The Continental Colors

Other names	The Grand Union Flag, Continental Colours, Congress Flag, Cambridge Flag, First Navy Ensign
Adopted	December 3, 1775 (1775-12-03)
Relinquished	June 14, 1777 (1777-06-14)
Design	Thirteen horizontal stripes alternating red and white; in the canton, the Flag of Great Britain

The "Grand Union Flag", or the "Continental Colors", also known as the "Congress Flag", the "Cambridge Flag", and the "First Navy Ensign", was the first, unofficial national flag of the United States of America.^[1] First hoisted on December 3, 1775 by naval officer John Paul Jones, the flag was used heavily by the Second Continental Congress of the United States, and by George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.^[2]

Similar to the current U.S. flag, the Grand Union Flag has 13 alternating red and white stripes, representative of the Thirteen Colonies. The upper inner corner, or canton, features the flag of the Kingdom of Great Britain, of which the colonies were subjects until July 4, 1776.

History

Examples

The "First National Flag" in 1880

At the First Flag event on January 1, the Grand Union flag flies at Prospect Hill

Replica outside San Francisco City Hall

Replica at Gaspee parade at Pawtuxet Village

By the end of 1775, during the first year of the American Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress operated as a de facto war government, who had authorized the creation of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, and even a small contingent of Continental Marines. A new flag was needed to represent both the Congress and the United Colonies, with a banner distinct from the British Red Ensign flown from civilian and merchant vessels, the White Ensign of the Royal Navy, and the Flag of Great Britain carried on land by the British army. The emerging states had been using their own independent flags, with Massachusetts using the Taunton Flag, and New York using the George Rex Flag, prior to the adoption of united colors.^{[citation needed][3]} Americans 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 event was documented in letters to Congress and eyewitness accounts.^[4] 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[5] 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.^[6][7] However, some scholars dispute the traditional account and conclude that the flag raised at Prospect Hill was probably the flag of Great Britain,^[8] though subsequent research supports the contrary.^[9][10]

The flag has had several names, at least five of which have been popularly remembered. 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.^[8]

The Grand Union Flag became obsolete following the passing of the Flag Act of 1777 by the Continental Congress. The new national flag replaced the Union Jack in the canton with thirteen stars (representing the thirteen States) on a field of blue. The resolution describes only a "new constellation" for the arrangement of the white stars in the blue canton, so overall designs were later interpreted and made with rows, columns, a square with one star in the center, a circle, and various other designs.^[11]

Design and analysis

It is not known for certain when or by whom the design of the Continental Colours was created, but the flag could easily be produced by sewing white stripes onto the British Red Ensigns.^[8] The "Alfred" flag has been credited to Margaret Manny.^[12]

The design of the Colours is strikingly similar to the flag of the British East India Company (EIC). Indeed, certain EIC designs in use since 1707 (when the canton was changed from the flag of England to that of the flag of Great Britain) were nearly identical. However, the number of stripes varied from 9 to 15. One theory on the origin of the design is that the American colonists would have known and been familiar with the existing EIC flags and that this may have influenced the design.^[13]

The combined crosses in the flag of Great Britain symbolized the union of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. The symbolism of a union of equal parts was retained in the new U.S. flag, as described in the Flag Resolution of 14 June 1777 (later celebrated in U.S. culture and history as "Flag Day").^{[citation needed]}

According to the vexillologist Nick Groom, the use of the flag of Great Britain in the canton component of the flag suggests that George Washington's army adopted it, not as a protest against the rule of the British Parliament, but as a profession of continued loyalty towards King George III.^[14] This view is shared by Laurie Calkhoven, a biographer of George Washington, who suggests that the flag was designed to reflect the colonists' hope for justice from King George III.^[5]