After a severe rainstorm prevented a grand flag presentation scheduled for March 26, 1864, the 26th USCT received its colors, including the national color displayed here, from John Jay, representing the ladies of New York, in a less formal ceremony the following day, Easter Sunday. Colonel William Silliman accepted the color and announced, “Fair Ladies, I cannot tell you how dear to us will be this banner, the gift of loyal women of the North. We love it, not chiefly for its rare and costly beauty, but for what is beyond all price and more glorious than beauty.” The silk, national color carried by the 26th USCT includes 35 embroidered stars and an embroidered designation, “26th Regt. U.S. Colored Troops,” along its center red stripe. (2005.0076)