Prior to 1850s, a United States Navy captain placed in command of a fleet or squadron was by naval custom and courtesy called a “commodore”.  As such, he was entitled “to wear” or hoist on his flag-ship a “broad pennant”.  This was a “burgee” or forked flag with slightly converging top and bottom.  Usually of blue, it was to contain the same number of white stars as the union of the national ensign.  However, if two or more squadrons came together in naval operations, only the senior commodore hoisted this pennant; the next in seniority hoisted a similar one of red, while the lowest-ranking commodore flew a white pennant bearing blue stars.

These two commodore’s burgees was used by Captain William M. Hunter (1793-1849) during the last two years of his naval service, when he variously held commodore’s rank at the close of- and following the Mexican War.  Each bears 30 five-point stars of white, all hand-sewn to the silk ground of the pennant.  Made in two pieces, seamed in the center along the fly, both pennants have a hoist of approximately 31 inches and a fly of 60 inches.  There are three grommets on each hoist, one at each end and the third placed centrally.  The flags are completely hand-sewn using fine handstitching and finished with flat-felled seams.  They are in excellent overall condition, considering the age and materials used; the red burgee with only one small rent along one edge and the blue burgee with some small rents in the fabric and light fading/staining along edges from salt spray, etc.   Based on the materials used and the size of the burgees, it is most likely that they were used as boat flags for the commodore’s launch and gig; those used aboard the flagship would generally have been larger and made of woolen bunting, as opposed to silk.  They were probably made shortly after the admission of Wisconsin as the 30^th state in the Union on 12 May 1848.

Hunter, a Pennsylvania native, was born in 1793 and died on 5 March 1849 while still on command duty, hence accounting for the remarkably fine condition and survival of these rare naval flags.  He entered the Navy as midshipman on 16 January 1809 and was commissioned as lieutenant on 24 July 1813, making commander’s rank on 21 March 1826 and promoted to captain on 9 February 1837.  His War of 1812 service included a cruise aboard the USS Constitution and in 1821 served on the USS Franklin, a 74-gun ship-of-the-line (built 1815), later commanding her at Boston in the 1840s. Other previous commands included the 18-gun, sloop-of-war Lexington (built 1825).  These burgees or pennants, along with other artifacts associated with his naval career, remained in the hands of descendants until the late 1980s.