Fort Union Trading Post Historic Structures Report (Part II) Historical Data Section

The flag was an important symbol at the outpost of Fort Union. While it did not fly every day, it rarely failed to greet every visitor and to salute every one departing, either for St. Louis or for the Blackfoot nation. Prince Maximilian (1833), on his arrival, was struck by "the handsome American flag, gilded by the last rays of evening, floating in an azure sky."

Denig (1843) described the staff with his usual thoroughness:

In the center of this [189 by 141-foot open space inside the fort] arises a flag-staff 63 ft. high. This is surrounded at the base by a railing and panel work in an octagonal form enclosing a portion of ground of 12 ft. in diameter, in which are planted. . . [vegetables]. By the side of this stands a mounted four-pounder iron cannon. This flag-staff is the glory of the fort, for on high, seen from far and wide, floats the Star Spangled Banner, an immense flag which once belonged to the United States Navy.

The paintings of Catlin, Bodmer, Sprague (who said the staff was 60 feet), Murray, Point, and Kurz, all show the flag staff. Kurz' sketch, dated April 7, 1852, presents it in a most detailed manner, although it does not show the very top of the staff. Here the fence is circular, rather than octagonal as described by Denig and shown by Point (1847). The base of the staff, about five feet high, was square. Three large braces supported the circular staff, which had wooden pegs for climbing as far up as the crossarms. A smaller staff joined on at the crossarms. Ropes ran from the ends of the parallel crossarms to meet at a point on the upper staff. The flag was tied to one of these ropes by some sober employee who first had to climb up. Another painting by Kurz, done outside the fort, shows the top of the flag staff; an object of some nature appears at the very top. (See also the Point sketches.)

Starting with Stanley in 1853, and including all subsequent artists (Hays 1860, Soldier 1864, and the unknown with the U. S. wagon) and the 1866 photographs, this flag staff is missing from the illustrations. No one accounted for its demise. Did it fall from old age? Was it struck by lightning? From then on the flag flew from various places but most often from a new tower (HS 24) that had been erected.