The Lincoln assassination flags

[loetar44]

(09-20-2014 10:43 AM)Rsmyth Wrote:  Jim, you are very kind. Although I have spent a great deal of time researching the flags lately, the most knowledgeable person, in my opinion is Ed Steers Jr. We have communicated regarding the flags and he was nice enough to review an ms on them that Jim and I are working on, offering suggestions and making changes.
I will attempt to answer some of the questions but please understand that when it comes to the flags all is conjecture based on the current available information.
Five silk flags decorated the box, 3 were from the Treasury Dept. (TD).The TD Regimental flag was hung in the middle between the two boxes. This flag was most likely the one JWB caught his spur in. It is currently on display at Ford’s. The TD Presentation flag was hung to Lincoln’s left and the one some have said he was grasping when he was shot. This flag is not on display but in the collection of the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford. The third TD flag was the National which was probably draped across the balustrade in front of the Lincoln’s and could also have caught Booth’s spur. This flag was glued into a wooden presentation box using some type of varnish. It was stored at “The Vault” in Union station where a picture of it and some remaining pieces were discovered by Ed Steers. It had deteriorated greatly and was disposed of by the NPS.
An American flag was obtained from the bookseller and stationery firm, Blanchard & Mohun. This flag probably hung vertically on the outside of the box opposite the TD Presentation flag. After the assassination the flag was returned and passed down in the family ending up in the possession of “Virginia Moore Vail” who had moved to California in 1920 and died there in 1935. The whereabouts of the flag are not known today.
Regarding the flag that draped the balustrade in front of Rathbone and Clara Harris, little is known. There have been claimants by others that they have a flag that was decorating the box at the time of the assassination including one in Springfield’s Presidential Library and Museum and the GAR flag that Gene C. mentions but virtually no proof that they were there at that time.
As for the Lincoln Flag “stained with the martyr’s blood.” That “wool” flag is on display at the Pike County Historical Society in Milford, PA about 8 miles from where I sit now. Jim and I feel that this flag was not on display but played a part in the evening’s events, possibly as an extra flag stored in the box or nearby. Assassination experts Edward Steers’ Jr. and Michael W. Kauffman have stated to us that they feel the relic is genuine.
Ok, that’s it in a nutshell.

Thank you for this really GREAT post! But I'm now more confused then I already was.... I've always thought that the treasury guards had two flags, the blue regimental flag and the national standard. You mention a third flag, the presentation flag. Was it an unofficial flag? I suspect this is the presentation flag (with in the canton the text: “Presented to Treasury Guard Regt. by the Ladies of the Treasury Dept. 1864" and 35 stars):

   

I googled for the national standard, but was not able to find a description or picture. Can you help?