During the summer following the battle of Bunker Hill, the colonies had a congress without authority, a commander-in-chief without money, and an army without discipline, equipments, or flag—or rather, with so many flags that they must have had little significance except to the respective groups of men who had marched under each. Before Christmas a flag was designed and made, but how, where, and by whom is not known. Neither Washington nor Franklin gives any information, and the Journal of Congress says nothing about its designer or maker. It is true that a committee of three,—all signers of the Declaration of Independence a few months later,—Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, whose son Benjamin was afterwards to become President of the United States, and Thomas Lynch, of South Carolina, were sent by Congress to Cambridge, to discuss with Washington and others many necessary questions, but there is no proof that the design of a flag was among them. The flag, however, was made. This was what is known as the "Grand Union Flag." The British flag, red with a blue union, marked by the upright cross of St. George and the diagonal cross of St. Andrew, was known as the "Union Flag," because it typified, as has been said before, the union of England and Scotland. The new flag retained the blue union with its two crosses, but instead of a red field it had red and white stripes. These thirteen stripes represented the thirteen colonies; the blue union suggested that the colonies still clung to the mother country.

Where the idea of using stripes came from is a question that has never been solved. The Philadelphia Troop had thirteen stripes on their banner, but they were blue and white. Washington's coat of arms contained red and white stripes; but Washington was too modest a man to suggest using his own family arms, and as to any one's suggesting it for him, it must be remembered that he was not yet the revered "Father of his Country," but simply a Virginia planter of forty-three years who had been successful in fighting the Indians, and who, because of his good judgment and uprightness of character, had been made a member of the Virginia Legislature and then of the Continental Congress. The flag of the Netherlands—but chosen thirty years after the Pilgrims left that country for America—was red, white, and blue, in three horizontal stripes. The ensign of the English East India Company was a flag of thirteen horizontal red and white stripes with a white canton containing a red St. George's Cross; but there is no reason to suppose that this inspired the flag of the colonies. Bunting was scarce and Franklin was always a thrifty soul. If that committee of three did design the flag, it is not at all unlikely that Franklin suggested utilizing the standards they already had, and changing their character by stitching on white stripes. To deface the flag of Britain was a serious offense, and maybe it was thought just as well that the name of the originator of this "Grand Union" should not be on record. The flag was first raised on the 1st of January, 1776, in what is now Somerville, on Prospect Hill, and was saluted with thirteen guns and thirteen rousing cheers. It was seen by the British troops in Boston, and for some reason they took it as a sign of submission brought about by the King's hostile proclamation, which they supposed had been read in Cambridge. Washington wrote:—

The colonists had adopted a flag, but all sorts of colors continued to be borne on both sea and land. On the sea the favorite seems to have been a white flag displaying a green pine tree. One year after the battle of Lexington, Massachusetts formally decreed that this flag should be used on her vessels, and that their officers should wear a green and white uniform. Even two years later than this, the Pine-Tree Flag was borne by floating batteries on the Delaware River. Sometimes the British ran up an American flag to deceive the colonial vessels, and sometimes the colonists ran up a flag made of horizontal red and white stripes to persuade the British that it was one of their own signal flags. Sometimes rattlesnake flags were used.

Congress ordered the building of war vessels as promptly as possible, five cruisers first of all. The Alfred, on which John Paul Jones was lieutenant, became the flagship of Commander-in-Chief Esek Hopkins. This vessel was of English build and had been employed in commerce for nine or ten years, making two voyages to the Indian Ocean during that time. She had space for two hundred and twenty men, and had sixteen guns, carried for the benefit of pirates. She had been put in full repair and had now become a frigate of twenty-eight guns. Such was the first vessel of the Continental Navy. An old account of the embarkation of Commodore Hopkins at Philadelphia says:—

When he stepped on board the deck of the Alfred, Captain Saltonstall gave a signal, and Lieutenant Jones hoisted a new flag prepared for the occasion. It is believed to have displayed a union with thirteen stripes crossed by a rattlesnake in some position, with the ominous motto, "Don't tread on me." When the flag reached the mast-head, the crowds cheered and the guns fired a salute,—as well they might, for this was the first ensign ever flung to the breeze on an American man-of-war. Paul Jones appreciated the honor of raising it, but he was no admirer of the rattlesnake flag. In his journal he wrote:—

Three weeks after the Alfred was put in commission, the little fleet sailed away from Philadelphia amid the cheers of thousands of people. One of the eye-witnesses said that the ships wore the Union Flag with thirteen stripes in the field. Of the admiral's flag an English writer said, "We learn that the vessels bearing this flag have a sort of commission from a society of people at Philadelphia, calling themselves the continental congress." Scornfully as he spoke of Congress, there is at least one record of which it may be proud. Franklin, under its authority, issued letters of marque with a lavish hand, but, hard-pressed as the colonists were, he bade John Paul Jones "not to burn defenseless towns on the British coast except in case of military necessity; and in such cases he was to give notice, so that the women and children with the sick and aged inhabitants might be removed betimes." Moreover, he bade all American cruisers if they chanced to meet Captain Cook, the great English explorer of that day, to "forget the temporary quarrel in which they were fighting and not merely suffer him to pass unmolested, but offer him every aid and service in their power."