3x5ft Embroidered Don't Tread on Me Flag
The History of the Gadsen Flag:
Benjamin Franklin was famous for his
sense of humor. In 1751, he wrote an ironic interpretation in his
Pennsylvania Gazette suggesting that as a way to thank the Brits for
their policy of sending convicted felons to America, American colonists
should send rattlesnakes to England. Three years later, in 1754, he
used a snake to illustrate another point. This time not so humorous.
Franklin sketched, carved, and published the first known political
cartoon in an American newspaper. It was the image of a snake cut into
eight sections. The sections represented the individual colonies and
the curves of the snake suggested the coastline. New England was
combined into one section as the head of the snake. South Carolina was
at the tail. Beneath the snake were the ominous words "Join, or Die."
By 1775, the snake symbol wasn't just being printed in newspapers. It
was appearing all over the colonies ... on uniform buttons ... on paper
money ... and of course, on banners and flags. It is unknown for
certain where, when, or by whom the familiar coiled rattlesnake was
first used with the warning "Don't Tread on Me." In the fall of 1775, the British were
occupying Boston and the young Continental Army was holed up in
Cambridge, woefully short on arms and ammunition. At the Battle of
Bunker Hill, Washington's troops had been so low on gunpowder that they
were ordered "not to fire until you see the whites of their eyes." In
October, a merchant ship called The Black Prince returned to
Philadelphia from a voyage to England. On board were private letters to
the Second Continental Congress that informed them that the British
government was sending two ships to America loaded with arms and
gunpowder for the British troops. Congress decided that General
Washington needed those arms more than General Howe. A plan was hatched
to capture the British cargo ships.
They authorized the creation
of a Continental Navy, starting with four ships. The frigate that
carried the information from England, the Black Prince, was one of the
four. It was purchased, converted to a man-of-war, and renamed the
Alfred. To accompany the Navy on their first mission, Congress also
authorized the mustering of five companies of Marines. The Alfred and
its sailors and marines went on to achieve some of the most notable
victories of the American Revolution. But that's not the story we're
interested in here. What's particularly interesting for us is that some
of the Marines that enlisted that month in Philadelphia were carrying
drums painted yellow, emblazoned with a fierce rattlesnake, coiled and
ready to strike, with thirteen rattles, and sporting the motto "Don't
Tread on Me." This anonymous writer, having "nothing to do with public
affairs" and "in order to divert an idle hour," speculated on why a
snake might be chosen as a symbol for America. "She never begins an
attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an
emblem of magnanimity and true courage. ... she never wounds 'till she
has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him
against the danger of treading on her." Although Benjamin Franklin
helped create the American rattlesnake symbol, his name isn't generally
attached to the rattlesnake flag. The yellow "don't tread on me"
standard is usually called a Gadsden flag, or less commonly, a Hopkins
flag. These two individuals were mulling about Philadelphia at the same
time, making important contributions to American history and the
history of the rattlesnake flag.
Christopher Gadsden was an
American patriot if ever there was one. He led Sons of Liberty in South
Carolina starting in 1765, and was later made a colonel in the
Continental Army. In 1775 he was in Philadelphia representing his home
state in the Continental Congress. He was also one of three members of
the Marine Committee who decided to outfit and man the Alfred and its
sister ships. Gadsden and Congress chose a Rhode Island man, Esek
Hopkins, as the commander-in-chief of the Navy. The flag that Hopkins
used as his personal standard on the Alfred is the one we would now
recognize. It's likely that John Paul Jones, as the first lieutenant on
the Alfred, ran it up the gaff. It's generally accepted that Hopkins'
flag was presented to him by Christopher Gadsden, who felt it was
especially important for the commodore to have a distinctive personal
standard. Gadsden also presented a copy of this flag to his state
legislature in Charleston. This is recorded in the South Carolina
congressional journals: "Col. Gadsden presented to the Congress an
elegant standard, such as is to be used by the commander in chief of
the American navy; being a yellow field, with a lively representation
of a rattle-snake in the middle, in the attitude of going to strike,
and these words underneath, "Don't Tread on Me!"
