Barringer
High School is New Jersey’s oldest, and the country’s third-oldest, high
school. In 1861, a group of young women raised $80 - a considerable
sum at that time - to commission a local French seamstress to make a
six-foot by six-and-a-half-foot flag for Newark’s 1st NJ Militia Regiment.
The regiment was to carry the flag to the front in April 1861.
At the presentation of
the flag, the City Superintendent of Schools George B. Sear said, “Let this flag speak,
there is no more eloquence in it to a soldier’s tongue than human tongues
can express.”
President
Lincoln reviewing the 1st New Jersey Militia
President
Abraham Lincoln saluted this flag as it was proudly displayed by the
regiment parading into Washington D.C., the first fully equipped unit to
reach the Capitol.
On
April 29, 1899, the 1st NJ Militia flag was returned to Barringer High
School by Andrew J. Mandeville, the same color bearer who took
it off to war.
As
he unrolled the flag before the gathered crowd, he said, “It is
not so spick and span now as it was on that day. The stars and stripes
have faded, but the glory is even greater.”
Upon its return to Barringer
High School, the flag was placed under glass in a wood case and hung
prominently within the school for many years. However, the flag was
eventually taken down and placed in a basement storage room where it was
neglected for decades.
Over
the years, the flag began to rot away. Not only did it become very
fragile from hanging in a vertical position for over 100 years, but the
poor storage conditions caused the silk fabric to fade, tear and separate
in many areas.
Through the efforts of the New Jersey Civil
War Heritage Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the flag
has been rediscovered. We now wish to restore and preserve this historic
treasure for the City of Newark.
The
Textile Conservation Workshop, a non profit organization in
South Salem, New York analyzed the condition of the Flag and proposed a
course of treatment. Following a six-month analysis and treatment, the
Flag was restored to a stable and sustainable condition.
Additionally, a new case
was built to protect the flag from harmful light and other elements.
Newark’s Old Glory was then delivered back to Newark's Board of Education
and is today on public display in their headquarters in Newark.
The 1st NJ Militia flag being prepared to leave
Barringer High School
for the Textile Conservation Workshop. PHOTO BY JON
NASO/THE STAR-LEDGER
You Can Help By Your Continued Support
You
can help continue preserve NJ's Civil War Heritage by supporting projects
like this with your tax deductible donations.
Your donation can help save
treasures like Newark’s Old Glory and support NJCWHA's continued and
ongoing projects,
you can preserve historical artifacts and again like the Barringer flag “speak as no elegance of the human tongue
can.”
