<P> Those first ships were used to intercept incoming British ships carrying war supplies to the British troops in the colonies to both deprive the supplies to the British and to supply to the Continental Army . One ship captured by Captain John Manley had 30,000 pairs of shoes on it . However, the admiralty agent demanded his 2 1 / 2 per cent commission before he would release the cargo for Washington's army, so many soldiers marched barefoot in the snow . To aid in this, the Second Continental Congress authorized the mustering of five companies of Marines to accompany the Navy on their first mission . The first Marines enlisted in the city of Philadelphia, and they carried drums painted yellow, depicting a coiled rattlesnake with thirteen rattles, and the motto "Don't Tread on Me ." This is the first recorded mention of the future Gadsden flag's symbolism . </P> <P> At the Congress, Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden represented his home state of South Carolina . He was one of seven members of the Marine Committee who were outfitting the first naval mission . </P> <P> Before the departure of that first mission in December 1775, the newly appointed commander - in - chief of the Navy, Commodore Esek Hopkins, received the yellow rattlesnake flag from Gadsden to serve as the distinctive personal standard of his flagship . It was displayed at the mainmast . Hopkins had previously led The United Companies of the Train of Artillery of the Town of Providence, before being appointed to lead the Navy . The 1775 flag of the Providence Train of Artillery's featured a coiled timber rattlesnake and the motto "Do Not Tread on Me" along with an anchor, cannons and the motto "In God We Hope" on a gold background . The flag presented to Hopkins as Commander of the Continental Navy is a simplified version of that design . </P> <P> Gadsden also presented a copy of this flag to the Congress of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina . This was recorded in the South Carolina congressional journals on February 9, 1776: </P>

Tea party don't tread on me flag