| Elizabeth
Griscom Ross (1752-1836), was a Philadelphia seamstress, married to John
Ross, an upholsterer who was killed in a munitions explosion in 1776. She
kept the upholstery shop going and lived on Arch Street, not too far from
the State House on Chestnut, where history was being made almost every
day. According to most historians, she has been incorrectly credited with
designing the first Stars and Stripes. The story has enormous popularity,
yet the facts do not substantiate it. Lets begin with the legend itself.
George Washington was a frequent visitor
to the home of Mrs. Ross before receiving command of the army. She
embroidered his shirt ruffles and did many other things for him. He knew
her skill with a needle. Now the General of the Continental Army, George
Washington appeared on Mrs. Ross's doorstep around the first of June,
1776, with two representatives of Congress, Colonel Ross and Robert
Morris. They asked that she make a flag according to a rough drawing they
carried with them. At Mrs.Ross's suggestion, Washington redrew the flag
design in pencil in her back parlor to employ stars of five points instead
of six. ("Her version" of the flag for the new republic was not used until
six years later.)
This account of the creation of our first
flag was first brought to light in 1870 by one of her grandsons, William
J. Canby, at a meeting of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. This
took place 94 years after the event supposedly took place! Mr.
Canby was a boy of eleven years when Mrs. Ross died in his home.
In the many years since the story was
told, numerous historians have conducted vigorous searches into extant
government records, personal diaries, and writings of Washington and his
contemporaries and none of them have been able to verify the claims of
Canby. One verifiable fact is this; the minutes of the State Navy Board of
Pennsylvania for May 29, 1777, say in part "An order on William Webb to
Elizabeth Ross for fourteen pounds twelve shillings, and two pence, for
making ship's colors and put into Richards store". The minutes show that
Elizabeth Ross made ship's colors for Pennsylvania state ships. Some of
the facts, among others, that have been discovered by this research that
cast doubt on Canby's claim are these; He asserted that the stars and
stripes were in common if not general use soon after the signing of the
Declaration of Independence, nearly a year before the resolution of
Congress proclaiming the flag. There is no record of the flag being
discussed or of a committee being appointed for the design of the flag in
either the Journals of the Continental Congress or the diaries and
writings of Washington around this time. Meetings with Colonel Ross and
Robert Morris cannot be documented. Further, it is illogical to assume
that Washington was present at the alleged meeting with Betsy Ross on the
design of the flag when it is known that he wanted a national standard
made for the use of the army in 1779.
But I think that the question that begs to
be asked is; Why have so many generations of Americans come to accept this
legend as fact? After Canby's death, a book written by his brother George
Canby and nephew Lloyd Balderson was published in 1909. The book, The
Evolution of the American Flag, presented in more detail the claims for
Betsy Ross made by William Canby in 1870. Among other things, the authors
describe the formation of the Betsy Ross Memorial Association, and
reproduced a painting by Charles H. Weisgerber depicting the alleged
meeting of the committee of Congress with Betsy Ross. The picture,
entitled Birth of Our Nations Flag, is actually a composite portrait made
up of from pictures of her granddaughters and other descendants. The
artist took liberties with history by painting the stars in the flag in a
circle. This painting, incidentally, stirred a great deal of public
interest in the subject when it was first exhibited, at the Columbian
Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Following this, money to purchase the Betsy
Ross house in Philadelphia was raised by selling ten-cent subscriptions to
the American Flag House and Betsy Ross Memorial Association, incorporated
in 1898. Each contributor received a certificate of membership that
included a picture of the house, her grave in Mt. Moriah Cemetery in
Philadelphia, and a color reproduction of the Weisberger painting. This
campaign gave the legend wide publicity and the Weisberger painting was
reproduced in school history textbooks throughout the United States!
In the days of Betsy Ross we did not have
the benefit of a frenetic press corps to witness, probe, and record the
events of the day. Careful historians do not accept the legend and neither
should we. At the same time, there often seems to be a wistful regret,
best expressed, perhaps, by President Woodrow Wilson when asked his
opinion of the story. He replied, "Would that it were true!"
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