In the fall of 1775, Mr. James Wharton arrives at Mistress Margaret Manny’s Philadelphia millinery shop with over 100 yards of red, white and blue bunting from which the good seamstress is to make a ship’s flag. In this case, the ship is the Alfred, one of the first war ships in a navy that has but a handful of ships – literally. (Sources vary in their count, placing the number of ships anywhere between 4-6.)
The Alfred, a 30-gun frigate manned by 300 sailors, anchors in Philadelphia’s Delaware River. On December 3, 1775, her new First Lieutenant, John Paul Jones, has the honor of raising, before a cheering crowd of sailors and civilians alike, the first flag to fly over any American war ship.
“I hoisted with my own hands the flag of freedom,” says Jones later (www.ushistory.org).
The flag Lt. Jones raises is new as well as familiar: With a bold design of 13 stripes in alternating colors of red and white, it also contains, in the upper, left-hand corner, the British Union Jack. The Union Jack, interestingly, is its own hybrid, a design made from superimposing England’s red St. George’s cross over Scotland’s white St. Andrew’s cross against a dark blue field. This first flag of the Revolution is called the Grand Union.
On New Year’s day, 1776, General George Washington, raises an identical flag over his headquarters on Prospect Hill in Somerville, Massachusetts. Boston is occupied by the British and General Washington has begun to lay siege to the city. The local population, despite their political points of view, do not know what to make of this flag. Is it a British flag? Clearly it bears the British Union Jack, but it flies from the enemy camp. Could it mean the rebel army has surrendered?
“By this time, I presume they think it strange we have not made a formal surrender of our lines,” quips General Washington three days later (www.ushistory.org).
Clearly, a more suitable flag is needed.
In the course of this new year, Thomas Paine writes a pamphlet entitled Common Sense, arguing passionately for independence. By spring, Washington wins his siege of Boston and the British army sails on to New York. In July, the Continental Congress publishes the Declaration of Independence and begins the business of crafting a new governmental infrastructure to replace the old. Battles are won and lost by both sides.
Early in November of that same year, a rather small event occurs: Francis Hopkinson is appointed to the governing board of the Continental Navy. Hopkinson is a lawyer, a member of the Continental Congress, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. But he [is] also possesses an artistic mind: He composes music. He writes songs and poetry, as well as political pamphlets and satires, including The Typographical Mode of Conducting a Quarrel and The Political Catechism (www.declarationofindependence.org). [Ships, however, need all kinds of flags in order to survive (signal flags, communication flags...flags of origin) and appointment to this committee puts an artistic mind, like Hopkinson, in the right place for a natural involvement with any flag design.] In 1780, Hopkinson will bill Congress for “a cask of public wine” as payment for his work over the years, including designing the flag and other official seals and devices.
The family stories of Philadelphia upholsterer, Betsy Ross, say that during the summer of 1776, the widow is visited by General Washington and two other members of the Continental Congress: Robert Morris, secretary of the Marine committee (www.americanrevolution.org); and her husband’s uncle, Col. Ross. The men discuss the design of a flag which Washington draws for her. The flag contains a blue field with 6-pointed stars, identical to the stars of both the Hopkinson and Washington family shields. Mistress Ross points out that a 5-point star would, in her opinion, be a more practical design as they are quickly made from a fold of fabric. She demonstrates this with a cutting.
It is not until June 14 of the following summer, that the Continental Congress finally passes the Flag Act, the first official description of the flag of the United States. It simply reads:
Resolved, that the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a
new Constellation.
The same meeting also grants John Paul Jones his first command.
“That flag and I are twins,” says Jones. “We were born at the same hour” (www.americanrevwar.homestead.com).
Also that summer, Betsy Ross puts in a bill. Hers goes to the Navy, for services sewing flags for ships.
In September, the only battle of the Revolutionary War to take place in Deleare occurs at Cooch’s Bridge, prelude to the Battle of Brandywine. The British army gets a taste of rebel tactics as compared to the European brand of warfare. It also is believed that this battle is the first of the Revolution to fight under the new flag.
When John Paul Jones, commanding the war sloop, The Ranger, is in France on February 13, 1778, he receives the first international recognition of the Stars and Stripes, the first recognition by a foreign power that this is the flag of the United States of America. In his campaign journal, Jones says he asked French Admiral de la Motte Picquet to return his signal:
“That brave officer agreed to do so. Neither he nor I knew that the allegiance between France and America had been signed seven days before at Versailles.”
John Paul Jones goes on, that April, to defeat the British war ship, The Drake. He is flying the Stars and Stripes. The interconnectedness of his fortune and that of his flag are, as he once noted, blessed with fortune. To use his own imagery, he and his flag truly are twins.
As for the rest of the war, Jones did not speak with callow arrogance when he declared, a bit later from the decks of another ship –
“We have not yet begun to fight!”
LINKS:
smithsonian: www.si.edu
www.americanrevolutionhomepage.org
www.americanrevolution.org
www.ushistory.org
www.nps.gov/archive
