Milsurp After Hours

The flags that came from Mobile, Alabama under contract by James Cameron and (mostly) Jackson Belknap starting in late 1863 and on into 1864 were only 12 star battle flags. I had thought that the makers may have been upset with Kentucky as it was Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace – but flags historian Howard Madaus thinks (probably correctly) that it had more to do with the fact that the original 12 star HQ flag for the 5th Company, Washington Artillery of New Orleans had been sent to Mobile for safe keeping during the war – and it only had 12 stars! It was probably the pattern for the flags that Cameron/Belknap produced – although their’s were rectangular and lacked color exterior borders.