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A story behind the 34-star U.S. flagThis past week, an interesting elderly traveler stopped in my store at West Salem. He was search-HISTORICALLY YOURSBY DALLAS KRUMMing for thegraves of some ancestors buried southeast of West Salem on the Walker Creek near the Big Bonn’s.In the course of helping him find his old family farm, he shared a historic treasure with me. It was an original 34-star U.S. flag. This flagcame into being after Kansas became the 34th state on January 29,1861. It was used throughout the Union (north) until West Virginia was admitted as the 35th state on June 20,1863.The majority of Wabash County civil war soldiers .enlisted during these two and a half years. This included my great grandfather William Anthony Crum. The 34 star flag was the special flag they honored and fought to defend.The proud owner of this 12 by 18 Star Flag is Robert Coon of Morning Sun, Iowa. As he travels throughout the U.S., he shows this 140-plus-year-old flag to whomever he encounters. It's value is estimated to be near Si,000 although it is not for sale.The arrangement of the stars is symbolic. The 11 star circle represented the Confederate States. They were opposed and surrounded by the 18 Union States. The four stars in the corners represented the four slave states that stayed in the Union — Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware.The large center star could have represented the last state (34th) admitted (Kansas).It was quite an honor to be visited by this piece of living history. •
Newspaper Details
Mount Carmel Daily Republican Register
Mount Carmel, Illinois, US
Thu, Sep 16, 2004
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
George C.
VA, USA 28 May 2017
Other Publications Near Mount Carmel, Illinois
Mount Carmel Register
Mount Carmel Daily Republican Register
