September 3, 1777: The Stars and Stripes flies
229 years ago today, the United States flag is flown in battle for the first time, during a Revolutionary War skirmish at Cooch's Bridge, Maryland. This fight was the only battle of the American Revolution on Delaware soil.
Patriot General William Maxwell ordered the stars and stripes banner raised as his mixed force of light infantry and cavalry numbering around 700 attempted to ambush an advance guard of British and Hessian (German mercenary) troops.
Site of the scrap at Cooch's Bridge on the road between Baltimore and Philadelphia -- now US Hwy 202 in Delaware
The American force was repulsed by the well-trained British force led by British generals Howe, Cornwallis and the Hessian commander Knyphausen and forced to retreat and rejoin General George Washington's main force near Brandywine Creek in Pennsylvania.
With American resistance at Cooch’s Bridge cleared, the entire British army then in the region assembled on the Baltimore Pike enroute to Philadelphia.
Three months earlier, on June 14, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution stating that "the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white" and that "the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation."
The national flag, which became known as the "Stars and Stripes," was based on the "Grand Union" flag, a banner carried by the Continental Army in 1776 that also consisted of 13 red and white stripes.
Grand Union flag
According to legend, Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross designed the new canton for the Stars and Stripes, which consisted of a circle of 13 stars and a blue background, at the request of General George Washington. Historians have been unable to conclusively prove or disprove this legend.
"Betsy Ross" flag
Thirteen star flag then also in use. Given we know Washington's command flag was a blue flag with thirteen stars arranged in rows, its at least as likely this was the flag flown on this day in 1777 by General William Maxwell's force
Washington's personal headquarters flag. Flown wherever George was in order to make communications easier because couriers knew when they saw this flag, the general was nearby.
It's worth noting the particular arrangement of the stars was not then specified. Thus, a flag with the stars in a circle was perfectly acceptable as was any other arrangement.
With the entrance of Vermont and Kentucky into the United States after the nation won her independence, new stripes and stars were added to represent these new additions to the Union. Thus, during the War of 1812, when Francis Scott Key (attorney-at-law) observed a ginormous "Star Spangled Banner" gallantly waving over Baltimore's Fort McHenry after the very rough night of September 13, 1814, that US flag had fiften stars and fifteen stripes emblematic of the number of states then in the union.
"Star Spangled Banner" flag of the War of 1812.
In 1818, realizing the addition of a stripe for each new state would eventually lead to a pretty funky looking flag, Congress enacted a law stipulating that the 13 original stripes be restored in honor of the thirteen original colonies and that only stars be added to represent new states.
On June 14, 1877, the first Flag Day observance was held on the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes. As instructed by Congress, the U.S. flag was flown from all public buildings across the country.
In the years after the first Flag Day, several states continued to observe the anniversary, and in 1949 Congress officially designated June 14 as Flag Day, a national day of observance.
