Skip to main content

Secondary sourcePainting1775

USS Alfred

Arman Manookian · 1775

A Continental Navy frigate on which John Paul Jones served as first lieutenant and later as commander, and where he raised an early American flag.

Jones served as first lieutenant aboard Alfred and is remembered for raising the Continental flag on her deck in 1775.

Ask John Paul Jones about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Ink drawing of a uniformed officer in a white coat raising a flag with a coiled rattlesnake and the words 'Don't Tread on Me' on a wooden deck, watched by a crowd of sailors and officers in period dress.
Arman Manookian, Jones hoists rattlesnake flag on the Alfred, ink drawing. Honolulu Academy of Arts.

About this source

What it is

USS Alfred was a 24-gun frigate of the Continental Navy, originally the merchant ship Black Prince launched in 1774. An ink drawing by artist Arman Manookian shows an officer raising a flag with a coiled rattlesnake and the words "Don't Tread on Me" aboard the ship, watched by sailors and officers.

Why it matters

Alfred was one of the first ships of the new Continental Navy, and the scene depicted is traditionally linked to John Paul Jones, who served aboard her early in his naval career. The rattlesnake flag was an early symbol of American resistance, showing how the fledgling navy built its own identity.

Look closer

  • This is a later artist's drawing, not a photograph from the time — what details might be invented or symbolic rather than strictly accurate?
  • Why might raising a flag with this particular symbol have mattered to the sailors watching?
  • What does the crowd of onlookers in the drawing suggest about how this moment was remembered?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of John Paul Jones on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More John Paul Jones sources

Meet the AI John Paul Jones →
Oval painted portrait of a man in a black tricorn hat with a cockade, wearing a navy coat with gold epaulettes over a red waistcoat, white cravat, and a blue ribbon with a gold medal. Dark brown background.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of John Paul Jones

Charles Willson Peale · c. 1781

Photograph of a bronze bust of a man in an 18th-century military coat with epaulettes, a high cravat, and a buttoned jacket, on a pedestal inscribed with text. Plain grey background.Sculpture

Primary source

Bust of John Paul Jones

Jean-Antoine Houdon · 1780

Black-and-white engraving titled 'Paul Jones the Pirate': a bearded man in a feathered hat with a skull-and-crossbones emblem brandishes a pistol and sword on a ship deck amid smoke and fighting sailors, with a cannon in the foreground.Painting

Primary source

Paul Jones the Pirate

A. Park of London

Scan of a handwritten two-column manuscript on aged, browned paper. The left column is in English under the heading 'Treaty of Alliance', and the right column is in French under 'Traité d'alliance eventuelle et défensive'. The text opens by naming the Most Christian King and the United States of North America.Document

Primary source

Treaty of Alliance with France

6 February 1778

Front of a silver-toned round medal showing a left-facing profile bust of a man in a high-collared military coat with epaulette. Inscribed around the rim: IOANNI PAVLO JONES CLASSIS PRAEFECTO, and at the bottom COMITIA AMERICANA.Artifact

Primary source

John Paul Jones Congressional Gold Medal

Augustin Dupré · 1787

Ready when you are

Start chatting with John Paul Jones now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions