Adoption of the Stars and Stripes Flag

Background. At the time of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, no flags bearing stars existed, and Congress did not adopt a starred flag for another year. Until June 14, 1777, the national flag was the Continental Union Flag, the Continental Navy ensign first flown by John Paul Jones aboard the Alfred on the Delaware River in December 1775 and raised by Washington for the Continental Army on New Year's Day 1776.

The Flag Resolution. The Flag Resolution stated: "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." Scholars believe the 1777 resolution was probably intended to define a naval ensign. George Henry Preble later wrote that no combined stars-and-stripes flag was in common use before June 1777 and that no one knows who designed the 1777 flag.

Aftermath and Early Use. Despite the resolution, early American independence saw many different hand-crafted flags; as late as 1779 Captain John Manley believed the United States had no national colors. Tradition holds the new flag was first hoisted by the Continental Army at the Middlebrook encampment in June 1777, and it was first flown in battle on August 3, 1777, at Fort Schuyler during the Siege of Fort Stanwix.