This is twice-removed from The Truth:
Peleg D. Harrison (NOT George Washington), 1905, The Stars and Stripes and Other American Flags, he wrote it out like this:
"We take the star from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing Liberty."
"We take the stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity, representing our liberty." —George Washington