The Supposed “Cowpens Flag”: Vexillology and Historiography Create a New Understanding and Nomenclature

In the early 20th century, the Society of the War of 1812 in Maryland gave to the state of Maryland a 13-star, 13-stripe national flag reputed to have been carried in 1781 at the Battle of Cowpens, in the American War for Independence. Other stories circulated about this same flag having later been carried in 1814 at the defense of Baltimore, Maryland, during the War of 1812. Both claims have been called into question by textile experts and historians, who dated the flag only to the mid-19th century. This article provides a meticulous study of previously unexplored documentary evidence, a close tracing of the flag’s provenance, and a reexamination of the flag’s materials and design, in order to reconsider previous conclusions about this “Cowpens Flag”. Presenting a methodological, historiographical, and material culture review of the artifact and of previous studies of the flag, it concludes that the flag in fact dates to the War of 1812. The stories of the flag being at the defense of Baltimore are true: specifically, Ensign Joshua Bachelor of the 27th Regiment of the Maryland Militia carried the flag at the Battle of North Point, Maryland. The “Cowpens Flag” misnomer should thus be replaced with “the Batchelor-North Point Flag”.

[IVI.CID] 70d7799b-57c7-4e99-9d5e-f5423e9426a3