Betsy's Battle Flag

From dusk till dawn the livelong night

She kept the tallow dips alight,

And fast her nimble fingers flew

To sew the stars upon the blue.

Betsy Ross House

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

With weary eyes and aching head

She stitched the stripes of white and red,

And when the day came up the stair

Complete across a carven chair

Hung Betsy's battle flag.

Like shadows in the evening gray

The Continentals filed away,

With broken boots and ragged coats,

But hoarse defiance in their throats;

They bore the mark of want and cold,

And some were lame and some were old,

And some with wounds untended bled,

But floating bravely overhead

Was Betsy's battle flag.

Betsy Ross 1777

Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

(1863-1930)

When fell the battle's leaden rain,

The soldier hushed his moans of pain

And raised his dying head to see

King George's troopers turn and flee.

Their charging column reeled and broke,

And vanished in the rolling smoke,

Before the glory of the stars,

The snowy stripes, and scarlet bars

Of Betsy's battle flag.

The simple stone of Betsy Ross

Is covered now with mold and moss,

But still her deathless banner flies,

And keeps the color of the skies.

A nation thrills, a nation bleeds,

A nation follows where it leads,

And every man is proud to yield

His life upon a crimson field

For Betsy's battle flag!

Betsy Ross Burial Site

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

"Betsy's Battle Flag"
Minna Irving
(1857-1940)

American poetess