Rare Confederate Navy Flag Attributed to the CSS Alabama

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American History: Premier Auction

By Cowan's Auctions

Nov 16, 2018

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Cowan’s Fall American History: Premier Auction features over 200 lots including early photographs, documents, manuscripts, broadsides, flags, and more dating from the Revolutionary War period to the mid-20th Century, many representing important landmark moments in American history. Cowan's Auctions dawnie@cowans.com

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• Lot Description
  CSS ALABAMA (ATTRIBUTED) - SECOND NATIONAL BOAT FLAG
  
  The C.S.S. Alabama was, by far, the most famous of Confederate Navy warships. Numerous books have been written on her and her skipper, Raphael Semmes, as well as her exploits. Along with other Confederate cruisers, the commerce fleet, in particular the whaling fleet, of the United States was decimated by war's end. While outfitted as a warship, the Alabama's purpose was targeting U.S. commerce shipping. She would fight two battles with U.S. Navy warships, winning one and losing to the other, which brought about her demise.
  
  Flags from the C.S.S. Alabama are highly prized among collectors and museums and this letter will detail known history of the Second National flag being offered for sale by Cowan's Auctions as well as place it into its historic context of other existing flags from the ship. The letter will also delve into the authenticity of the flag and reports from two textile/flags conservators.
  
  Building a Confederate Navy
  
  At the start of the Civil War, the U.S. Navy was a powerful force. Nowhere near the power of the world's largest navy initially, the Royal Navy of Great Britain, by war's end, the U.S. Navy could boast hundreds of warships that blockaded the Confederate coast line and used the American river system to project power into the South via gunboats, including ironclads.
  
  By contrast, the nascent Confederate Navy had to be created from the ground up. Her officers had been in the U.S. Navy and so brought training and experience with them but ships were non-existent. A rapid expansion began in 1861 upon the secession of the Southern slave states. The first warships were bought from the supply of existing vessels from tugs to larger ocean steamers that were deemed suitable for conversion by arming them with larger cannons. Some boats were for harbor defense while others, like the Mississippi River Fleet, based in New Orleans, would patrol that river and defend it from Union invasion.
  
  Also used were vessels of the Confederate Revenue Service, which had armed cutters that, like the U.S. Revenue Service ships, searched incoming commercial vessels checking invoices and listed cargoes and assessing the tariffs needed, which funded the operations of the United States (and Confederate States) government. Indeed, one such vessel was part of the small flotilla that escorted the ironclad C.S.S. Virginia to her fight with the U.S.S. Monitor at Hampton Roads, Virginia in 1862.
  
  The Confederates would also build a fleet of ironclad warships of the casemate design (sloped armored superstructures on a hull) starting with the conversion of the U.S.S. Merrimack into the C.S.S. Virginia at Norfolk and continuing into similar ships built from the keel up as such warships. These were tasked mostly with harbor defense in Charleston, Wilmington, Savannah, Norfolk, Mobile and New Orleans but also for defending the river system.
  
  Lastly, the Confederates would outfit fast ships as blockade runners and raiders, the former being unarmed and designed to sail from the Confederacy with cotton to Europe in exchange for weapons, powder and other military supplies along with commercial goods. These ships became targets of U.S. Navy vessels that were covering Confederate ports trying to prevent them leaving and coming back with goods. The raiders were planned to sweep the U.S. commercial fleet from the seas cutting off needed imports and exports and to attack the economy in that manner. The C.S.S. Alabama would become the most famous of these raiders.
  
  The Confederacy was deeply tied to Great Britain during the war. Her cotton mills used Southern cotton to produce clothing and other related good employing thousands of British workers. In order to keep these mills supplied (despite there being British cotton in Egypt and India although neither had the quality of Confederate cotton), the British government decided to trade with the Confederacy doing so by not recognizing them as a sovereign nation. The British were thus able to sell and trade with both sides during the Civil War.
  
  Within this construct, the Confederacy sent diplomats, army quartermaster and ordnance officers to Britain to purchase needed military equipment for shipment to the Confederacy via blockade runners. One of the officers detailed to Britain was Commander James Bulloch, originally of Savannah then Roswell, Georgia (the family home still stands today). A U.S. Navy veteran, Bulloch had been sent to Britain in June, 1861 as a naval agent in charge of buying warships, including ironclads, for the Confederacy. His mission as originally intended as being the skipper of the future C.S.S. Alabama but he was so good at his job securing ships he stayed there in that post instead.
  
  Two of the first ships he contracted for became the C.S.S. Florida and the C.S.S. Alabama. Bulloch worked through the South Carolina based firm of Fraser, Trenholm & Company who had set up offices in Liverpool for blockade running purposes and thus had established contacts with British ship concerns. George Trenholm of this firm would become the last Secretary of the Treasury of the Confederacy.
  
  The C.S.S. Alabama - Hull 290
  
  In July, Bulloch signed a contract with the Liverpool ship building firm of Laird Brothers to build her. On May 15, 1862, her hull, labeled only as "290" to throw off the prying of the U.S. Consul in Liverpool (albeit not very successfully with the Florida and the Alabama), was launched and she was taken for the fitting of her engines and related machinery. On June 15th, she was taken out for trials to check her engines and her sea worthiness and was considered fit for service. By this time, she carried the name Enrica, again designed to keep prying eyes from figuring out her true nature. On July 29th, having been outfitted with needed gear and equipment for crew as well as some stores and coal (all done as surreptitiously as possible of course), the Enrica set sail for the Azores where she would be armed from two ships waiting for her with the cannons and ammunition. Captain Raphael Semmes, a veteran U.S. and C.S. Navy officer (including as commander of the raider C.S.S. Sumter), took command of her there and she was officially named C.S.S. Alabama and commissioned into the Confederate Navy on August 24, 1862. She was a sloop of war in design and armament.
  
  Over the course of her career, the Alabama destroyed some $4.5 Million worth of Union commerce taking and burning 55 Union ships while bonding ten others. On January 11, 1863, she defeated the U.S. Navy warship U.S.S. Hatteras, a warship out of its league by taking on the Alabama. On June 24, 1864, however, she fought the U.S.S. Kearsarge, a similar warship in class and armament (although the latter carried two 11 Inch Dahlgren guns which outclassed the two 8 and 9 inch guns of the Alabama) and after a battle, observed by many Frenchmen on land and on the water in boats, Alabama was defeated and sunk. Semmes and many of the crew were rescued, Semmes returning to the Confederacy in December 1864 through Mobile, Alabama. He next took command of the James River Squadron at Richmond, Virginia with the rank of rear admiral scuttling the fleet as the Union Army broke the Confederate defense lines south of that city on April 2, 1865.
  
  After the Civil War, in 1873, the United States sought financial claims from Great Britain for the huge losses suffered at the hands of the British built Confederate raiders. Ultimately, 3 Million Pounds was paid to the United States as compensation for these losses.
  
  Numerous books have been written on the C.S.S. Alabama and Semmes, including his own memoirs of his service plus biographies. She remains the most famous of Confederate warships and her discovery in the waters off France and recovery of some of her guns and other artifacts, has kept her in the history spotlight.
  
  Naval Flags
  
  Warships in the 19th Century, and in modern times, carry a plethora of flags. The largest is its battle ensign, flown from the stern of a warship while on the high seas and in battle. This is typically the national colors of the country the ship is serving. A smaller version of the ensign was the storm flag, flown in bad weather. The jack was a smaller rectangular flag flown from the bow flags staff but only while the warship was in port. For the U.S Navy, C.S Navy, British Royal Navy (from which we draw our naval flags historically), this was the canton of the national colors. For the launches and other smaller boats carried by a large warship, a "boat flag" was used, flying from the small staff attached to the rear of that boat. A set of signal flags (of the Rogers' system) was also carried for silent communication between warships of a squadron or fleet. A commissioning pennant was used, flown from the top of the main mast of a sailing warship. This was a long and narrow flag that resembles the national flag. Lastly, a set of foreign flags were also carried mainly for saluting purposes but, in the case of a raider like the C.S.S. Alabama, for disguise purposes. Semmes, on the cruise of the C.S.S. Sumter, flew a British flag as he approached Union (and other) ships. Once his target had been identified by its own flag or by hoisting a flag after being hailed, Semmes lowered the British colors and hoisted a Confederate flag (in this case a First National). Then a battle was engaged (if the other ship was Union) or captured (if a Union commercial vessel).
  
  Typical of navies at the time (and now), when a flag ranked officer was on board (flag officer/commodore/rear admiral or higher), then an admiral's flag was also flown. This was typically done when the ship was operating in a flotilla or fleet and the ship carrying the flag officer was being used as a flag ship. The U.S. Navy has a series of officer rank flags today.
  
  Boat flags
  
  As the flag in question is a boat flag, some explanation is needed to describe this type of flag and its 19th Century American naval size via regulations.
  
  As stated, a boat flag was flown from the ship's launches including cutters, gigs and life boats. In the case of the captain's gig, when used for taking the ship commander to shore or another ship, the smaller version of the national flag was hoisted from a small flag staff on the stern of the boat. This was only done when the captain was on board. The rest of the small boats would only hoist their boat flags only when the boat was in the water no matter who was on board.
  
  Initially, boat flags bore the same number of stars that the ensigns bore. With these smaller flags, the stars would have to be scaled small for them and thus hard to see at a distance. Between 1853 and 1857 in American naval tradition, boat flags bore sixteen stars, theorized by some as having to do with the rebirth of the U.S. Navy in 1798 when sixteen states formed the Union. Flag historian Dave Martucci, in researching 16 star flags from the 1850s, has noted that these flags were used by Republican Party concerns to show the sixteen free states of the Union. This, too, could be the source for the boat flags with this number of stars. The earliest known boat flag with sixteen stars dates to 1857.
  
  However, in 1862 U.S. Navy boat flag the number of stars were decreased to thirteen probably in honor of the original thirteen colonies. This was later increased back to sixteen stars and even more stars based on new regulations as time wore on.
  
  The U.S. Navy boat flag seems to have begun use in 1818 but official regulations were not set until 1854. These regulations set sizes for boat flags in the U.S. Navy and declared that five types of these flags were mandated with fly lengths from six to ten feet. These flags were not assigned by ship rating number.
  
  The new regulations of 1863 altered the sizes of flags and created fourteen ship ratings from largest to smallest warships; boat flags were Ratings Ten through Fourteen. These listed five flag sizes as boat flags using fly lengths of five, six, seven, eight and ten feet and overall these were somewhat smaller than the 1854 regulations. Boat flags were often used by the small launches of higher rated warships (like Ships of the Line, frigates, sloops of war, etc.) but were also used as the ensigns for smaller vessels like tugs or small gunboats.
  
  Like most naval flags, these were typically made at the navy yard where a ship was home ported. These yards contained all levels of ship supply from quartermaster, ordnance, sails and repair, engines and repair, and more. Flags were typically made at these yards from wool bunting purchased for that reason and were sometimes stamped on the hoist edge with the naval base. Some surviving U.S. Navy boat flags are also marked with the maker's mark.
  
  This is the list of what were considered boat flags, ratings Ten through Fourteen, which covers boat flags as found in the 1863 U.S. Navy Regulations:
  
  Rating Ten – Hoist, 5.28 feet by Fly, 10 feet (approximately 65 inches by 120 inches)
  Rating Eleven – Hoist, 4.20 feet by Fly, 8 feet (approximately 51 inches by 96 inches)
  Rating Twelve – Hoist, 3.70 feet by Fly, 7 feet (approximately 44 inches by 84 inches)
  Rating Thirteen – Hoist, 3.20 feet by Fly, 6 feet (approximately 41 inches by 72 inches)
  Rating Fourteen – Hoist, 2.50 feet by Fly, 5 feet (approximately 30 inches by 60 inches)
  
  The first four ratings were more likely used for small warships, tugs, etc. while Rating Fourteen was closest to launches.
  
  Confederate Navy Flags – Ensigns and Boat Flags
  
  The 1862 Regulations for the Navy of the Confederate States created only four ratings of warships based on their sizes and crew. The Fourth Rating called for, "all other vessels having established compliments not exceeding seventy-five persons." This indeed differs from the fourteen ratings used by the U.S. Navy. They certainly had numerous smaller ships that did not qualify for even the Fourth Rating. However, while not specified in these regulations, based on surviving flags, the Confederates seemed to have retained the smaller boat flags system of the U.S. Navy even if nothing has yet been found that puts these flags into regulations. In all probability no such written regulations covering these flags were ever written and the practice was simply carried over from the U.S. Navy in which most Confederate Navy officers had served.
  
  Confederate Navy yards followed the practice of making flags and more for the warships based there. Often, the naval flags were done under contract by local flag makers using English wool bunting initially captured at the former U.S. Navy yard in Gosport, Virginia (some 5200 yards captured). A stock of U.S. flags was also captured and probably repurposed into Confederate flags. As the wool bunting supply ran out, beginning in October 1861, wool bunting was brought in through the blockade. These flags tended to be well made and rather uniform in manufacturing techniques although on First National flags, the star counts and patterns often differed.
  
  Adopted on March 4, 1861, the First National flag was not only the first political flag for the Confederacy but also its first battle flag. Both the army and navy used this banner in combat. Consisting of a red bar, white bar and red bar plus a blue canton bearing anywhere from seven to fifteen stars (depending on when it was made – the star counts tying into the number of Confederate states or states recognized), this flag, dubbed the "Stars and Bars," was used on warships as an ensign and boat flag. Its canton, in rectangular format, became the First Naval Jack.
  
  On May 1, 1863, the Confederate Congress changed the national flag. Confusion on smoke filled battlefields between the Confederate First National and the Stars and Stripes flags carried by Union regiments, and the growing intensity of the war, ensured that a change in national flags was going to happen at some point to move to something more "Confederate" and a flag that did not resemble the U.S. banner.
  
  Using as its canton, the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia ("Southern cross") in a square format set on a field of white, the banner resembled British naval ensigns in design. The Congress' flag act declared that the banner was to be, "the length double the width of the flag." This made the flags in the proportion of 1:2, width (hoist) to length (fly). However, it was very soon discovered that this made for a flag with too much white showing that could be perceived as a flag of surrender or truce. Ignoring the flag act itself, flag makers began making them in a 2:3 proportion; length one third more than the width. Indeed, the first such flag reported in a Richmond newspaper was described as being of this proportion.
  
  The Confederate Navy followed suit on May 26 or 28 (the two sources conflict) altering the proportions of the Second National to a 2:3 ratio. This regulation stated, "length one and a half times the width of the flag."
  
  As the national flags changed for government buildings and the army so they did for the Confederate Navy. Starting on May 13th, the Confederate State Department sent copies of the flag act and scale drawings of the new flag to its embassies, particularly in Europe, so that its commerce and warships could be recognized by foreign powers. Starting sometime after May 1, warships began using the Second National flag. That of the ironclad C.S.S. Atlanta, made in the proscribed ratio of 1:2, was captured with the ship a little over a month (June 17th) after the flag was adopted, probably being the first of the new flags taken from a Confederate warship. The flags were to have been, "hoisted on board of all vessels and at all stations of the Confederate States Navy on the 1st day of July next, or as soon thereafter as the flags can be obtained."
  
  Flags of the C.S.S. Alabama
  
  Whereas the number of surviving Confederate Navy flags pales when compared to Confederate Army flags, the typical surviving number per ship ranges from one to three flags that can still be found today. Most Confederate Navy flags are missing. In the case of the Alabama, a lot more flags survive. One or two might not be from this famous ship but for discussion's sake, they will be listed along with the confirmed flags below for reference. Also included will be known flags of the ship even if they do not survive today.
  
  First National flags
  
  1) First National, 8 stars; 64 ½ inches by 112 ½ inches. This size roughly corresponds to a Ten Rating Boat flag and might have been the ship's storm flag. Saved from wreckage of the CSS Alabama by a French ship looking for survivors. (Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, AL)
  
  2) First National, fourteen stars; 53 7/8 inches by 143 inches. Came to the museum from descendents of James D. Bulloch. (Mariner's Museum, Hampton, VA)
  
  3) First National, seven stars; 25 inches by 43 inches. Small boat flag size. Descended through the family of President Theodore Roosevelt who married into the James Bulloch family. Original source is Irvine S. Bulloch, Midshipman on the C.S.S. Alabama. (Private collection)
  
  As the C.S.S. Alabama set sail for her first war cruise after August 1862, her compliment of national flags would indeed have been the First National.
  
  Second National Flags
  
  1) Second National flag, flown during the battle off Cherbourg, France. According to an article in the Newark Daily Advertiser (NJ) of July 9, 1864, "the rebel flag, which had been flying at her mizzen mast, was hauled down and the red "Union" being torn from it, leaving nothing but clear white, it was hung over the stern so that it could be distinctly seen from the Kearsarge." The ship's battle ensign is flown from her stern so this suggests that this flag was shot away and lost and the flag in the article hoisted to replace it. It could have been the ship's storm flag. This flag cannot be located today.
  
  2) Second National, thirteen stars; 106 inches by 209 inches. While certainly large enough to be a ship's ensign, the history of the flag is somewhat murky and it might not be from the Alabama. (Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN)
  
  3) Second National flag saved by crew member William P. Brooks. According to an article in the Savannah News-Press (GA) of October 25, 1935, a Second National flag from the Alabama was displayed at Fort Pulaski National Park near Savannah. The flag was loaned for the occasion by Doyle Brooks, grandson of William P. Brooks. The article states that Brooks saved the flag as the ship was sinking. The blue bars in the canton are not bordered by white fimbration. (Private collection)
  
  4) Second National, thirteen stars; 67 inches by 114 ¼ inches. This roughly corresponds to a Rating Ten boat flag and could also have been a storm flag. With its rectangular canton (versus square) and the white stars being somewhat irregular, this flag could have been made at sea by the crew. It was left at Cape Town, South Africa (then a British colony) by crewman Simeon W. Cummings. It ended up in the hands of U.S. Consul Walter Graham. (Private collection, descendents of Consul Graham)
  
  5) Second National, thirteen stars; 108 inches by 186 inches. This flag also could have been one of the Alabama's ensigns. Descended through the family of James D. Bulloch. (Mariner's Museum, Hampton, VA)
  
  6) Second National, thirteen stars; 39 ½ inches by 64 ½ inches. This roughly corresponds to a Rating Thirteen boat flag. The blue cross lacks the white fimbration typical on Second National flags. Descended through the family of Hugh R. Beaver, an English merchant in Singapore where the Alabama put in for repairs in late December 1863. Beaver assisted the ship in getting repairs and supplies for which this flag was given to him as a gift. According to the Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean of May 8, 1880, this flag was used on the captain's gig boat whenever Semmes was aboard. The article also states that it was made on board the ship by the sailing quartermaster according to Lt. I.S. Bulloch. This flag was sold by Sotheby's in June 2011. (Private collection)
  
  7) Second National boat flag, thirteen stars; size unknown. According to an article in the Savannah Morning News of November 22, 1899, A.F. Marmelstein, of that Georgia city, "has now in his possession the flag used on the cutter of the Confederate States cruiser Alabama." This flag was to have been displayed at an upcoming United Confederate Veterans reunion in that city. This flag cannot be located today.
  
  It should be noted that since the Alabama never visited a Confederate port, she would not have received any Second National flags from a home source. Thus the flags were either made on board or perhaps given to them when visiting a friendly port. This list may not be all of the flags that she carried. Semmes, in his memoir, states that the first Second National used on the ship came after she had left Cape Town, South Africa in November 1863.
  
  According to the deck plans of the Alabama in historian Andrew Bowcock's book, she carried five small boats including the captain's gig. Each of these would have had a boat flag. These can be added to her ensigns, storm flags, signal flags (of which none survive or have turned up so far assuming as a raider she even used a set of such flags), commissioning pennants, etc.
  
  8) U.S. Navy 27 star commissioning pennant. Provenance for this flag says that it came from 4th Lt. John Low of the Alabama and that it belonged to his father from the latter's old U.S. Navy days. As it has 27 stars that ties into 1845 when Florida joined the Union so this dates this pennant. When Lt. Low left the Alabama he took this pennant with him to the C.S.S. Tuscaloosa of which he assumed command. It descended through his family and was presented to a museum in 2001. (Mobile City Museum, AL)
  
  While not directly related to the C.S.S. Alabama there is also a Second National flag, held by the Alabama Department of Archives and History, Raphael Semmes was presented a flag made by the ladies of London after his arrival in Great Britain following the sinking of the Alabama. When he returned to the Confederate States, he brought the flag with him and his family later donated it to the museum in Montgomery.
  
  Second National boat flag being offered by Cowan's Auctions
  
  This flag's details are as follows:
  
  25 ½ inches on the hoist by 41 inches on the fly. This roughly corresponds to a flag smaller than a Fourteen Rating but known Confederate boat flags rarely hit the old U.S. Navy regulations, especially the smaller flags. It is constructed of wool bunting with thirteen white polished cotton stars in a crude manner. It is my theory that this flag was made on board the ship by someone who was not as good as those who made some of the listed flags above, most of which are very well done. This flag is entirely hand sewn.
  
  The white field is two pieces of wool bunting, one longer running from hoist edge to fly edge and the second from the canton to the fly. The edges are folded over and sewn down. On the hoist edge it is also folded under and the cotton canvas hoist sewn to it. A rope passes through the hoist edge for attachment to the halliards of a flag staff.
  
  The thirteen stars are sewn to both sides but the points do not line up and stitching lines are visible on both sides. On the reverse side the upper right star in the canton has a point cut off where it meets the hoist edge. On the lower right, the star point goes under the hoist. On the obverse side the upper left star's middle point goes under the hoist edge while the lower left star point goes under the hoist edge.
  
  The blue wool bunting cross of the canton is made of three pieces; two short pieces sewn to one long piece. The white wool fimbration that borders the blue cross and red wool field is pieced in, two pieces per quadrant. The upper edges are folded over the upper portion of the canton. This is much different from Richmond Depot made flags where the fimbration is one long piece per quadrant doubled into an "L" and sewn down. The canton itself is sewn to the reverse side of the white field with edges folded over and sewn down. There is a small repair where the canton meets the upper left corner (obverse side) with modern golden thread.
  
  Of interest are the markings on the reverse side of the hoist edge. Three markings declare, "Alabama 290," "C.S.N.," and "1st Cutter." The "290" refers to the original hull number that Laird gave her while being built. The "1st Cutter" marking is interesting as it goes to show its use as a boat flag. I have rarely seen markings like these before on a naval flag save for the First National flag of the C.S.S. Bragg/Sumpter, a gunboat sunk in the naval Battle of Memphis. This marking bears the name of the ship and the date of the battle. Also marked is the Second National flag of the C.S.S. Tornado, whose hoist edge bears the name of the ship and "No. 2."
  
  Also bearing markings on the hoist edge is an unknown Second Navy Jack marked with the London, England flag maker, Benjamin Edgington. The First National of the C.S.S. Teaser bears its name on the hoist edge long with another marking that cannot be discerned. One other First National flag bears the name "Capt. Parker" on the hoist edge. Lastly, a Second National boat flag from the C.S.S. Tennessee has a number "6" on its hoist edge. It is not known what the significance of this number means.
  
  Provenance
  
  Based on the provenance from the catalog entry of another auction house when this flag was first offered in 2007, the flag was obtained from the Alabama by a sailor on the U.S.S. Kearsarge, the ship that sank the Alabama. This flag, and one from the Kearsarge, was purchased from the granddaughter of this sailor, the latter flag being donated to a museum that was in Yorktown, Virginia. I have yet to locate this flag. The flag was again purchased in 1968 from someone who had dealt with autographs who the purchaser had been dealing with for some time. With the flag came documentation on the sailor from the Kearsarge (now missing and supposedly lost in a flooded basement) but nothing on the flag. More documentation would certainly help authenticate this flag and hopefully something may turn up.
  
  Flag Authenticity
  
  The family of the consignor had the flag examined first by noted flag conservator Fonda Thomsen. Her 1994 report offered much proof of the flag being of the Civil War period but also showed some concerns. Her full report will accompany this flag.
  
  In 2008 or 2009, the family had the flag examined by the Smithsonian Institution and their analysis somewhat paralleled Ms. Thomsen's, that the flag could be period with proper cloth and sewing techniques used but offered some concern about the hoist edge stating that it might be post-war.
  
  In late September, 2018, Cowan's sent the flag to Josh Phillips of Heritage Conservation LLC of Christiansburg, VA. His emailed account, which offers a somewhat more positive analysis than Ms. Thomsen's and the Smithsonian's, also looks at the crude manner of its construction stating, correctly, that the flag was not made by any woman. The sewing techniques are just not of the standard that women of the period would do.
  
  Where I think his account errs is in the mention of the rope attachment. He states that this would be for signal flags but a number of naval flags also have this mode of attachment. In particular, one of the two boat flags that survive from the famous Confederate ironclad C.S.S. Tennessee, has a hoist edge with a rope attachment. The rope attachments were for attaching to the halliards of a flag staff so the flag could be hoisted. Most likely, Mr. Phillips is not very familiar with naval flags enough to know of these modes of attachment. This lack of familiarity also shows in his concern of the flag being so small. I have since informed him of both items being fine for a period flag in terms of attachment and this being a boat flag. I do concur with his analysis that the flag was not made from an altered U.S. flag other than the red portions of the canton.
  
  I examined the flag at Cowan's Auctions in September, 2018 and took notes and detailed photos. The bunting is period, the sewing techniques are period and the hoist edge also looks period to me. I did not have the equipment to look at the threads in detail. What I think needs to be done, to help the flag's authenticity, is to get an analysis of the ink used on the hoist edge. If this forensic analysis can be done and it comes back as period, then the flag is indeed period in my opinion. The only portion of the flag that definitely is not is the golden thread used to make a repair.
  
  Mr. Phillips' email to me and Cowan's Auctions is appended to this letter. I will let his analysis speak for itself as I have already noted my support and dissent to that analysis. None of my dissent goes against his examination of the cloth, threads and sewing techniques of this flag wh
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