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  13 STAR SILK PARADE FLAG, MADE FOR THE 1840 PRESIDENTIAL RUN OF WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, WITH EXTREMELY RARE IMAGERY THAT INCLUDES GIANT BALL ROLLED FOR CAMPAIGN ADVERTISING

Available: Sold
Frame Size (H x L): 36.25" x 39"
Flag Size (H x L): 26" x 28"
Description....:
13 STAR SILK PARADE FLAG, MADE FOR THE 1840 PRESIDENTIAL RUN OF WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, WITH EXTREMELY RARE IMAGERY THAT INCLUDES GIANT BALL ROLLED FOR CAMPAIGN ADVERTISING:

Before 1840, it was considered in poor taste for presidential candidates to campaign for public office. This is why Harrison's surviving kerchiefs, flags, and banners are among the earliest known, with certainty, to have been produced with the intent of campaign advertising.*

In 1840, friends of William Henry Harrison constructed a giant paper ball that was rolled all the way from Kentucky to Baltimore in support of his run for the White House. This exceptionally rare, 13 star parade flag, printed on silk, bears an illustration of this ball, which is divided into colored sections like longitudinal lines on a globe. The sections alternate color from red to white to blue to white again, and the six white spaces contain six different campaign slogans:

Heart and Soul is Ball We Roll
Many Times Improve as On We Move
To Guide the Ship We'll Try Old Tip
Tippicanoe and Tyler
Old Alleghany
Don't Stop This Ball

While Harrison was wealthy and maintained residence in Indiana in an expansive house, part of the home had formerly been a log cabin. Harrison drew upon the humble image of the original structure, his adopted Ohio residence, and a new profession in farming to portray himself as a man of the common people. To the left of the ball is an image of the fabled log cabin, while to the right is the White House, illustrating the intended progression.

Flanking above and below the square center medallion, large text spells out a seventh slogan: "Harrison and Reform". Campaign slogans are present on approximately 10% of all known presidential campaign parade flags, and these 10%, are among the most rare. In other words, slogans are not only rare on parade flags, but those styles that do have slogans are often one-of-a-kind or one of a scant few in that exact form.

In the case of this particular flag, three examples are presently known, all of which are in private collections. A fourth flag is known that features another ball made for the 1844 campaign of Henry Clay. Only one example of that flag survives (see Collins, item 184, p. 119), so only four flags are known in total that illustrate these giant campaign balls. The two designs are easily counted among the very best that exist in the hobby of political flag collecting.

An example of the Harrison "ball flag" is documented in "Threads of History: Americana Recorded on Cloth, 1775 to the Present", by Herbert Ridgeway Collins, (1979, Smithsonian Press). This is the best text on American political textiles. Collins formerly served as Curator of Political History at the Smithsonian Institution.

Harrison's flags are not only the first known flags that have campaign advertising, they are also the very first printed parade flags that can be dated to a specific year. For this reason they are of keen interest.

The flag's 13 stars are configured in a circular version of what is known as the "3rd Maryland" pattern. This beautiful and desirable design consists of a wreath of 12 stars, with a large star in the very center. The star count pays homage to the original 13 colonies and the founding of our nation. Unlike the star count, the count of 15 stripes is likely to be purely decorative. Similar, square flags were made for both the 1840 and 1844 campaigns and the stripe count among known examples varies somewhat randomly from one example to the next. The square format may have served so that the flag could be just as easily flown on a staff or tied like a kerchief. In any event, many of the earliest examples bear this square profile, which also mimics the shape of ground force military colors.

Brief Note on William Henry Harrison and the 1840 Presidential Election:
William Henry Harrison (b. Feb. 9th, 1773) was the son of wealthy plantation owner Benjamin Harrison V. His father was a delegate to the second Continental Congress, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Governor of Virginia. William was the last president to be born as a British subject. Following his military career he became secretary of the Northwest Territory, then governor of the subsequently divided Indiana Territory, then moved to Ohio where he served as a U.S. Congressman, State Senator, and U.S. Senator.

His 20-room, 13-fireplace, Indiana home, called Grouseland, was hardly a cabin in any sense, and became a focal point of life in the expanding west. There he met with Indian tribes, managed his many affairs while governor of the newly named Indiana Territory, that he had helped to create, and invited townspeople to seek refuge in the house during Indian attacks.

Martin Van Buren, Harrison's Democrat opponent, was a New Yorker and the incumbent president. Van Buren's aristocratic air, combined with economic depression that included the devastating collapse of the Second National Bank of the United States, subsequently lost him the 1840 election.

But things would not go well for the newly elected president. At the age of 68, Harrison was a long-winded speaker. He went to his inauguration without a topcoat and droned on for an hour and forty-five minutes in a snowstorm, before greeting guests and remaining outdoors for a prolonged period. He subsequently caught pneumonia and died just 32 days after taking office. Vice President, John Tyler, was chosen for the ticket because he was a Southerner and thus balanced the interests of slave owners. Tyler finished out his 4-year term but was generally unsuccessful in the White House, unpopular, and did not seek reelection.

Mounting: This is a sandwich mount between U.V. protective acrylic and 100% hemp fabric. The gilded American molding dates the second half of the 19th century.

Condition: There is minor to moderate fading throughout, accompanied by minor staining and minor holes. Among the three examples that exist in this style, this is the best.

* Two earlier political kerchiefs are known for only two earlier presidents, Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams. The Adams example appears to be an inaugural souvenir, because the text that appears in its repeating circular medallions reads "His Excellency; John Quincy Adams" [see Collins, item 66, p. 76]. It is unclear if the Jackson example is celebratory or a campaign piece [see Collins, item 69, p. 77]. So Harrison's kerchiefs are potentially the first ever distributed to try to get a candidate elected.
Collector Level: Flags for the truest Patriots. My best offerings
Flag Type: Parade flag
Star Count: 13
Earliest Date of Origin: 1840
Latest Date of Origin: 1840
State/Affiliation: 13 Original Colonies
War Association: 1777-1860 Pre-Civil War
Price: Please call (717) 676-0545 or (717) 502-1281
 

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