Sep 30, 2021 - Sale 2580

Sale 2580 - Lot 81

Price Realized: $ 4,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(CIVIL WAR.) Our Country's Flag: "If Anyone Attempts to Haul Down the American Flag, Shoot Him on the Spot." Hand-colored broadside, 36 1/2 x 28 1/2 inches; moderate edge wear, toning, dampstaining, several short repaired closed tears and one 6-inch repaired closed tear. New York: H.H. Lloyd & Co., circa 1861

Additional Details

This eye-catching patriotic broadside featured an entirely hand-colored flag as its centerpiece. The title quotation comes from Treasury Secretary John A. Dix from an official order he issued on 29 January 1861. Though issued in relation to the specific case of a revenue cutter threatened by secessionists, it became a general rallying cry for Union loyalists in the early months of the war. In the upper corners are matching cuts of a cannon and flag captioned "The only compromise with traitors." The lower half is dedicated to the text of three patriotic songs: "The Star-Spangled Banner," "Hail, Columbia! Happy Land!," and "Red, White and Blue" (better known as "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean"). We trace no other examples of this elaborate production in OCLC, at auction, in Filby & Howard's "Star-Spangled Books," or elsewhere.