Stonewall Belle Boyd-Related First National Flag Offered for Auction

James N.

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Asst. Regtl. Quartermaster Antietam 2021
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Offered by Heritage Galleries; read the story at:

https://historical.ha.com/itm/milit...23&type=featured-9-hist--open-6163--tem082316

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Why does one side have a single star and the other has 11?
Or is this two different flags?

If you follow the link to the Heritage Auctions site describing the flag you can find this rather long-winded and highly speculative explanation:

"While one side features the eleven stars in a circle, typical of First National flags, the other side has but a single star in the center of the canton. Noted flag authority James Ferrigan has suggested that this was most likely a tribute to one of the first Confederate flags, the beloved "Bonnie blue flag that bears the single star." The tradition of the single star as a symbol of defiance and independence, however, goes back much farther.

In a little known episode of American history, English speaking residents of Spanish-controlled areas now known as Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana rose up in rebellion in 1810, creating an entity they named the Republic of West Florida. While the Republic lasted only three months, it did adopt a flag--a single star on a plain field--as a symbol of their defiance. When Texans rose in rebellion against Mexico in 1836 their Congress adopted a similar design, known as the Burnet Flag, doubtless at least in part as a tribute to that earlier revolt. The Burnet Flag remained the official flag of the Republic until 1839, when a red, white and blue design--still featuring a single star in the center of the blue canton--was adopted. The design is strikingly similar to this First National Flag, doubtless not simply by coincidence. When Mississippi left the Union in 1861 it adopted a single-star flag patterned on the Republic of West Florida and Burnet flags. Small wonder that a Confederate patriot like Belle Boyd, or whoever hand-made the present flag, would be inspired to include a tribute to those earlier banners when designing it."

I've consigned items from my own personal small collection to Heritage before and am not necessarily satisfied with their authentication/documentation.
 
$62,500 it sold for.

On July 28, 1862, Capt. Robert Gould Shaw wrote home:

"Perhaps you have seen some accounts of a young lady at Front Royal, named Belle Boyd. There was quite a long and ridiculous letter about her copied into the 'Evening Post' the other day. I have seen her several times, but never had any conversation with her. Other men who have talked with her, tell me that she never asked for any information about our army, or gave them the slightest reason to suppose her a spy; and they were probably as capable of judging as the correspondent who wrote about her. She gave Fred. d' Hauteville a very pretty Secession flag, which she said she carried when she went out to meet Jackson's troops coming into Front Royal."​

Capt. Frederic Sears Grand d' Hauteville, born in Boston of a Swiss aristocrat father and a wealthy American mother, was serving on the staff of Gen. Nathaniel Banks at the time. He later sent the flag to his family in Switzerland, where it was carefully preserved for 150 years. Thus it's pristine condition.
 
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I realize a ton has been written about Belle but I'm not sure anyone has gotten it quite right- she must have been a riot. Love to see someone do a good job capturing what has to have a been her charm and probably humor would have a best seller on their hands.

Thanks for posting this piece of history.
Should be a movie about her...all her husbands and the drama too. From famous spy to die wearing threadbare clothes in Wisconsin. As the Civil War vets died so did a lot of her fame. Sort of like what's going on in history classes in today's schools.
 
$62,500 it sold for.

On July 28, 1862, Capt. Robert Gould Shaw wrote home:

"Perhaps you have seen some accounts of a young lady at Front Royal, named Belle Boyd. There was quite a long and ridiculous letter about her copied into the 'Evening Post' the other day. I have seen her several times, but never had any conversation with her. Other men who have talked with her, tell me that she never asked for any information about our army, or gave them the slightest reason to suppose her a spy; and they were probably as capable of judging as the correspondent who wrote about her. She gave Fred. d' Hauteville a very pretty Secession flag, which she said she carried when she went out to meet Jackson's troops coming into Front Royal."​

Capt. Frederic Sears Grand d' Hauteville, born in Boston of a Swiss aristocrat father and a wealthy American mother, was serving on the staff of Gen. Nathaniel Banks at the time. He later sent the flag to his family in Switzerland, where it was carefully preserved for 150 years. Thus it's pristine condition.
I wonder who bought it and where it is now.
 
The "provenance" seems very sketchy to me. More likely this flag was used as a stage prop in Boyd's post-war career as an entertainer.
 
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