East India Company, thirteen stripes, red and
white, with a white union and St. George Cross, already mentioned. But
no matter as to the number of stripes, it is thus conclusively shown
that thirteen red and white stripes were in use seventy years before
they were adopted by the American Colonies. In October, 1775, while the
English troops were besieged in Boston by the troops under Washington,
it became apparent that we should have some sort of a flag to represent
the Colonies in the aggregate, and show thereby that they were acting in
concert; so a committee was appointed, of which Benjamin Franklin was
the chairman. It was determined that the flag should be called the Grand
Union Flag, and that it should have thirteen red and white stripes
alternating to represent the thirteen Colonies, and the crosses of St.
George and St. Andrew in the union to attest their loyalty to the
Crown (see Fig. 7), as at that period national sovereignty was not
contemplated. The quarrel as claimed was simply over the right to be
represented in the taxing body of the British nation. Preble in his
history of the flag says, on page 225, as to the stripes being used at
the instance of Washington:

"Without further seeking for the origin for the stripes upon our flag,
it is possible that the stripes on his own escutcheon suggested them.
They were also on the flag of the Philadelphia Light-horse that escorted
him on the road to Cambridge from Philadelphia as far as New York in
1775" (see Fig. 8). This latter flag is in Philadelphia, and is the
property of the Philadelphia First City Troop. The Philadelphia Sunday
Dispatch in 1871 gave a very interesting history of it. Messrs. Lynch
and Harrison were Franklin's colleagues on the committee. In November,
1775, they met at Cambridge in Washington's headquarters, and, after
carefully considering all the facts, adopted the Grand Union Flag above
described. "The Union Jack" was called "the king's colors" because of
the crosses to which allusion has been made. The first flag that was
made, there being no record of the name of the maker, was hoisted over
Washington's headquarters at Cambridge on the second day of January,
1776. In a letter to Mr. Reed, dated the 4th day of January, Washington
wrote that "the saluting of this flag by cannon and musketry fire gave
rise to a ridiculous idea on the part of the British in Boston, who,
that day having received copies of the king's speech to Parliament,
suppo