Windsor's Community Museum will feature an artifact that may have been part of one of the most significant battles fought during the War of 1812.
The Tecumseh Flag will be unveiled in February and remain on display until January 2013.
The flag, measuring 2.5 metres by one metre, is said to have covered the body Chief Tecumseh after he was killed during the Battle of the Thames during the War of 1812.
Museum curator Madeline Della has her doubts, but admits there is a chance.
"We think it might have actually been on the battlefield with [Chief] Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames," she said.
Della said the the flag's colours, fabric and stitching are correct for the time period. She also said the oral history and a sworn affidavit signed in the early 1920s also make it possible the flag was flown in battle.
Joseph McCoonse swore in 1905 that he got the flag from his father, a First Nations chief. McCoonse said in his sworn statement the flag had been passed down three generations. McCoonse said his grandfather, also a chief, was on the battlefield with Tecumseh and retrieved the flag.
"It’s got enough of an oral history attached to it that it’s worthy of serious consideration in terms of its connection to that particular battle," Della said. "I don't think anyone will ever be able to tell if the story is 100 per cent accurate."
The flag arrived at the museum in 1960. A Michigan woman, who got the flag from McCoonse, donated it at the advice of the Detroit Historical Museum.
Della said the donor and museum "thought it would be better on this side of the border because of the connections to the aboriginals, the British and Chief Tecumseh."
Della said the flag is priceless but that it had been kept in cramped storage at the tiny museum, which doesn't have room to permanently display the flag.
"It’s actually surprisingly nice. The colours are still quite good. It gives people a real sense of history," Della said.
The exhibit featuring the flag is entitled Living in 1812: Life on the Sandwich Frontier. It will run from February 18th to next January.
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