Editing Flag of the United States (section)

=== Civil War and the flag ===
[[File:Our Banner in the Sky by Frederic Edwin Church.jpg|thumb|''Our Banner in the Sky'' (1861) by [[Frederic Edwin Church]]]]
Prior to the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the American flag was rarely seen outside of military forts, government buildings and ships. This changed following the [[Battle of Fort Sumter]] in 1861. The [[Fort Sumter Flag|flag]] flying over the fort was allowed to leave with the Union troops as they surrendered. It was taken across [[Union (American Civil War)|Northern]] cities, which spurred a wave of "Flagmania". The Stars and Stripes, which had had no real place in the public conscious, suddenly became a part of the national identity. The flag became a symbol of the Union, and the sale of flags exploded at this time.
Historian [[Adam Goodheart]] wrote:
{{blockquote|For the first time American flags were mass-produced rather than individually stitched and even so, manufacturers could not keep up with demand. As the long winter of 1861 turned into spring, that old flag meant something new. The abstraction of the Union cause was transfigured into a physical thing: strips of cloth that millions of people would fight for, and many thousands die for.<ref name=goodheart-1861>{{cite book |first=Adam |last=Goodheart |author-link=Adam Goodheart |title=1861: The Civil War Awakening |chapter=Prologue |url=http://www.adamgoodheart.com/ |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |year=2011 |via=adamgoodheart.com |access-date=July 31, 2015 |isbn=978-0-307-59666-6}}</ref>}}

In the Civil War, the flag was allowed to be carried into battle, reversing the 1847 regulation which prohibited this. (During the American Revolutionary War and [[War of 1812]] the army was not officially sanctioned to carry the United States flag into battle. It was not until 1834 that the artillery was allowed to carry the American flag; the army would be granted to do the same in 1841. However, in 1847, in the middle of the [[Mexican–American War|war with Mexico]], the flag was limited to camp use and not allowed to be brought into battle.)<ref>{{Cite book|title=The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict|publisher=VZ Publications|year=2006|page=68}}</ref> Some wanted to remove the stars of the states which had seceded but [[Abraham Lincoln]] was opposed, believing it would give legitimacy to the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] states.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Leepson|first=Marc|title=Flag: An American Biography|publisher=[[Thomas Dunne Books]]|year=2005|pages=94–109}}</ref>