Civil War Wig-wag ground signal flag   Save
Ohio History Connection Museum
Description: This (slightly stained) cotton square flag has a white field with a red square charge. It measures 120 by 120 cm. Army surgeon Albert J. Myer standardized signal communication with his early 1860s publication "A Manual of Signals For The Use of Signal Officers In The Field". The Myer Wig-wag system and associated codes were used by both Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Soldiers received signal kits containing three flags of this design in differing sizes: 2x2, 4x4, 6x6 ft. Among other tools in these kits, there also were two other signal flags; a 4x4 black field with a white square, and a 4x4 red field with a white square. Sequences of three basic movements (right motion, left motion, and front) comprised Myer's communication system. Wig-wag became the first Union Navy Joint Signal Code (between the Union Army and Navy) until the turn of the century. This artifact acquired by the Ohio History Connection between 1900 and 1950. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H65424_001
Subjects: Ceremonial artifact; Communication artifact; Textile--cotton; Civil War, 1861-1865;
Places: United States; Confederate States of America