There's a new twist to the old tale of Betsy Ross and the origins of the first American flag.
The story her family passed down and that most American children learn in school goes something like this: In June of 1776, Gen. George Washington and two other members of the Continental Congress came to Ross' Philadelphia home with a design for a flag for the new nation. They asked her to make it. Ross, the story goes, changed the stars in the design from a six-pointed star to the five-pointed star on modern flags.Now, some historians and even the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia are changing their tune and giving credit for the design of the stars and stripes to another member of the Continental Congress from New Jersey, Francis Hopkinson.
"There is an abundance of circumstantial evidence that Francis Hopkinson did it," Washington author and historian Earl Williams said. "We cannot say that anyone else designed the flag."
The proof? In 1780, Hopkinson asked the Congress to pay him for his work designing the U.S. flag, the U.S. Seal and various other projects. He wanted his payment in wine. After months of delay, the Congress decided not to pay Hopkinson because he already was being paid for his service as Treasurer of Loans.
"He's the only one to ever claim he designed the flag," Williams said. "If he had gotten his wine, we'd all be celebrating Hopkinson."
The Betsy Ross House has decided to begin doing just that. Last month it changed its brochure to read, "The first stars and stripes were sewn by Elizabeth Ross of Philadelphia to a design by Francis Hopkinson, a member of the Continental Congress." The new brochure deletes references to a visit from Washington.
"We're giving credit where historians have told us credit is due," said Arthur Holst, director of the Betsy Ross House.
There's no question, Holst said, that Ross sewed the first flag. What historians need to look at now is who asked her to make it. "That is a cloudy area," he said. "We have to dig deeper to really find out what the true facts are. But Betsy Ross made the first flag. There are no holes in terms of Betsy Ross. But we have to find out: Was it Washington or Hopkinson" who commissioned the work?
But Philadelphia historian Karie Diethorn disagreed and said although Betsy Ross was a real person who did make flags for the Pennsylvania State Navy during the revolutionary war, she did not make the first U.S. flag.
"It's not provable to say that she created the first American flag. There's no link between Betsy Ross and Francis Hopkinson," she said.
As for the story passed down by the Ross family, Diethorn, the chief curator of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, said that was "an elaborate embellishment on the truth."
In May of 1777, Diethorn explained, Ross was asked by the Pennsylvania Navy to sew a signal flag for them. This was about the time Hopkinson was working on his designs for the U.S. flag. "The two stories overlapped," Diethorn said. "Betsy Ross was a seamstress like many who were creating flags for the defense of the Delaware River, and her descendants streamlined the story and put her in a position of importance," Diethorn said.
Still, Diethorn said what Betsy Ross has come to symbolize - the ordinary person's contribution to the Revolutionary War - is just as important as whether she actually sewed the flag, which may never be fully determined.
"We can't deny that Betsy Ross existed and that she made flags and that she's become a symbol of the Revolution."