The Fort Mercer Flag is a rare and historically significant early American flag, recreated from a period sketch made in October 1777. This flag was suggested to us by Devereaux Cannon, with research drawn primarily from Standards and Colors of the American Revolution by Edward W. Richardson. No original Fort Mercer flag survives, and no detailed contemporary illustration exists beyond this single sketch, making any reproduction necessarily interpretive.

Historical Sources & Interpretation:
The same October 1777 sketch depicts flags flown at both Fort Mercer and Fort Mifflin. Richardson’s interpretation shows the Fort Mercer flag with proportions close to 3′ x 5′, featuring an oblong red canton resting on the sixth stripe. Another later interpretation renders the canton more square, extending to the seventh stripe.

After close examination of the original sketch (using magnification), the more likely configuration appears to be a square red canton, nearly half the flag’s width, resting on the seventh stripe. The stars in the sketch are rendered only as dots—no clear number, shape, or pattern can be definitively identified. They may have been arranged in rows or a circle, and could have featured stars with five or more points.

Both Richardson and the alternate interpreter employ a 3-2-3-2-3 star pattern. Richardson uses five-pointed stars, while the alternate version uses eight-pointed stars. Given Fort Mercer’s proximity to Philadelphia, it is plausible that the flag was produced by local makers—possibly even Betsy Ross’s workshop—making the use of five-pointed stars a reasonable choice.

Design Summary (This Replica):

• Approximate size: 3′ x 5′

• 13 stripes: 7 blue and 6 white (colors reversed from the Congressional specification)

• Square red canton resting on the seventh (blue) stripe

• 13 five-pointed stars arranged in a 3-2-3-2-3 pattern

Although its colors differ from the June 14, 1777 Flag Resolution, the Fort Mercer flag—sketched just four months later—may represent the earliest known depiction of the Stars & Stripes pattern. The reversed colors likely reflect the uncertainty and experimentation common during the earliest days of American flagmaking.

As far as is known, the Fort Mercer flag was a one-of-a-kind banner, making it a fascinating snapshot of America’s first attempts to define a national symbol.

Classroom Experiment 

Dear Al,
I was looking through your website today and was interested to see a comment regarding the Fort Mercer flag by Devereaux Cannon.  He made the statement that maybe ‘the colors were reversed because someone got confused’.  Being close to Philadelphia, the maker of the flag should have had correct information close at hand, but the flag resolution, being somewhat ambiguous, could have led to the maker of the flag to getting the wrong information. …. I recently gave a presentation to two local 5th grade classes on the evolution of the stars and stripes. For some time now, I’ve pondered the multitude of versions of the early stars and stripes and I think Mr. Cannon is correct, people just got the wrong information.  As part of my program, I gave one class specific instructions on drawing a flag with 3 white and two red stripes with three red stars in the top white stripe (the flag of Washington, DC).  To the other class, I whispered the instructions for a flag of 3 white stripes, 2 red stripes and 3 red stars to one student, who then passed the information down the line to five other students, the last student giving the entire class the instructions.  You can imagine the many versions that came out of that . . . vertical stripes, two thin red stripes at the bottom, diagonal stripes, stars sprinkled throughout the flag, etc.  I likened the exercise to the folks of 1777 getting their information from a publication, i.e. newspaper or copy of the flag resolution (class 1) to those folks more distant who got their information from a traveler, then a neighbor, then another neighbor, etc. (class 2). At any rate, the kids a had a lot of fun with it. 

M.S., Avondale, PA