AN 11-STAR CONFEDERATE BIBLE FLAG.
A hand-stitched pieced silk Confederate 'Bible flag' with 11 embroidered stars, 12 x 18 inches, framed to 13 x 19 in. WITH: Document Signed of Provost Marshal Robert Cashcart, a draft notice for Richard Smith, 1 p, folio, Baltimore, October 18, 1864, affixed to verso of flag frame.
Provenance: Star Spangled Banner Flag Collection of Baltimore, MD; acquired for the Zaricor Flag Collection, 1996.

Flags like this small, 11-star Confederate Flag are often referred to as 'Bible flags.' They were common to both Union and Confederate sides during the American Civil War. Often made for a soldier by a mother, wife, sweetheart or sister, these smaller flags were carried by soldiers in pocket bibles as a reminder of loved ones at home. Slightly larger flags were used as bookmarks for passages of scripture in family Bibles to remember those serving at the front.

The flag was probably captured by Richard W. Smith of Baltimore, the Union soldier whose US Army induction papers are framed on the reverse of the flag. It was formerly part of the collection of The Flag House & Star-Spangled Banner Museum in Baltimore.