Sometime after the receipt of the foregoing letter from Mr. Hall, I wrote him suggesting that the account given on page 5 of the “Manual of Patriotism” previously quoted, be corrected to agree with the facts.
It will be noted from the above correspondence that the State Department of Public Instruction does not now assert, as it did in 1904, that Betsey Ross originated the design of the flag for the United States.
What became of the flag that Betsey Ross is said to have made in June, 1776? In all the engagements that took place between the American and British troops from June, 1776, to August, 1777, there is no record in existence, public or private, that the flag claimed to have been designed by Mrs. Ross in June, 1776, was carried.
The first time that the Stars and Stripes was carried by American troops was at the battle of the Brandywine, September, 1777.
The Annals of the American Congress do not say that any Committee was appointed to design the flag. Washington made no note of a visit to Mrs. Ross’ house, although he was a voluminous letter-writer and kept most detailed diaries, and his writings do not contain a word that suggests when the first United States flag was made or designed. Neither do any of the distinguished historians of the Revolutionary period give us light on this question. Newspapers of Philadelphia, issued at that time, did not chronicle any portion of the story as told by Mr. Canby ninety-three years after the flag was adopted by Congress. Mrs. Ross did make State colors for vessels and batteries prior to June 14, 1777, but it was not until after the Stars and Stripes were ordained that she became a Government flag-maker.
The Betsey Ross legend has grown up since 1870 entirely from her grandson’s statement as to what he and other descendants had heard her say. This legend is now generally believed and taught in our schools as history.
The people of our country are very apt at setting up idols of one kind or another and at manufacturing heros and heroines. That Betsey Ross was a good woman, and an industrious and competent seamstress is entirely probable. That she was brave, we may believe,—she married three husbands!! At all events, we have now Betsey Ross Chapters, Betsey Ross Auxiliaries, and Betsey Ross this, that, and the other. And her former home at 239 Arch Street in Philadelphia has been bought and is preserved by the “American Flag House and Betsey Ross Memorial Association.” And a large sign across the front reads, “Birthplace of Old Glory.”
Now with your permission, I will give my own conclusions on the subject. The evidence that General Washington, Robert Morris and Colonel George Ross called upon Mrs. Ross in June, 1776, and asked her to make a flag from a sketch which they showed her, that Mrs. Ross suggested alterations in the design, which the Committee accepted, and that she made a flag from the modified design which flag was a year later adopted by Congress as our national ensign, is entirely heresay evidence. It is based solely on statements by Betsey Ross’ descendants as to what they heard her say. This evidence, I think, would not be accepted in a court of law, and therefore it is not proved that Mrs. Ross either designed or manufactured our first flag.
I read a portion of this paper on June 14, 1912, before the Caledonia chapter of the D. A. R. and asked them this question, Would you admit to membership in your society a person whose sole claim to membership was based on what she had heard her grandmother say? The unanimous reply was that they could not admit such a claimant.
Possibly there may be some better evidence than I have been able to find to substantiate the claims made for Betsey Ross; but until such evidence is produced, then the people of our country should be taught the facts of the case and not a legend as a fact.