Hello,
A few years ago I saw a flag being sold at a military surplus store known as the "United States Peacetime Flag", yet when trying to find information on it, I can only find really outdated looking websites with very little substantial information.
Is this flag actually legitimate or just a hoax? If it is legitimate, when and why did it come about and why do we not see it more often throughout the U.S.'s history?
Here is a photo of the supposed flag: Peacetime Flag
No its not real.
Here is what Title 4 of the United States Code, the "Flag Code" says about the design of the official ensign:
The flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall be forty-eight stars, white in a blue field.
On the admission of a new State into the Union one star shall be added to the union of the flag; and such addition shall take effect on the fourth day of July then next succeeding such admission.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/4/chapter-1
And that's it, there is no provision for any other flag to represent the nation as a whole. While the Coast Guard has had since taking over for the Revenue Cutters and various DHS agencies have since adopted a design like the one here it is not in any way an official ensign: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Ensign_of_the_United_States_Coast_Guard.svg
We've only had 13 years of peace since 1776
