GETTYSBURG, Pa. — You may not recognize a Gadsden flag by name, but you’ve probably seen one — a flag with a coiled rattlesnake and the warning “Don’t tread on me” that was flown by colonists rebelling against the British.

At the Gettysburg Museum & Visitor Center bookstore, shoppers can find the Gadsden flag on shot glasses, mugs, magnets and pins. An employee told The Evening Sun in Hanover that they were the only items in the store related to the Revolutionary War.

Recently, the flag has been adopted by some conservative Republicans and Tea Party protesters, so one battlefield enthusiast questions the decision by the bookstore to sell items with the emblem.

Paul Gioni of Mahwah, N.J., said he contacted the National Park Service and the newspaper after a recent visit to the park.

“It isn’t sold in a historically relevant context,” he said. “This is blatantly political merchandise.”

Cindy Small of the nonprofit Gettysburg Foundation, which operates the bookstore, said the Gadsden flag merchandise serves a goal of representing the broader context of American history. Small also said there are connections between the Gadsden flag and the fighting at Gettysburg.

“During the Civil War, the flag was used in some Southern states as a symbol of secession,” she said.

Sale of the Gadsden flag merchandise at Gettysburg has received approval from park officials, which is required for all merchandise sold at national parks, Gettysburg spokeswoman Katie Lawhon said.

National Park Service spokesman David Barna said the merchandise falls in line with efforts to educate the public. “The Gadsden flag, to us, is a piece of history,” he said. “At these Civil War sites, we don’t try to just have Civil War history. But we try to pique people’s interest in history throughout the nation.”

National Park bookstores have come under fire in the past for selling some items, for example a book linking the Grand Canyon to Noah’s flood and books of American Indian folklore such as one saying bears formed the Devil’s Tower. Protests against the Gettysburg store’s sales of bobblehead dolls of President Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, led to their removal in March.

Barna said the Park Service follows strict guidelines to prevent the appearance of religious or political affiliations.

“We’re very careful about what we do, especially in an election year,” Barna said. “These items with the Gadsden flag were not selected to have anything to do with current political issues out there.”