"23rd Illinois flag?" Topic

Anyone know how their flags looked like? I found an image of an guidon flag but not much more…

Only one flag of the 23rd Illinois is known to exist. It is an unmarked National flag of the pattern issued by the New York Depot. The 34 stars in the flag's square canton are arranged in 5 horizontal rows of 7-7-6-7-7 stars in each row.

When the regiment was formed it is known to have been issued two flags on 29 May 1861. This flag presentation was described in the Chicago Evening Journal: "Last evening the flag presentation to the Irish Brigade took place at the barracks on West Polk Street. The flags were the green banner of Ireland and the glorious Stars and Stripes." A second unknown flag was presented to the regiment on 14 June 1861.

The green regimental flag was torn up and the pieces distributed amongst the men before the surrender of the 23rd Illinois at Lexington Mo on 20 September 1861. The fate of the other two flags is unknown, but were presumably surrendered with the rest of the regiment.

The surviving National flag most likely dates from after the regiment was reformed in late 1861 / early 1862.

Thank you Ryan, a green banner of Ireland it is then!

Interesting,

If I google 23rd Illinois flags and look at images, a somewhat indistinct blue flag comes up on Geocities, marked as 23r Illinois Irish Brigade and with 'Presented by the Citizens of Chicago" on it. Do you believe this is a post war veteran's banner, Ryan?

Mollinary

Hello Gentlemen,

The "geocities" regimental flag is actually that of the 19th Illinois. The site lists the unit name above the photo of each flag. The next flag on the site list is the green Irish guidon of the 23rd Illinois.

link

However, the use of the Irish harp on the guidon strongly suggests that the green regimental flag had a similar design.

I did some more digging into my paper files (as opposed those on my computer) and found the following. The Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinios (1886) lists both a national and regimental flag for the 23rd Illinois as being in the custody of the Adjutant General's Office. These flags were subsequent on display in the Hall of Flags in the Illinois State Capitol until 2003 when they were moved into a proper storage facility at the Illinois State Military Museum in Springfield.

In 1994 I was able to make a cursory examination of the flags in the Hall of Flags and concluded that the surviving 23rd Illinois flags were in fact both national colours. One was the aforementioned NY Depot flag and the other was a national flag of the pattern supplied by the Cincinnati Depot. I cannot account for the discrepancy between what I observed and the 1886 report.

Up until about 2014 Dr. John Schmale maintained a web site with photos of about 300 of the Illinois flags but this site has since disappeared. I believe copies of the photos are still available in the archives of the Illinois State Military Museum.

Ryan,

Many thanks for that comprehensive response – sorry for my silly error!

Mollinary

So should the flag be similiar or the same as the 69th NY? Or just a green flag with the harp?