SNAKE FLAGS

Part of the mission of Blog STORMBRINGER is to fight ignorance and to enlighten the uninformed. Following Friday's post WHERE DO I STAND we recieved the following comment:

That "snake flag" as you call it is the Gadsdon flag, It is the battle flag of "The green mountain boys" A revolutionary war MILITIA that conducted a gurrilla war on the britts. It is Very much a flag of rebellion.

Misspellings aside, the gentleman is mistaken on at least three counts. Explanation follows:



JOIN, OR DIE

The rattlesnake as a symbol of resistance to the British in Colonial America, actually had its origins in the "JOIN, or DIE" political cartoon penned by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 during the French and Indian War. Franklin's famous woodcut showed a snake cut into 8 sections representing the colonies. Franklin said of the rattlesnake; "She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders."



The Green Mountain Boys flag did NOT have a rattlesnake.

The Green Mountain Boys flag is a green field and, in a azure canton, a constellation of 13 5-pointed stars arranged in a natural pattern. Its still in use today as the Regimental Colors of the Vermont National Guard. Furthermore, the Green Mountain Boys were not a militia, they were a regular regiment of the Continental Army:

A Green Mountain Boys Regiment was authorized by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1775 and became part of the Northern Army. Colonel Seth Warner and a regiment of 500 men were called the Green Mountain Rangers. The illustrations are the uniforms of the Rangers. Before this time, the Green Mountain Boys had no formal uniform, wearing primarily bucksin jackets and breeches.



Flag of the South

Colonel Christopher Gadsden was representing his home state of South Carolina at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, PA when he designed the famous flag. He was one of seven members of the Marine committee who were outfitting 5 companies of Marines to accompany the Navy on their first mission. The flag's design and color matched the drums carried by the first US Marines.

Col. Gadsen presented the flag to the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Navy Commodore Esek Hopkins, to serve as his personal standard on his flagship. Col. Gadsden also presented a copy to the Congress of South Carolina.



Not to be confused with the First Navy Jack

The First Navy Jack features an UNCOILED rattlesnake and the words "Don't Tread On Me" on a background of 13 stripes. There is question if this flag was flown prior to modern times - it appears to have been designed by English artist Thomas Hart as background art.

Commodore Hopkins, Commander-in-Chief of the American Fleet", by Thomas Hart

Flag experts (vexiologists) speculate that either the English artist Thomas Hart either did not know about the practice of rattlesnakes to coil in defense - or did, and intended to insult the fledgling American Navy as a weak and vulnerable creature as a rattlesnake is when not coiled and ready to strike, slithering on the ground, trying to escape, with its motto "(Please) Don't Tread On Me!".



Culpepper Minutemen

The flag of the Culpepper Minutemen - of Culpepper Virginia - had a coiled rattlesnake on a white background and added "Liberty or Death" to "Dont Tread On Me." The Proctor's Regiment of Westchester, PA, and the Rhode Island Militia Artillery flags also had coiled rattlesnakes. All four American designed "Rattlesnake Flags" show COILED rattlesnakes.



NOT a 'Flag of Rebellion'

To me the Snake Flag represents resistance to the threat of foreign control and domination. I fly the Snake flag here on Blog STORMBRINGER and on my car in the spirit of the TEA Party, which is to say the Spirit of Independance and the Rights and Freedoms of the American People, as espoused and enshrined in our founding documents; the Declaration of Independance, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers.

These days there is a lot of talk of a coming revolution. Personally I do not tolerate such talk - no matter how bad things are they would be ten thousand times worse if the United States dissolved and we descended into civil war.

I have seen such wars and believe me; we do not want this here. There are other ways.


"I'm not advocating sedition, but I will not bow down before tyranny either."


THIS is the flag that I love:




- STORMBRINGER SENDS