- history.org/Foundation/journal/Summer08/betsy.cfm, usa-flag-site.org/history.shtml
- library.blogs.delaware.gov/2011/06/14/american-flag-first-flown-in-battle/
Written by Jenifer Chrisman on April 6, 2015.
Sitting sewing in her shop one day with her girls around her, several gentlemen entered. She recognized one of these as the uncle of her deceased husband, Col. GEORGE ROSS, a delegate from Pennsylvania to Congress. She also knew the handsome form and features of the dignified, yet graceful and polite Commander in Chief, who, while he was yet COLONEL WASHINGTON had visited her shop both professionally and socially many times, (a friendship caused by her connection with the Ross family). They announced themselves as a committee of congress, and stated that they had been appointed to prepare a flag, and asked her if she thought she could make one, to which she replied, with her usual modesty and self reliance, that “she did not know but she could try; she had never made one but if the pattern were shown to her she had not doubt of her ability to do it.” The committee were shown into her back parlor, the room back of the shop, and Col. Ross produced a drawing, roughly made, of the proposed flag. It was defective to the clever eye of Mrs Ross and unsymetrical, and she offered suggestions which Washington and the committee readily approved.
– William Canby*
Known colloquially as Old Glory, the American Flag proudly bears thirteen horizontal stripes of alternating red and white that represent the original 13 colonies and 50 stars representing the states of the Union. The flags six white stripes represent purity and innocence, the seven red stripes declare hardiness and valor and the blue field upon which the stars reside symbolize vigilance, perseverance and justice.
It has yet to be determined by historians as to exactly when the first American Flag was flown, but the Continental Congress pass the first Flag Act on June 14, 1776. Congress continued to pass acts up until 1960 that changed the shape, design and arrangement of the flag. These acts also allowed additional stars and stripes to be added with the admission of each new state.
Act of June 14, 1777: “Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.”
Act of January 13, 1794: Provided for 15 stripes and 15 stars after May 1795.
Act of April 4, 1818: Provided for 13 stripes and one star for each state, to be added to the flag on the Fourth of July following the admission of each new state. Signed by President Monroe.
Executive Order of President Taft dated June 24, 1912: Established proportions of the flag and provided for arrangement of the stars in six horizontal rows of eight each, a single point of each star to be upward.
Executive Order of President Eisenhower dated January 3, 1959: Provided for the arrangement of the stars in seven rows of seven stars each, staggered horizontally and vertically.
Executive Order of President Eisenhower dated August 21, 1959: Provided for the arrangement of the stars in nine rows of stars staggered horizontally and eleven rows of stars staggered vertically.
The flag hoisted above the base at Prospect Hill by George Washington on January 1, 1776, bore the British Union Jack in the upper left corner with 13 red and white alternating strips. The American forces had just been placed under Washington’s control in accordance with a Congressional resolution.
Legend says that Betsy Ross’ alternating, 13 stripe red and white flag with 13 stars on a blue field first flew in battle during the Revolutionary War at the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge in 1777. However, there is no clear evidence backing this up. And despite what was laid down in the history books, there is no historical evidence that Besty Ross sewed the first flag. It was her grandson, William Canby, who first told this story to the public in 1870 in a paper titled “The History of the Flag of the United States.” This lack of earlier documentation does not, however, preclude her having done so.
No matter how the first flag came to be or when it first flew, Senator John Randolfh Thune of South Dakota sums up what the American Flag means to this country and its people. “I believe our flag is more than just cloth and ink. It is a universally recognized symbol that stands for liberty, and freedom. It is the history of our nation, and it’s marked by the blood of those who died defending it.”
Sources:
*Notes: The above is a part of William Canby’s “The History of the Flag of the United States,” which can be seen in its entirety at ushistory.org/betsy/more/canby.htm.
