Civil War flag restored at Oshkosh museum

OSHKOSH - A piece of local history is back on display in Oshkosh.

In 1861 Oshkosh, news of a Civil War meant a call to arms.

"Three companies started to form in the city. The first company in Oshkosh that formed was formed by John W. Scott, hence the name Scott's volunteers," said Oshkosh Public Museum archivist Scott Cross.

The women of Oshkosh scrounged all the silk they could find.

"They would put together two flags," said Oshkosh Public Museum curator Debra Daubert.

Thirteen stripes and thirty-four stars. The hand-stitched American flag was almost official.

"It's a bit of a flight of fancy, isn't it? The stars are kind of scattered everywhere," said Cross.

"So they created their own pattern of how the stars are. So it's a unique, one-of-a-kind flag," said Daubert.

The flag was presented to Scott's men before they left for war. The Company would help form the 3rd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and the Oshkosh flag may not have been needed.

"Any other flags that came with the men would have been redundant and either sent home or kept as a souvenir. After the flag leaves Oshkosh, there's no further records until his daughter donated it to the museum in the 1920s," said Cross.

The Scott family had flown the flag at their home.

When Scott's daughter donated the flag to the museum, "It had so much tape on it, it was unbelievable," said Daubert.

"It was just folded over and over and over again, and put in a wooden box," said Daubert. "The conservator had to spend almost a year, flattening it, relaxing it, and taking off the tape."

But with the tape painstakingly removed, the Oshkosh flag is back.

"Now, this many years later, we can preserve it, and see that future generations can also hear the story, and see the dedication and the patriotism that people had back then," said Daubert.

It cost more than $23,000 to restore the flag. The museum's auxiliary, and the Sons of Union Veterans Old Abe Camp #8 contributed to the project. The flag will be on display at the Oshkosh Public Museum through April of next year.