![]() The new national flag replaced the Union Jack in the canton with thirteen stars (representing the thirteen States) on a field of blue. The Grand Union Flag became obsolete following the passing of the Flag Act of 1777 by the Continental Congress. The more recent moniker, "Grand Union Flag", was first applied in the 19th-century Reconstruction era by George Henry Preble, in his 1872 History of the American Flag. The flag has had several names, at least five of which have been popularly remembered. However, some scholars dispute the traditional account and conclude that the flag raised at Prospect Hill was probably the flag of Great Britain, though subsequent research supports the contrary. It is also stated that the flag was interpreted by British military observers in the city under commanding General Thomas Gage, as a sign of surrender. It was widely believed that the flag was raised by George Washington's army on the 2 January 1776, at Prospect Hill in Charlestown (now part of Somerville), near his headquarters at Cambridge, Massachusetts, (across the Charles River to the north from Boston), which was then surrounding and laying siege to the British forces then occupying the city. The flag was also used by the Continental Army forces as both a naval ensign, and as a garrison flag throughout 1776 and early 1777. The event was documented in letters to Congress and eyewitness accounts. The USS Alfred flew the flag for the first recorded time on December 3, 1775, when it was hoisted by Senior Lieutenant John Paul Jones Īmericans first hoisted the Grand Union Flag on the colonial warship Alfred, in the harbor on the western shore of the Delaware River at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 3 December 1775, under the command of the new appointed Lieutenant John Paul Jones of the formative Continental Navy. The upper inner corner, or canton, features the Union Jack, or flag of the Kingdom of Great Britain, of which the colonies were subjects. flag, the Grand Union Flag has 13 alternating red and white stripes, representative of the Thirteen Colonies. First hoisted on Decemby naval officer John Paul Jones, the flag was used heavily by the Second Continental Congress of the United States, as well as by Commander George Washington in his Continental Army during the early years of the American Revolutionary War. " Cambridge Flag", and the " First Navy Ensign") was the first national flag of the United States of America. ![]() The " Grand Union Flag", or the " Continental Colours", (also known as the " Congress Flag", the Thirteen horizontal stripes alternating red and white in the canton, the Flag of Great Britain The Grand Union Flag, Continental Colours, Congress Flag, Cambridge Flag, First Navy Ensign Not to be confused with the Union Flag, which is the flag of the United Kingdom, or the Flag of the East India Company. ![]()
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