SIGNS OF REVOLUTION

ENDICOTT FLAG

The Endicott flag, fashioned by John Endicott of Salem, Massachusetts, was carried proudly through New England on the eve of the Revolution.

GADSDEN FLAG

The Gadsden flag, one of many rattlesnake flags, demonstrated the settlers' extreme resentment of British rule.

GREEN TREE  FLAG

The Green Tree flag, a favorite emblem in Massachusetts for many decades, was created   when an indignant patriot cut the Red Cross of St. George from the British flag and replaced it with a local symbol.

LIBERTY TREE  FLAG

The Liberty Tree flag was the identifying emblem of the "Sons of Liberty", who held meetings under a statuesque elm tree in Boston and who planned the Boston Tea Party of 1773.

TAUNTON  FLAG

The citizens of Taunton, Massachusetts, defiantly added the words LIBERTY and UNION to the English Meteor flag.

BUNKER HILL  FLAG

It was beneath the waving Bunker Hill flag that Col. William Prescott, in the first mayor engagement of the Revolution, stated the immortal phrase: "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!"

GRAND UNION  FLAG

In 1775, the Continental Congress officially adopted as its standard the Grand Union flag. It was the first American flag in which stripes were featured, and it was first raised at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on January 1, 1776, as General George Washington took command of the Continental Army.

It was to remain the Congress' official emblem for less than two years, and yet its fame is undiminished because from its design was derived "Old Glory".

OLD GLORY  FLAG

It was on June 14, 1777, that the Continental Congress adopted a design for the first national flag. At the time, it was resolved that "The flag of the United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, with a union of thirteen stars of white on a blue field, representing a new constellation."

"Old Glory" remained unchanged from 1777 until January 13, 1794. Congress then voted to add two stripes and two stars, in recognition of the admission of Vermont and Kentucky.

By 1818, there were a total of twenty states, so Congress voted in April of that year to standardize the flag. It was to have thirteen alternate red and white stripes, symbolizing the original thirteen states. A star was to be added to the blue field for each new state, on July 4 following admission.

This rule has remained in effect, bringing the flag up to its present 50-star status.