Description: Flag with thirteen red and white alternating bars, blue field with 13 stars surrounded by a circle of 18, and a gold fringe border. The flag is faded and several sections of fringe are missing.
Historical Note: This presentation flag, which bears the 31 stars of the United States after the admission of California to the Union in 1851, was carried in the patriotic procession and founding ceremony for the university on July 4, 1857 on Lookout Mountain. The official cornerstone ceremony took place at Sewanee on October 10, 1860. Although the University had been founded three years earlier by Bishops Leonidas Polk and James Hervey Otey, a permanent location had not yet been obtained. The outbreak and aftermath of the Civil War delayed the commencement of instruction at the University until 1867.
Institution: University of the South, Sewanee, Special Collections, Jessie Ball duPont Library
Publisher: Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
Rights: Images reproduced on this website are intended for individual, educational use only. For research inquiries about specific objects or requests for high resolution images, contact the University of the South, Jessie Ball duPont Library.
