Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Black Union troops battle flag up for auction
DENVER, Pa. — A flag that was carried into battle by a black Union regiment during the Civil War and hand-painted by an acclaimed African American artist is going up for auction in Pennsylvania.
The 127th United States Colored Infantry Regiment’s flag depicts a black soldier waving goodbye to Columbia, the white female personification of America, beneath a banner reading, “We Will Prove Ourselves Men.” It was one of at least 11 such flags painted by David Bustill Bowser, an artist, activist and son of a fugitive slave. It’s the only known surviving flag, and is being auctioned off Thursday 13 at Morphy Auctions in Denver, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles west of Philadelphia.
About 11,000 black union troops trained at Camp William Penn, just outside Philadelphia, on land that belonged to abolitionist and women’s rights advocate Lucretia Mott. They weren’t permitted to join state troops, so federal black regiments were formed, said Joseph Becton, of the African American Museum in Philadelphia.
Bowser had a successful banner and sign business in Philadelphia, and was chosen to design regimental flags for those troops. Supervisors at the camp opposed the idea of a black man receiving the commission, but he pleaded his case and was eventually granted the job.
“Bowser’s works were the first widely viewed, positive images of African Americans painted by an African American,” according to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
The 127th Regiment’s battle flag had been on display for years at the Grand Army of the Republic Museum in Philadelphia, but the board recently decided to auction it to help bolster the museum’s finances. It’s expected to fetch at least $250,000.