MISS ELIZABETH GRISCOM was born 1742, in Philadelphia, and was
married in 1762 to Mr. John Ross, a merchant of that city. She was a
strict member of The Society of Friends, and by them always called
“BETSY ROSS.” She was unsurpassed in fine needlework, and well known
throughout Philadelphia and New York cities as the most artistic
upholstress in America. She used the most superior, richest and finest
of imported embroidered velvets, satins, silks and woolens, that were
brought to this country by the packet ships of Caleb and Thomas Cope,
Boyd & Reed, and John Ross, agreeably to her express orders; and she
had a dozen or more of her sisters, daughters and nieces constantly
employed sewing and finishing variegated needlework, in the very best
manner, as she directed them; and thus no other upholsterer could
possibly compete with her. She was a natural artist, an inventive
genius, who fully understood the best effects of complimentary colors,
and the grandeur of the primary colors; yet, strange as it may appear,
though one of the plainest of “QUAKERS,” she invariably used cloths
of the very _brightest_, and in every instance the _primary colors
combined, so as to be distinguished from all other objects_, and she
quickly judged and comprehended the styles that would best please her
customers. Her brilliant draperies and tri-colored curtains, in the
public halls, hotel parlors, and drawing rooms, were greatly admired;
whilst General Washington, General Hand, Thomas Mifflin, George Clymer,
Jared Ingersoll, J. Koch, Gouveneur Morris, Robert Morris, Judge James
Wilson, Frederick A. Muhlenberg, Joseph Wilson, Caleb and Thomas Cope,
Thomas Wilson, Timothy Matlack, James Trimble, and William Shippen,
are some of the names on her store-books, as her generous and kind
friends and patrons, whose heirs still possess beautiful curtains and
magnificent quilts of variegated silks and satins, unsurpassed, at this
day, for beauty of utility, justness of composition, that none but a
perfect artist could produce; and the constant use of materials of
primary colors were her praise, excellence, and fame.
Colonel George Ross, (a member of the Continental Congress,) and
James Trimble, (afterwards Deputy Secretary of Pennsylvania,) were
her brothers-in-law, and through their suggestions, she adorned, with
drapery, the Hall of Congress, and the Governor’s reception room. Her
upholstery in the ladies’ cabins and state rooms of Caleb and Thomas
Cope’s packet ships was unrivalled and not equalled by the state rooms
of the European packets; whilst from the topmasts of Cope’s packets,
her waving red, white, and blue STREAMERS made glad the travelers
of the seas, several years before the Revolution of 1776. Some of
the theatres and public halls of Philadelphia were embellished and
decorated with curtains of white, mazarine, and scarlet velvets and
silks in waves, festoons, and pendents, and in many instances the
curtains were embroidered with gold and silver figures of vines,
leaves, and _stars_ that glittered with superb brilliancy, whilst the
curtains were invariably supported by a golden spread eagle, with
lightning darts in its talons and a silvery olive branch in its beak;
and these were the original and wonderful _handiwork_ of Betsy Ross.
She could not think of or invent anything _brighter or more graceful_
than her most celebrated gay and glittering primary colored _curtains_,
spangled with stars and supported by a golden eagle, that already
ornamented and adorned the interior of the chief HALLS of the land.
They were her daily delight and divinely brilliant dreams by night.
With her _scissors_ she cut the form of a small shield, upon which
she sewed five-pointed stars and tri-colored stripes, in imitation of
General Washington’s coat-of-arms, which embraced stars and pales upon
his escutcheon; this shield she fastened upon the eagle’s breast; and,
inspired with one bright thought, she seized her meritorious daily
work, flung it to the breeze, hung it “UPON THE OUTER WALLS,” and the
Freemen of Columbia cheered, and hailed it “THE FLAG OF THE UNION!” And
that one independent FLING made all the people KING!
At the request of Dr. Franklin, Mr. Robert Morris and Col. George Ross,
she designed and made the first FLAG of the United States, consisting
of thirteen red and white stripes, a blue field as a square, on the
left and upper corner, and upon the blue field was a spread eagle, with
thirteen stars, in a circle of rays of glory, surrounding its head,
and the United States SEAL was afterwards made from the same design
of the United States Flag, viz: A red, white and blue shield on the
breast of an American Eagle, holding in its talons an olive branch and
thirteen arrows; in its beak a scroll inscribed with this motto, “_E
Pluribus Unum_,” and above its head thirteen stars arranged in a circle
of glory. These designs were approved and adopted by the Committee
and Congress, and they were made before the words “United States of
America,” were legally used. The country was called “Columbia,” the
Congress was styled the “Continental Congress,” the States were called
“Colonies,”; every petition sent to the King of Great Britain, and
every public document, were issued by “The North American Colonies;”
our Country _had no name_ until BETSY ROSS marked upon her Flags,
“THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.” Dr. Franklin, John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson had been appointed (December, 1775, by Congress, a Secret
Committee) to prepare a FLAG, and a device for a SEAL for the Colonies,
and Dr. Rittenhouse was requested by the Committee, to engrave the
Seal corresponding with the eagle on the Flag.
On the 4th day of July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was
finished and signed, and the Rev. Dr. Duché, Chaplain of Congress, had
offered up his celebrated “_Prayer of Independence_,” the STAR SPANGLED
BANNER was unfurled, and emblazoned the Hall of Independence, and hung
around the spire of the Old State House Bell, as it sounded its tones
of warning beyond the city limits, re-echoed across the Delaware, and
proclaimed the liberty of the land, amidst the thundering shouts of
Freemen, the roaring of cannons, musketry, firearms, and bonfires;
then the Secret Committee, Franklin, Jefferson and Adams, was publicly
announced by the President of Congress, and the SEAL (already made) of
the “_United Colonies_,” was used that day. Aye! the Flags waved, the
Seal was engraved, and the thirteen “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” were
saved.
The Flag was afterwards adopted by Congress, June 14, 1777, and
September 15, 1789, they passed the act, that “The SEAL heretofore used
by the ‘UNITED COLONIES’ in Congress assembled, shall be the SEAL of
the ‘UNITED STATES;’” and for his beautiful workmanship in engraving
that seal, Dr. Rittenhouse was honored with the appointment of Director
of the United States Mint; and Franklin styled Rittenhouse, “the Newton
of America.”
Mrs. Ross also engaged Mr. George Barrett, (of Cherry near Third
street, Philadelphia,) an ornamental painter, and accomplished artist,
to paint upon the blue fields of one dozen silk Flags, a gilded
bald-headed spread eagle, with thirteen silvered stars encircling its
head in rays of glory, which were executed in the finest artistic
style, for the use of Congress and General Washington’s army; they
were always much admired, and daily used until worn out; and, Betsy
Ross also directed Mr. Barrett to ornament the army drums with the
same design of the eagle and thirteen stars, and the letters “United
States of America,” that gave great delight and spirit to the drummers,
to such an extent that Mr. Barrett was kept busy ornamenting flags,
flagstaffs, and drums for Washington’s army. The committee of Congress
were so much pleased with the design of the eagle and thirteen stars
that they concluded to adopt and use it for the “NATIONAL SEAL”
exclusively; but, Betsy Ross, Col. George Ross, and Lieut. Paul Jones
earnestly protested against despoiling the Flag by leaving out and
omitting the eagle, and declared that the Army might, if they choose,
have the stars only, but as for the Navy they would never give up the
BALD EAGLE, the conquerer of all birds, belonging only to America;
and from that day to this the bald eagle of America spreads its wings
upon the Flags of the United States Revenue vessels as the emblem of
freedom, independence, liberty, power, empire, and victory.
From that time our beautiful Flag was composed of thirteen stars and
stripes. The red stripes were emblematic of fervency and zeal; the
white, of integrity and purity; the blue field with stars, of unity,
power, and glory. The number thirteen was symbolical of the thirteen
colonial states, that severed their allegiance from the sovereignty
of Great Britain, and declared, in 1776, that they were free and
independent powers.
The size of the Flag of the army is six feet six inches in length, by
four feet four inches in width, with seven red and six white stripes.
The first seven stripes, (four red and three white,) bound the square
of the blue field for the stars, the stripes extending from the
extremity of the field to the end of the Flag. The eighth stripe is
white, extending partly at the base of the field.
According to the act of Congress, April 4, 1818, on the admission of
every new State into the Union, a star was to be added to the galaxy of
the most brilliant Banner of earth.
Mrs. Betsy Ross put all her household to work in earnest, and the
“FLAGS,” made of silk and bunting, were not only admired, but
afterwards approved and adopted by the committee of Congress. General
George Washington, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson,
frequently visited her store, to see what progress she was making,
and were not only pleased, but expressed their astonishment at her
dexterity and judgment, and in the most flattering terms complimented
her for her remarkable skill with the SCISSORS, as she folded a piece
of white silk and with one cut formed the beautiful five-pointed star.
Mrs. Ross, by order of the Government, continued making the army and
navy Flags of the United States for upwards of fifty-five years,
and after her death, in 1832, her daughter, Mrs. Clarissa S. Wilson
continued the business, and they became generally and widely known
as the most patriotic ladies of America. After the death of Mr. John
Ross, she was married to Mr. John Claypoole, the grandson of Sir John
Claypoole, the grandson of Oliver Cromwell, who came to Philadelphia
with William Penn. She afterwards moved from Arch near Third street, to
Second street near Dock, where she resided until her death, at the good
old age of four score years and ten.
Mrs. Betsy Ross was of medium height, strong in form, but remarkably
graceful and erect; she had a handsome face, a very fair transparent
complexion, projecting eyebrows, blue sparkling eyes, and light brown
hair. She was a perfect “FRIEND” in all her speech and movements;
possessed of the most refined sprightly intellect and polished
education; in fact she was well known throughout the whole of
Philadelphia city, as a “_sharp, thorough going woman_.” FIRST in
Friends’ Meeting, where the spirit moved her to speak and to act; FIRST
amidst the Daughters of Benevolence, furnishing clothing and lint for
the Continental troops, scattering printed patriotic songs and appeals
amongst them; and FIRST and most effective in her attentions to the
sick. She was, in truth, what her friends styled her, “A Healing
Medium,”—but respected and esteemed by all the physicians and surgeons
of Philadelphia, as “_the true Friend of the sick_,” for when her hand
touched and bathed the burning fevered brow of the sick soldier, he
knew that he had one friend, and that friend was a true one. Whenever
she entered the sick chamber, she saturated her handkerchief with
vinegar, (that she carried in a phial in her pocket, as a precaution
against contagion,) and after wiping her forehead, lips and hands,
she quietly approached the bedside of the afflicted invalid, and
placing her hand upon his forehead, she would whisper these words,
“_In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray that your health may
be restored_,” and then she would administer the medicines and
restoratives as directed by the visiting physicians; and her angelic
nature, purer than that of Jeanne Dare, was the powerful agency of
health. She was the worthiest Heroine of the Revolution.
During the frightful devastation caused by the yellow fever in 1793,
Mrs. Betsy Ross was most active in alleviating the terrible miseries
of that epidemic. Moved with sorrow at the sufferings of others, she
carried not only her own life in her hands, but medicines to relieve
the sick and dying. Day and night she ceased not; whilst her angelic
visits were cheered with success. Her personal perfections irresistably
commanded the admiration and love of the sick and afflicted to such a
degree, that the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush, styled her the “Magical
Quakeress.” They who would not now honor, esteem, and love the name
of Betsy Ross do not deserve to enjoy the protection of the glorious
starry Flag of the Union, in the land of the free and home of the
brave, or in any land upon earth where the Flag of the Union waves. Her
biography will ornament the brightest pages of our country’s history,
and her STATUE, surrounded by a group of her daughters and nieces,
cutting, sewing and making the “Star Spangled Banners,” must soon
grace the Capitol of our nation, and the patriotic Ladies of America
will design, erect, and pay for it. Yes, the friend of Washington,
Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, Morris, Jones, Rittenhouse, Ross, the
immutable friend of Liberty, and of the soldiers of the Independence of
1776, will forever live in the hearts of all freemen.