The Stewardship of a Cherished Civil War Artifact
Barbourville, KY
What began as a general textile conservation inquiry, evolved into a moving and collaborative community project. Some of the descendants of the original women stitchers donated their time and talents to the conservation of 2026. Imagine!
Caring for Textiles staff learned about southeast KY Knox County 19th c history, the Civil War, and historic silk. Our Union Commonwealth Uni colleagues learned about textile conservation, invisible fills, shattered silk, pressure mounting, and archival framing. In all, eight skilled colleagues at Caring for Textiles and Archival Arts Services were preservation partners on this flag.
All roads seem to lead to Kentucky. What an honor to help preserve this piece of American history. Settle in for a wonderful story!
What is it? We all love the details of a flag!
Finely made all silk flag with 35 stars, the makers did not spare expense or time. The flag is pieced of silk fabric, and machine stitched. The stars are hand embroidered with silk thread, and visible from both sides of the flag. The flag is beautifully made and meant to be a show piece, and not a battle or road flag.
The stripes and canton are made of a fine and thin taffeta-like silk; crisp and tightly woven. The red silk has a moiré water-like pattern, similar to ribbon silk. The blue and white silk appear to be a typical commercial silk “dress weight” product of the mid to late 1800’s. The light-weight silk would have flown or fallen well from a pole. Articles from the UCU archives state the silks were “ribbon” cloth. The stars in the canton are configured in a STAR pattern, which is unusual.
Provenance — So Solid
“The Barbourville Home Guard flag must be understood both as a Civil War artifact and as an object shaped by decades of local memory and stewardship. Created by eleven women in a divided border state, concealed during Confederate incursion, preserved through family custody, restored in the 1920s, and formally entrusted to Union Commonwealth University in 1933, it represents an unusually well-documented example of community-based wartime material culture.
On the strength of archival documentation, contextual analysis, and material assessment, the preponderance of evidence supports the conclusion that the flag currently housed at Union Commonwealth University is the authentic 1861 Barbourville Home Guard flag, restored but not replaced. Dr Joseph W Pearson, “A Research Report on Provenance, Context and Authenticity,” February 2026It is rare to conserve a flag or any textile, where we intimately know the details of the makers, their names, how they worked together. And that information has been cherished and protected by the townspeople for 165 years! The story begins here with an account from 1925 by some of the actual makers – more than 60 years after the flag’s creation.
In 1860 [1861] the patriotic women of Barbourville decided to make a handsome silk flag and present same to the Home Guards. They raised among themselves something near one hundred dollars. GM. Adams, the leading merchant of the town, ordered the silk for the flag, and the silk floss with which the stars were embroidered. The stripes were made of heavy red and white ribbon, the flag measures 5 x7 feet, the edges are finished with silk fringe, once white, but now yellowed with age.Wow! To have this first-hand account and detail of materials and teamwork.
The ladies gathered at the home of Mrs. William Matthews, at the Matthews Hotel…After basting together the stripes and blue squares, Mr. Matthews did the stitching as he had the only sewing machine in town. After the sewing was done, the flag was taken to the home of Mrs. G M. Adams, and the stars were embroidered on the blue square by Mrs. G. M. Adams, Miss Jennie Adams, Mrs. H.K. Wilson, Mrs. John Kenningham, Miss Jane Glass and Mrs. Docia Herndon. Mrs. H.K. Wilson then made a handsome silk cord and tassels.
The creation of the flag and protecting it are acts of civic and political significance.” JWP, 2026The ladies continue to reminisce about 1860-1865:
After the flag was made and presented to the Home Guard in 1861- Col. Eve took the flag and kept it in his office. When the Confederates invaded Kentucky and came to Barbourville, Col. Eve’s mother, took the flag from the staff and carried it to Mrs. T.J. Pitzer, saying she was afraid they would make her give up the flag. Mrs. Pitzer put the flag in a pillow case, ripped open feather bed on which she slept and placed the flag therein, and it remained there until the war was over. Col. Eve’s office was searched and the flag staff was taken.In 1925, the women of the town recounted:
The stripes in the flag have grown yellow with age and the stars have turned to a deep gold, making the flag one of the most precious possessions of the people of Barbourville. Few are left who were present at the time. Mrs. H.K. Milburn, who presented the flag and who saw every star embroidered, is still living (1923), as is Mrs. M.S. Costellow who was a young girl at the time, and who contributed the material.Accounts from 1914 to the 1930’s mention restoration, lining and repairs. Sometime around 1914, the flag’s Barbourville caretakers added a cotton backing and restored the stars, as it was displayed annually for Memorial and Independence days, and it had to be stronger. In 1933, the flag was presented to Union College, and likely attached to the pole and put into a case frame, in the Old Classroom Building, where it stayed until 2026! In February 2026, the Barbourville flag was carefully rolled and personally driven to Washington DC to start the preservation process—maintaining a continuous and documented chain of custody from 1861 to 2026.
Conservation, Treatment and Framing
For a 165-year-old silk flag, exhibited continuously for nearly 100 years, it is in remarkably good condition. Clearly, it was never left for long outside or allowed to weather a storm. The most vulnerable part of the flag are the white silk stripes. Whether or not ribbon material, it seems to have aged differently from the red or blue; shattering much like silk taffeta used in the petticoats of 19th c dresses. We suspect this is due in part to the silk cloth being ‘weighted’ with salts, a common practice among fabric dealers in order to charge more by weight for bolts of cloth.
Our goal was to stabilize the flag and mount and frame it fully flat and visible, for long term preservation and public display at the university.
The tears, splits and holes in the white silk stripes could not be safely repaired with stitching. So the method used was selective fine silk gossamer patch supports, applied with a very low percentage conservation grade adhesive called Lascaux. These slightly tacky supports are sufficient as the framed flag will be immobile.
Because the golden silk fringes were powdering, we encapsulated them in dyed fine tulle netting.
We worked closely through the whole project with Bill Butler of Archival Art Services; selecting a frame moulding with Union Uni colleagues on a zoom call, customizing the padded mount, and finally framing the flag with UV protective plexi and a brass commemorative plaque.
The commitment and determination to preserve the flag and memories of Barbourville is beautifully expressed by Professor Joseph Pearson:
The Barbourville Home Guard flag must be understood both as a Civil War artifact and as an object shaped by decades of local memory and stewardship. Created by eleven women in a divided border state, concealed during Confederate incursion, preserved through family custody, restored in the 1920s, and formally entrusted to Union Commonwealth University in 1933, it represents an unusually well-documented example of community-based wartime material culture.
We are so grateful to our colleague Dr. Joseph W. Pearson, Historian and Associate Provost of Union Commonwealth University, who kept this collaboration enlivened, so human and on schedule. Thank you to The Filson Historical Society Louisville KY, Bill Butler and the team at Archival Art Services, AND the women of Barbourville, fourth generation descendants of the actual flag makers, who helped fund its 21st c. preservation.
https://www.archivalartservices.com/
Keywords: textile conservation, preservation, shattered silk, pressure framing, collaboration, community history, women’s history, hand stitching, civil war, American flag, Union, Home Guard flag, Barbourville, Kentucky
All photos by Caring for Textiles unless otherwise noted.
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