me from Europe to settle in this country, which
is now the United States, they brought with them the flags of their home
countries, and planted them on the new territory in symbol of taking
possession of it in the name of their liege kings and lands. Gradually
the colonies came to belong to England, and the Union Jack became the
flag of all, with the thirteen colonies represented by thirteen stripes
and the Union Jack in the corner. This flag was known as the Grand Union
or Cambridge Flag, and was displayed when Washington first took command
of the army at Cambridge. It was raised on December 3, 1775, on the
_Alfred_, flagship of the new little American Navy, by the senior
Lieutenant of the ship, John Paul Jones, who later defended it gallantly
in many battles at sea.

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed in
Philadelphia and the United Colonies dissolved all ties that bound them
to England and became an independent nation--the United States. It was
immediately necessary to adopt a new flag, as the new nation would not
use the Union Jack. Tradition says that in the latter part of May, 1776,
George Washington, Robert Morris and Colonel Ross called on Betsy Ross
in Philadelphia to make the first flag, which they designed. They kept
the thirteen stripes of the Colonial flag, but replaced the Union Jack
by a blue field bearing thirteen stars, arranged in a circle.

The birthday of the flag was June 14, 1777, when Congress passed this
resolution: Resolved: That the flag of the thirteen United States be
thirteen stripes; alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen
stars, white on a blue field, representing a constellation.

The first American unfurling the Stars and Stripes over a warship was
John Paul Jones when he took command of the _Ranger_ in June, 1777.
Tradition says that this flag was made for John Paul Jones by the young
ladies of Portsmouth Harbor, and that it was made for him from their own
and their mothers' gowns. It was this flag, in February, 1778, that had
the honor of receiving from France the first official salute accorded by
a foreign nation to the Stars and Stripes.

It was first carried into battle at the Battle of Brandywine in
September, 1777, when Lafayette fought with the Colonists and was
wounded. This was the famous flag made out of a soldier's white shirt, a
woman's red petticoat, and an officer's blue cloak. A famous flag now in
the National Museum in Washington is