A: In all likelihood, Betsy Ross didn’t design – or for that matter even sew – the first post-Union Jack American flag. Ross, a seamstress who took over her husband’s upholstery business after he died fighting in the Revolutionary War, purportedly sewed the flag based on a pencil sketch from George Washington himself. But no evidence has ever been found to back up this fantastic Ross family story.
In fact, most historians believe the flag was either based on the British East India Company’s flag or designed by Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and early member of Congress. Regardless of who designed it, the Continental Congress officially adopted the Stars and Stripes on June 14, 1777. And, while the Star-Spangled Banner still waves today, the truth of the story accompanied Betsy to her grave.
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