SIGNIFICANT 1876 CENTENNIAL GRAND UNION FLAG, A COMMEMORATIVE PIECE OF AMERICA’S FIRST FLAG

Continental Union printed cotton flag. Printed in red and dark blue. N.p., circa 1876. 25 5/8 x 17 3/16 in. 

Provenance: The Boleslaw and Marie-Louise d'Otrange Mastai Collection of American Flags; Michael Nigro Collection

Publications: Boleslaw Mastai & Marie-Louise D'Otrange Mastai. The Stars and the Stripes: The American Flag as art and as History from the Birth of the Republic to the Present. 1973, page 18. 

A historically significant circa 1876 Centennial commemorative flag after the American Grand Union Flag, also known as the “Continental Colors.” Long regarded as the first, albeit unofficial, national flag of the United States, the Grand Union Flag joined a canton derived from the British Union flag with thirteen alternating red and white stripes emblematic of the original colonies. It served principally as a naval ensign until 1777, when the Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution and adopted the Stars and Stripes: thirteen stripes and thirteen stars set within the canton.

The flag was first made and flown in December 1775 aboard the warship USS Alfred in the Delaware River near Philadelphia, raised by none other than John Paul Jones (1747-1792), the "Father of the American Navy." On December 31st, British General William Howe observed a group of men led by George Washington raise a massive mast at the apex of Prospect Hill. The morning light of New Year's Day in 1776 revealed the Grand Union Flag waving atop the pole reported to be 76 feet high. 

The design was known by many names, among them the Grand Union Flag, the Continental Union Flag, the Continental Colors, and the Cambridge Flag, referencing Washington's morale-boosting display in 1776.

There are no period examples known to have survived. The flag offered here represents one of only a handful of known Centennial examples. A similar reproduction was flown over Independence Hall in Philadelphia during the Fourth of July festivities in 1876.

We know of its design from two graphic representations from the Revolutionary War period. In the winter of 1776, a crew member aboard the schooner Royal Savage in Lake Champlain painted the flag depicting the union of crosses resting upon the third red stripe. It is also depicted on the printed seven and a half dollar North Carolina note issued on 2 April 1776 (NC-164). This rendering places the Union canton on the fourth white stripe. The original configuration is unknown; however, the example here follows the design seen in the currency note. 

A perfect commemoration of the United States offered in celebration of its 250th anniversary.

References

Kevin Keim & Peter Keim. A Grand Old Flag. New York: DK, 2007. 

Boleslaw Mastai & Marie-Louise D'Otrange Mastai. The Stars and the Stripes: The American Flag as art and as History from the Birth of the Republic to the Present. 1973, page 18.