“What a great book! Meticulously researched, vividly written, and superbly illustrated, The First American Flag tells the story—so much that we can know—of the flag George Washington raised on a Somerville flag pole on the first day of 1776. Byron DeLear introduces the many people involved in creating that flag: John Paul Jones and Margaret Manny, Robert Morris and Benjamin Franklin, and above all Washington. Drawing on evidence that includes letters and diaries as well as North Carolina paper currency and New England scrimshaw, DeLear leads us through myth and legend to history. The First American Flag is essential reading.”
Robert J. Allison
Professor of History, Suffolk University