Carthage Historic Preservation, Inc.
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 375 | Carthage, MO 64836
Phelps House: 1146 Grand Avenue, Carthage, MO
417.358.1776
THE ENDURING LOCAL MYTH OF THE PETTICOAT FLAG
Information provided by Clyde Hood, descendant of LUCY HOOD:
Marvin VanGilder, the noted southwestern Missouri historian and writer for the Carthage Press, wrote an interesting article in the 1970's about women from Jasper County during the Civil War. In it, he talks about Lucy Hood and the following is excerpted from that article:
“The role of women in Civil War activity in the Carthage vicinity, as elsewhere in this terror-ridden land, was of major significance. As in the case of their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons, however, it is possible only to relate the experiences of the few which have been recorded as means of illustrating the trials, experiences and courage demonstrated by the many.
One of the earliest and most dramatic feminine contributions to local Civil War lore was that made in 1861 by Lucy Hood, 17, daughter of ex-Sheriff and Mrs. Norris C. Hood and later Mrs. Leonidas P. Cunningham. Overwhelmed by the magnitude of Confederate sympathy publicly displayed here, teen-aged Lucy was dismayed when she saw the Confederate flag placed atop the flagpole on the courthouse lawn a block from the Hood family home.
Utilizing fabric intended for clothing, she made a U.S. flag, carefully keeping it hidden as work progressed, and wore it in secrecy among her petticoats. July 4, 1861, when the Union soldiers of Colonel Franz Sigel arrived here on the eve of the Battle of Carthage, Lucy stripped off her star-spangled petticoat, stepped atop a stile on the west side of the courthouse lawn and waved it triumphantly in the air.
The [Carthage] Press of August 8, 1921 reported, "The soldiers gave three cheers for the young lady and the flag."
Missouri State Guard
By Missouri Historical Society, attribution - https://mohistory.org/museum/50-images/missouri-state-guard, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=118337898
Clyde Hood continues:
Similar enthusiasm was displayed by many on both sides of the political spectrum. These included young Myra Belle Shirley, who probably was much disturbed by Lucy Hood's action but equally ardent at welcoming Confederate State Guardsmen to Carthage the next day.”
The Myra Belle Shirley mentioned above was the daughter of John Shirley, who owned the Shirley Hotel on the north side of the courthouse square. She was later known as the infamous western outlaw, Belle Starr.
But there's a problem...
The problem with the story of the petticoat flag is that it is only partially true. To understand how the story got started, one needs to go back to 1911 and the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Carthage. Lucy Hood's younger brother, Thomas C. Hood, was interviewed by The Carthage Press because he was an eyewitness to the battle and the many happenings before and after it. He was 14 at the time. Here's an excerpt of what Thomas had to say: [1]
"I remember we had a flag which my sisters took great comfort in, displaying it whenever there were federal forces in town, greatly to the aggravation of the southerners, and keeping it discreetly hidden at other times. As a matter of fact, one of the girls always wore it in her bustle for safekeeping whenever they did not dare to let it float in the breeze. In this way it was never captured or destroyed because it could not be found."
"At about the middle of the north side of the square lived another pronounced rebel girl, Myra Shirley, with her parents. This Myra Shirley was afterward the noted Belle Starr of outlaw fame. Well, there was much chafing between these confederate girls and my sisters, and the flag which my sister waved continually to flaunt on the breeze at opportune times was a decided cross for the confederate girls to have to bear."
A bustled dress
"In making this flag, my sisters had no special flag material and had to use whatever they could get. There were red curtains, blue curtains and white curtains in use in those days and the girls took material from each of these and made a pretty good flag."
"When Sigel and his soldiers came marching into town that Fourth of July evening, of course the girls got out the flag and planted the staff in a hole which had been bored for the purpose in the front porch gate. Some of the soldier boys parading around the streets soon saw the flag and saluted it grandly. They grabbed it up and waved it around and went over to the courthouse stile and began to sing. The stile afforded means of going over the courtyard fence instead of through it by a gateway. The top of the stile was a platform big enough for nine or ten men to stand at once."
"There were some pretty good voices among those Germans, and several of the best of the singers were on the stile platform and sang "John Brown," "Star Spangled Banner," and a number of other patriotic songs, waving our flag at the same time industriously. The boys gave the town a pretty good serenade before they were through with it. When they were done, they planted the flag in our gate post again and went on."
"Such are a few of my remembrances of the battle of Carthage and the incidents of a few days following. I believe the published reports and allusions to the battle in the local papers at different times have generally been correct, as well as the story of the battle as given in county histories. Anything that I tell about it, as one who was in town when the battle was fought, can be of interest only so far as I can give incidents which lend local flavor to the story and give the version of the battle from the standpoint of the residents. Very few people are now living in Carthage who were here at the time of the battle. Of course, my sister, Mrs. Lucy Cunningham now residing at 310 West Third street in Carthage, and my other sisters, were at home that day and I know have as vivid remembrances of the day and its stirring events as I do myself."
General Franz Sigel
Bh Unidentified photographer - Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA (digital file from original photo), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=353722
Thomas' and Lucy's accounts vary slightly, but neither mention a petticoat. However, a bustle is mentioned. A bustle was a device that was used beneath a skirt or dress on the backside and worn just below the waist to keep the garments elevated and off of the ground. A petticoat is an underskirt that is full and usually trimmed with ruffles and lace.
A few years ago, the Carthage, Missouri area artist Andy Thomas made a painting titled "Petticoat Flag" based upon the newspaper article by Marvin VanGilder. It shows a young Lucy Hood standing upon a fence outside the courthouse with the front of her dress pulled up displaying a flag attached to her petticoat. If in the painting Lucy Hood were to have displayed the flag by revealing its true secreted placement, she would have given a most un-lady like presentation by hiking up the rear of her dress and exhibiting "Old Glory!"
[1] “Carthage Man’s Story of Battle of Carthage”, The Carthage Press, circa July 4, 1911.