What was the first national flag used by the United States during the Revolutionary War?

The Grand Union Flag was the first national flag used by the United States during the Revolutionary War.

Also called the Continental Colors, the Grand Union Flag combined 13 alternating red-and-white stripes with the British Union Jack in the canton. It represented the united Thirteen Colonies while they were still fighting Britain and before independence was formally declared.

The flag was used by the Continental Army and was raised over Washington’s headquarters near Boston on January 1, 1776. It resembles the later United States flag in its stripes, but its canton displayed the British symbols of the Union Jack rather than a field of stars.

The Continental Congress adopted a different design on June 14, 1777: 13 stripes with 13 white stars on a blue field. That later design became the basis of the Stars and Stripes. The Grand Union Flag is therefore not the same as the Betsy Ross flag or the Star-Spangled Banner.