7/7/2023 0 Comments Battle snake ridgeSecond, no one suggests that the pine tree flag was the Continental Navy jack, even though that flag appears in the same print. First, the flags in these prints are not at the bow, where a jack would go, but at the stern, the proper place for the national ensign. Some writers have thought that the rattlesnake flag in these prints represents the "strip'd jack" Hopkins refers to in his "Signals for the American Fleet." The appearance of a rattlesnake flag in the print by Hart, however, is not conclusive proof that the Continental Navy jack had a rattlesnake on it. One, to the viewer's right, flies a white flag, with a tree, and the mottos "Liberty Tree," and "An appeal to God." Another warship, to the viewer's left, flies a striped flag, with a rattlesnake and the motto "Don't Tread Upon Me." In the prints, behind the commodore, several warships are displayed. The French caption on the second print states that it is sold at Thomas Hart's shop in London. A variation, rendered in English and French, was apparently based on the first. The print, in English, was produced by Thomas Hart, in London, England, in August 1776. Since American merchant ships often displayed a simple red and white striped flag, there is a good chance that the striped jack to which Hopkins refers was the plain, striped flag used by American merchant ships.Īn 18th-century print contemporary with the Revolution shows a striped flag with a rattlesnake and the motto "Don't Tread on Me." The print purports to be a portrait of Esek Hopkins, but is obviously fanciful since it shows a man in the vigor of youth, when in 1776 Hopkins was 58. Elsewhere, Hopkins mentions using a "striped flag" as a signal. The only written description of the Continental Navy jack contemporary with the American Revolution appears in Commodore Hopkins's "Signals for the American Fleet," January 1776, where it is described as "the strip'd jack." No document says that the jack had a rattlesnake or motto on it. This flag consisted of a yellow field with a coiled snake and the motto "Don't Tread on Me." There is no doubt as to the authenticity of Hopkins's personal standard, usually referred to as "the Gadsden flag." In early 1776 Commodore Esek Hopkins, the first and only commander in chief of the Continental Navy fleet, used a personal standard designed by Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina. On 27 February 1777, a group of Continental Navy officers proposed that the full dress uniform of Continental Navy captains include a gold epaulet on the right shoulder with "the figure of a Rattle Snake Embroider'd on the Strap. The image of the rattlesnake and the motto "Don't Tread on Me" certainly had associations with the Continental Navy. The rattlesnake and the motto also appeared on military accoutrements, such as drums, and on state paper currency, during the Revolution. Two American military units of the Revolution are known to have used the rattlesnake and the "Don't Tread on Me" motto: Proctor's Independent Battalion, of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and Sullivan's Life Guard during the Rhode Island campaign of 1777. The rattlesnake emerged as a symbol of the English colonies of North America about the time of the Seven Years War, when it appeared in newspaper prints with the motto "Join or Die." By the time of the War of Independence, the rattlesnake, frequently used in conjunction with the motto "Don't Tread on Me," was a common symbol for the United States, its independent spirit, and its resistance to tyranny. There is reason to believe that the Continental Navy jack was simply a red and white striped flag with no other adornment. The only question in doubt is whether the Continental Navy actually used a red and white striped flag with a rattlesnake and the motto "Don't Tread on Me" as its jack. It is well documented that the rattlesnake and the motto "Don't Tread on Me" were used together on several flags during the War of Independence. There is a widespread belief that ships of the Continental Navy flew a jack consisting of alternating red and white stripes, having the image of a rattlesnake stretched out across it, with the motto "Don't Tread on Me." That belief, however, rests on no firm base of historical evidence. The United States Navy originated as the Continental Navy, established early in the American Revolution by the Continental Congress by a resolution of 13 October 1775. On a sailing vessel, the jack is hoisted at the jack-staff shipped at the bowsprit cap when at anchor or in port. For countries whose colors have no canton, the jack is simply a small national ensign. In the United States Navy, it is a blue flag containing a star for each state. A jack is a flag corresponding in appearance to the union or canton of the national ensign.
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