A fundraising campaign starts next Veterans Day, to fix about 500 military flags for the Ohio Historical Society. The flags date from the Mexican War in the 1840s to World War II.
Restoring a large flag costs about $10,000 to $15,000. One of the first to be restored will be the battle flag of the 45th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
The regiment fought in the only Civil War battle on Ohio soil – the July 19, 1863, raid of Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan on Buffington Island in Meigs County.
Most of the Union flags in the Civil War were 6 feet by 6 and a half feet, were made of silk and cannot be replaced. Some of the society’s flags were displayed at the Ohio Historical Center until 1988, when caretakers noticed that lamination applied in the 1960s was falling apart. Exposure to daylight accelerated the problems.
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