Liberty or Death: Don't Tread on Me

Painted in 1943, James Lindsay McCreery’s Liberty or Death: Don’t Tread on Me is a celebration of victory over the British during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). The painting depicts weapons, gear, and ephemera used to plan and fight that war, along with five of the battle flags flown by colonial forces. From left to right, they are the Hopkinson flag, Gadsden flag, Bunker Hill flag, Bennington flag, and Betsy Ross flag. At the base of McCreery’s composition, a mortar, cannons, and cannon balls flank three oversized maps of key American victories at Yorktown, Saratoga, and Bennington. In the center of the painting, the tools and weapons of the colonial forces are massed together, including a musket with bayonet, saber, pistol, powder horn, ammunition pouch, canteen, drum and drumsticks, hat, bag, and cloak. Also among this assembly are a spontoon, which was a polearm used in the Revolutionary War, and a sponge used to clear cannons between firings. McCreery even included the bucket of water used to soak that sponge behind the spokes of the front wheel—a minor but important detail that exemplifies the artist’s commitment to accuracy. In the distance stand ranks of American soldiers.