Note 36 — X. Reminiscences.
Reading edition
In 1776 was adopted the standard to be used by the commander-in-chief of the American navy, “being a yellow field, with a lively representation of a rattlesnake in the middle, in the attitude of striking;” underneath were the words, “Don’t tread on me.”
The same year the cruisers of the colony of Massachusetts hoisted a white flag, with a green pine-tree and the motto, “Appeal to Heaven.”