National Colors of the 42nd O.V.I. (Garfield's Flag)   Save
Ohio Battle Flag Audiovisual Collection
Description: National colors of the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry (Garfield's Flag). Rectangular flag measures 140 cm high by 167 cm wide. Silk flag served as the national colors of the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The flag was manufactured in the United States between 1867 and 1880. There are 37 gold-painted stars on a blue canton. The stars are arranged in two concentric circles surrounding two middle stars. There is also one star in each of the canton's four corners. The flag has thirteen alternating red and white stripes and gold fringe on its top, right, and bottom sides. James Garfield was the colonel of the 42nd OVI. The flag was later used in President Garfield's funeral service. The dimensions of the flag are 140 by 167 cm. Ohio battle flags were on display at the Ohio Statehouse until the 1960s, when the state formed a committee to oversee the efforts to restore the fragile flags. Some of the battle flags were on display on the Plaza Level of the Ohio Historical Society from 1970 until 1989. For conservation reasons, the flags have been in storage since 1989. In the 1960s, the collection was photographed and commercial artist Robert Needham painted illustrations of many Civil War flags. Photographs of the flags and the paintings are now part of the society's archival collections. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01956
Subjects: Flags--Ohio; United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Civil War 1861-1865
Places: Ohio