Circa-1859 Abolitionist Flag in online exhibit originally from county
By CARL E. FEATHERLifestyle Editor
An Abolitionist flag associated with Ashtabula County is flying in Cyberspace this July 4th holiday.
The flag, which was purchased from an estate auction in Cherry Valley Township 10 years ago, is part of an online exhibition posted by The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York, at gilderlehrman.org. The exhibition, "Freedom: A History of US," opened online June 30.
The flag, a variation on the Stars and Stripes of the period, is called an Abolitionist Flag because there are only nine stripes and 20 stars. In 1859, 33 states were in the Union. Thirteen of those states were "slave states," and some abolitionists felt they had no place in the Union.
Sandra Trenholm, curator of the exhibition, says there were several versions of the Abolitionist Flag, but this one is unusual for its large size, 10 by 5 feet, and manner of construction. The stars are hand-sewn while the stripes were sewn with a machine.
"There are a few other versions available, all of them handmade and specific to a region," she says.
The abolitionists disdain for the slave states inspired the creation of these alternative national flags that banished the slave states in an inverse foreshadowing of Southern succession. A description prepared for the exhibition explains that the flag would have been used as an inspirational backdrop for meetings and rallies.
This Cherry Valley flag has special significance because it can be associated with militant abolitionist John Brown, who had connections to Ashtabula County and, specifically, Cherry Valley. Munitions for his failed arsonal raid at Harpers Ferry, W.Va. were stored at a Cherry Valley cabinet shop. This areas abolitionists provided a safehaven for some of the survivors of Browns failed effort at Harpers Ferry. Thirteen of the 19 men in the arsenal raid were from the county.
The flag was purchased from the estate of Alden and Elizabeth Hare, who lived in a former tavern just east of Route 193 on Route 6. Dave Lepard, a board member on the Ashtabula County Historical Society, says the highly publicized auction put many historical treasures on the block. "I wish I had known about that flag," he says. "I would have acquired it for the society."
The flag has been displayed only once since Gilder Lehrman purchased it, as part of the "Freedom: A History of US" exhibition mounted at the New York Historical Society and the Decatur House Museum, Washington, D.C. Trenholm said the only way the flag would return to Ashtabula County for an exhibition would be if a museum here could provide the necessary environmental controls and security required for an artifact loan agreement.
Online: gilderlehrman.org/ collection/online/index.html
