Flag Exhibit To Highlight Tribute To New York Zouaves
November 2004

ALBANY, N.Y. - In November the New York State Battle Flag Preservation Project will showcase Zouaves from the Empire State with a new battle flag exhibit at the New York State Capitol and an adjunct exhibit and all-day program at the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs.

"Flags of the Fighting Zouaves" will open on Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. The exhibit will feature a special presentation color given to the "Fire Zouaves" and nine other flags carried by state Zouave regiments.

The unique regimental color was given to the 11th New York Volunteers, or Fire Zouaves, led by Col. Elmer Ellsworth, as they stood in line along Canal Street in Manhattan on April 29, 1861, by W.H. Wickham, president of the Fire Department.

He announced, "Take them, place them in the midst of your gallant band, and wherever the fight is the thickest, and the bullets fly the fastest, let these banners be borne, and may you and your comrades, in the hour of trial and battle, remember the proud motto emblasoned [sic] upon them: 'The Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave.'"

The New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs (DMNA) is responsible for the care and interpretation of the New York State Battle Flag Collection, a group of more than 1,750 military flags, approximately half from the Civil War. Many of the flags are in poor condition due to age, improper storage, and exposure to light, temperature and dust.

In 1997, DMNA and textile conservators from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation surveyed the collection and prepared a conservation plan that includes the establishment of a flag archive for the conservation, storage and study of the Battle Flag Collection.

Governor George Pataki and the New York State Legislature provided funding beginning in 2000 to implement the survey's recommendations and to initiate the Battle Flag Preservation Project. To date, more than 250 flags have been conserved and placed in storage at the Peebles Island Resource Center in Waterford.

"Flags of the Fighting Zouaves" is the fifth installment in the flag preservation project's Capitol exhibition series, designed to raise awareness about conservation needs, to interpretively display conserved flags, and to promote the project's progress to date. The exhibit will run about a year.

It will also feature a blue silk regimental color carried by the 5th New York Volunteers, Duryee's Zouaves. It was issued by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Department and features the painted arms of the United States and the inscription, "FIFTH ZOUAVE REGT. N.Y.V." Arguably the greatest of all the Zouave regiments, the 5th New York Volunteers earned their baptism of fire in June 1861 at Big Bethel. At Second Bull Run, in August 1862, Duryee's Zouaves suffered more fatalities than any other regiment in a single day's battle during the entire war.

Another flag, given by young ladies from Rochester by September 1862 to the Monroe County Regiment, 140th New York Volunteer Infantry, has the arms of the state on one side with the arms of the United States on the other. They carried it at Saunders's Field during the battle of the Wilderness, May 1864.

The 10th New York Volunteers, or National Zouaves, are thought to have received their 34-star, silk national color from the City of New York in 1863. The flag's stenciled inscriptions include the names of officers and members of the color guard killed or wounded in the spring 1864 Overland Campaign as well as battle honors from that campaign.

The exhibit will also include a white, silk flank marker, or guide flag, carried by the 6th New York Volunteers, Wilson's Zouaves. Presented to William Wilson's regiment by Thomas C. Burns on behalf of the citizens of Staten Island, the flag includes the painted inscription, "6th Regt. WILSON'S ZOUAVES." Also shown will be the 35-star, printed, wool camp color in the U.S. national pattern carried by the 146th New York Volunteers, or Garrard's Tigers, after July 1863.

Blue, silk, presentation flank markers carried by the 9th, 62nd, and 66th New York Volunteer Infantries will also be included in the exhibit. The New York State Battle Flag Collection includes five known varieties of these uniquely New York markers. Each variety features painted regimental inscriptions and yellow silk fringe.

A silk, swallowtail guidon in the "stars and stripes" pattern carried by the 3rd New York Volunteer Infantry is also included in "Flags of the Fighting Zouaves". The unit was organized by former New York State Adjutant General and Albany Zouave Cadets captain Frederick Townsend and included the Syracuse Zouaves mustered as Company E. Only a quarter of the guidon remains. The flag is representative of the many severely deteriorated Civil War flags in the New York collection.

Preceding the exhibit opening, the New York State Capitol Tour Program will present a special 2 p.m. "Civil War Tour of the Capitol." Although the Capitol was constructed after the Civil War, the war had a profound effect on its construction, iconography and on the New Yorkers who worked there. Tour participants will see the Capitol's Great Western Staircase and its carvings depicting Union Army Corps badges, GAR medals, the Medal of Honor, and individuals including Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Philip Sheridan, Frederick Douglass and John Brown. Advanced registration is requested and may be made at (518) 473-7521.

The following day, Nov. 13, the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs will open an adjunct exhibit, "New York's Fighting Zouaves," as part of a daylong program dedicated to the Zouaves. Uniforms and artwork to be featured include Ellsworth's frock coat, perforated above the left breast, original William A. McIlvane watercolors, and a fez and turban worn by the 165th New York Volunteer Infantry.

The day will include appearances by historian Michael J. McAfee, author of Zouaves . . . The First and the Bravest, and the Salem Zouaves, an educational organization specializing in Zouave drill. Fifth New York Volunteer Infantry living historians will educate visitors about Zouaves and the life of the Civil War soldier.

The Capital District Civil War Round Table will provide support for the exhibit opening events. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the group will hold its annual fall banquet on Nov. 13 in Albany, with a special presentation by historian John Hennessy. For information about the round table visit www.cdcwrt.org.

For information about the flags and exhibits, call the New York State Military Museum & Veterans Research center at (518) 581-5100.