Our Heaven Born Banner Notebook

This Civil War Era painting of the American flag in the sky of sunrise colored clouds and stars was painted by William Bauly as pro-Union patriotic art. It was painted in the summer of 1861 as a reaction to the insult to the American flag made in the spring at Fort Sumter. It was made into a lithographic print by Sarony, Major & Knapp. "Our Heaven Born Banner" shows a lone Zouave sentry watching from a promontory as the dawn breaks in the distance. His rifle and bayonet form the staff of an American flag whose design and colors are formed by the sky's light. Below, in the distance, is a fort--probably Sumter. The print is accompanied by eight lines of verse: When Freedom from her mountain height / Unfurled her standard to the air, / She tore the azure robe of night / And set the stars of glory there. / She mingled with its gorgeous dyes / The milky baldrick of the skies, / And striped its pure celestial white / With streakings of the morning light.