“I do not know whether I can, but I’ll try,” was her reply.
The act of Congress did not specify the number of points of the stars, or their arrangement, simply stating: “That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
Mrs. Ross suggested that a star of five points would be more distinct, pleasing and appropriative than the six-pointed star which the committee had designed. Folding a piece of white paper, she cut, with a single clip of her scissors, a five-pointed star, and placing it on a blue field, delighted the committee with her taste, ingenuity and judgment.
The committee decided that the stars, thirteen in number, should be arranged in a circle in a blue field, as the circle is typical of eternity.
So well pleased were the committee with the flag which Betsy Ross made that they authorized her, in the name of Congress, to make the United States flags. Betsy Ross employed many hands to aid her, and made flags for the army, navy and public buildings.
The maiden name of Betsy Ross was Elizabeth Griscom. She was born in Philadelphia in 1752, of Quaker parents. At an early age she married John Ross, son of an English clergyman, an upholsterer. He was a nephew of Colonel George Ross, of Lancaster, one of the signers of the Declaration and one of the leaders of the young republic. Betsy never went back to “Friends’ Meeting,” and was “read out” of meeting for this marriage.
John Ross died soon after his marriage and Mrs. Ross continued the upholstering business at 239 Arch Street, which had once been number 89. This house is still standing, and is one of the most valued of the many historic places in old Philadelphia. It was in this little house, where Betsy Ross, a widow at twenty-five years of age, made the first United States flag.
Betsy Ross was not only noted for her skill with the needle, but quite as well for her piety and patriotism. So widely was her extraordinary skill recognized that she adorned the parlors of the wealthy with draperies, the theatres with curtains, hotels with quilts and even state-rooms of the finest packet boats were fitted up by her. It is also said that she made the handsome ruffled shirt bosoms worn by General Washington, and not a few for other patriots who held high office in the young nation.
At an early date, and before she made United States flags, she made Colonial flags for the army and navy and there is a minute dated May 29, 1777, “an order on William Webb to Elizabeth Ross for fourteen pounds twelve shillings and two pence, for making ships’ colors,” etc.
In time Mrs. Ross married Joseph Ashburn, who was captured on the privateer Luzerene and died a prisoner of war in Mill Prison, England. By this marriage she had two children, Zillah, who died in infancy, and Eliza, who married a Mr. Sullivan. Ashburn sent a farewell message to his wife by a fellow-prisoner, John Claypoole, who later was exchanged for a British prisoner. On reaching Philadelphia he delivered his message and personal effects, and about a year later married Mrs. Elizabeth Ashburn.