Jump to content

Grand Union Flag: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→External links: Adding categories
Removing category
Line 92: Line 92:
[[Category:Naval ensigns]]
[[Category:Naval ensigns]]
[[Category:Obsolete national flags]]
[[Category:Obsolete national flags]]
[[Category:Red Ensigns]]

Revision as of 14:23, 21 June 2024

Not to be confused with the Union Jack, which is the flag of the United Kingdom, or the Flag of the East India Company.

Grand Union Flag
Flag of the United States of America
De facto flag of the United States until 1777
Other namesCambridge Flag, Continental Colours, First Navy Ensign
UseNational flag and ensign Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flag Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flag Flag can be hung vertically by hoisting on a normal pole, then turning the pole 90°
AdoptedDecember 3, 1775 (1775-12-03)
RelinquishedJune 14, 1777 (1777-06-14)
DesignThirteen horizontal stripes alternating red and white; in the canton, the Flag of Great Britain

The first national flag of the United States, often referred to as the Grand Union Flag, Cambridge Flag, Continental Colours, and First Navy Ensign, was the de facto flag of the United States until 1777, when the first national flag was adopted by Congress. First hoisted aboard the newly converted 24-gun frigate USS Alfred in 1775, the Great Union Flag has 13 alternating red and white stripes, representative of the Thirteen Colonies. The canton bears the Flag of Great Britain, to which the colonies belonged until 1776.

History

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][1]

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 December 3, 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.[2] 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.[3]

The Continental Ship Alfred by W. Nowland Van Powell, depicting Lieutenant John Paul Jones hoisting the first "Flag of America" at Philadelphia, December 3, 1775.

It was widely believed that the flag was raised by George Washington's army on January 2, 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.[4] 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.[5][6] However, some scholars dispute the traditional account and conclude that the flag raised at Prospect Hill was probably the flag of Great Britain,[7] though subsequent research supports the contrary.[8][9]

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.[7]

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.[10]

Design

The design for the flag was based in part on the Red Ensign used in British America.

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 Ensign.[7] The "Alfred" flag has been credited to Margaret Manny.[11]

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.[12]

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").

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.[13] 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.[4]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Letters of delegates to Congress, 1774–1789, vol. 2, University of Virginia Library, September–December 1775, archived from the original on January 12, 2011
  3. ^ "Short History of the United States Flag". American Battlefield Trust. November 6, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Calkhoven, Laurie (2007). George Washington. An American Life. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-4027-3546-2. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  5. ^ Preble 1880, p. 218.
  6. ^ "A Short History of the American Flag". What So Proudly We Hail. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c Ansoff 2006.
  8. ^ Orchard, Chris (December 30, 2013). "Research upholds traditional Prospect Hill flag story". Patch. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Cooper, Grace Rogers (1973). Thirteen-Star Flags: Keys to Identification (Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology. No. 21 ed.). Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 10–11.
  11. ^ Leepson 2006, p. 51.
  12. ^ Fawcett 1937.
  13. ^ Groom, Nick (2017). The Union Jack: the story of the British flag. London: Atlantic Books. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-84354-336-7.

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Grand Union flag.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grand_Union_Flag&oldid=1230232241"