Company K 27th Indiana Vol. Civil War Regt from Dubois County, Indiana National Civil War Flag,D C Historical Society, Jasper, IN on Loan to the Dubois County Museum. Textile Military History & the importance of keeping tattered cotton on a staff in the attic for one hundred years.

1. US Civil War flag 35 stars usually (27th has 34 stars)
United States Civil War 1863-1865
Active- September 12, 1861 to November 4, 1864
Allegiance- Union
Branch- Infantry
Engagements:
1. First Battle of Winchester
2. Battle of Cedar Mountain
3. Battle of Antietam
4. Battle of Chancellorsville
5. Battle of Gettysburg
6. New York Draft Riots
7. Battle of Resaca
8. Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
9. Siege of Atlanta

2. Company K 27th Indiana Vol. Civil War Regt
from Dubois County National Civil War Flag,
Dubois County Historical Society, Jasper, IN
on Loan to the Dubois County Museum
Cmplt. 2008 processed for 11 months.
(Notice original staff & cord fringe to right)

3. Why is this flag preserved?
When the flag was ravaged someone knotted the tied ends &
saved a lot of the cotton

4. One Reason Why This Flag Is Special?
It is cotton. Most flags that survive are wool or silk since they are
more durable fabrics in the wind and rain.
This photo is of the tan once natural white cotton remnants that
were unwound from the wood staff so that the end of the stripes
were preserved.

5. Indiana Cavalry Photo, Wiki
Total Strength And
Casualties
The regiment lost 10
officers and 159 enlisted
men killed in action or
died of wounds and 2
officers and 131 enlisted
men who died of disease,
for a total of 302
fatalities.[1] Wiki reference

6. 27th Regt Cotton Flag Wetcleaning bit by bit
We had considered an entire colored ground.
It had been rolled onto a 1930’s
white sheet with a lot of
texture which held the
remnants together The first
task was to slide mylar
between the two fabric layers
to get the sheet out from
underneath.
As it progressed, we
dampened, weighted and
unfolded the small creased
remnants of the flag.

7. 27th Regt Cotton Flag Wetcleaning

8. Flag Wet cleaning
We blotter wetcleaned the cotton flag in place on the table .
27th Indiana Infantry Regiment script is from
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
“The 27th Indiana Volunteer
Infantry Regiment was an
infantry regiment that served
in the Union Army during the
American Civil War.
Active- September 12, 1861
to November 4, 1864 “

9. Blue Canton Being Flattened And Realigned
the longest initial process as the stripes were laid out with the
placement of each segments.
The flag required the pieces to be blotter cleaned and flattened as
each stripe progressed . This removed the creases and
allowed the adjustment of the pieces within the grid.
Notice original unfaded blue in flattened crease.

10. 27th Infantry Regt. cotton remnants
beginning to be laid out to find the stripes.

11. 27th Regt Cotton Flag Wetcleaning
This is the typical size of the fragments after they were unfolded.
The tan is the darkened oxidized former white cotton stripes.
Wet cleaning was needed to soften and stabilize the cotton. A Spot
cleaning blotter
technique was used. The flag was above a P-cap polyester screen
(white edge) on a blocking
surface so it could be aligned after it was damp.
Some of the air pollution of carbon and soot were removed which
softened the fabric.
It was then dried a week before underlays began.

12. 27th Civil War Regt Flag
encasement with Silk Crepeline as an overlay & underlay

13. Each piece was aligned, then secured with adhesive backed hollytex & Lascaux
360 PVA . We did not insert repro stripes as seen here for concept.
The back side was up, so it was a more difficult color matching issue. The
underlay is on the top visual side.
It is a fine microfiber synthetic fabric, Reemay, that had Lascaux 360, a heat
sensitive PVA adhesive applied thinly to the surface with a squeegee.

14. 27th Regt. Dubois Flag Cotton Colors
The fabric shown is the original colors but you can see the
faded red hue. We chose a transparent fabric to match the
remnants for the stabilization.

15. 27th Flag DCHS Progress Report
June 2007- Received , July laid out with mylar.
Sept 2007, In my update to Jessica, Dubois Co Herald Newspaper, I
mentioned that we finished wet- cleaning the chards, but it was more time
consuming than I had planned. Dried the flag then replaced with a mylar
protector and finally removed the 1930s cotton sheet from behind the flag
that it had been rolled in.
October-December 2007
Before the flag is returned to Dubois County, Hein will conserve the remaining
material, by adding a backing to the remaining tan once white stripes .
At that point I will layer or sandwich the flag between a stabiltex facing and a
silk crepeline backing to create a transparent quilt to sandwich the striped
national flag remnants between these 2 transparent layers.
The pocket quilting will allow the flag to be gently handled because of the
transparent linings. It will give us a stable material to carry and transfer the
flag when it is handled. I took 2 trips to New York City in July to find the
correct color and weight of fabric to finish the flag in this way.
"It's a very interesting but difficult project. I've never done conservation of
such a battered flag," Hein admits

16. Placing The Fragments From The Back

17. Underlays With Stripes Beginning To Take Shape
Adhesive backed
stripes were applied in
two tones. The white is
Reemay & the burnt
red silk crepeline. The
underlay sections
measure about 4” high
by 6 -10” long.

18. White Hollytex backing showed white.
We chose a transparent rust orange colored crepeline for
adhesive backing for the red since the backing shows through
the many loss areas.

19. White Hollytex Backing Underlays
In the correct
position or front
side up with a few
burnt red crepeline
fabric edges
showing and the
test for the red
stripes near the top.

20. Planning after many of the cotton stripes were realigned and laid out

21. Underlays
All underlays are in place, in preparation for the difficult day to turn it over for
the first time, since I had received it.
Two pieces of polyester screening are below each area to help us turn the
flag without disrupting the placement work.
On the front side, the color placement was repaired then it was heat set with a
small tacking iron.

22. 27th Dubois Cotton flag bits encased in a silk crepeline quilted
sandwich nearer to the final presentation.
This is a photo of the finished visual look with all the burnt red stripes
placed between the flag and the 2 layers of cream silk organza fabric
used as a backing material to underlay the entire flag for stability.
The middle layer of red silk chiffon fabric was added to give the visual
impression of red stripes but keep the original cotton flag as the
predominant visual image.
This is considered a slight visual restoration.
The transparent fabrics were chosen to avoid it looking like a
reproduction.

23. 27th Civil War Regt. Before and After

24. Basic Conservation & Restoration Steps Taken
Humidify & wetclean
Flatten and encapsulate canton area of stars and white-tan
areas in stabiltex or crepeline.(specialty conservation fabric)
Attach these conserved stripes to restored red-orange
cotton to replace loss areas. (color-matched for weight and
weave)
Stabilize and clean cord, tassle & fringe. Secure to the side
without the staff so it may be exhibited. With 27th Vol.
ribbon visible.

25. Grograin Staff Ribbon
This identification ribbon was
found wrapped on the staff.
It is the most unusual
component of the Civil War
Flag because many of these
have not been saved.
It verifies the provenance of
the important battle flag for all
eternity

26. Why this flag is special?
The 27th IND VOL Infantry has its original grograin
(Faille) ribbon that was wrapped onto the staff pole
to verify the date

27. Realigned 27th Civil War Infantry Ribbon
Stenciled with “ 27th IND. VOL. INF. ”
Description: Battle-worn 27th Indiana National flag,
carried in battle The appearance is noted in the 1896
photo you sent from Wilson History of Dubois County,
published in 1910.
Condition: when delivered the CW flag , staff & original
stenciled ribbon, cord & tassel were wrapped around the
pole. These cords are very unusual to be intact on the staff
and the ribbon.

28. Why Only 34 Stars ?
Mr. John Fierst, the Dubois County Historian, had verbally
verified the provenance of this battered flag. But there is also
physical evidence of its direct lineage.
Clinging to the internal staff there was a 2” ribbon that was
stabilized to read in black stencils on a tan or original blue sateen
ground
27 IND. VOL. INF.
which verifies that it was the 27th Company K flag constructed
by the Ladies of Jasper in 1861 with 34 stars.

29. One Tassel Remained Intact
We added tan fringe reproduction to the other to complete the image

30. Another reason why this flag is special?
It has its original Cord & fringe

31. 27th Civil War Flag Publicity
Another reason why this flag is special ?
The metal staff points remain.
Publicity efforts to document the Flag include :
The Herald reporter, Jessica
Dyer jdyer@dcherald.com (812) 482-2626,
ext. 101 was first to report on this flag.
Indianapolis Star, Metro & State Section
reporter Tim Evans, created a July 4
th
2007
center page cover to document the flag.
There was a news report on the Louisville TV PR.
Channel 41, FOX WBUY affiliate, Barry
Bernson, created a 5 minute news report for
the Louisville, KY area and a copy is on a CD.
The treated flag will be stored at the Dubois
County Museum in Jasper, IN . The value
increased after treatment because it is a
stable object that can be viewed.

32. 27th Civil War Regt. Co K Near Completion

33. Wikipedia Notes
http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unininf2.htm#27th The Civil
War Archive website after Dyer, Frederick Henry. A Compendium of
the War of the Rebellion. 3 vols. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959.
http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unininf2.htm#27th The
Civil War Archive website after Dyer, Frederick Henry. A Compendium
of the War of the Rebellion. 3 vols. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959.
References
The Civil War Archive - Indiana Units
Civil War - Indiana
Further reading
Giants in The Cornfield: The 27th Indiana Infantry
The Twenty-seventh Indiana volunteer infantry in the war of the
rebellion, 1861 to 1865

34. Gift Of Mr. Phil Buecher In 2007
part of the apraissal
This is to document the gift of Mr. Phil Buecher, in 2007 to the Dubois County
Historical Society. They will then loan it to the Dubois County Museum. The
Museum holds a large archives and many varied collections but this will hold
a very special place within the museum. This civil war memorabilia flag will
document the historic importance of the county’s contribution to the national
Civil War effort.
The cotton ground of the stripes and the heavier canvas ground of the
irregularly spaced 34 star filled canton area was intact yet faded. This gives
further physical evidence to document the providence without a doubt.
This is the flag raised and used from 1861 during various important Civil War
battles, some of which are the battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862., from the
earlier battles on Popes retreat to the later battles of Chancellorsville, VA .
The flag was carried to represent the Dubois County, Jasper, Indiana area
throughout the Civil War.

35. Others to contact
Mary Ann Hayes, DCHS President ,
donhayes@fullnet.com 12/07 contact
Jessica Dyer at jdyer@dcherald.com.
The Jasper Herald (812) 482-2626, ext. 101
Jessica Dyer, 812-481-1464
John Fierst ( d. 2008) was the DuBois County Historian who
persuaded me to take on this project. I had received it June
2007.