13 Colonies Vintage Flag T-Shirt

The Forster Flag — believed to be the oldest surviving American flag bearing thirteen stripes — was carried by the Manchester, Massachusetts militia on April 19, 1775, as they marched toward the alarm at Lexington and Concord. They reached Medford before learning the British were already in retreat. The flag itself was a Red Ensign that the militia had modified before the alarm, cutting away the British canton and stitching in 13 white stripes — six on one side, seven on the other — to mark the unity of the thirteen colonies. It was one of an estimated 2,000 flags flown during the Revolution. About 35 survive.

The flag the colonies eventually adopted is the one most Americans picture today: thirteen alternating red and white stripes, a blue canton with thirteen stars in a circle, attributed by tradition to Philadelphia upholsterer Elizabeth "Betsy" Ross. The Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777 specified thirteen stars in "a new constellation" but didn't prescribe the arrangement, and surviving period flags show stars in rows, in arcs, in scattered configurations alongside the circular pattern. The Ross attribution comes from her grandson William Canby's 1870 account; the historical record is thinner than the legend. What's certain is that the early American flag was not the work of one hand but of many — seamstresses and upholsterers, working from cloth scraps, by candlelight, in a country still arguing over what it was.

This piece honors the surviving-artifact tradition. Aged 13-star flag in period-darkened palette — oxblood red, wheat-buff stripes, deep indigo canton, hand-pulled chromolithograph rendering in the 1876 Centennial Exhibition broadside style. The 1776 — 2026 commemorative date pair anchors the piece to the 250th. Companion to the rest of the America 250 collection: the heraldic eagle in 250 Years Of Freedom, the stacked numerals of USA 250, the Statesman portrait of America 250 Washington.

Our t-shirts are 100% combed and ring-spun cotton — substantial in the hand, classic fit, side-seamed with shoulder taping for shape retention. Built to last, made to wear in for years.