Is the US flag derived from the East India Company flag?

The US flag may have originated from that of The East India Company, a powerful trading enterprise, whose flag happened to have 13 red and white horizontal stripes with a blue rectangle in its upper left-hand corner. Sir Charles Fawcett argued in 1937 that the Company flag inspired the design. read more

Both flags could have been easily constructed by adding white stripes to a British Red Ensign, one of the three maritime flags used throughout the British Empire at the time. However, an East India Company flag could have from nine to 13 stripes, and was not allowed to be flown outside the Indian Ocean. read more

The flag of the East India Company represented the British East India Company between 1600 and 1874. The flag was altered as the nation changed from England to Great Britain to the United Kingdom. It was initially a red and white striped ensign with the flag of England in canton. read more

They also took the flag from the masthead of the largest of the "East Indiamen"—the Dartmouth. George Washington took command of the U.S. Continental Army under an elm tree in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The flag used for that occasion was the East India Company's flag, which by pure coincidence had the thirteen red and white stripes. read more