American flag that covered Lincoln's casket during the funeral train tour

[David Lockmiller]

[quote='Steve' pid='90772' dateline='1771508851']
Since the flag has already been sold at auction, I don't want to go all in-depth on my reasoning on why I believe the steakhouse/Applegate flag couldn't have been from Lincoln's funeral train. But here's an article from two years ago about the flag which goes more in depth and has better pictures of it and the writing on it:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/...ct-auction

If you read the article carefully, look at the flag images, and really think about the scenario being presented -- it doesn't make any sense at all, to me at least. Even if you disagree the article's still an interesting read.

The article reads:

‘Applegate Flag has the best provenance’
To prove the flag’s provenance, Hiser enlisted Jim Ferrigan, a vexillologist (flag expert) who has advised and consulted for the Smithsonian; Steve Levine and Ron Levine, rare collectible dealers and researchers who are not related but own L2 Acquisitions; as well as owners of the historic Annin flag company, which made and supplied the Civil War flags.

Questions have been raised about the authenticity of other Lincoln artifacts, but Hiser and her team are confident this is the real thing.

“The facts, deductive reasoning and the overall circumstantial evidence allows for the conclusion that this is ONE of the only known surviving Lincoln coffin flags,” Ferrigan told Sneed.

A 1960 fire destroyed the Annin company’s historic records, but according to Ron Levine, the firm sent a letter this year stating: “After viewing the Annin company stamp [on the flag], Brevet major Lewis Applegate’s signature and the flag’s dignified paperwork, Annin flagmakers are inclined to believe the data presented surrounding these facts support the conclusion that this Annin 37-star flag made in NYC in or around 1865 can very well be the flag that draped Lincoln’s coffin.”

“Of the five dozen or so flags or fragments associated with the assassination and funeral of President Abraham Lincoln, the Applegate Flag has the best provenance and unbroken chain-of-possession attached to the 1800s,” he said.

I would conclude that other flags may have been used in individual memorial ceremonies.