American Historical Ephemera & Photography

16 x 26 1/2 in. silk flag with 13 hand-sewn appliquéd stars configured in 12-star oval surrounding central star, with linen sleeve. Housed in silver gild frame, 27 x 35 in. (few scattered spots, few small areas of separation, unexamined outside frame).

The flag's design is often referred to as the Third Maryland pattern because it is believed to have been originally carried by Color Sergeant William Batchelor of the 3rd Maryland Light Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Cowpens in 1781 during the Revolutionary War. Research by John Appleton Wilson, an historian and member of the Maryland Historical Society, later determined the flag was actually carried by Sergeant Batchelor at the Battle of North Point during the War of 1812. Further examination in the 1970s by flag expert and textile curator Grace Rogers Cooper of the Smithsonian disclosed that the Cowpens flag probably dated no earlier than the Mexican War, 1846-1848.

The Batchelor flag was donated to the State of Maryland and remained on display in the State House until the 1980s when it was moved to its present location at the Maryland Archives.

This flag has been exhibited at several museums and is documented in the book The Stars and Stripes: Fabric of the American Spirit, Richard Pierce, LLC, 2005 (page 64).