The resolution establishing the flag was not even published until September 2, 1777. Despite repeated requests, Washington did not get the flags until 1783, after the American Revolution was over. And there is no certainty that they were the Stars and Stripes.

Many historians consider the first flag of the U.S. to have been the Grand Union (sometimes called the Great Union) flag, althought the Continental Congress never officially adopted it. this flag was a modification of the british Meteor flag, which had the red cross of St. George and the white cross of St. Andrew combined in the blue canton. for the Grand Union flag, 6 horizontal stripes were imposed on the red field dividing it into 13 alternating red and white stripes. On January 1, 1776, when the Continental Army came into formal existence, this flag was unfurled on Prospect Hill, Somerville, MA. Washington wrote that "we hoisted the Union Flag in compliment tot he United Colonies."

One of Several flags about which controvesy has raged for years is at Easton, PA. Containing the devices of the national flag in reversed order, this flag has been in the public library at Easton for more than 150 years. some contend that this flag was actually the first Stars and Stripes, first displayed on July 8, 1776. This flag has 13 red and white stripes in the canton, 13 white stars centered in a blue field.

A flag was hastily improvised from garments by the defenders of Fort Schuyler at Rome, NY, August 3-22, 1777. Historians believe it was the Grand Union Flag.

The Sons of Liberty had a flag of 9 red and white stripes, to signify 9 colonies, when they met in New York in 1765 to oppose the Stamp Tax. By 1775, the flag had grown to 13 red and white stripes with a rattlesnake on it.

At Concord April 9, 1775, the minutemen from Bedford, MA, are said to have carried a flag having a silver arm with sword on red field. At Cambridge, MA, the Sons of Liberty used a plain red flag with a green pine tree on it.

In June 1775, Washington went from Philadelphia to Boston to take command of the army, escorted to New York by the Philadelphia Light Horse Troop. It carried a yellow flag that had an elaborate coat of arms- the shield charged with 13 knots, the motto "For These We Strive" - and a canton of 13 blue and silver stripes.

In February 1776, Col Christopher Gadsden , a member of the Continental Congress, gave the South Carolina Provincial Congress a flag "such as is to be used by the commander-in-chief of the American Navy." It had a yellow field, with a rattlesnake about to strike and the words "Don't Tread on Me."

At the Battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777, patriots used a flag of 7 white and 6 red stripes with a blue canton extendeding down 9 stripes and showing an arch of 11 white stars over the figue 76 and a star in each of the upper corners. The stars are 7-pointed. this flag is preserved in the Historical Museum at Bennington, VT.

At the Battle of Cowpens, January 17, 1781, the 3d Maryland Regiment is said to have carried a flag of 13 red and white stripes, with a blue canton containing 12 stars in a circle around one star.

Who Designed the Flag? No one knows for certain. Francis Hopkinson , designer of a naval flag, declard he also had designed the flag and in 1781 asked Congress to reimburse him for his services. Congress did not do so. Dumas Malone of columbia University wrote: "This talented man...designed the American flag."

Who called the Flag "Old Glory"? The flag is said to have been named Old Glory by Willaim Driver, a sea captain of Salem, MA. One ledgend has it that when he raised the flag on his brig, the Charles Doggett , in 1824, he said: "I name thee Old Glory." But his daughter, who presented the flag to the Smithsonian Institution, said he named it as his 21st birthday celebration on March 17, 1824, when his mother presented the homemade flag to him.

The Betsy Ross Legend . The widely publicized legend that Mrs. Betsy Ross made the first Stars and Stripes in June 1776, at the request of a committee composed of George Washington, Robert Morris, and george Ross, and uncle, was first made public in 1870, by a grandson of Mrs. Ross. Historians have been unable to find a historical record of such a meeting or committee.