A scene at the fort fixes on the Stars and Stripes, shown with eight rows and five columns of stars or a total of 40 stars. There never has been a 40-star US flag. The flag star count jumped from 38 to 43 on July 4, 1890 four years after Geronimo's surrender. Nor could the flag have been an unofficial US flag because the 40th and 41st states, North and South Dakota, respectively, did not join the union until November 2, 1889.