"Pennsylvania Flag may have been one of the first American flags to feature stars and stripes, although it was a militia company's flag, not a flag of Washington's army. The Flag Resolution of 1777 defined the official flag of the United States as having 13 stripes and 13 stars, although the specific pattern of the stars was not specified. Many variations existed. The flag shown in the canton of the Brandywine Flag uses a 4-5-4 star pattern, and was probably patterned after a Hopkinson-style United States flag. The Brandywine Flag is currently displayed in Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park, and"
"Grand Union Flag The ""Grand Union Flag"" (also known as the ""Continental Colors"", the ""Congress Flag"", the ""Cambridge Flag"", and the ""First Navy Ensign"") is considered to be the first national flag of the United States of America. This flag consisted of 13 alternating red and white stripes (like the current U.S. flag), but with the upper inner corner or canton resembling the British Union Flag of the time (prior to the inclusion of St. Patrick's Saltire after the 1801 union of Ireland and Great Britain). By the end of 1775, during the first year of the American Revolutionary War,"
"flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation. The Flag Act of 1794 () was signed into law by President George Washington on January 13, 1794. It changed the design of the flag to accommodate the admission into the Union of the states of Vermont and Kentucky. It provided for fifteen stripes as well as fifteen stars. This would be the only official flag of the United States not to have thirteen stripes. The Flag Act of 1818 () was"
"of the ""New Woman"" emerged – she was self-sufficient and independent, and stood in sharp contrast to the ""Southern Belle"" of antebellum lore. The first official flag of the Confederate States of America – called the ""Stars and Bars"" – originally had seven stars, representing the first seven states that initially formed the Confederacy. As more states joined, more stars were added, until the total was 13 (two stars were added for the divided states of Kentucky and Missouri). During the First Battle of Bull Run, (First Manassas) it sometimes proved difficult to distinguish the Stars and Bars from the"
"retained in the new U.S. flag, as described in the Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777 (later celebrated in U.S. culture and history as ""Flag Day""). Grand Union Flag The ""Grand Union Flag"" (also known as the ""Continental Colors"", the ""Congress Flag"", the ""Cambridge Flag"", and the ""First Navy Ensign"") is considered to be the first national flag of the United States of America. This flag consisted of 13 alternating red and white stripes (like the current U.S. flag), but with the upper inner corner or canton resembling the British Union Flag of the time (prior to the inclusion of"
"enacted by Congress on April 4, 1818. It provided for the modern rule of having thirteen stripes to represent the original thirteen colonies and having the number of stars match the number of states. It also provided that subsequent changes in the number of stars be made on July 4, Independence Day. As the result of the lack of a Flag Act between 1794 and 1818, there were no official U.S. flags with sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, or nineteen stars. No flag laws were enacted to accompany the admission of new states to the Union during this period. Flag Acts (United"
"as far back as 1777. On May 1, 1804, the number of U.S. states rose to seventeen, and it was expected that the U.S. flag would change to 17 stars and 17 stripes. In recognition, Vermont adopted what was expected to be the new U.S. flag with the addition of the name ""VERMONT"" embroidered along the top. The U.S. flag did not change in that way, resulting in the Vermont flag having more stripes than the national flag. On October 20, 1837, Vermont changed its flag to a design based on the current 13-stripe U.S. flag, but with the multiple"
"The Grand Union Flag was the ""de facto"" first U.S. naval ensign. It was first raised aboard Continental Navy Commodore Esek Hopkins' flagship on the Delaware River on December 3, 1775; John Paul Jones, then the ship's senior lieutenant, personally claimed this honor. The current ""Stars and Stripes"" design was first adopted when the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777: """"Resolved,"" That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."" Subsequent flag acts have"
"1777. Although St. Leger reached Fort Ticonderoga in late September, he was too late to aid Burgoyne. The first official US flag was flown during battle on August 3, 1777, at Fort Schuyler. The Continental Congress adopted the following resolution on June 14, 1777: ""Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white, on a blue field, representing a new constellation."" There was a delay in displaying this flag. The resolution was not signed by the secretary of the Congress until September 3, though it was previously"
"Betsy Ross flag The Betsy Ross flag is an early design of the flag of the United States, popularly but very likely incorrectly attributed to Betsy Ross, using the common motifs of alternating red-and-white striped field with five-pointed stars in a blue canton. Grace Rogers Cooper noted that the first documented usage of this flag was in 1792. The flag features 13 stars to represent the original 13 colonies with the stars arranged in a circle. Even though this early version of an American flag is now commonly called the ""Betsy Ross Flag,"" the claim by her descendants that Betsy"
"within the span of a single year (North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington in November 1889 and Idaho on July 3, 1890). This change has typically been the only change made with each revision of the flag since 1777, with the exception of changes in 1795 and 1818, which increased the number of stripes to 15 and then returned it to 13, respectively. As the exact pattern of stars was not specified prior to 1912, and the exact colors not specified prior to 1934, many of the historical U.S. national flags shown below are typical rather than official designs."
"John Trumbull. Despite the 1777 resolution, the early years of American independence featured many different flags. Most were individually crafted rather than mass-produced. While there are many examples of 13-star arrangements, some of those flags included blue stripes as well as red and white. Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, in a letter dated October 3, 1778, to Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, described the American flag as consisting of ""13 stripes, alternately red, white, and blue, a small square in the upper angle, next the flag staff, is a blue field, with 13 white stars, denoting a new Constellation."""
"was the Grand Union Flag, 13 alternating red and white stripes with the British Flag in the union. The Stars and Stripes received its first salute when John Paul Jones saluted France with 13 guns at Quiberon Bay in 1778 (the Stars and Stripes was not adopted as the national flag until 14 June 1777). The practice of firing one gun for each state in the union was not officially authorized until 1810, when the United States Department of War declared the number of rounds fired in the ""National Salute"" to be equivalent to the number of states—which, at the"
"Seal of the United States. Therefore, he would not be eligible to be paid for the Great Seal.. Furthermore, the Great Seal project was still a work in progress. The Seal was not finalized until June 20, 1782. Francis Hopkinson provided assistance to the second committee that designed the Great Seal of the United States. On today's seal, the 13 stars (constellation) representing the 13 original states have five points. They are arranged in a larger star that has six points. The constellation comprising 13 smaller stars symbolizes the national motto, ""E pluribus unum."" Originally, the design had individual stars"
"newsprint, and charcoal, ""White Flag"" is the first monochrome rendering of the US flag by Johns. Measuring by , it is also the largest of his flag paintings. Johns worked on three separately stretched areas of canvas - the 48 stars to the upper left, seven of the thirteen stripes to the upper right, and the remaining six longer stripes below - which were then combined to form a whole. The U.S. flag is depicted in the form it took between 1912 and 1959, with 48 white stars on a blue canton representing the then U.S. states (prior to the"
"Betsy Ross Elizabeth Griscom Ross (January 1, 1752 – January 30, 1836), née Griscom, also known by her second and third married names, Ashburn and Claypoole, is widely credited with making the first American flag. According to family tradition, upon a visit from General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, in 1776, Ross convinced George Washington to change the shape of the stars he had sketched for the flag from six-pointed to five-pointed by demonstrating that it was easier and speedier to cut the latter. However, there is no archival evidence or other recorded verbal tradition to substantiate this"
"1777, establishing the first congressional standard for official United States ensigns. The shape and arrangement of the stars is not mentioned there were variations but the legal description gives the Ross flag legitimacy. ""Resolved,"" That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation. In a 1780 letter to the Continental Board of Admiralty dealing with the Great Seal, Hopkinson mentioned patriotic designs he created in the past few years including ""the Flag of the United States of America."" He"
"were aware of the East India Company's activities and of their free administration of India under Company rule. In any case, both the stripes (barry) and the stars (mullets) have precedents in classical heraldry. Mullets were comparatively rare in early modern heraldry, but an example of mullets representing territorial divisions predating the U.S. flag are those in the coat of arms of Valais of 1618, where seven mullets stood for seven districts. On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution which stated: """"Resolved"", That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red"
"American flag. The flag is slightly different from other designs of the time. The blue field extends over the entire height of the hoist. Shaw created two versions of the flag: one which started with a red stripe and another that started with a white one. In 1787, a convention, to which delegates from all the states of the Union were invited, was called to meet in Annapolis to consider measures for the better regulation of commerce; but delegates came from only five states (New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, and Delaware), and the convention, known afterward as the ""Annapolis"
"chaired by Secretary of State Earle Hodges, Hocker added ""ARKANSAS"" and rearranged the stars to one on top and two on bottom. This flag was adopted by the legislature on February 26, 1913. In 1923, the legislature added a fourth star, representing the Confederate States of America. This fourth star was originally placed so that there were two stars above the state name and two below; this was to include the Confederacy alongside Spain, France, and the United States. Since this disturbed the other two meanings of the original three stars, the legislature corrected this in 1924 by placing the"
"Fort Sumter Flag The Fort Sumter Flag is a historic United States flag with a distinctive, diamond-shaped pattern of 33 stars. When the main flagpole was felled by shot during the bombardment of Fort Sumter by confederate forces, Second Lieutenant Norman Hall rushed to retrieve the flag and remount it on a makeshift pole. The flag was lowered by Major Robert Anderson on April 14, 1861 when he surrendered Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, at the outset of the American Civil War. Anderson brought the flag to New York City for an April 20, 1861 patriotic"
"the oldest surviving example of an American flag with eight-pointed stars. The flag was presented to the Grand Masonic Lodge of North Carolina in 1909 by Micajah Bullock's son, Edward, who was 81 years old at the time. While there is no historic documentation of the flag being used in the battle and studies of the flag suggest that it may have had 15 stars and 15 stripes at one time- either originally made or perhaps added on when U.S. flags had 15 stripes. The use of cotton cloth as the primary fabric is evidence of post-1790 construction. These factors"
"a single five-pointed star known as ""La Estrella Solitaria"" (The Lone Star). The similar flag of Texas was introduced in 1839. The star and crescent used by the Ottoman Empire was shown with an eight-pointed stars in early forms (18th century), but was changed to a five-pointed star in the official flag in 1844. Numerous other national or regional flags adopted five-pointed star designs in the later 19th to early 20th century, including Venezuela (1859), Honduras (1866), Philippines (1898), Cuba (1902), Panama (1925) and Jordan (1928). The Flag of Minnesota and 1901 Maine Flag both utilized the 5-pointed design. The"
"still on display at National Park Service museum at the fort. Commercial replicas of the flag are widely available. Fort Sumter Flag The Fort Sumter Flag is a historic United States flag with a distinctive, diamond-shaped pattern of 33 stars. When the main flagpole was felled by shot during the bombardment of Fort Sumter by confederate forces, Second Lieutenant Norman Hall rushed to retrieve the flag and remount it on a makeshift pole. The flag was lowered by Major Robert Anderson on April 14, 1861 when he surrendered Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, at the outset"
"like the circling serpent of the Egyptians, signifying eternity. The thirteen stripes showed with the stars the number of the United Colonies, and denoted the subordination of the States to the Union, as well as equality among themselves."" The usage of stripes in the flag may be linked to two pre-existing flags. A 1765 Sons of Liberty flag flown in Boston had nine red and white stripes, and a flag used by Captain Abraham Markoe's Philadelphia Light Horse Troop in 1775 had 13 blue and silver stripes. One or both of these flags likely influenced the design of the American"
"would carry her name. If true, there may not be one ""first"" flag, but many. As late as 1779, the War Board of Continental Congress had still not settled on what the Standard of the United States should look like. The committee sent a letter to General Washington asking his opinion, and submitting a design that included the serpent, as well as a number corresponding to the state which flew the flag. Francis Hopkinson is often given credit for the Betsy Ross design, as well as other 13-star arrangements. The Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution on June 14,"
"officers often wear a small flag patch, either on a shoulder, or above a shirt pocket. Every U.S. astronaut since the crew of Gemini 4 has worn the flag on the left shoulder of his or her space suit, with the exception of the crew of Apollo 1, whose flags were worn on the right shoulder. In this case, the canton was on the left. The flag did not appear on U.S. postal stamp issues until the Battle of White Plains Issue was released in 1926, depicting the flag with a circle of 13 stars. The 48-star flag first appeared"
"History of the flags of the United States This article describes the evolution of the flag of the United States of America, as well as other flags used within the country, such as the flags of governmental agencies. There are also separate flags for embassies and boats. Since 1818, a star for each new state has been added to the flag on the Fourth of July immediately following each state's admission. In years which multiple states were admitted, the number of stars on the flag jumped correspondingly; the most pronounced example of this is 1890, when five states were admitted"
"Army and U.S. Navy used standardized designs. Throughout the 19th century there was an abundance of different star patterns, rectangular and circular. On July 4, 2007, the 50-star flag became the version of the flag in longest use, surpassing the 48-star flag that was used from 1912 to 1959. The U.S. flag was brought to the city of Canton (Guǎngzhōu) in China in 1784 by the merchant ship ""Empress of China"", which carried a cargo of ginseng. There it gained the designation ""Flower Flag"" (). According to a pseudonymous account first published in the ""Boston Courier"" and later retold by"
"for the white rose of Edward IV by the Earl of Warwick, so that he erroneously attacked his own ally, losing the battle, which probably changed the outcome of the entire War of the Roses. The five-pointed stars on the Flag of the United States were introduced in the Flag Act of 1777. The Flag Act did not specify any particular arrangement, number of points, nor orientation for the stars and the arrangement. Some flag makers arranged the stars into one big star, in a circle or in rows and some replaced a state's star with its initial. One arrangement"
"the admission of every new state into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag; and that such addition shall take effect of the fourth day of July then next succeeding such admission."" On July 4, 1912, the official flag design jumped from 46 to 48 stars, and there never was an official 47-star flag. The provenance of the museum's 47-star flag is unknown, although it presumably was manufactured to celebrate New Mexico's entry into the Union. The flag hung for many years in a bar in Blue Lake, California. The bar owner, Wade Topping, a"
"stars and stripes, approved by the United States Congress's Flag Act of 1794, represent Vermont and Kentucky's entrance into the Union. The stars are arranged in vertical rows, with five horizontal rows of stars, offset, each containing three stars. At the time, the practice of adding stripes (in addition to stars) with the induction of a new state had not yet been discontinued. The flag originally measured . Each of the fifteen stripes is wide, and each of the stars measures about in diameter. After the battle, the Armistead family occasionally gave away pieces of the flag as souvenirs and"
"the designer of the first flag entered into American consciousness about the time of the 1876 centennial celebrations, owing to the efforts of her grandson, William Canby. This flag with its circle of 13 stars came into popular use as a flag commemorating the nation's birth. Many Americans today still cling to the Betsy Ross legend that she designed the flag, and most are unaware of Hopkinson's legacy. The circle of stars (a circle connotes eternity) first appeared after the war ended and after Hopkinson's original design. On May 25, 1780, Hopkinson wrote a letter to the Continental Board of"