Betsy Ross story - Fact or Fiction?

An online article on Newsday.com says that the scene depicted on the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Betsy Ross (SC 1004) commemorative issued in 1952 (shown above) may never have happened at all.

The stamp was based on Charles Weisgerber's 1893 painting, "Birth of Our Nation's Flag," in which Ross is seated in her parlor, sunbeams pouring down on her, the flag draped on her lap in the company of George Washington, George Ross and Robert Morris.

According to the writer, "Those who accept the Betsy Ross myth would like to believe that George Washington took a break from leading the fight against the British to confer with a twice-widowed Philadelphia flagmaker about designing and making that first flag."

To read the full article, click here.