May 10, 2010

Betsy Ross, military contractor

By: AF Editors

It may be a pure myth that Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag at the request of George Washington. But it turns out that Ross was an actual flagmaker for the US military. Reviewing a new biography of Ross, the WSJ reports

Ross’s reputation for producing American flags lasted well beyond the Revolutionary War; as the War of 1812 loomed, Betsy Ross was “the primary flag maker contracting with the U.S. Arsenal on the Schuylkill River.” But her flag-making was a modest sort of renown, not the sort to long survive her death in 1836 at age 84. One reason: in the early 19th century Americans did not have strong feelings about the Stars and Stripes—a situation that did not change until the start of the Civil War.

Shortly after the war, Ross’ grandson began to spread the story that Ross had sewn the original flag. And the rest is history.