Early in Revolutionary times, each colony had its own flag, and they were very varied in design, and some had strange designs. The colony of Massachusetts had a pine-tree on its flag. South Carolina had a rattlesnake on a yellow flag, and underneath the snake the motto: "Don't tread on me." New York had a white flag with a beaver on it; and Rhode Island a white flag with a blue anchor.
Many variations of the "stars and stripes" are found in the flags used during the first years of the Revolution. Some have red and white stripes, with the field (where the stars are in the flag we all know) like the field of the British flag—red, white, and blue lines crossing one another. This design in the corner of a flag is called its "jack," and is often used alone.
In 1777, Congress declared that the flag should have thirteen horizontal stripes and thirteen white stars on a blue field, each representing one of the thirteen States.

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