Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Gadsden Flag - Don't Tread On Me

In some old dusty attic
Undisturbed for many years
There lies a tattered banner
That is stained with blood and tears
By men who knew that freedom
Must be fought for by the free
And died to save a ragged flag
That said Don't Tread on Me

Don't Tread on Me
I'm a rattlesnake with
Diamonds down my back
When other men retreat
That's just the time that I attack
Because a dream that's worth defending
Is a dream that's bound to be
A ragged flag that said
Don't Tread on Me

Two hundred years of glory
And the glory's just begun
We may have lost some battles
But these colors never run
We drew the line at Valley Forge
We held at Bunker Hill
The cannon smoke is lifting
I can see that banner still

Don't Tread on me
I'm a mountain lion
And courage is my name
I tamed a wild country
But I'm wild just the same
And from that rocky Boston harbor
To the California Sea
A ragged flag that said
Don't Tread on Me

This nation isn't what we've done
It's what we've got to do
Remember that United States
Can only start with you
We better be recalling
What this country's all about
And rally round that ragged flag
And hear the people shout
Don't Tread on Me
I'm a grizzly bear
That's not afraid to bite
I don't look for trouble
But when trouble comes I fight
Because my daddy taught me freedom
Has no lifetime guarantee
A ragged flag that said
Don't Tread on Me

The winds of change are blowing
And they're sure to shake this land
We stood all we can take
And now it's time to take a stand
Let's tell the men who make the laws
In Washington D.C.
Unfurl again
That ragged flag that said
Don't Tread on Me

Don't Tread on me
I'm an eagle
Who is clawing at the sky
I want that banner waving up
Where eagles dare to fly
And blazing in the sunlight
So that friend and foe can see
A ragged flag that said
Don't Tread on Me

Don't Tread on us
We're Americans
And we were born to lead
Our skin is every color
And our faith is every creed
We are 300 million people
But on one thing we agree
A ragged flag that said
Don't Tread on Me

Michael O'Donoghue
© 1983 Least Loved Music, BMI



U.S. Navy to Revive "Rattle Snake" Flag; "Don't Tread on Me!"
Drudge Report 9/2/02 Matt Drudge

Posted on 09/01/2002 5:36:08 PM PDT by MrJingles

DRUDGE REPORT SUNDAY SEPT 01, 2002 08:43:27 ET

U.S. Navy Revives Old Rattlesnake Flag, 'Don't Tread On Me,' To Fly On All Vessels

The U.S. Navy is ordering its fleet to fly the defiant "Don't Tread on Me" rattlesnake flag aboard all its vessels to emphasize America's determination in the war on terror, reports TIME magazine on Monday.

Navy Secretary Gordon England's directive said the resurrected flag "represents an historic reminder of the nation's and Navy's origin and will to persevere and triumph."

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The Gadsden Flag

The rattlesnake was the favorite animal emblem of the Americans even before the Revolution. In 1751 Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette carried a bitter article protesting the British practice of sending convicts to America. The author suggested tht the colonists return the favor by shipping "a cargo of rattlesnakes, which could be distributed in St. James Park, Spring Garden, and other places of pleasure, and particularly in the noblemen's gardens." Three years later the same paper printed the picture (as seen above) of a snake as a commentary on the Albany Congress. To remind the delegates of the danger of disunity, the serpent was shown cut to pieces. Each segment is marked with the name of a colony, and the motto "Join or Die" below. Other newspapers took up the snake theme.

By 1774 the segments of the snake had grown together, and the motto had been changed to read: "United Now Alive and Free Firm on this Basis Liberty Shall Stand and Thus Supported Ever Bless Our Land Till Time Becomes Eternity"

Other authors felt the rattlesnake was a good example of America's virtues. They argued that it is unique to America; individually its rattles produce no sound, but united they can be heard by all; and while it does not attack unless provoked, it is deadly to step upon one.

The Gadsden Flag

The Gadsden Flag: The American Revolutionary period was a time of intense but controlled individualism - when self-directing responsible individuals again and again decided for themselves what they should do, and did it- without needing anyone else to give them an assignment or supervise them in carrying it out.

Such a person was the patriot Colonel Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina. He had seen and liked a bright yellow banner with a hissing, coiled rattlesnake rising up in the center, and beneath the serpent the same words that appeared on the Striped Rattlesnake Flag - Don't Tread On Me. Colonel Gadsden made a copy of this flag and submitted the design to the Provincial Congress in South Carolina. Commodore Esek Hopkins, commander of the new Continental fleet, carried a similar flag in February, 1776, when his ships put to sea for the first time.

Hopkins captured large stores of British cannon and military supplies in the Bahamas. His cruise marked the salt-water baptism of the American Navy, and it saw the first landing of the Corps of Marines, on whose drums the Gadsden symbol was painted.

The 1st Navy Jack

The 1st Navy Jack: One of the first flags flown by our Navy may have been an adaptation of the "Rebellious Stripes" created at the time of the Stamp Act Congress. It featured thirteen red and white stripes. Stretched across them was the rippling form of a rattlesnake, and the words, "DON'T TREAD ON ME"- a striking indication of the colonists' courage and fierce desire for independence.

The flag we know today as the first Navy Jack (sometimes known as the "Culpepper Flag") is believed to have flown aboard the Alfred, flagship of the newly commissioned Continental fleet, in January, 1776. American ships used this flag, or one of its variations, throughout the Revolutionary War. This powerful American symbol was used by the Continental Navy in 1776 and is being used again by the U.S. Navy in the War on Terrorism.


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