Description:

This swallowtail silk national flag has thirty-five gold painted stars arranged in concentric circles with eleven stars in the inner circle, twenty stars in the outer circle and one star in each corner.  There is loss along the fly edge.  There are also several small holes evenly spaced along the bottom four stripes.  It appears that the flag was damaged while furled.  The hoist end was fashioned into a sleeve for attachment to the staff.

The staff, which measures 89.5” by 1”, is topped by a spade-shaped finial.  The staffs of flags returned to the state at the 1866 Detroit ceremony marking the end of the war all bear identical brass plaques.  The brass plaque reads in Spencerian script “Battery I 1st Arty”.

Disclaimer: Upon removal of the battle flags from the Capitol cases in 1990, SC-155-90 was identified by the Capitol and museum staff by their reading the flag’s 1866 staff brass plaque as Battery J. 1st Arty. Further research, though, makes clear that military units did not use, and continue to not use, battery or company designations as J for the reason that they would be confused with the letter I. John Robertson in Michigan in the War supports this and also supports that Battery I turned in 1 flag in 1866. Thus, as of April 1, 2026, SC-155-90 has been reidentified from a flag of the 1st Michigan Light Artillery, Battery J to a flag of the 1st Michigan Light Artillery, Battery I.