NJ Civil War Flag Rotation

Historic New Jersey Civil War Flags currently on display at The State Museum General Robert McAllister of the 11th NJVI Featured New Jersey contributed over 80,000 men to the Civil War and the New Jersey State Museum has over 100 flags carried by New Jersey’s troops in the war in its collection. Five of these historic flags will be unveiled in specially designed exhibit cases at the New Jersey State Museum located at 205 West State Street in Trenton. The flags gallery exhibit area is located at the right rear of the main first floor of the museum. This is the first flags unveiling in two years. Unveilings have been suspended since 2019 because of the Covid-19 situation. Appropriate precautions will be required at this unveiling – social distancing and face masks. A bonus along with this unveiling will be a new display of items that belonged to General Robert McAllister of Belvidere. He is most known for commanding the 11th New Jersey Infantry in 1862-1864 and for leading the old Second New Jersey Brigade in the last year of the war. Items to be put on display for the first time include McAllister’s sword, scabbard, sash, gloves and belt plate, which were recently donated to the State Museum, and also his kepi and a piece of shrapnel that was fired into the 11th’s line at Chancellorsville, which are on loan. The flags to be unveiled have not been on display for several years. In honor of General McAllister, two of the flags will be the national colors of the 11th Infantry and his personal headquarters flag in 1864-1865, which was flown at his funeral. Another battle worn flag in this group is the national flag of the 7th Infantry, which saw heavy action at 2nd Bull Run and Gettysburg, Also included will be a national flag from the 28th Infantry, and a state regimental flag from the 25th Infantry. Organized by the New Jersey State Museum and the New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association, the unveiling event will feature an educational gallery walk by flag historian Dr. David Martin. He is currently preparing a detailed history of the State’s Civil War flags for publication. The exhibit was prepared by Nicholas Ciotola, Curator of Cultural History at the New Jersey State Museum. These flags will be shown until late June 2022, when a new group of flags will be put on display.