Flag Day is officially celebrated on June 14

Heritage Days 2026 celebrates the 250th birthday of America, Wednesday, June 10 through Sunday, June 14, Flag Day. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed an act establishing an official flag for the new nation. The resolution stated: “Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

On August 3, 1949, President Harry S Truman officially declared June 14 as Flag Day. It was first proposed by in 1861 to rally support for the Union side of the American Civil War. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation that designated June 14 as Flag Day. It was officially established by an Act of Congress under President Truman.

Historians believe the first flag was designed by then New Jersey Congressman Francis Hopkinson. It has evolved from that first flag 27 times to its current 50-star design. The design changes have been in response to the growth of the country adding additional states to the number of stars on the flag. Between 1777 and 1960 Congress passed several acts that changed the shape, design and arrangement of the flag, and allowed stars and stripes to be added.

The flag of today has 13 horizontal stripes, seven red alternating with six white, representing the original 13 colonies. The stars represent the 50 states of the Union. The red colors of the flag symbolize hardiness and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice.

In 1885, the flag inspired Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union army officer in the Civil War, to write the first version of the Pledge of Allegiance. In 1892 James B. Upham and Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, revised Balch’s version of the Pledge of Allegiance for the 400th Anniversary of Columbus Day. It was first published in a magazine called The Youth’s Companion in September 1892.

The Pledge is a 31-word patriotic vow affirming loyalty to the U.S. flag and republic, commonly recited with a hand over the heart. In 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a “Flag Code” law, passed by Congress that established rules for the display and care of the flag, and included the Pledge of Allegiance. Over the years its wording has underwent various changes including the addition of “under God” in 1954.

The flag has survived battles and inspired songs. After a 25-hour British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, amateur poet Francis Scott Key was so inspired by the sight of the surviving American flag still flying, he wrote “Defence of Fort M’Henry” on September 14, 1814, which later became “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

“The Star-Spangled Banner” officially became the national anthem of the United States on March 3, 1931 when Congress passed a joint resolution signed by President Herbert Hoover. The Fort McHenry flag still exists in a special low-oxygen, light-filtered chamber in the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of American History.

William Driver, a sea captain from Massachusetts, gave the flag the name “Old Glory.” His flag survived the enemies multiple attempts at defacement during the Civil War, and today is also preserved in the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of American History.