First Navy Jack vs. Gadsden Flag: What’s the Difference?
Both flags carry a rattlesnake and the motto “Don’t Tread on Me,” and both trace back to the first months of the Continental Navy. People mix them up all the time. They are different flags, though, with different designs, different histories, and very different levels of historical certainty. This guide explains how to tell them apart, where each came from, and how the U.S. Navy uses the striped “rattlesnake jack” today.
New here? Start with our Gadsden flag history and our guide to what “Don’t Tread On Me” means.
The Quick Answer
- Gadsden flag: a yellow field with a coiled rattlesnake ready to strike and the motto beneath it.
- First Navy Jack: thirteen red and white stripes with an uncoiled rattlesnake stretched across them and “Dont Tread on Me” on the lowest white stripe.
The Gadsden flag’s 1776 history is well documented. The First Navy Jack’s design is a later reconstruction that the Navy’s own historians say “rests on no firm base of historical evidence.”
What Each Flag Looks Like
The Gadsden Flag
The Gadsden flag shows a timber rattlesnake coiled on a plain yellow field, often sitting on a patch of green grass, with “DONT TREAD ON ME” in black letters below. The South Carolina Provincial Congress’s journal for February 9, 1776, described the flag Christopher Gadsden presented as “a yellow field, with a lively representation of a rattle-snake in the middle, in the attitude of going to strike.”
The First Navy Jack
The First Navy Jack is made of thirteen horizontal stripes, alternating red and white. A rattlesnake is stretched out across them rather than coiled, and the lowest white stripe reads “DONT TREAD ON ME.” Wikipedia notes the snake is usually drawn with red scales on its back. A jack is the flag a ship flies from the jackstaff at the bow while moored or at anchor, so this flag was made to be flown from ships rather than carried on land.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Gadsden Flag | First Navy Jack | |
|---|---|---|
| Field | Solid yellow | 13 red and white stripes |
| Snake | Coiled, ready to strike | Uncoiled, stretched across the stripes |
| Motto | “Dont Tread on Me” below the snake | “Dont Tread on Me” on the lowest stripe |
| Earliest record | Presented by Christopher Gadsden, Feb. 9, 1776 | Hopkins’s “strip’d jack,” Jan. 1776 (design not described) |
| Original use | Personal standard of Commodore Esek Hopkins | Continental Navy jack (design disputed) |
| Historical certainty | “No doubt as to the authenticity” (Navy historians) | “The evidence is inconclusive” (Navy historians) |
| Modern official use | None as a U.S. military flag | U.S. Navy jack 1975–76 and 2002–19; now flown by the oldest active warship |
| Popular association | Liberty, libertarianism, the Tea Party | Navy heritage, post-9/11 resolve |
Origins of the Gadsden Flag
The Continental Congress created the Continental Navy by a resolution of October 13, 1775. Christopher Gadsden, a South Carolina delegate who helped outfit the new fleet, designed a yellow rattlesnake standard for its commander in chief, Commodore Esek Hopkins. The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) states that in early 1776 Hopkins “used a personal standard designed by Christopher Gadsden,” and that “there is no doubt as to the authenticity of Hopkins’s personal standard, usually referred to as ‘the Gadsden flag.’”
Hopkins’s own January 1776 “Signals for the American Fleet” called for “The Standard at the Main top G. Masthead, with the strip’d Jack and Ensign at their proper places.” The NHHC notes that “the standard” there means the Gadsden flag. For the full story, see our Gadsden flag history.
Origins of the First Navy Jack
That same signal book is the only written description of the Continental Navy’s jack from the Revolution itself, and all it says is “strip’d Jack.” According to the NHHC, “No document says that the jack had a rattlesnake or motto on it.”
The familiar design, with the snake stretched across thirteen stripes, became the standard version later. Wikipedia notes that “since about 1880” the jack has traditionally been drawn this way, after the design appeared in a color plate in Admiral George Henry Preble’s influential History of the Flag of the United States.
The Debate: Was the Striped Jack Really Flown in 1775–76?
This is the main thing separating the two flags. The NHHC puts it directly: there is “a widespread belief” that Continental Navy ships flew a striped jack with a rattlesnake and the motto, but “that belief, however, rests on no firm base of historical evidence.”
Evidence for a rattlesnake on stripes:
- An August 1776 London print by Thomas Hart, presented as a portrait of Esek Hopkins, shows a warship flying a striped flag with a rattlesnake and the motto “Don’t Tread Upon Me.”
- In 1778 Benjamin Franklin and John Adams wrote that the warships of South Carolina flew “a rattlesnake in the middle of thirteen stripes.”
- A May 1776 letter from New Providence in the Bahamas, printed in London, described the American fleet’s colors as “striped under the Union” with a standard bearing a rattlesnake.
Evidence against it, or at least not for it:
- Hopkins describes only a “strip’d jack” and elsewhere a “striped flagg,” with no mention of a snake.
- American merchant ships often flew a plain red and white striped flag. The NHHC says there is “a good chance” Hopkins’s jack was that plain flag.
- The Hart print is “obviously fanciful,” in the NHHC’s words: it shows a young man, though Hopkins was 58 in 1776. Its rattlesnake flag also flies at the stern, where an ensign goes, not at the bow, where a jack goes.
- John Jay wrote in March 1776 that Congress had made “no order as yet” about colors. He had seen a rattlesnake flag designed for one ship, but doubted the device “was generally adopted by the fleet.”
The NHHC’s conclusion is that “the historical evidence makes it impossible to say for certain whether the Continental Navy used the striped rattlesnake flag as its jack,” but the evidence “does suggest strong connections” between the rattlesnake motto and the Navy’s earliest traditions. For example, in 1777 Continental Navy officers proposed a captain’s epaulet embroidered with a rattlesnake and the motto “don’t tread on me.”
How the Navy Uses the Rattlesnake Jack Today
Whatever was flown in 1776, the modern Navy has adopted the striped rattlesnake jack several times. According to the NHHC:
- Bicentennial (1975–76): SECNAV Instruction 10520.3 replaced the union jack with the rattlesnake jack from October 13, 1975, the Navy’s 200th birthday, through December 31, 1976.
- Oldest ship (from 1980): SECNAV Instruction 10520.4 of August 18, 1980, gave the rattlesnake jack to the commissioned ship with the longest total time in active status. Ships that have held it include USS Dixie, USS Independence, and USS Kitty Hawk.
- War on Terrorism (2002–2019): SECNAV Instruction 10520.6 of May 31, 2002, put the rattlesnake jack on the whole fleet “for the duration of the Global War on Terrorism.” Wikipedia notes most ships switched on September 11, 2002, the first anniversary of the attacks.
- Return to the union jack (2019): On February 21, 2019, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson ordered the fleet back to the union jack effective June 4, 2019, the anniversary of the Battle of Midway.
- Current status: The Navy restored the oldest-ship custom, not counting USS Constitution. As of June 4, 2019, the NHHC says, “the only warship authorized to fly the rattlesnake jack is USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19),” with USS Mount Whitney next in line.
The Gadsden flag, by contrast, has no current official role in the U.S. military, though it remains popular with service members and veterans.
Which One Should You Fly?
If you want the documented 1776 flag of the Continental Navy’s commander in chief, and the flag most people mean by “Don’t Tread on Me,” choose the Gadsden flag. If you want to honor Navy service, especially the post-9/11 fleet, the First Navy Jack is the natural pick. Browse flags and gear at the Our Gadsden Flag store.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between the First Navy Jack and the Gadsden flag?
The Gadsden flag has a coiled rattlesnake on a solid yellow field. The First Navy Jack has an uncoiled rattlesnake across thirteen red and white stripes. Both carry the motto “Dont Tread on Me.”
Did the Continental Navy really fly the First Navy Jack?
It is uncertain. The Navy’s Naval History and Heritage Command says the belief “rests on no firm base of historical evidence” and that the only period description calls it a “strip’d jack,” which may have been a plain striped flag.
Was the Gadsden flag a Navy flag?
Yes. It was the personal standard of Commodore Esek Hopkins, commander in chief of the Continental Navy fleet, in early 1776. Navy historians say there is no doubt about its authenticity.
Does the Navy still fly the First Navy Jack?
Only on one ship. The whole fleet flew it from 2002 until June 4, 2019. Since then it is reserved for the active warship with the longest service, which as of 2019 was USS Blue Ridge.
Why did the Navy bring the rattlesnake jack back in 2002?
A May 31, 2002, Secretary of the Navy instruction ordered it flown fleet-wide for the duration of the Global War on Terrorism. Most ships raised it on September 11, 2002.
Why is the snake coiled on one flag and straight on the other?
The Gadsden flag was described in 1776 as showing the snake “in the attitude of going to strike.” The jack’s straight snake comes from the striped design that became standard around 1880 after Preble’s flag history. Neither design choice is explained in Revolutionary-era records.
Sources
- Naval History and Heritage Command, “The U.S. Navy’s Jack.” https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/banners/usnavy-jack.html
- Wikipedia, “First Navy Jack.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Navy_Jack
- Wikipedia, “Gadsden flag.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_flag
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, “Don’t Tread on Me.” https://www.fws.gov/story/dont-tread-me