The Grand Union Flag, also known as the Congress flag, the First Navy Ensign, The Cambridge Flag, and The Continental Colors is the first true Flag of the United States. This flag consisted of 13 red and white stripes, signifying the "uniqueness and unity" of the Thirteen Colonies, with the British Union Flag in the canton, as a symbol of many colonial leaders' wishes to keep close ties with Great Britain. The form of the Union Flag used is the version from before the union with Ireland, becoming obsolete in 1801. This version contains only St. George's cross of England and St. Andrew's cross of Scotland, but not St. Patrick's cross of Ireland.
The flag was authorized by the Second Continental Congress, and was first flown on December 3, 1775 by the then Colonial Navy lieutenant John Paul Jones on the ship Alfred. The flag was most famously flown by George Washington and is recorded as being first raised by Washington's troops on New Year's Day in 1776 at Prospect Hill in Charlestown (now part of Somerville), near his headquarters at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Washington preferred the name the Grand Union Flag.
At the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, this was the most commonly flown flag, and was present at the naming of the country, "the United States of America," on September 9, 1776. The flag was the official flag for the beginning of the American Revolution. The Grand Union Flag formed the basis of the Stars and Stripes, which would adopt stars for independent states instead of British colours for British colonies.
The Grand Union Flag was also used on North Carolina currency printed in 1776.
The design of the Grand Union Flag was most probably inspired by the flag of the British East India Company. Indeed, the design in use since 1707 when the canton was changed from the flag of England to that of Great Britain, was identical, save for the fact that the number of stripes varied from 9 to 15. Thus that flag was potentially well known by the American colonists.
Today the Grand Union Flag is often included as the "first flag" in displays of U.S. flag history, such as on the backdrop of Presidential inaugurations. It was replaced by a 13-star flag (sometimes known as the Betsy Ross or Francis Hopkinson flag), representing the original thirteen colonies which became states of the infant republic.
No one knows with absolute certainty who designed the first stars and stripes or who made it. Congressman Francis Hopkinson seems most likely to have designed it, and few historians believe that Betsy Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress, made the first one.
Until the Executive Order of June 24, 1912, (by President William Howard Taft) neither the order of the stars nor the proportions of the flag was prescribed. Consequently, flags dating before this period sometimes show unusual arrangements of the stars and odd proportions, these features being left to the discretion of the flag maker. In general, however, straight rows of stars and proportions similar to those later adopted officially were used. The principal acts affecting the flag of the United States are the following:
On June 14, 1777, in order to establish an official flag for the new nation, the Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act: "Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation."
Act of January 13, 1794 - provided for 15 stripes and 15 stars after May 1795.
Act of April 4, 1818 - provided for 13 stripes and one star for each state, to be added to the flag on the 4th of July following the admission of each new state, signed by President Monroe.
Executive Order of President William Howard Taft dated June 24, 1912 - established proportions of the flag and provided for arrangement of the stars in six horizontal rows of eight each, a single point of each star to be upward.
Executive Order of President Dwight David Eisenhower dated January 3, 1959 - provided for the arrangement of the stars in seven rows of seven stars each, staggered horizontally and vertically.
Executive Order of President Dwight David Eisenhower dated August 21, 1959 - provided for the arrangement of the stars in nine rows of stars staggered horizon tally and eleven rows of stars staggered vertically.
According to what her family members said (after her death) that she had told them, in June 1776, she received a visit from George Washington, George Ross and Robert Morris of the Continental Congress. She had met Washington through their mutual worship at Christ Church (and she had sewn buttons for him previously), and George Ross was John Ross's uncle. Although there is no record of any such committee, the three men supposedly announced they were a "Committee of Three" (perhaps self-appointed, under the circumstances) and showed her a suggested design that was drawn up by Washington in pencil. The design had six-pointed stars, and Betsy, the family story goes, suggested five-pointed stars instead because she could make a five-pointed star in one snip. The flag was sewn by Betsy in her parlor. The flag was flown when the Declaration of Independence was read aloud at Independence Hall on July 8, 1776.
No contemporary record of this meeting was made. No "Betsy Ross flag" of thirteen stars in a circle exists from 1776 (however, there is an October 1777 account of a flag with "stars disposed in a circle" at the surrender of Saratoga). Historians have found at least 17 other flag makers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the time. The Betsy Ross story is based solely on oral affidavits from her daughter and other relatives, which were made public in 1870 by her grandson, William J. Canby, in a paper read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. No primary sources of the time—letters, journals, diaries, newspaper articles, official records, or business records—have surfaced since 1870 confirming or disproving the story. The only further supporting documentation that Betsy Ross was involved in federal flag design is the Pennsylvania State Navy Board commissioning her for work in making "ships colors & c." in May 1777.
Some historians believe it was Francis Hopkinson and not Betsy Ross who designed the official "first flag" of the United States (13 red and white stripes with 13 stars on a field of blue). Hopkinson was a member of the Continental Congress, a heraldist, a designer of the Great Seal of the State of New Jersey, one of the designers of the Great Seal of the United States (which contains a blue shield with 13 diagonal red and white stripes and 13 five-pointed stars) and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence.
This famous name was coined by Captain William Driver, a shipmaster of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1831. As he was leaving on one of his many voyages aboard the 110 ton whaling brig CHARLES DOGGETT - and this one would climax with the rescue of the mutineers of the H.M.S. BOUNTY - some friends presented him with a beautiful flag of twenty four stars. As the banner opened to the ocean breeze for the first time, he exclaimed "Old Glory!"
He retired to Nashville, Tennessee in 1837, taking his treasured flag from his sea days with him. By the time the Civil War erupted, most everyone in and around Nashville recognized Captain Driver's "Old Glory." When Tennesee seceded from the Union, Rebels were determined to destroy his flag, but repeated searches revealed no trace of the hated banner.
Then on February 25th, 1862, Union forces captured Nashville and raised the American flag over the capitol. It was a rather small ensign and immediately folks began asking Captain Driver if "Old Glory" still existed. Happy to have soldiers with him this time, Captain Driver went home and began ripping at the seams of his bedcover. As the stitches holding the quilt-top to the batting unraveled, the onlookers peered inside and saw the 24-starred original "Old Glory"!
Captain Driver gently gathered up the flag and returned with the soldiers to the capitol. Though he was sixty years old, the Captain climbed up to the tower to replace the smaller banner with his beloved flag. The Sixth Ohio Regiment cheered and saluted - and later adopted the nickname "Old Glory" as their own, telling and re-telling the story of Captain Driver's devotion to the flag we honor yet today.
Captain Driver's grave is located in the old Nashville City Cemetery, and is one of three (3) places authorized by act of Congress where the Flag of the United States may be flown 24 hours a day. (The other two are The Flag House, and Fort McHenry).
The basic design of the flag is specified by sections 1 and 2 of Title 4, United States Code (4 U.S.C. §§ 1, 2 (2004)). Executive Order 10834 which may be found as a note to section 1, specifies the proportions of the flag and the arrangement of the stars in the union. The specification gives the following values:
Hoist (width) of flag: A = 1.0
Fly (length) of flag: B = 1.9
Hoist (width) of Union: C = 0.5385 (7/13, spanning seven stripes)
Fly (length) of Union: D = 0.76 (1.9 × 2/5, two fifths of the flag length)
E = F = 0.0538 (C/10, One tenth the width of the Union)
G = H = 0.0633 (D/12, One twelfth the length of the Union)
Diameter of star: K = 0.0616
Width of stripe: L = 0.0769 (1/13)
Due to rounding, the above numbers are inconsistent, in that G and H do not fill up the width of the union, and E and F do not fill the height.
Flag ratios
Note that the flag ratio (B in the diagram) is not absolutely fixed by law. Although the diagram in Executive Order 10834 gives a ratio of 1.9, earlier in the order is a list of flag sizes authorized for executive agencies. This list permits eleven specific flag sizes (specified by height and width) for such agencies: 20.00 x 38.00; 10.00 x 19.00; 8.95 x 17.00; 7.00 x 11.00; 5.00 x 9.50; 4.33 x 5.50; 3.50 x 6.65; 3.00 x 4.00; 3.00 x 5.70; 2.37 x 4.50; and 1.32 x 2.50. Eight of these sizes conform to the 1.9 ratio, within a small rounding error (less than 0.01). However three of the authorized sizes vary significantly: 1.57 (for 7.00 x 11.00), 1.27 (for 4.33 x 5.50) and 1.33 (for 3.00 x 4.00).
