Michael Leibrandt has studied Philadelphia history nearly all of my life. Like many historians — some of the most intriguing storylines to research are the ones that we know the least about. When it comes to the very beginnings of America - much of that history is lost to us now and replaced only by educated speculation.
A depiction of Betsy Ross presenting the flag to George Washington.
Can we prove definitively that General George Washington didn’t walk down the streets of Philadelphia and ask some the city’s finest seamstresses — of which Betsy was one — to make a flag for our nation in 1776? Of course we can’t. And should we say others that were equally as qualified to produce a banner for our new nation like Francis Hopkinson? Only educated speculation remains.
Here is why it simply doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter because the overwhelming likelihood is that right up until the Continental Congress Resolution of 1777 — the citizens under those thirteen colonies lived, worked, and fought under a number of different banners. And it doesn’t matter because no matter what standard they fought under — Americans did the unthinkable. They forced the British Empire into frustration, defeat, and finally surrender when Lord Cornwallis was pushed to the sea near a place called Yorktown.
What we do know is that with no federal government for the United States governing these 13 colonies during the Revolution — it’s almost certain that Americans lived, worked, and fought under a variety of banners. Dr. Benjamin Franklin had even suggested at one point during an oration that the East India Company Flag should be America’s banner. It was December of 1775 when John Paul Jones famously raised a variant of the “Stars and Stripes” in the Delaware River aboard the ship Alfred.
On January 1st, 1776 near General George Washington’s headquarters on Prospect Hill — the Continental Army had a flag raising ceremony. The controversy is over what flag was actually raised. And then we have the “Appeal to Heaven” flag that made headlines last summer. Designed by a member of General George Washington’s Staff — Colonel Joseph Reed in 1775 — and flown after the capture of a British ship by Commodore Samuel Tucker and was also utilized by the Massachusetts State Navy. Reed’s six schooner’s where America’s first Navy.
And when the resolution was finally adopted by the Continental Congress in June of 1777 — does it really matter who was the creator of the flag that they designated for our nation? Or whether the story of Ross being asked by Washington to sew America’s first official standard — told by her grandson starting around 1870 — is actually fact? No, it does not.
As the decades rolled on and a bridge was named in her honor and her house became a tourist attraction — it didn’t matter so much how historians waffled on the accuracy of the Betsy Ross story. But her importance as a fine colonial woman — at the height of her craft — willing to do all that she could for America in the midst of it’s Revolutionary period is all that matters. This March — do yourself a favor. Suppress the need for definitive evidence that has been almost certainly lost to the ages.
Honor Betsy Ross anyway.
Michael Thomas Leibrandt lives and works in Abington Township, PA.
