36 Star Flag-Funeral Flag of Private Lewis

 

1864- 1865 Civil War Funeral Flag of PVT Wallace Lewis

36 Star Civil War Funeral Flag honoring the life and death of Wallace Lewis of Finley, Ohio. Flags such as this one with the stenciled name of the fallen soldier printed on the flag with black ink were typically used in their funeral procession. W. Lewis joined the 21st Ohio Infantry on September 2, 1861 in Finley, Ohio as a young, 18 year old Private, during the American Civil War, 1860-1865. He died in battle, January 2nd 1863, in the Battle of Stone River Tenn.

On April 27, 1861, volunteers from throughout northwestern Ohio were organized into the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry at Camp Taylor, near Cleveland, Ohio. It saw action in some of the war's bloodiest battles including Stones River, Chickamauga, the Atlanta Campaign, and Sherman's March to the Sea.

Recruitment was highly localized throughout the war. Regiments of approximately one thousand men, the building block of the armies, would often be raised from the population of a few adjacent counties. Soldiers went to war with their neighbors and their kin. The recruits with the 21st Infantry hailed from the counties of Hancock, Defiance, Wood, Ottawa, Sandusky and Putnam. Many were farmers and farmers' sons. Other early volunteers were merchants, lawyers, schoolteachers, blacksmiths, politicians and a county sheriff who was a veteran of the Mexican-American War. Of the soldiers in the regiment, Captain, Americus V. Rice, would become a brigadier general by the end of the war. In addition, among the privates, Thomas W. Custer and Edward S. Godfrey, both would later win the Medal of Honor (Custer won two). Both later fought with the Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Godfrey survived and eventually retired as a Brigadier General.

The Battle of Stones River or Second Battle of Murfreesboro was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Of the major battles of the Civil War, Stones River had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides. Although the battle itself was inconclusive, the Union Army's repulse of two Confederate attacks and the subsequent Confederate withdrawal were a much-needed boost to Union morale after the defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg, and it dashed Confederate aspirations for control of Middle Tennessee.

Approximately one in four soldiers that served in the Civil War never returned home alive. Their remains were often left on the fields where they died, or until a family member or loved one searched for them among the many bodies of the fallen. At the outset of the war, neither army had mechanisms in place to handle the amount of death that the nation was about to experience. There were no national cemeteries, no burial details, and no messengers of loss. The largest human catastrophe in American history, the Civil War forced the young nation to confront death and destruction in a way that has not been equaled before or since.

Provenance
The Flag was kept in the Lewis family for many generations until it was acquired from an estate sale in Finley, Ohio and then to the J.T. Francis Collection. MOST NOTABLE: Lewis Post No. 347 G.A.R. Xenia, Ohio was named after Wallace Lewis. The G.A.R. is a federation for veterans formed after the close of the Civil War to foster comradeship, and in Xenia Ohio financed the purchase of a home for veteran's orphans. Groups of men began joining together — firstly for camaraderie and then for political power. Emerging most powerful among the various organizations would be the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), which by 1890 would number 409,489 veterans of the “War of the Rebellion.”

The G.A.R. organization had a smaller community level within a state, called a “Post”. They were each numbered consecutively and most were named after a deceased soldier, honoring their life and their service to their country. At the national level the organization was operated by the elected, “Commander-In-Chief”.

Description
Flag 18” x 11 1/4”, Gilded wood frame 28 1/4”x 21 3/4”; Made of a beautiful starched cotton, with a striking chrome color; 36 white printed Stars; W. Lewis is stenciled with black ink, customarily done for use during a funeral procession; Overall condition of flag is very good to excellent with minor bleeding, and discoloration throughout, minor material loss on the left side, top left corner, center and bottom where the staff was attached. Very slight fray on the fly.

Email: jtfrancis.com@gmail.com

Item: 36-212-224