After the New England colonies adopted the pine tree as a symbol, the southern colonies began using a rattlesnake. The rattlesnake may have been selected after an article in Ben Franklin's, “The Pennsylvania Gazzette” presented the idea of the rattlesnake being a means of retribution for the wrongs against America.
South Carolina had adopted a rattlesnake flag prior to the Fort Moultrie flag. It was adopted at the suggestion of Colonel Christopher Gadsden. The rattlesnake flag had a yellow field with a coiled rattlesnake and the words “Don't Tread On Me” and was presented to Commodore Esek Hopkins, commander-in-chief of the fleet constructed by Congress and hoisted on the Alfred on December 3, 1775. At the same time a rattlesnake flag showing a rattlesnake and red and white stripes by John Paul Jones as the jack of the Navy. 1
- Hooper, Van B. Flags of America. ideal. 1961.
