Archival Replica of the Caroline Flag and its Plaque printed on silk.
Silk scarf featuring a replica of the Caroline Flag and its plaque. After the failed revolution of 1837 in Upper Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie and his militia fled to Navy Island in the Niagara River. Stationed on the border of the United States and Canada, Mackenzie declared a sovereign Republic of Canada and began to fortify his makeshift garrison in advance of the inevitable invasion. Supporters of the Canadian Revolution in the United States used a steamboat named Caroline to ferry supplies to the renegade army until, under the cover of darkness, a commando of British soldiers crossed the American border, seized the ship, set it on fire and sent it crashing over the Niagara Falls. Before its destruction, the tattered American flag flown by the Caroline was seized and, over the years, traded hands within a clique of United Empire Loyalists. In 1905 the flag was purchased by the Toronto Public Library and displayed as a trophy of Canadian conquest and American defeat. The flag was exhibited alongside a commemorative plaque cast by the library, the display becoming a site of public pilgrimage for Canadian Loyalists until the late 1930’s, when economic integration with the United States made its popular reverence politically awkward. Lost for years, the flag was recovered in an obscure archive and redisplayed in Toronto following the 2025 National Policy where it once again became an object of national pride.
100% Silk.
25 x 37 in
Made in China.
