21 Stars for the 21st State

On July 4, 1819, the American flag officially received a 21^st star to mark Illinois becoming the 21^st state in the Union. Today that flag is among the rarest in American history, but the state of Illinois has acquired one – a red-white-and-blue symbol of this state’s contributions to the nation. Its home will be the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

The flag is so rare because it was used for just one year. The next Fourth of July, the number of stars jumped to 23 in honor of two additional states, Alabama and Maine. This was also a period when flags were much less common. They were made primarily for use at government buildings and military posts and on U.S. ships. Fewer flags to start with means even fewer survivors today.

The Flag

The flag is approximately 7.4 feet wide by 6.4 feet tall. It features a “grand luminary” pattern – that is, its stars are arranged in the pattern of one large star to illustrate America’s motto e pluribus unum, or “Out of many, one.”

The material is cotton. It was made by hand using natural dyes, not the synthetic dyes that became available in the 1850s.

Today’s flags have a red stripe at the top and bottom. This has white stripes at the top and bottom, an indication that it was made when the conventions of flag design were still fluid. Here’s an illustration from the 1810s of a U.S. Navy ship, the USS Lynx, flying a flag with white stripes at top and bottom.

The Flag’s History

It first came to public attention in 1997, when it was sold at auction by prominent collector and author Norm Flayderman, who had concluded the flag was made sometime between 1818 and 1821. The flag was purchased by the nation’s leading flag expert and collector, Ben Zaricor, who also concluded it was made when Illinois became a state. Zaricor was so proud of the rare flag that he featured it prominently in magazine articles, museum exhibitions and videos. His heirs sold some of Zaricor’s flags after his death, and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum purchased this one.

Flag experts Howard M. Madaus and Whitney Smith included this flag in their book “The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict.” They examined the flag and determined it “was fabricated during the presidency of James Monroe.” Flag curator James J. Ferrigan III calls it “a national treasure.”

The size and some construction details suggest the flag might have flown aboard a ship, but there is no hard evidence for this.

Preserving the Flag

After acquiring the flag, the ALPLM sent it to the Conservation Center in Chicago so experts could take steps to protect and preserve it. Every inch of it was cleaned to remove surface dust and grime. Then the flag was carefully stitched to a linen backing for support. Each shred and tatter was individually sewn down using a tiny needle through natural gaps in the weave to avoid creating new holes. Next, an incredibly fine mesh – dyed red and blue to make it practically invisible – was sewn over the red and blue portions of the flag. This further supports the flag. Finally, it was framed and placed under UV-resistant Plexiglass.

Protective mesh over the flag.