The following is a timeline of the flag of the United States. * 1776 January 1 – The Continental Colours designed in 1775 is displayed at the camp of the commanding General George Washington of Virginia over the Continental Army forces in the American Revolutionary War at Prospect Hill, north of Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts during the Siege of Boston. It has 13 alternate red and white stripes representing the original Thirteen Colonies and the British Union Jack flag, in a square in the upper left-hand corner. * 1776 May – A popular legend promulgated by the descendants of Betsy Ross of Philadelphia during the 1870s holds that the seamstress sewed the first American flag. The claim is widely discredited by researchers and historians. * 1777 June 14 – Continental Congress adopts t