Betsy Ross is traditionally credited with sewing the first American flag in the Betsy Ross story.
Ross was a Philadelphia upholsterer whose descendants popularized the claim during the nineteenth century. According to the story, George Washington and other leaders asked her to make a flag, and she suggested five-pointed stars arranged in a circle rather than six-pointed stars.
Historians have not found conclusive contemporary evidence that Ross designed or produced the first national flag. The earliest documented connection between Ross and the circular thirteen-star design appeared long after 1777. The Flag Resolution itself specified thirteen stars and stripes but did not identify a designer or prescribe the stars’ arrangement.
The Betsy Ross flag remains a recognizable early American design, with thirteen stars in a circle and thirteen alternating stripes. Its history is therefore best understood as a mixture of documented flag development and a later national legend associated with the Revolutionary era.