Dont Tread on Me Traditional Cache

For those of you who just want to get out and find caches, I'll give you the information to accomplish that first. If you then want to read a short history of the Gadsden Flag and how the rattlesnake became a symbol of the American Revolution, it's here.

The cache is located just off the Pacific Crest Trail, about 300 feet west of the trail head sign. Follow the trail until the cache is 90° north of you. There you will see some game (deer) trails leading off the PCT. I startled a deer when placing a cache. These trails must be used often because the widest one (the one you should take) is obvious. The trampled grass (or "shine" in tracking lingo) points the way. It is a short few steps from there.

You cannot park along the road near the trail head any longer. There are new signs prohibiting parking. You can park just up (west) the road, on the right, near the public toilets.

The Gadsden Flag first appeared in 1775. It has enjoyed a resurgence in the last few years for the same reason it was created, as a symbol of patriotism and strength. Since 9-11, all U.S. Navy ships fly the First Navy Jack which is likely based on the original Gadsden Flag design. The flag has also been adopted by a political movement to represent disagreement with the government while still remaining loyal. The rock group Metallica released the song “Don’t Tread on Me” and displayed the Gadsden Flag of the cover of the album that featured the song. Even a punk-rock group, Titus Andronicus, often has the flag displayed while on tour. Nike used a logo of a rattlesnake coiled around a soccer ball for their “Don’t Tread on Me” campaign supporting the U.S. Men’s Soccer Team.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with first using the rattlesnake to represent American Unity. He wrote a satirical commentary in 1751 about the British policy of sending felons to America. He suggested thanking the Brits by sending rattlesnakes to England.

In 1854 he used the snake to illustrate the need for the colonies to unite and fight, not the British, but for defense in the French and Indian War. Franklin sketched, carved and published the first political cartoon published in an American newspaper. It was the image of a snake cut into eight sections. The sections represented the individual colonies and the curves of the snake suggested the coastline. New England was combined into one section as the head of the snake. South Carolina was at the tail. Beneath the snake were the ominous words "Join, or Die." It was a superstition at the time that if you cut a snake into sections and resembled it by sunset, it would come back to life. This cartoon was reprinted throughout the colonies.

In 1775, Franklin noticed a picture of a rattlesnake with the words “Don’t Tread on Me” painted on the drum of a Marine. He went on to write article, expressing why he believed the rattlesnake should be chosen as a symbol of America. In this writing Franklin demonstrated his keen observational skills. Excerpts of the article follow:

“I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness, that of any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids. She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. As if anxious to prevent all pretensions of quarreling with her, the weapons with which nature has furnished her, she conceals in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears to be a most defenseless animal; and even when those weapons are shown and extended for her defense, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds however small, are decisive and fatal. Conscious of this, she never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her.
'Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together, so as never to be separated but by breaking them to pieces. One of those rattles singly, is incapable of producing sound, but the ringing of thirteen together, is sufficient to alarm the boldest man living.

The Rattle-Snake is solitary, and associates with her kind only when it is necessary for their preservation. In winter, the warmth of a number together will preserve their lives, while singly, they would probably perish. The power of fascination attributed to her, by a generous construction, may be understood to mean, that those who consider the liberty and blessings which America affords, and once come over to her, never afterwards leave her, but spend their lives with her. She strongly resembles America in this, that she is beautiful in youth and her beauty increaseth with her age, her tongue also is blue and forked as the lightning, and her abode is among impenetrable rocks.

I confess I was wholly at a loss what to make of the rattles, 'till I went back and counted them and found them just thirteen, exactly the number of the Colonies united in America; and I recollected too that this was the only part of the Snake which increased in numbers. ..."

In October, 1775, Christopher Gadsden (later Colonel of the Continental Army) was representing his home state, South Carolina, in the Continental Congress. He was one of three members of the Marine Committee, who were outfitting newly obtained ships for the Continental Navy. Gadsden felt it was important for the newly appointed (the first and only) Commander-and-Chief of the Navy to have a distinctive personal standard. In December, 1775, he presented to the Commodore, Esek Hopkins, the flag which he had designed. The Commodore used it as his personal flag aboard his ship the Alfred. The flag was most likely run up the by the Senior Lieutenant (today’s Executive Officer), John Paul Jones.

In February, 1776, it was reported that the jack flag (First Navy Jack) displayed on the Alfred was a small, nearly square flag of thirteen alternate red and white stripes bearing a crawling rattlesnake with the legend “Dont Tread on Me” beneath it. Though there is some question as to when the First Navy Jack was first flown. It is likely that the Gadsden Flag influenced the design. The Continental Navy certainly had associations with the rattlesnake symbol and the motto "Dont Tread on Me". On 27 February 1777, a group of Continental Navy officers proposed that the full dress uniform of Continental Navy captains include a gold epaulet on the right shoulder with "the figure of a Rattle Snake Embroider'd on the Strap . . . with the Motto don't tread on me."

In 1754, Benjamin Franklin sketched, carved, and published the first known political cartoon in an American newspaper. The head represented New England while the sections represented the remaining colonies and the curves of the snake suggested the coastline.	A rattlesnake fighting the English Dragon on Paul Revere's modified "Join or Die" snake from the masthead of Thomas's Boston Journal, July 7, 1774.	The Gadsden Flag. Made of yellow silk with a painted coiled rattlesnake with 13 rattles and the motto "Dont Tread On Me" (without apostrophe). It is probably coincidence that the motto has 13 letters.
The First Navy Jack. The influence of The Gadsden Flag is obvious. Since1980, the Navy has decreed that the ship with the longest active status shall display the First Navy Jack until decommissioned or transferred to inactive. Then the flag will be passed to the next ship in line. The longest serving ship in the Navy is now the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. Currently, all Navy ships fly the First Naval Jack as a "temporary substitution" for the Jack of the United States "during the Global War on Terrorism". Most vessels made the switch on September 11, 2002, the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks.	The Jack of the United States for which The First Navy Jack is a "temporary substitution" on US Navy ships. However this jack is still used by ships of the Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command, NOAA, and non-governmental entities. "The jack is flown on the bow (front) of a ship and the ensign (U.S. Flag) is flown on the stern (rear) of a ship when anchored or moored. Once underway, the ensign is flown from the main mast."	Featured in the movie "Major Dundee" is a guidon with a coiled rattlesnake (above). In the movie, Major Dundee (Charlton Heston) leads a military unit into Mexico in pursuit of renegades. I do not know if this is an actual US Calvary guidon or a Hollywood creation. However, there are US Army Units that have a rattlesnake on their insignia to represent that unit's service in the Mexican-American War. Two of them are the 164th Field Artillery Battalion and the143rd Artillery Regiment.