National Colors of the 21st O.V.I.

This silk flag served as the national colors of the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The flag was manufactured in the United States between 1861 and 1863. There are 34 gold-painted stars arranged in a grid pattern (four rows of seven stars and a fifth row of sixstars) on a blue canton. The flag has thirteen alternating red and white stripes and gold fringe on its top, right, and bottom sides. Text on the flag's middle red stripe reads: "21ST. REGT. O.V.I.U.S.A." The dimensions of the flag are 193 by 191 cm. Ohio battle flags were on display at the Ohio Statehouse until the 1960s, when the state formed a committee to oversee the efforts to restore the fragile flags. Some of the battle flags were on display on the Plaza Level of the Ohio Historical Society from 1970 until 1989. For conservation reasons, the flags have been in storage since 1989. In the 1960s, the collection was photographed and commercial artist Robert Needham painted illustrations of many Civil War flags. Photographs of the flags and the paintings are now part of the society's archival collections