The Covell Flag -- Three Stories

The Museum has a Civil War era 34 star U.S. flag.

CFM 1982.021.0001

Its history is shrouded in a bit of mystery.  When we decided we'd exhibit it in Fragments of War,  I went looking for the "definitive" story.  If any of you have done historical research -- and this is especially true of artifact research -- you'll likely see the fatal flaw in that statement right away!  When you start digging, things almost always get more complicated, not less. And so, it turns out, there is no definitive story of our flag.  Or at least nothing that can be verified.


Story 1: The Covell Family Story

This Civil War era flag came back to Wilmington in 1961.

Its 19th century owner was one William King Covell, II (1833-1919).  Covell was born in Newport, Rhode Island.  Covell arrived in Wilmington North Carolina in 1848 when he was fifteen, and he went to work in a mercantile business (a ship’s chandlery, i.e. a shop selling nautical supplies). After 7 years, he left Wilmington, went briefly to New York, and then in December 1855, he returned to Wilmington, having bought the chandlery business. So in 1861, Covell was in his late 20s, and had spent much of his adult life in North Carolina.  

Elizabeth Bentley Green Covell wrote a book about the family.  And in it, she told the family story of the Museum's flag.  According to her, “One day in the spring of 1861” a “committee” entered business and asked to borrow a flag. This makes sense, since Covell was in the business of equipping ships and so likely had flags on hand in his store. The book continues “The public meeting was held that day; its decision is known. After the meeting was over, William folded the American flag, took it, not back to the store, but to his bedroom, placed it in a clean, linen pillow-case, tied the end with a piece of narrow red, white and blue ribbon (the little old ribbon is still there), and put the parcel in the bottom of his trunk. It went north when he did, and has been cherished through all the years since 1861. (Some day, if Wilmington cares for it, it shall return there.)”  [See The Two Williams:  William King Covell, 1802-1890, William King Covell, 1833 – 1919: A Story of Nineteenth Century Newport, Rhode Island and Wilmington, North Carolina]

If you want to see a picture of Covell's postwar shop in Rhode Island, you can find it on the Newport Historical Society's website  http://newport.pastperfect-online.com/32053cgi/mweb.exe?request=ks

Anyway, this account clearly suggests that the flag was present at a meeting held in the city where the people decided to support secession.

There are some challenges to verifying this story.

First, there is no meeting date involved, so it is hard to narrow down when this meeting was held. The Wilmington Daily Journal reported on at least 18 meetings and flag raisings (with speeches) between January 8 and March 29, 1861. U.S. flags were mentioned in two of those reports, in early January, at anti-secession meetings. But these meetings which were held in early January do not seem to fit with the story that it was “Spring.”

Second, the family story suggests that that there was an actual, definitive, public meeting where New Hanover County decided to secede from the United States. Although there were certainly political meetings of people who supported secession in the spring of 1861, the county could not autonomously secede from the Union. And there is nothing in the local pro-secessionist newspaper to suggest that there was a meeting where the county declared for secession with any of the kind of finality that the family story suggests. Like the rest of the state, New Hanover County officially seceded from the United States on May 20, 1861.

There were a number of political meetings and rallies on the subject of secession in the run up to the state’s final departure from the United States. William Covell seems to have still been in town through these turbulent times so his flag could have been present at one of the many political meeting that took place.

Documents on hand at the Museum suggest that William could have been in town in May, perhaps up through the 25th of May.

There is a receipt that lists William as being “of Wilmington NC” dated May 25, 1861. This is suggestive, but does not definitively prove he was there since his business was still active even after he left town.

CFM 1980.002.0022

Other documents, such as this telegraph, suggest that things started getting a little more tense in April. 

CFM 1980.002.0023

This seems to suggest that William Covell could no longer send mail to Massachusetts.

At the same time, despite these indications of growing sectional tensions, Covell is doing business with organizations such as the local Wilmington Light Infantry that Spring, despite his Northern allegiances.

CFM 1980.002.0049

The family story, therefore, seems to suggest that this flag was at a political meeting at some time between the start of “Spring” and May 20, 1861, but the particulars of their account, don’t hold up to close scrutiny.