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The Revolution brought on a spate of flags, the best known of which, the Grand Union Flag, was raised above Washington's troops at Cambridge on Jan. 1, 1776. It had 13 red and white stripes and the British Union Jack in its canton. At sea, American Commodore Esek Hopkins flew a jack of 13 stripes and a rattlesnake. After the signing of the Declaration of Independence, there was no longer need for a canton symbol of union with Great Britain, and with the congressional resolution of June 14, 1777, stars were substituted for the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew. The idea for the stars, Tower believes, may have come from East Friesland, whence many refugees, including William Penn, came to America.
Even after Congress, authorized a specific design, the flag of the United States continued to take many forms until after the War of 1812. Betsy Ross possibly fashioned a flag suggested by the congressional resolution, but later John Paul Jones flew a banner of red, white and blue stripes—possibly influenced by the French, who were paying the expenses of Jones's fleet. And, as if to punctuate history's confusion, a contemporary view of the battle between the Constitution and the Guerriére in 1812 shows everything flying—the Stars and Stripes, the Stars alone, and the old Puritan Stripes of Rebellion.