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]

schooner Royal Savage, which was part of Benedict Arnold's Lake Champlain flotilla. The evidence is a watercolor found in the papers of General Philip The fact is that no one knows for sure who created the Grand Union Flag or who authorized its use. It is often considered to be the First American Flag because of its From 1910 onwards, the U.S. Customs Service has continued to use the plain version of the ensign, while the Revenue Cutter Service (which became the Coast Guard) used the defaced version (version with the badge). Ansoff, Peter (2006). "The Flag on Prospect Hill". Raven: A Journal of Vexillology. 13: 77–100. doi: 10.5840/raven2006134. ISSN 1071-0043. LCCN 94642220.

First foreign salute to the Grand Union Flag

years. Ben Franklin gave a similar description for the US flag with red, white and blue stripes the following year in the John Paul Jones incident with the HMS Serapis. This flag became known as the Serapis Flag.

A modification of the national flag and ensign but with a fouled anchor in a circle of thirteen stars in the canton, was created by Act of Congress in August 1848 as a flag to be used by licensed U.S. yachts. [11] [12] The design was recommended by the New York Yacht Club in 1849. [13] Yachts eligible for the license were initially 20 net tons and over (later reduced to 15 net tons) and otherwise eligible to be enrolled as a U.S. vessel; the license allowed the yacht to proceed from port to port without the formality of clearing customs. The 1848 act used the word 'signal' to describe the flag that a licensed yacht would use to identify herself, and use of this flag was required by all licensed yachts ("All such licensed yachts shall use a signal of the form, size, and colors prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy."). The Secretary of the Navy approved a modification of "the American Ensign" as the signal, and Treasury Decision No. 2727 (March 24, 1876) issued by the Treasury Department confirmed that the flag was to be used as an ensign ("Licensed yachts are required by law to use the American ensign prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy."), and its use as an ensign was reiterated in Treasury Decision 9426 of June 11, 1889 (referring to the "yacht ensign"). While formally licensed yachts were legally required to fly this modification of the national ensign, unlicensed U.S. yachts also started flying this flag as their ensign, too, and eventually the U.S. Navy confirmed that it recognized this practice for all U.S. yachts. In 1939, the Secretary of the Navy approved the ruling of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy "...that a ship of the Navy should return a dip made by a yacht flying the yacht ensign and that the yacht ensign may properly be made the object of a hand salute to be rendered on boarding or leaving a yacht." Federal Yachts Ensign Act of 1848 ~ P.L. 30-141" (PDF). 9 Stat. 274 ~ House Bill 178. Legis★Works. August 7, 1848. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 11, 2015 . Retrieved July 5, 2017. Rankin, Hugh F. “The Naval Flag of the American Revolution.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 11, no. 3, 1954, pp. 340–53. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1943310. Accessed 20 Feb. 2023.

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 British 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] River. The Alfred's First Lieutenant, John Paul Jones, raised the Grand Union Flag aboard the Alfred, as well as the Gadsden Flag, which was the standard of the Navy's first Commodore, Esek Hopkins. As the first commonly flown flag by the Continental Army and Navy, the Grand Union Flag was the flag of the united colonies on July 4, 1776 when they declared their Letters of delegates to Congress, 1774–1789, vol.2, University of Virginia Library, September–December 1775, archived from the original on 2011-01-12

DeLear, Byron (2014). "Revisiting the Flag at Prospect Hill: Grand Union or Just British?" (PDF). Raven: A Journal of Vexillology. 21: 54. doi: 10.5840/raven2014213.The body of the flag consisted of thirteen red and white alternating stripes. These stripes represented the thirteen original colonies. This flag was flown as the unofficial American flag until June 14, 1777, when the Continental Congress authorized the Stars and Stripes.