It's "Entirely Continental" --General Washington

On January 1, 1776, General George Washington issued a decree that his army, though comprised mainly of New Englanders, should be, in his words, "'a new army, which in every point of view is entirely continental.'" (p.69) The name stuck. To punctuate that order, our first Commander-in-Chief raised a flag never before seen. David McCullough writes eloquently of this account.

"With the crash of a 13-gun salute, he raised a new flag in honor of the birthday of the new army -- a flag of thirteen red and white stripes, with the British colors (the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew) represented in the upper corner. When the British in Boston saw it flying from Prospect Hill, they at first mistook it for a flag of surrender." (p.69)

"1776" by David McCullough, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2005, chapter 2, "Rabble in Arms", pp. 20 - 69.