| Don't
Tread on Me
The symbol of the coiled rattlesnake on a yellow banner with the motto Dont Tread On Me appeared on the flag used as the personal standard for the commander-in-chief of the first Continental Navy in 1776.
The standard is known as the Gadsden flag because Christopher Gadsden, a delegate to the Continental Congress from South Carolina who served on the naval committee responsible for executing Congress’s resolution to create a Continental Navy, is credited for introducing the flag as a symbol of the fledgling navy.
Commodore Esek Hopkins, from Rhode Island, flew the flag on the frigate Alfred in command of the four-ship navy. The first corps of marines mustered into the small navy adopted the symbol by painting it onto the drums that they carried into battle. | 
