George Washington’s Involvement With the American Flag
American schoolchildren are familiar with Betsy Ross (1752 – 1836), the woman who sewed America’s first flag. A Philadelphia upholsterer and seamstress, Ross made tents, and sewed uniforms and flags for the Continental Army and Navy. In 1776, she reportedly received a visit from Colonel George Ross, a relative, accompanied by George Washington and financier Robert Morris. They asked her to make a flag based on a sketch that featured thirteen six-pointed white stars, and thirteen red and white stripes. Ross accepted, but suggested some changes: reduce the star points from six to five, and arrange them in a circle. On July 14th, 1777, Congress adopted that design as the national flag.
Nice story, but unfortunately, the Stars and Stripes was not America’s first flag, and Betsy Ross probably didn’t sew it, anyhow. There is no contemporary documentary support to back up that story. Indeed, the first mention of Betsy Ross and the original Stars and Stripes only came a century later. In 1870, her grandson William Canby claimed that Ross had relayed that account to her daughter, niece, and granddaughter. Harper’s New Monthly Magazine published the story in 1873, and it was uncritically accepted and made it into schoolbooks. So, what are the origins of the Stars and Stripes?