The Civil War Illinois battle flags which were turned in to the Governor of the State pursuant to a War Department order of June 13, 1865. Most of the Regiments turned in a regimental or national flag or both. Together with the guideons and captured Confederate flags, Illinois has one of the largest collection of regimental flags (392) in the United States.

There have been two previous attempts at preservation of these colors. In 1878 the flags were removed from their staffs, stitched to pieces of white tarlatan, cut to the original size of the flag, pressed and placed back on their staffs. In 1924, the flags were cleaned, brushed, pressed and stitched together by hand between two fine silk nettings. They were then affixed to their original staffs with strips of leather. Since that time the flags have remained in large display cases in the Hall of Flags in the Centennial Building in Springfield, Illinois.

The majority of the flags were purchased by the Federal Government from major flags manufacturers in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Louisville. The arrangement of the stars in the national flag and the position of the stars and banner in the regimental flag allow fairly accurate identification of the manufacturer.

The flags are made of silk with the designs painted on using oil based paints. Many of the flags had been damaged by battle and weather when they were turned in at Wars end. The netting process done in the 1920s has probably preserved what we have today, but in the 70 plus years since then further damage has occurred because of the flags hanging from their staffs on display.

Flag Captured by the 16th Illinois Regiment

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