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Union quilt


This Stars and Stripes quilt was made in 1861 by Mrs. Mary Rockhold Teter of Noblesville, Indiana, for her son George, who served in the Union army during the Civil War. In the center is a thirty-two-inch blue square set diagonally on a field of fifteen red and fourteen white 2 1/2-inch stripes with a 6 3/4-inch blue border. Thirty-four white stars are appliquéd on a blue center, and the same number on the border, representing the number of states in the Union from July 4, 1861, to July 4, 1863. The date 1861 is quilted on one of the center stars. Some of the stars in the lower left corner of the border are quilted “Ab Lyncoln,” “Abe,” “Scott,” “Butler,” and “Genral Lyon.” The pattern for this quilt was published in Peterson’s Magazine in July 1861.


Division of Social History, Textiles
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Behring Center
Gift of Eugene A. Teter and Martha Brown Teter

 

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