Flag of the Month March 2021 - Culpeper Minutemen - With Trivia!

[Mahamotorworks]

It's that time again! The Flag of the Month for March 2021 IS.... The envelope, please...

The Culpeper Minutemen Flag: 1775



March 23, 1775, at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, Patrick Henry gave a speech.  When closing his speech, he said these now famous words "Give me liberty, or give me death!".  These words were so poignant, that the convention sat in silence for several minutes.  Culpeper, Virginia is located between Washington DC, and Charlottesville.  "This flag represented a group of minutemen from Culpeper, Virginia. These men formed part of Colonel Patrick Henry's First Virginia Regiment of 1775. Three hundred Culpeper Minutemen led by Colonel Stevens marched toward Williamsburg at the beginning of the fighting. Their unusual dress alarmed the people as they marched through the country. They had bucks' tails in their hats and tomahawks and scalping knives hung from their belts. Their flag's central symbol was a coiled rattlesnake about to strike, and below it the words "DON'T TREAD ON ME." At each side were the words of Patrick Henry "LIBERTY OR DEATH!"" (Ferrigan, 2021). 



Why the Rattlesnake?

"The rattlesnake was the favorite animal emblem of the Americans even before the Revolution. In 1751 Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette carried a bitter article protesting the British practice of sending convicts to America. The author suggested that the colonists return the favor by shipping a cargo of rattlesnakes to England, which could then be distributed in the noblemen's gardens." (Ferrigan, 2021).  The rattlesnake appears on other flags that follow in history such as the Gadsden and the Traditional First Continental Navy Jacks. 

"The Culpeper militia next participated in the Battle of Great Bridge in December 1775. The battle was a complete American victory. There were accounts of the battle that suggested the British were unnerved by the reputation of the frontiersmen." (Wikipedia, 2020).

 

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