I have just received the first copy of the new WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF
HISTORY, and think it a splendid idea. Of course, I have not had time
to examine it carefully, but I did run across the short article with
reference to the state flag, which seems rather to carry the idea that
Wisconsin had no state flag at any time prior to 1913.
I call your attention to a letter written by me to H. W. Rood,
Custodian of Memorial Hall, under date of January 5, 1911, in which I
said:
In response to your verbal request of a few days since, I
have investigated the matter of the state flag of Wisconsin.
Chapter 215 of the Laws of 1863, published April 10th 1863,
provided in part as follows:
“Whenever the state flags of the regiments in the service of
the United States, from this state, shall have become so far
worn and damaged by service that it is deemed necessary to
replace them, and the officers commanding any of the said
regiments shall inform the governor of such fact, and make
requisition for new flags, the governor is hereby authorized
to cause to be furnished to such regiments new flags; the
state flag to be of the design, plan and material as adopted
by this legislature, by joint resolution No. 44, Senate; and
one of the said flags shall be inscribed with the names of
the battles in which such regiments shall have taken an
honorable part.”
I do not find that there was a joint resolution No. 44 of
that year. Resolution No. 4, however, is evidently the one
referred to and that provides as follows:
“Resolved, by the senate, the assembly concurring, that the
following be and is hereby adopted as the design for a state
flag for the state of Wisconsin:
“State Flag.--To be of dark blue silk, with the arms of the
State of Wisconsin painted or embroidered in silk on the
obverse side, and the arms of the United States, as
prescribed in paragraph 1435 of ‘new army regulations,’
painted or embroidered in silk on the reverse side; the name
of the regiment, when used as a regimental flag, to be in a
scroll beneath the state arms.
“The size of the regiment colors to be six feet, six inches
fly, and six feet deep on the pike; the length of pike for
said colors, including spear and ferrule, to be nine feet,
ten inches; the fringe yellow, cords and tassels blue and
white silk intermixed.”
This resolution was approved March 25, 1863.
Chapter 248 of the laws of 1864, published April 15, 1864,
repealed chapter 215 of the laws of 1863, but provided in
part as follows:
“The state flag to be of the design, plan and material as
adopted by the legislature of this state by joint resolution
No. 44, senate, at the session of 1863, and one of said
flags shall be inscribed with the names of the battles in
which such regiment or battery shall have taken an honorable
part.”
Joint Resolution No. 6, approved March 3, 1863, read as
follows:
“Resolved, that the superintendent of public property be and
he is hereby authorized to purchase two national flags and
two state flags, one each of which he shall place over the
president’s chair in the senate chamber, and one each over
the speaker’s chair in the assembly chamber, where they
shall remain during each session of the legislature.”
I do not find any other laws or resolutions relating to this
flag until the adoption of the revised statutes of 1878,
section 4978 of which provides in part that
“The following acts of the legislature, passed in the
several years hereinafter enumerated, shall be repealed,
that is to say:”
Then follows a table of the laws thus repealed and among
them I find chapter 248 of the laws of 1864. I believe that
this ends the legislation in relation to a state flag and
that the State of Wisconsin no longer has such a flag.
In the pamphlet published by Doctor Thwaites entitled
_Wisconsin’s Emblems and Sobriquet_ he refers to chapter 167
of the laws of Wisconsin of 1907 (section 633m of the
Wisconsin statutes), which provides:
“The organization, armament and discipline of the Wisconsin
national guard shall be the same as that which is now, or
may hereafter be prescribed for the regular and volunteer
armies of the United States.”
He seems to think that the state flag is now as provided in paragraph
222 of the United States army regulations for 1904--the colors to be
of silk, five feet, six inches fly, and four feet, four inches on the
pike, which shall be nine feet long, including spear head and ferrule.
From this article I should assume that he considers that chapter 167
of the laws of 1907 is the law that repealed the prior law providing
for a state flag. As will be seen from the references herein given,
this law was repealed upon the adoption of the revised statutes of
1878.
This may not be of any particular importance, except that as a matter
of historical accuracy, it should be noted that Wisconsin, in fact,
did for several years have a State Flag.
Very truly yours,
WINFIELD W. GILMAN.
Madison, October 24, 1917.
[127] See WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY for December, 1917,
196.