Hello,

While the font is not exactly the same as the honors on the AOT flag of the 6th Kentucky Infantry (from the image that I have for this flag the letters do not seem to be shaded as on the 5th KY flag), I have seen shaded letters of the type used on the 5th KY flag from the Civil War period before.

These indeed would have been done by professional sign painters by hand (I have never found evidence of stencils used in honors). The Orphan Brigade was part of William Bate's Division and we know that Brown's TN Brigade of the same division had their honors done by a sign painter based on the invoice that I have for this. The AOT flag of the 3rd Tennessee Infantry of Brown's Brigade are much closer to those of the 6th KY flag than the 5th KY flag. This suggests to me that the guy who did the 5th KY flag is not the same guy as did Brown's flags (and I have seen all of those that exist which is for the bulk of this brigade - they are identical in every way) or the flag of the 5th KY.

There are a couple possibilities to consider here: 1) The same guy did do them and was asked by the 5th KY to do a different letter style. 2) The 5th KY had a soldier with such painting skills in the ranks. This would dovetail with the soldier of the 1st Arkansas Infantry of Cleburne's Division who was a Little Rock sign painter before the war who probably did the lettering on the flags of Govan's Brigade if not just the 1st/15th Arkansas' flag of 1864.

Greg Biggs