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Betsy Ross Was a Fraud!

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unmerged(2810)

unmerged(2810)

Captain
Apr 9, 2001
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Okay, maybe not her, personally, but her descendent certainly was. Anyone who has made a study of what can be discerned about early USA flags can soon see that the story of Betsy Ross and her flag design was another bit of Centennial-era legend-building. Fortunately, there is still extant evidence of what authentic US flags from the Revolutionary era looked like.

One very common feature: 3/2/3/2/3 arrangement of the stars.
Another less common feature: Seven white and six red stripes.

There is one verifiable "stars in a circle" US flag from this period. It's the flag flown by the Third Maryland Regiment at the Battle of the Cowpens. It should be noted that this is not the flag *of* the Third Maryland Regiment, since no US Regiment was authorized to fly the national colors until the 1820s.

So I've mad three flag and shield sets. One is the Third Maryland Regiment flag. One is a 3/2/3/2/3 with seven white stripes. One is a 3/2/3/2/3 with seven red stripes.

One more thing I've done is put the shields in accord with more traditional representation of the US colors on a shield. Traditionally, the stripes are to run vertically when the US colors are represented on a shield, but the canton is still to be on the left side. Thus, technically speaking, when one is portraying the US flag according to tradition on a sheild, one portrays the "back" of the flag.

Unfortunately, because I have moved cross-country, cancelled my old ISP and have yet to sign up with a new one (I'm currently stuck on a freebie dialup at never more than 50K--the HORROR, THE HORROR), I have no on-line storage space at the moment, but I would be happy to mail what I've got to somebody with the space so folks could get a look at what I've done.

PS: I have 24 and 8 bit versions of all three.
 
unmerged(1047)

unmerged(1047)

Commander, US Pacific Fleet
Feb 21, 2001
5.167
1
I actually have seen historical evidence that a 13-stars-in-a-circle flag WAS used in the war timeframe (though, if I read it right, not by the Continental Army). However the same source attributed it to an obscure member of the Continental Congress, not Betsy Ross, and also revealed that it was designed not for the Continental Army, but for the *navy*! It seems they decided they needed a flag to prevent being identified as pirates, and that's what they came up with. The armies on land used a wide variety of flags, from the rattlesnake flags to the ones you described (and I've seen examples of others as well). The stars and stripes was made the official national flag at some point shortly thereafter, but the patterns of the stripes and starts were not standardized till later. (In fact the stars weren't standardized until they went to the 48-star flag in 1912!)

However, it's not possible in EU code to have seperate land and sea flags, and the circle flag is widely recognizable. Also, in most cases the human player won't be playing a country directly involved in the Revolution, so all they would see would be the Navy anyway.

P.S. The local American History museum here has an authenticated Revolutionary War flag; I don't at this moment recall the exact source. The stars on it are in a staggered-rows 4/5/4 pattern and are somewhat larger than usual.
 
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