The Betsy Ross Flag

Betsy Ross sewing and designing the first American flag is deep in the American culture. Children learn about it in school, an image of her sewing it became a postage stamp, and she is mentioned in the Hamilton song Guns and Ships: "Leave the battlefield waving Betsy Ross' flag higher?" But the historicity of the Betsy Ross design is less clear. There are two issues in question: did Betsy Ross sew the first flag and did Betsy Ross design the flag? In an exhibit developed and curated by Jeff R. Bridgman, both of these questions are explored.

The story of the "Betsy Ross Flag" has its origins 100 years after the American Revolution when, in 1870, her grandson, William Canby, wrote a paper for the Pennsylvania Historical Society. The paper described Betsy Ross designing and sewing the flag in the company of George Washington and George Ross. Canby's account lacks specifics about the design, save for the five-pointed stars. There is also no corroborating evidence to support Canby's account. Most historians seem to agree that Canby's account is unreliable.

Even if one accepts Canby's account, he does not describe the design as it is known today, with the five-pointed stars arranged in a circle. That design was not connected to the Canby story until 1892, when Charles Weisgerber painted the meeting, based on Canby's paper. The story gets a bit more complicated after this, with Weisgerber and a group sought to preserve the home where Betsy Ross would have sewn the flag. It's not clear if Weisgerber truly believed this account or exploited it as a business.

At the same time that Weisgerber was preserving the Ross house, her granddaughter, Rachel Albright, began a business of selling hand-sewn flags in the design seen in Weisgerber's painting. This became somewhat of a family business, with Albright's daughter joining in 1902. They claimed their hand-sewn flags matched the design of the original 1777 flag.

So it was not until over 100 years after the flag would have been sewn and designed that the stories of its creation entered the public consciousness, with little-to-no supporting evidence. Additionally, there is not evidence supporting Betsy Ross having sewn the flag. Despite the lack of evidence, she was a likely candidate for having sewn the early flag in Philadelphia. It was not under her ancestors, possibly for self-serving reasons, developed what would become the legend we know today.