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First Navy Jack
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==History== [[File:US Naval Jack 13 stripes.svg|upright|thumb|{{FIAV|historical}} Historically probable [[Ensign of the United States#Civilian ensigns|first naval jack]].]] [[File:Naval jack of the United States (1975β1976).png|upright|thumb|{{FIAV|variant}} Variant featuring all-gold rattlesnake; typically seen during the 1970s.]] In late 1775, as the first ships of the [[Continental Navy]] readied in the [[Delaware River]], Commodore [[Esek Hopkins]] issued an instruction directing his vessels to fly a "striped" jack and [[Naval ensign|ensign]]. The exact design of these flags is unknown. But, since about 1880, this jack has traditionally been depicted as consisting of thirteen red and white stripes charged with an uncoiled [[rattlesnake]] and the motto "[[Don't tread on me|Dont Tread on Me]]" {{sic}}; this design appeared in a color plate in Admiral [[George Henry Preble]]'s influential ''History of the Flag of the United States''. Recent scholarship, however, has demonstrated that this design never existed but "was a 19th-century mistake based on an erroneous 1776 engraving".<ref>Ansoff, Peter. (2004). "The First Navy Jack." ''Raven: A Journal of Vexillology, 11'', {{ISSN|1071-0043}}, {{LCCN|94642220}}.</ref> In 1778, [[John Adams]] and [[Benjamin Franklin]] wrote a letter to the Ambassador of the [[Kingdom of Sicily]], thanking him for allowing entry of revolutionary ships into Sicilian ports. The letter describes the new flag of the colonies according to the [[Flag of the United States#First flag|1777 Flag Resolution]], but also describes a flag of "South Carolina, a rattlesnake, in the middle of the thirteen stripes."<ref>''The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States,'' Volume 2 Available [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(dc002578))]</ref> The rattlesnake had long been a symbol in the colonies of resistance and defiance to [[the Crown]]. The phrase ''"[[Don't Tread on Me]]"'' may have been coined during the [[American Revolutionary War]], a variant perhaps of an earlier image. A snake severed in segments and labelled with the names of the colonies and the legend "[[Join, or Die]]", had first been published in [[Benjamin Franklin]]'s ''[[Pennsylvania Gazette]]'' in 1754, as a [[political cartoon]] reflecting on the [[Albany Congress]]. The rattlesnake (specifically, the [[Timber Rattlesnake]]) is especially significant and symbolic to the [[American Revolution]]. The rattle has thirteen layers, signifying the original [[Thirteen Colonies]]. Additionally, the snake does not strike until provoked, a characteristic expressed by the phrase "[[Don't tread on me]]" (see [[Gadsden flag]]). Typically the flag's rattlesnake is depicted with red scales on its back,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.navy.mil/view_image.asp?id=2636|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170605224439/http://www.navy.mil/view_image.asp?id=2636|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 5, 2017|title=Navy.mil - View Image|website=www.navy.mil|access-date=Jun 6, 2019}}</ref> but some have depicted the snake as all-gold.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/06/04/why-the-union-jack-is-back-and-here-to-stay/|title=Why the Union Jack is back and here to stay|first=Mark D.|last=Faram|date=Jun 5, 2019|website=Navy Times|access-date=Jun 6, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.navyhistory.org/2015/08/legati-ad-defendendam-libertatem-uss-john-warner-commissioned/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602173212/https://www.navyhistory.org/2015/08/legati-ad-defendendam-libertatem-uss-john-warner-commissioned/|archive-date=2019-06-02|title=Legati ad Defendendam Libertatem - USS John Warner Commissioned | Naval Historical Foundation|date=Jun 2, 2019|access-date=Jun 6, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stripes.com/news/navy-returning-to-traditional-blue-and-white-flag-after-17-years-of-flying-first-navy-jack-1.569720|title=Navy returning to traditional blue-and-white flag after 17 years of flying First Navy Jack|website=Stars and Stripes|access-date=Jun 6, 2019}}</ref>
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