"Welcome Home Heroes" Spanish American War Pennant 1899

 

 

 

SPANISH AMERICAN WAR PENNANT
Welcome Home Heroes Banner | 1898 CIR

Flag size (HxL) 22”x11 ¾”
Frame size: 25 ½”x17 ¾”

Very rare Spanish-American War Pennant, cotton textile; printed - ‘Welcome Home Heroes’, 4 symbolic white stars, and red and white stripes. In all the years researching and collecting flags we have not come across another pennant like it, and it’s the only one of its design known to exist.
Research:
 Microscopy revealed a cotton/flax blend, a commonly used weave for making flags in the 19th century.

The four white stars on the flag may have represented one or more possibilities including: 

• A star for each of the four main theaters in the Spanish-American War conflict: Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and the United States. 
• Four all-Black volunteer infantry units were formed during the Spanish-American War—the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th regiments. The expeditionary force that deployed to Cuba included all four of the Regular Army’s segregated black regiments. 
• The Fourth Army Corps of the United States- assembled in Mobile Alabama under the command of Major General John J. Coppinger. It was one of eight “army corps” units, organized and raised when the U.S. officially declared war on Spain, April 25, 1898.

Condition is very good for use and period; several areas of fabric loss, colors are crisp, fraying along top and sides, several pin holes along the top of the flag indicating that it was likely hung vertically and used to welcome home soldiers returning from war.

History of the Spanish-American War, April 25- August 13, 1898
The Cuban War of Independence from Spanish colonial rule (1895-1898) was the last of three Cuban wars for liberation that originated in the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain. The United States intervened and officially declared war on Spain on April 25, 1898, following months of tensions between the two countries, due in part to the unanswered questions following an internal explosion on the USS Maine causing it to sink in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, killing 260 crew aboard. The Spanish-American War ended Spain’s colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and secured the position of the United States as a Pacific power. U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims in Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. The United States also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict. Thus, the war enabled the United States to establish its predominance in the Caribbean region and to pursue its strategic and economic interests in Asia.

 

     

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Item: 1894-06