New Research May Contribute to Prospect Hill Flag Debate

This year's annual New Year's Day flag raising ceremony on Prospect Hill will include a talk by Byron DeLear, a flag aficionado, that could add to a debate about the history of the American Flag and its role in Somerville history.

DeLear, a member of the North American Vexillological Association—vexillology is the study of flags—will present new historical research about the raising of the Grand Union flag on Jan. 1, 1776, according to an announcement from the city of Somerville.

According to the traditional view of history, on that day George Washington, overseeing the Siege of Boston, flew a new flag on Prospect Hill that included 13 white and red stripes combined with an earlier version of the British Union Jack. This flag, called the Grand Union Flag, is seen as the first flag of the united colonies, the direct precursor to the modern American flag, and a symbol America's decision to become independent of the British Empire.

Go to Union Square and you'll see a giant mural dedicated to this version of the flag. It features the image of George Washington and it says, "Welcome to Somerville, home of the first American flag, raised on Prospect Hill Jan. 1, 1776."

However, a paper, "The Flag on Prospect Hill" by Peter Ansoff, published in 2006 by the North American Vexillological Association, outlines a persuasive argument that the flag flown by Washington on Jan. 1, 1776, was actually the British Union Flag—basically what we think of as the Union Jack. That flag, representing the union of England, Wales and Scotland, also represented, to the colonists, the union of the 13 colonies, he argues. Ansoff notes that eyewitness accounts from the time indicated the flag flown on Prospect Hill was the British one.

It's an argument many have accepted, including Nathaniel Philbrick in his book, "Bunker Hill." 

Boston.com has a pretty good article, "Unfurling history on Prospect Hill," about the argument.

However, on New Year's Day, DeLear will present "documentary evidence [that] the name of our nation—'United States of America'—was written in George Washington's headquarters in Cambridge following the Prospect Hill ceremony," the city's announcement says.

DeLear, writing briefly on examiner.com, said he made several historical discoveries in 2012 and 2013 that encouraged him to revisit Ansoff's research.

According to his Facebook page, he's also about to publish a novel called "Grand Union" that seems to have something to do with special ops.

It should be an interesting talk for local history buffs.

The annual Prospect Hill flag raising ceremony will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 1. A George Washington re-enactor will ride up Prospect Hill on horseback, and there will be songs, readings and people dressed as militiamen, colonial residents and British army soldiers from 1776.