Flag, Mexican War - Pike's Little Rock Guards, Company E

 
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Mexican War battle flag
Flag, Mexican War - Pike's Little Rock Guards, Company E
Mexican War battle flag
Mexican War battle flag

Flag, Mexican War - Pike's Little Rock Guards, Company E

Object number1960.020.01
Date1846
OriginLittle Rock, Arkansas
MediumSilk, Wool, Cotton, Paint
DimensionsFlag: 35 1/2 × 53 1/2 in. (90.2 × 135.9 cm) Framed: 39 × 57 1/2 in. (99.1 × 146.1 cm)
Credit LineOld State House Museum Collection
Terms
    DescriptionUnited States Battle Flag from the Mexican-American War dated to 1864. This battle flag was carried by Captain Albert Pike's Little Rock Guards, Company E of the Arkansas Mounted Gunmen. Little Rock resident Josephine Buckner presented the flag to the company at a picnic prior to their departure for Washington, Arkansas.

    Made in the pattern of a U.S. National with twenty-eight stars, the flag is constructed of one layer of red ribbed silk fabric with the canton and white stripes appliquéd with additional fabric. The stars are constructed of a plain-woven, white silk fabric appliquéd over a paper template on each side of the canton. The canton is decorated with twenty-eight five-pointed stars. A piece of red, ribbed silk fabric, approximately 16" square, was appliquéd to the center of the fly on the obverse side. The fabric was embroidered with a floral wreath using various colored wool yarns. A motto, painted inside the wreath in three lines, reads as follows: "Up Guards/ and/ At 'Em." The motto is applied with gold pigment, shaded with black, in Roman lettering. The first and third lines of the motto are in a circular pattern and the second line is straight. The leading edge has ten 1/4" hand-sewn eyelets evenly spaced for attachment. Beige fringe is sewn to the top, fly, and bottom edges on each side of the flag. The fringe strands are 2-ply Z Cotton originally wrapped with gold silk, but most of the silk is now missing.
    Status
    Not on view