On June 14, 1777, Continental Congress 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.”
The flag was a modification of the so-called “Great Union Flag,” used since January 2, 1776, when it was raised in the camp on Prospect Hill. Before that time different flags had been used under authority of the several provinces.
In autumn, 1775, Philadelphia floating batteries used a white flag, tree in the field, motto “An Appeal to Heaven.” The “Great Union” flag had the thirteen alternate stripes of red and white, with the union of the British Union Jack. The Philadelphia Light Horse, which escorted Washington on his way out of the city on the morning of June 21, 1775, to his command of the American forces at Cambridge, carried a flag of alternate stripes.
The popular idea was a flag of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, emblematic of the thirteen original colonies. The field of blue with the King’s colors acknowledged fealty to the King, but though the Americans were in arms against the mother country, they still hoped that the English Parliament would repeal the obnoxious laws and restore to the colonists those English rights that were theirs by inheritance and by royal colonial charters.
Up to January 1, 1776, the Americans had no red, white and blue flag. This popular design of a flag was called “Washington’s Grand Union” flag, and it was first unfurled by Washington over the camps at Cambridge, Mass., January 2, 1776, when it was saluted with thirteen guns and thirteen cheers.
When the committee appointed by Congress to prepare a design for a new flag, consisting of General George Washington, Robert Morris and Colonel George Ross, called upon Mrs. Elizabeth (Betsy) Ross, at her home, 239 Arch street, Philadelphia, there was not much change in the popular ensign, only the displacement of the British union by thirteen white stars.
As the act of Congress did not specify the number of points of the stars or their arrangement, Mrs. Ross suggested that a star of five points would be more distinct, pleasing and appropriate than the six-pointed star which the committee had designed. Folding a piece of paper, she cut, with a single clip of her scissors, a five-pointed star, and, placing it on a blue field, delighted the committee with her taste, ingenuity and judgment. The committee decided the thirteen stars should be arranged in a circle, typifying eternity.
Betsy Ross had been making colonial flags for the army and navy, and was skilled in needlework. The committee was well pleased with the flag which she made, and authorized her, in the name of Congress, to make United States flags. She continued in that occupation for many years.
The first display of the “Stars and Stripes” as the flag soon became known, was August 3, 1777, over Fort Stanwix, now Rome, N. Y.