06/14/2022
Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the United States flag by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777.
Flag Resolution of 1777
On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution which stated: "Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."
Flag Day is now observed on June 14 of each year.
While scholars still argue about this, tradition holds that the new flag was first hoisted in June 1777 by the Continental Army at the Middlebrook encampment.
The first official U.S. flag flown during battle was on August 3, 1777, at Fort Schuyler (Fort Stanwix) during the Siege of Fort Stanwix.
Massachusetts reinforcements brought news of the adoption by Congress of the official flag to Fort Schuyler. Soldiers cut up their shirts to make the white stripes;
scarlet material to form the red was secured from red flannel petticoats of officers' wives,
while material for the blue union was secured from Capt. Abraham Swartwout's blue cloth coat.
A voucher is extant that Congress paid Capt. Swartwout of Dutchess County for his coat for the flag