internet: Flag on Prospect Hill debate

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

According to tradition, the first flag of the United States, the Continental Union Flag (also known as "Continental Colours"), was raised by General George Washington at Prospect Hill in Somerville, Massachusetts, on 1 January 1776, in an attempt to raise the morale of the men of the Continental Army. There was a 76-foot liberty pole situated on Prospect Hill on 22 August 1775 that "was visible from most parts of the American lines, as well as from Boston". The standard account has been questioned by modern researchers most notably Peter Ansoff, who in 2006 published a paper entitled "The Flag on Prospect Hill" where he advances the argument that Washington flew the Union Jack ("British Uni…

Evidence: 20 • authority: 72

The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, were the first major military actions between the British Army and Patriot militias from British America's Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolutionary War. The opposing forces fought day-long running battles in Middlesex County in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge. After the Boston Tea Party (1773), the British Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts (early 1774), including the restrictive Massachusetts Government Act. Patriot (Colonial) leaders in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, adopted the Suffolk Resolves in resistance to the acts. Th…

Evidence: 20 • authority: 72

The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal stripes, alternating red and white starting with red, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows, where rows of six stars alternate with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag form a constellation, representing the 50 U.S. states united, while the 13 stripes represent the thirteen British colonies that won independence in the American Revolutionary War. The flag was created as an item of military equipment to identify U.S. ships and forts. It evolved gradually during e…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The following is a timeline of the flag of the United States. 1776 January 1 – The Continental Colours, first flown at the commissioning of Continental Admiral Esek Hopkins' flagship on December 3, 1775, is displayed at George Washington's Prospect Hill camp, north of Cambridge and Boston, during the Siege of Boston. The flag has 13 horizontal stripes, alternating red and white in the field, representing the United Colonies of America, and a British Union flag in the canton. 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 histo…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Somerville ( SUM-ər-vil) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area of 4.12 square miles (10.7 km2), the city has a density of 19,671/sq mi (7,595/km2), making it the most densely populated municipality in New England and the 19th most densely populated incorporated municipality in the country. Somerville was established as a town in 1842, when it was separated from Charlestown. In 1972, 2009, and 2015, the city received the All-America City Award. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus along…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Prospect Hill Monument, also occasionally called the Prospect Hill Tower is a stone structure in Somerville, Massachusetts. It is a block away from the heart of Union Square, a neighborhood in Somerville. Its name is formally the Prospect Hill Memorial Flag Tower and Observatory. The tower is four stories tall and built out of iron and stone. The lower deck, outside of the first floor is open to the public and offers a panoramic view of Boston, Somerville, and Cambridge. The city of Somerville has offered tours of the tower. There is a tradition of annual flag-raising ceremonies involving American Revolutionary War reenactors that are held at Prospect Hill on New Year's Day.

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Union Square is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of Somerville, Massachusetts, United States. It is centered on Union Square proper, which is located at the intersection of Washington Street, Webster Avenue, and Somerville Avenue. The name "Union Square" comes from the square having been used as a recruitment and mustering site for the Union Army in the Civil War. A plaque commemorating the mustering site sits at the southwestern corner of the square between Somerville Avenue and Washington Street, and the Prospect Hill Monument is located several blocks away atop Prospect Hill. Union Square is now the commercial center of a primarily residential neighborhood with many restaurants, b…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Continental Union Flag (often referred to as the first American flag, Cambridge Flag, and Grand Union Flag) was the flag of the United Colonies from 1775 to 1776, and the de facto flag of the United States until 1777, when the 13-star flag was adopted by the Continental Congress. It was a variant of the British Red Ensign. The Continental Union Flag was so called because it combined the British Union Flag (denoting the kingdoms of England and Scotland) with thirteen stripes (representing the United Colonies). The canton consists of the Union flag, while the field is thirteen horizontal stripes, alternating red and white. The flag made its first appearance on December 3, 1775, when it wa…