erican flag was that carried by the Bedford Minutemen when they faced the British Regulars at Concord. The banner consisted of a red field on which was superimposed a steel-clad arm reaching from a cloud. In the hand was a sword. Surrounding hand and sword was It’s a charming story – but Betsy Ross did not sew together the first American flag from a design by George Washington.

That claim was made by her grandson when he was an old man. He said Betsy, a widow seamstress, told him the story when he was an 11-year-old boy.

He stated a delegation consisting of Gen. Washington; Robert Morris, a member of the Continental Congress; and George Ross, the uncle of Betsy’s late husband, came to her Philadelphia home in May 1776. They asked her to make the first American flag of 13 stripes and 13 six-pointed stars.

Mrs. Ross was said to have accepted the job but recommended a five-point star that could be cut perfectly from folded cloth by one snip of a scissors.

Alas, the story is untrue.

There is no documentation to support the tale. Gen. Washington was desperately engaged that year repulsing the British from Boston and New York. The nation had not yet been declared nor a starred flag authorized by the Continental Congress.

Early Flags

An early American flag was that carried by the Bedford Minutemen when they faced the British Regulars at Concord. The banner consisted of a red field on which was superimposed a steel-clad arm reaching from a cloud. In the hand was a sword. Surrounding hand and sword was a

r-old boy.

He stated a delegation consisting of Gen. Washington; Robert Morris, a member of the Continental Congress; and George Ross, the uncle of Betsy’s late husband, came to her Philadelphia home in May 1776. They asked her to make the first American flag of 13 stripes and 13 six-pointed stars.

Mrs. Ross was said to have accepted the job but recommended a five-point star that could be cut perfectly from folded cloth by one snip of a scissors.

Alas, the story is untrue.

There is no documentation to support the tale. Gen. Washington was desperately engaged that year repulsing the British from Boston and New York. The nation had not yet been declared nor a starred flag authorized by the Continental Congress.

Early Flags

An early American flag was that carried by the Bedford Minutemen when they faced the British Regulars at Concord. The banner consisted of a red field on which was superimposed a steel-clad arm reaching from a cloud. In the hand was a sword. Surrounding hand and sword was

lag of 13 stripes and 13 six-pointed stars.

Mrs. Ross was said to have accepted the job but recommended a five-point star that could be cut perfectly from folded cloth by one snip of a scissors.

Alas, the story is untrue.

There is no documentation to support the tale. Gen. Washington was desperately engaged that year repulsing the British from Boston and New York. The nation had not yet been declared nor a starred flag authorized by the Continental Congress.

Early Flags

An early American flag was that carried by the Bedford Minutemen when they faced the British Regulars at Concord. The banner consisted of a red field on which was superimposed a steel-clad arm reaching from a cloud. In the hand was a sword. Surrounding hand and sword was

tion to support the tale. Gen. Washington was desperately engaged that year repulsing the British from Boston and New York. The nation had not yet been declared nor a starred flag authorized by the Continental Congress.

Early Flags

An early American flag was that carried by the Bedford Minutemen when they faced the British Regulars at Concord. The banner consisted of a red field on which was superimposed a steel-clad arm reaching from a cloud. In the hand was a sword. Surrounding hand and sword was

erican flag was that carried by the Bedford Minutemen when they faced the British Regulars at Concord. The banner consisted of a red field on which was superimposed a steel-clad arm reaching from a cloud. In the hand was a sword. Surrounding hand and sword was a golden scroll bearing the inscription “Vince Aut Morire (Conquer or Die)."

Realizing that a war was likely, the Continental Congress installed cannon on three merchant ships and commissioned a United States Navy on Dec. 3, 1775. At that time, the first “national” flag was designated which came to be known as the Congress Colors.

Washington, then commanding Continental troops besieging Boston, referred to the banner as the Grand Union flag. It consisted of 13 horizontal stripes alternate red and white with a British Union jack in the upper left corner.

Capt. John Paul Jones personally raised the first such flag on the U.S.N. Alfred that day.

The new flag was first displayed in battle a month later at Prospect Hill near Cambridge by Continental troops besieging British-Held Boston.

Two other early flags are of particular interest because either or both were carried in the fight which took place on Breed’s Hill -- mistakenly recorded as nearby Bunker Hill -- on June 17, 1776. One flag was blue the othe