Culpeper Ensign
11-07-2007
First Navy Jack to be flown at Twelfth
Belfast Newsletter
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news?articleid=3020901
A flag dating back more than two centuries and inscribed with Don't Tread on Me, has just been added to the plethora of flags hoisted this Twelfth between Antrim and Kells.
The First Navy Jack, also known as the Culpeper Ensign, dates back to 1775 on the Delaware River in America.
It was uncovered by the North Ulster Victims' Support Group and is now on display at the Ladyhill and Tannaghmore Rural Community Group at the Steeple Road.
A spokesman for the group said hoisting the flag is a move by Ladyhill and Tannaghmore Rural Community Group, "to stand shoulder to shoulder" with others who along with them face "the cosh of terrorism".
A spokesman for the Ladyhill and Tannaghmore Community Group said the area has traditionally been strong in Ulster-Scots culture and heritage.
He said many people from the area have left and gone on to make a new life in America, "so the links with ourselves and our American cousins remain to this day".
He said: "Today, when America and many other countries around the world have come under the cosh of terrorism, the Ulsterman and woman can relate to the situation these countries find themselves in, as many lives have been lost and tears shed during over 30 years of genocide against the Ulster people by Irish terrorists.
"Ladyhill and Tannaghmore Rural Community Group want to stand shoulder to shoulder with our kinsfolk in their day of trouble and intend to fly this flag from July 4 (American Independence Day) until the end of Ulster's Twelfth celebrations."
The First Navy Jack is an American flag made up of 13 red and white stripes, a picture of a moving rattle snake and bearing the inscription, Don't Tread on Me.
An early version of the flag was first flown in America on February 1775 on the Delaware River. More recently, it has become the symbol of resistance by America against terrorism.
On May 31, 2002, Gordon England, secretary for the Department of the Navy in Washington, DC, issued a directive to ships and stations that they fly the First Navy Jack during the global war on terrorism.
Each ship and craft in the US Navy was issued with four flags per ship.
Subsequently, there was a Naval rendition of the Culpeper Minutemen Flag. This was one of the first flags to show 13 stripes, one for each American colony, along with the rattlesnake (although some sources say that this was a poisonous sea snake). It features the snake above the warning, Don't Tread On Me. As previously mentioned, the rattle snake had become a traditional symbol of the American Colonies and the Colonial Navy apparently adopted the sea going version of this and the Culpeper name stuck with it.
This
flag is believed to have flown aboard the Continental Fleet's flagship Alfred,
in January, 1776. This flag or one of it's variations was used by American ships
throughout the Revolution.
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