Years flown from 1777 until 1795.

President: George Washington.

States added: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island.

It’s original purpose was thought to identify American naval vessels and later used by the Continental Army.

 The 13-star flag was made the official flag of the United States of America on June 14, 1777 by the Second Continental Congress. “The flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, that the union be thirteen stars, white with a blue field, representing a new constellation.” It did not specify how the stars were to be arranged and so there are many variations of this flag.

So, who is credited with designing the first American flag? According to historical documents there is no hard proof that one person is credited with designing the first US flag. There are several legends and stories with circumstantial evidence to lend support but none confirmed. The most popular stories are The Betsy Ross story and the Francis Hopkinson story. Both stories are flawed and many vexillologist have studied historical documents and paintings trying to determine if a first US flag creator can be determined.

The thirteen stripes represented the 13 colonies that declared independence from Britain and the thirteen stars represent each state 

References:

www.whithousehistory.org

www.1stdibs.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States

www.ushistory.org

USA Today, The Stars and Stripes: Here are the 27 different US flags and their histories