Yesterday was National Flag Day.
I devoured a series of biographies of famous historical women in middle school. Among them was the tale of Betsy Ross and her heroic actions to rally the Revolutionary troops around a flag she created for George Washington. I was swept away by her ingenuity, fortitude and the implication that she helped win the war against the British.
She most likely didn’t create the first U.S. flag — but you knew that, right?
Seems her grandson put forth that story 50 years after her death, when he held a press conference to share his family’s hand-me-down story of Betsy Ross sewing the first flag during those desperate Revolutionary War times. His announcement, in 1870, came at a time when the U.S. Civil War had recently ended and Americans were sentimental about the Stars and Stripes.
His story took hold and an elaborate mythology sprung up around Ross. While it was true she sewed flags during the Revolution, she was by no means the only woman providing those services to Washington’s Army. The myth about her changing the design of the stars from six-points to five? Also not true. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have an interesting story. Betsy Ross was the eighth of 17 children born to a Quaker family in Philadelphia.
At 17, her father apprenticed her to an upholsterer where she met and eloped with John Ross, an Anglican. Marrying outside her religion saw her ousted from both her family and the Quakers. Undaunted, the newlyweds opened an upholstery business that relied on her prowess with a needle and thread. Four years later John was killed in a gunpowder accident while guarding Philadelphia’s wharf from the British.
She carried on, running the business solo by making uniforms, tents and flags for the Continental Army. Within the year she married a sailor who was subsequently captured by the British and died in an English prison. Her third husband was a fellow prisoner who brought her the sad news.
Until her death in 1836 at 83, Ross ran her store with help from some of her seven daughters. Today, one of Philadelphia’s most popular tourist attractions is the Betsy Ross House, (again, probably not her real house) where you can quiz a Betsy Ross re-enactor about the legend.
Ellen did just that, many summers ago. As her group toured the teeny-tiny rooms, the guide told them stories about Ross and life in the 1700s. Just before he released them to the gift shop, he shared one last fact: Betsy Ross didn’t actually sew the first flag. Half the group was outraged. “Oh, I don’t believe that” more than one visitor exclaimed.
The actual truth is: the story of women who survived and thrived using their skills and wits during a tumultuous historic time is legendary enough.