During the “dark days” just after the attack on the Massachusetts soldiers, the mob would allow no American Flag to be displayed. The last one (they thought) was torn down from an office in one of the principal streets, amid the bawling shouts of drunken ruffians, the helpless indignation of Union men and the tears of patriotic women who witnessed its desecration.

The next morning, however, the mob were exasperated by the sight of the glorious but hated emblem hanging from an upper window of an old lady’s house. Gathering beneath it they shouted, “Take in that flag!” “Down with that rag!”

Presently the owner appeared. “What flag?” asked the old lady.

“Up there in your window,” was the reply.

“That’s my bed quilt,” said she. “It’s a pity an old woman can’t air her bed clothing without being molested,” and shaking it out of the window she showed a bed quilt with a flag worked in each corner.

Rough as they were they were completely shamed out of thoughts of violence, and so every morning, the bed quilt was duly hung out to be aired.

From The Home Journal, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Sept. 29, 1865

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed a flag resolution, mandating a red, white, and blue stars and stripes design to represent the new American nation. Each of the 13 colonies was represented by a star and a stripe; the colors, alluding to the British Union Jack, a reminder of the hope, bravery, and justice the country aimed to embody.

Loaded with symbolism, the American flag tends to evoke emotion.

It has also inspired American women to create countless quilts over the past 250 years, into which they stitched thoughts they could not put into words.

Patriotism. Dedication to war efforts. Love and support for servicemen. And sometimes, hope to meet a handsome solider and fall in love.

Red, white and blue quilts trended, historians tell us, during the Civil War (1861-1865), World War I (1914-1918), World War II (1939-1945), and the Bicentennial (1976).

The patriotic symbols they incorporated changed over time.

Bald eagles and the face of George Washington were some of the earliest motifs; once the American flag design became official, that too was referenced by quilters. Eagles surged following recognition as official bird in 1782; they often appear with a shield, ribbon, and olive branch and arrows clasped in the claws.

Stars were a favorite in the Federal period (1780-1840); log cabins became a thing during William Henry Harrison’s brief presidency (1841). Flags surged in popularity during the Civil War, and airplanes and V’s -- for victory, made famous by Winston Churchill -- decorated quilts created during WWII.

Quilts were often women’s contributions to war efforts. This was especially true during the Civil War, when the U.S. Sanitary Commission explicitly asked women for their quilts.

“Already some of our Iowa regiments have suffered to such an extent that they are reported unfit for service – The cold winter is rapidly coming up on them, and their exposure and suffering will thereby be, of necessity, greatly increased,” said a letter from the Sanitary Commission in the Washington Press, Nov. 6, 1861. “Our soldiers have confidence – they have a right to have confidence – that the women of our country, their wives and mothers, and countrywomen, who used to bend over them so tenderly in a sickness at home, will not forget to minister to them in their necessities, now that they are in the field.”

Quilts, “of cheap material, about seven feet long by fifty inches wide,” were requested by the Commission, among other items; the letter urged “that a portion of time in each week of the year be set apart for the manufacture of such articles as are needed.”

Women across the East and Midwest answered the call, supporting the sick and wounded soldiers of the Union with their handwork. Some 250,000 to 400,000 quilts were created from whatever material could be found – curtains, tents, any “odds and ends.” Women sent their encouragement and support to soldiers in the army camps, inscribed into the quilt blocks.

In fact, that’s where the American flag quilt this story opened with ended up – exhibited at the Sanitary Fair in Brooklyn, where it was sold for the benefit of Union soldiers.

Few Sanitary Commission quilts have survived; about 20 have been identified in museum and private collections. One of them hangs in the Kalona Historical Village’s English Quilt Gallery this year, on loan from The Historical Society of Marshall County.

“It’s rough in shape, but the fact that it exists,” Nancy Roth, managing director of the Kalona Historical Village, said. “Those colors, since they were natural dyes, faded over the years.”

The quilt, handcrafted by the women of the Marietta Aid Society in 1864, features an ink-drawn medallion in the center, depicting an eagle holding an American flag with a snake grasped in its beak. In addition to a message of support for the Emancipation Proclamation and the belief that the Union will prevail, the names of Union officers, as well as Lincoln, Grant, and Stanton, are written. The medallion is surrounded by a pattern of appliqued leaves and flowers, likely originally red and green.

It is interesting to note that the Sanitary Commission quilt on display in Kalona predates Kalona itself; the city was founded some 14 years after the end of the Civil War. However, neighbor city Washington is one of Iowa’s older cities, founded in 1839 – seven years before Iowa was granted its own star on the American flag.

There are an infinite number of ways one might design a red, white, and blue American quilt. As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country this year, quilters are again expressing their voices in new and novel ways, adding to the American story told through this medium.

We look forward to the next chapter.