The Indian Territory in the Civil War Message Board

Re: History of 14 Flags Exhibit

Hiya! Things are starting to get settled after the move back to OKC and now that the bookcases have been built I can actually put my hands on the collection of tomes re: the War between the States.

A note about the "14 Flags over Oklahoma": The late Muriel H. Wright told me she put together the exhibit for the New York World's Fair and after the publicity in the Oklahoma City papers a man running for state insurance commissioner published a brochure entitled "14 Flags over Oklahoma" and included the Naval Jack (mistakenly known today as the Battle Flag) because he thought the flag with the Saint Andrews Cross was "the Stars and Bars" (which is what Miss Wright's article about the flag exhibit used to identify the Confederate flag in the exhibit).

When the flags were erected at the Capitol, Miss Wright tried to get "the Stars & Bars" put up in place of the so-called "Battle Flag" but could not get support from the Board of Affairs or the superintendent of grounds who was a pretty stubborn old codger (my opinion, shared by others).

So all subsequent publications about the "14 Flags over Oklahoma" depict the Naval Jack instead of the 1st National.

The 14 flags exhibit, by authorization of the Legislature is now in front of the Oklahoma Historical Society's History Center north of 23rd Street and west of Laird Avenue. I believe they are flying the 1st National as intended by Miss Wright, but I haven't looked in a while.

At one time it was thought that the Battle Flag was not carried in Oklahoma; however, in the ex-slave narratives Lucinda Davis tells of the men carrying "a big red blanket with a criss-cross, like a saw horse, on it . . ."

Ralph

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