The other day NewMexiKen explained how historians believe that Betsy Ross, contrary to folklore, had no actual involvement in the making of the first American flag. Emily and Jill, official daughters of NewMexiKen, commented that there was some documentation that Ross made the case for the five-pointed star by showing how it could easily be cut from fabric.
Whatever, none of that matters. I have now learned what Betsy Ross’ real contribution to the American War of Independence might have been.
According to David Hackett Fischer in his outstanding book Washington’s Crossing, after some skirmishes with American militia near Mount Holly, New Jersey, the British commander Hessian Colonel Carl Emilius Ulrich von Donop “had found in his quarters the exceedingly beautiful young widow of a doctor.” (Quotation from a German officer who was present.) As Fischer reports, “The colonel spent the night of December 23 in the widow’s house. He decided to stay on Christmas Eve, and then on Christmas as well.” Bottom line, von Donop and his troops were 18 miles from Trenton, instead of the six they were supposed to be in case of a major American attack.
Which is precisely what the Americans did after crossing the Delaware River Christmas night. They attacked Trenton the morning of December 26, 1776, and had a decisive victory.
At least one German officer thought von Donop’s dalliance cost Britain the colonies: “partly to the fault of Colonel Donop, who was led to Mount Holly by the nose…and detained there by love….”
And who was the beautiful widow? “Could she have been an American agent?” Fischer asks. Attempts to identify her as someone from the community have been without success.
However, Fischer tells us:
In December 1776, there was a young and very beautiful young widow, a “Free Quaker” strongly sympathetic to the American cause, who lived in Philadelphia, had family connections in Gloucester County, New Jersey, was married there, and often went back and forth. She was acquainted with Margaret Morris, and also with George Washington. Her name was Betsy Ross. One historian, Joseph Tustin, has raised the possibility she may have been the mysterious widow of Mount Holly. Her husband, John Ross, who had died in 1776, came from Gloucester County and may have been related to Doctor Alexander Ross, who was a physician practicing at Mount Holly in 1776.
There is no evidence; just speculation. But hey, there was no evidence she sewed the first flag either and this is a more intriguing story.
[NewMexiKen is completing Fischer’s Washington’s Crossing after a couple of unexplainable false starts. It is a delightful, informative historical narrative. Truly deserved of all its awards and your attention.]