” This indicates that this flag may have been given to the state at a different time.
The blue and white twisted silk cord measures 128” long and the two 2.5” tassels are formed on wooden cores.
The flag was netted (sewn between layers of dyed net) in the 1960s in an early attempt at conservation.
Adoption:
February 7, 2017 - Bruce and Terri Miller
1st Michigan 3-Month Volunteer Infantry
SC-228-90: Silk regimental ▪ Dimensions: 69.5”x 76.5” ▪ Gold Bullion Fringe: 2.5”
Description:
This flag is the regiment’s presentation flag and was given to the regiment in a large celebration at Campus Martius in Detroit on May 11, 1861. It was captured at the First Battle of Bull Run and spent the majority of the war in Richmond. After Richmond was captured, the flag was in various governmental buildings in Washington D. C. until the state petitioned for it’s return, and it joined the collection on May 10, 1886.
The flag is constructed of two pieces of blue silk, each painted separately and sewn together. The obverse (front) is charged with a painted red scroll with the motto, “MICHIGAN’S DAUGHTERS TO HER SONS. DEFEND IT.” Below that is a painted rendering of the Michigan coat-of-arms. It features an eagle with outstretched wings clutching in its beak a light blue scroll bearing the national motto in Latin, “E PLURIBUS UNUM” (“Out of Many, One”). The eagle rests atop a shield bearing the Latin motto, “TUEBOR” (“I Will Defend”). The shield features a peninsula, lighthouse, and sailing vessel on the horizon. It is supported on the right by an elk and on the left by a moose, both rampant. Beneath the shield is a light blue scroll painted with the Latin motto, “SI QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAM CIRCUMSPICE” (“If You Seek a Pleasant Peninsula Look About You”). Draped from the scroll is a banner inscribed with the name of the regiment: “1ST. REGT INFTY.”
The reverse (back) features a painted rendering of the federal eagle (33.5” from tip of beak to tip of wing) perched on top of the federal shield and displaying arms (that is, arrows) clasped in the right talon and an olive branch in the left. Upon the shield is a blue painted scroll with the national motto in Latin, “E PLURIBUS UNUM” (“Out of Many, One”). Two painted, crossed, national flags complete with tassels, staff and spear finials appear beneath the eagle and behind the shield.
The red, white, and blue twisted silk cord measures 95” long and the two red, white and blue 2.5” tassels are formed on wooden cores.
The flag was netted (sewn between layers of dyed net) in the 1960s in an early attempt at conservation.
Adoption:
April 26, 1995 - Quakertown Questers, Chapter 115
November 23, 2002 - Mid Michigan Civil War Reenactors, Inc.
February 24, 2007 - 17th Michigan Infantry, Company E, Inc.