Lost Chapters
Betsy Ross, American Dream: Garnet Character
Nobody has proven that Betsy Ross made the first American flag. The story was first told publicly in 1870 by her grandson, William Canby, based on family memories, and no written record from the Revolution confirms it. What records do show is that she was a working flag maker who was paid for ships' flags in 1777.
- Cost
- 6 crystals
- Type
- Character · Rebel
- Power / Health
- 3 / 6
- Color
- Garnet (Rebels, Pirates & War)
- Rarity
- Ultra-Rare (Legacy)
- Set
- Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)
Your other characters get +1/+0.
Seamstress extraordinaire who stitched together a symbol that would fly over a nation yet unborn.
The real history
The famous version goes like this. In 1776, George Washington, Robert Morris and George Ross visited Betsy Ross's upholstery shop in Philadelphia with a rough sketch of a flag with 13 stripes and 13 six-pointed stars. She suggested five-pointed stars instead, showed them how to cut one with a single snip of her scissors, and soon sewed the first Stars and Stripes.
That tale did not become public in her lifetime. In 1870, more than 30 years after she died, her grandson William Canby presented it in a paper to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, saying he had heard her tell it many times. To support it, he gathered sworn statements from relatives. None of them had been alive when the flag was supposedly made.
Historians have found no written record from the time that confirms the visit. What the documents do show is that on May 29, 1777, the Pennsylvania State Navy Board paid her for making ships' colors. A little over two weeks later, on June 14, 1777, Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the national flag.
The design has a rival claimant. The National Archives credits it to Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, while noting that it is unclear how or why Congress chose his design. The Archives calls Ross's role in the first flag largely fictitious and describes her as a Philadelphia flag maker who sewed flags and banners for the military.
The Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia, which tells her story, argues the legend could still be true. The fair summary is that she made flags, but no document proves she made the first one.
Sources
- Did She or Didn't She?, Historic Philadelphia, Inc. (Betsy Ross House)
- The American Flag, National Archives, Pieces of History
- Betsy Ross, National Women's History Museum
- Mythbusting the Founding Mothers, National Women's History Museum
In the game's story
In the game's invented story, Betsy Ross sets up a busy shop on Thimble Lane in Dogear Crossing, behind the Folded Corner. When Marginalians ask whether she really sewed the first American flag, she laughs, says the story was her grandson's, and lets them believe what they like. Without being asked, she repairs the worn banners of all seven orders, ending with the Queen's own standard over Spinehold, and she sews the patch every Reader wears.
How the card plays
Betsy Ross, American Dream costs 6 crystals and is a 3/6 Garnet Rebel, an Ultra-Rare Legacy character played in Blackbeard decks. Her ability is simple and always on: your other characters get +1/+0 while she is on the field.
Her 6 health makes her hard to remove in a fight, so she can hang back and keep powering the team. Build a wide field first, then add her. A cheap attacker like Rebel, Two Sided Hound goes from 2 power to 3, and Redcoats still blocks with Guard but hits back harder. Stack her with The Flag, which gives your characters +1/+1, and even small Rebels start winning trades. The field holds 5 characters, so leave room for her.
- Playable in decks led by Edward Teach "Blackbeard", and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Garnet.
- In the Blackbeard starter deck (1 copy). Deck code:
LC2-Aj4BPwFAAUEBQgFDAUQCRQFGAkcBSAFJAkoBSwFMAU0BTgFPAlACUQFSAVMCVAFVAVYBVwFYAVkBWgFbAVwBXQJeAW9C - A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.
Questions about Betsy Ross
Who designed the American flag?
The National Archives credits Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, though it says it is unclear how Congress came to choose his design. Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes on June 14, 1777.
Who was William Canby?
He was Betsy Ross's grandson. In 1870 he presented her flag story to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, saying she had told it to him herself, and that paper made her a national icon.
Card art
The standard version of Betsy Ross, American Dream. The Full Art above is a rare version that can appear in packs.
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