Algerian–American War (1785–1795):

After Spain concluded a peace treaty with Algiers in 1785, the Algerian corsair captains entered the waters of the Atlantic and attacked American ships, refusing to release them except for large sums of money. Two American ships, the schooner Maria, and the Dauphin were captured by Algerian pirates in July 1785 and the survivors forced into slavery, their ransom set at $60,000. A rumor that Benjamin Franklin, who was en route from France to Philadelphia about that time, had been captured by Barbary pirates, caused considerable upset in the U.S.

The establishment of the U.S. Constitution in 1789 empowered the federal government to levy taxes and maintain a military, authorities previously absent under the Articles of Confederation. The nascent nation’s first naval vessels were commissioned in 1794 to counter Algerian piracy.

Thomas Jefferson, who was elected to the presidency twice, was inclined to the idea of confronting Algiers with force. He wrote in his autobiography: I was very unwilling that we should acquiesce in the European humiliation of paying a tribute to those lawless pirates and endeavored to form an association of the powers subject to habitual depredations from them.

A proposal was made to put up a coalition of naval warships from nations at war with the Barbary states, provided that naval operations would be directed against Algerian vessels in particular, and then impose a maritime blockade on North Africa. When this proposal was presented to the concerned countries, France refused, and Spain apologized for not accepting it, because of its recent treaty with Algiers. The proposal was favored by Portugal, Malta, Naples, Venice, Denmark and Sweden. But the project failed when the U.S. Congress objected to it for fear of its high financial costs, and more Algerian ships attacked American ships because of their lack of association with Algiers by any treaty in this period. Thus, on February 1, 1791, the U.S. Congress was forced to allocate $40,000 to free American captives in Algiers. But two years later, it passed the “Naval Act of 1794” on the need to establish a defensive naval fleet, but stipulated in one of its articles that the project be stopped if an agreement was reached with Algiers.

During the presidency of George Washington (April 30, 1789 – 1797), and after America failed to form an American-European alliance against the Maghreb countries, the U.S. announced its desire to establish friendly relations with Algiers in February 1792, and reported this to the Dey Hassan III Pasha, like how Great Britain bought peace and security for its ships.

Treaty of Peace and Amity between the United States of America and Hasan Pasha, Dey of Algiers, his dîwân, and his subjects: a scan of the original document handwritten in Osmanli, signed September 5, 1795 in Algiers.

Reconciliation took place between the two parties, and the dey pledged to work with Tunisia and Tripoli, to also sign this treaty, and peace would be achieved for America in the entire Mediterranean basin. When the American government began negotiating with Algiers,^[29] the Dey asked for $2,435,000. He later reduec that and on September 5, 1795, American negotiator Joseph Donaldson signed a peace treaty with the dey of Algiers, with 22 articles that included an upfront payment of $642,500 in specie (silver coinage) for peace, the release of American captives, expenses, and various gifts for the dey’s royal court and family.

 America suffered another humiliation when it sent tribute carried by the large armed frigate “USS George Washington (1798)” to Algiers; Dey Mustapha Pasha forced U.S. commodore William Bainbridge to hoist an Ottoman Algerian flag over his warship before sailing to Constantinople carrying tribute to the Ottoman sultan in 1800. As Lieutenant and consul William Eaton informed newly appointed Secretary of State John Marshall in 1800, “It is a maxim of the Barbary States, that ‘The Christians who would be on good terms with them must fight well or pay well.'”

America paid to Algiers during the presidency of George Washington and his successor, John Adams (1797-1801), $1,000,000, or a fifth of the government’s annual budget, in tribute. But paying tribute for peace did not sit well for those proud Americans as a new state. They declared war on those Barbary pirates. This war began during Thomas Jefferson’s term when he refused to pay an amount that greatly increased when he became president. A U.S. naval fleet was sent on May 13, 1801, under the command of Commodore Richard Dale. Other notable officers in the fleet included Stephen Decatur, assigned to the frigate USS Essex and William Bainbridge in command of Essex which was attached to Commodore Richard Dale‘s squadron which also included Philadelphia, President and Enterprise. They raised Hell with the Algerians and their neighbors.

Bombardment of Tripoli on 3 August 1804

The ship Philadelphia was blockading Tripoli’s harbor when she ran aground on an uncharted reef. Under fire from shore batteries and Tripolitan gunboats, Captain William Bainbridge tried to refloat her by casting off all of her guns and other objects that weighed her down. The ship was eventually captured and the crew taken prisoners and enslaved. To prevent this powerful warship from being used by the Barbary pirates, the ship was later destroyed by a raiding party of American Marines and soldiers and allied sailors from the armed forces of King Ferdinand of Sicily, led by Stephen Decatur. To go into their harbor and burn that ship right under their noses was considered a great victory by US Marines and Comador Stephen Decatur.

A treaty was reached on June 30, 1805, under which America paid Algiers $60,000 ransom for the prisoners, and agreed to continue sending gifts to the dey and replace its consul with another one, then withdrew its fleet from the Mediterranean in 1807.

When the war broke out between America and Britain in 1812, the regent on the British throne, George IV, sent a letter to Dey Haji Ali Pasha (1809-1815) confirming to him the bonds of friendship that united the two countries and declaring his country’s readiness to defend Algiers against every aggressor as long as these ties remained. By that he intended to win over Algiers to Britain against America.

James Madison recommended that Congress declare the “existence of a state of war between the United States and the Dey and Regency of Algiers.” While Congress did not formally declare a state of war, they did pass legislation, enacted on March 3, 1815, that authorized the president to use the U.S. Navy, “as judged requisite by the President” to protect the “commerce and seamen” of the United States on the “Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and adjoining seas.” Congress also authorized the president to grant the U.S. Navy the ability to seize all vessels and goods belonging to Algiers. The legislation also authorized the president to commission privateers for the same purpose.

Commodore Decatur’s Squadron capturing the Algerian pirate ship Mashuda, on 17 Jun. Mashuda, flagship of the Algerian Navy, 1815

During the reign of the Dey Omar Pasha (1815-1817), American-Algerian relations worsened when the Dey began to demand an increase in the annual tribute.

Commodore Decatur and the dey of Algiers Haji Ali Pasha

By now, the Americans had had enough of these Muslim pirates from Algeria and Tripole. Stephen Decatur‘s squadron left New York on May 20, 1815, with orders to destroy Algerine vessels and bring the Dey of Algiers to terms for attacking American shipping. He reached the Strait of Gibraltar on June 15, 1815, and began his mission. After learning that several Algerine cruisers had crossed the Strait of Gibraltar shortly before he did, Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr. decided to give them chase and cut them off before they could reach Algiers. His succeeding action was called the Battel of Gata.

Commanding a fleet of nine vessels, he encountered the Algerine flagship Mashouda (also spelled ‘Mashuda’ or ‘Meshuda’) of forty-six guns off Cape Gata, Spain. Heavily outnumbered, Admiral Rais Hamidou tried to flee to the port of Algiers, but was overtaken by the American squadron. After receiving damage from the Constellation and with the admiral himself being wounded, the Algerines instead decided to change course and try for the safety of a neutral port along the Spanish coast.

The Constellation and the sloop Ontario were able to close in and hammer the Algerine frigate. The Algerines resorted to replying with musket fire at close range, but Decatur was able to get his flagship, the Guerriere, alongside the Algerine frigate. Firing a devastating broadside, the Guerriere crippled the enemy and killed the Algerine admiral. Decatur ceased firing, expecting the Algerine ship to surrender. Instead the Algerines continued to fight hopelessly with muskets as long as they were able. As a result, Decatur had the sloop Epervier fire broadsides into the Meshuda with disastrous effect. The bloodied Algerines then struck their colors  and ended the battle.

As one of his last acts as President of the United States, President Washington ordered the construction of 6 powerful war ships. Instead, an agreement was pushed through Congress to complete construction of only three: The USS Constitution in Boston, USS United States in Philadelphia, and USS Constellation in Baltimore.

Construction of the other three frigates was paused briefly, but it did not last long. While peace was being pursued in the Mediterranean, the United States began facing threats from the French in the Caribbean. The French seizure of U.S. merchant ships in the Caribbean pushed Congress to continue construction of all six frigates.

With the first of these three ships, The USS Constitution, a U.S. Navy squadron led by Stephen Decatur arrived in the Mediterranean and, defeating the Algerian fleet, promptly forced a new negotiated peace with Algiers, as well as Tunis and Tripoli, finally ending all the trouble with these Muslim pirates.

(In the following post next week, I relate the exploits of the best of these three new American war ships: The USS Constitution.)

I wish to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11.  I could recall the actions of the brave firemen who climbed up those burning buildings, and it would be appropriate.  However, to make the commemoration more meaningful I much prefer to tell you a true story that happened that day about a brave blond girl,  which you have probably never heard. I sent it before, but it tells the story of 9/11 so well; and I love it.
Ron

Heather Penny

On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, 1st Lt. Heather Penney arrived at work at Andrews Air Force Base.  She grabbed a seat around the briefing table. She was just returning from two weeks of air combat training in Nevada, but in a very real way, Penney was still a rookie without much experience in a supersonic fighter.  But she was the first woman ever confirmed for aerial combat in the US.  And she later flew many missions in Iraq on two tours there.   

She was born on an Air Force base. Her father, Col. John Penney, was a pilot with multiple combat missions at the stick of America’s A-7 Corsair II under his belt in Vietnam. 

Along with the other folks there at Andrews, she had just seen the tv pictures of the Twin Towers.  Everyone was immediately aware of the World Trade Center crash, but like most Americans at the time, they assumed it was nothing more than a tragic accident. 

In fact, many dismissed the story, assuming it had been a personal plane, like a small Cessna, that likely hit the building. But 17 minutes after the first aircraft hit the North Tower, another Boeing 767, this time United Airlines Flight 175, hit the South Tower. Most of the nation didn’t know it yet, but the pilots at Andrews Air Force Base did; America was at war.

 At 9:37 a.m., a third hijacked aircraft, this time American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon, just a 30-minute drive from the briefing room where Penney sat.

Almost simultaneously, another message came through the pipeline: there was another hijackaircraft in the air and it was heading straight for Washington DC. 

Heather and her group were not in the regular Air Force.  They were in the Virginia Air National Guard.  But they knew that they were the closest ones that could guard the Capital area.  And they had taken an oath to guard the American people. 

They sprang into action, but despite their professionalism, confusion swelled within the ranks. No one had anticipated such an attack, and there were no standing procedures to follow. Penney knew the hijacked aircraft would have to be intercepted and shot down before it could reach a target like the Capitol building, but there were no armed F-16s standing by for the job. 

Every Fighting Falcon on the tarmac was equipped with dummy rounds and fake munitions meant to mimic real ordnance for training. It would take at least an hour to get the ammunition changed out and have missiles mounted on the aircraft’s hardpoints. 

“We know we have to get airborne. We know we have to protect. I was so eager, so impatient, and yet so frustrated and angry, because we couldn’t,” Penney said. 

“As I said, we’re with the DC Guard. We’re not part of our nation’s alert squadron.” 

But waiting an hour wasn’t an option. The United States was under attack and the men and women of Andrews Air Force Base may have been the only thing standing between the American Capitol and what was now a 250,000-pound missile full of innocent people heading straight for it. 

Penney was too junior in rank to do anything about it, but just then she saw Col. Marc “Sass” Sasseville scrambling to put on his flight suit, having just received the go-ahead from Vice President Dick Cheney to put fighters in the air and start searching for the hijacked airliner. 

“Lucky, you’re coming with me,” the colonel shouted.  (That was what they called Penney) 

Jumping at the opportunity to get into the fight, Penney headed off behind Sass, running to their respective F-16s. But the junior pilot had never had to scramble a fighter in combat conditions before. 

Like any pilot, she deferred to her training, hurriedly beginning the checklist required to safely start an F-16 and get it ready to fly. 

“Lucky, what are you doing? Get your butt up there and let’s go!” Sasseville shouted. So, Penney jumped into the cockpit, fired up her engines, and screamed to her ground crew to yank out the wheel chocks keeping the aircraft from rolling. 

As she began to taxi down the runway, her crew chief still had his headphones plugged into the fuselage, allowing the two of them to communicate directly. He was still pulling safety pins out of the fighter as it rolled down the tarmac. 

By the time her crew chief unplugged, Sass was already in the air. Penney whispered to herself, “God, don’t let me [expletive] up” and followed right behind. They had made it into the sky, and only then did the gravity of the situation begin to set in. 

Other Air Defense fighters from the regular Air Force were already in action, but they were all way out over the Atlantic.  They had assumed from their training that any threat to the US would be coming from that direction.  That left “Lucky” and “Sass” as the only defenders of the DC area. 

As they flew low over the smoldering Pentagon at over 400 mph, the senior pilot considered their options. He already knew that with no munitions on board, they were on a suicide mission. That wasn’t the part troubling him. It was the aerodynamic design of their target that gave him pause. 

“We don’t train to bring down airliners,” said Sasseville later. 

“If you just hit the engine, it could still glide, and you could guide it to a target. My thought was the cockpit or the wing.” 

As they headed out to find Flight 93 which was now only 200 miles from DC, Col. Sasseville told Penney that he was going for the cockpit of the airliner.  Penney decided in her mind that she would go for the tail.  “Sass” was planning to hit his ejection button upon impact and maybe survive.  However, “Lucky” was not planning on hitting her’s.  She was planning to die upon impact. 

As you know, Todd Beamer and his three new friends brought down Flight 93 themselves.  And you have heard many times about how brave they were and how brave those firemen were to climb up into those burning buildings.  But I am sending you this because you may not have heard about how brave this young blond girl was.  Those firemen knew they were heading into danger, but “Lucky” knew she was going to die for sure as she streaked ahead in her Fighting Falcon!!! 

Ron

Back in the early 1900’s Britain calculated she could easily break up the tottering Ottoman Empire in order to get Mesopotamia with Kirkuk and its oil under control, to pull the plug on the emerging German oil line to Baghdad and to take Mesopotamia and the oil-rich Middle East including Persia itself. The plan is what became known in history as World War I.

As the corespondent Rolf Nef wrote: “It didn’t quite turn out as hoped by London.  Instead of being a war lasting a few weeks as had been expected, the undertaking was huge and costly, lasted over four years, cost millions of lives and was fought on a global theater.”

It specifically all started at the end June (1914) when the Prince of Austria, Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, got shot in Sarajewo. That event started the war with the declaration of Austria against Serbia, which in turn drove Russia against Austria and kick-started all the tangled web of mutual defense treaties across Europe. By August 1914, Russia, Austria, Germany, France and UK were all at war.”

With the world preoccupied with war, Ottoman Turks took the opportunity to exterminate millions of non-Muslims in the Greek Genocide, Assyrian Genocide and Armenian Genocide.

As the war progressed, longer than anyone had anticipated, the British grew desperately short of ammunition. Jewish biochemist Chaim Weizmann developed a bacterial fermentation process of ethanol-butanol-acetone which greatly helped Britain in manufacturing explosives.

This was countered by the German “Haber-Bosch process,” developed by Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, whereby synthetic ammonia was extracted from the atmosphere and used to produce nitrates needed to manufacture their explosives.

The American ship Lusitania had been the largest and most sumptuous passenger ship in the world at the time. Though President Woodrow Wilson’s re-election slogan was “He Kept Us Out of War,” the United States was covertly supplying ammunition to the British. Intelligence sources leaked that the Lusitania, in addition to passengers, was used to transport ammunition to the British.

The Imperial German Embassy published advertisements in 50 American newspapers warning passengers not to board the Lusitania. On May 1, 1915, the Lusitania departed from New York to Liverpool, England, sailing south of Ireland in an area Kaiser Wilhelm’s Imperial forces had declared a “war zone.” On May 15, a German U-boat fired a torpedo which struck the Lusitania, and it sank in 18 minutes, killing 1,198. The crisis caused an immediate change in public opinion and the United States entered World War I on APRIL 6, 1917.

In 1917, American troops began arriving in Europe at the rate of 10,000 a day to fight ‘the Hun.’ Some of the American soldiers were infected with the Spanish Flu. In January 1918, American soldiers at Fort Riley, Kansas, were reportedly inoculated with an experimental bacterial meningitis vaccine before being sent to Europe, where they were in close quarters and unsanitary conditions.

The website www.army.mil published (May 19, 2017) “Scientists learn history of Spanish Flu at Fort Riley”: “With the assistance of director of military affairs at Kansas State University, scientists received the history of the H1N1 Influenza, or Spanish Flu, that struck Fort Riley and spread across the world in 1918. Fort Riley is believed to be the origin of the world-wide epidemic that killed millions, said Robert Smith, director of the museum division at Fort Riley. ‘It was probably the greatest pandemic the world has ever seen,’ he said. ‘They (researchers) think it killed between 2 and 4 percent of the world’s population. It was even greater than the bubonic plague back in the 14th century.'”

The United States enlisted 4 million soldiers and spent 35 billion dollars. World-wide, over 70 million military personnel were mobilized.

George M. Cohen wrote the popular song, “Over There,” for which he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1936:

(“Over there, over there, Send the word, send the word over there

That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming

The drums rum-tumming everywhere. So prepare, say a prayer,

Send the word, send the word to beware – We’ll be over, we’re coming over,

And we won’t come back till it’s over, over there.”)

On May 30, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson addressed the Grand Army of the Republic: “In the providence of God, America will once more have an opportunity to show the world that she was born to serve mankind.”

Germany’s Red Baron dominated the skies. The Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, was officially credited with shooting down 80 Allied aircraft during World War I, making him the leading ace of the war. His legendary career ended on April 21, 1918, when he was shot down and killed in a dogfight over France. 

 Eddie Rickenbaker joined the U.S. 94th Aero Pursuit Squadron and shot down 26 German planes, making him the leading American ace of all time.

A pilot in Rickenbacker’s squadron was Theodore Roosevelt’s son, Quentin, who was unfortunately shot down in a dogfight, July 14, 1918.

On November 7, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson issued a Proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer: “Even in the midst of the tragedy of a world shaken by war and immeasurable disaster we can see the great blessings God has bestowed upon us. We have been given the opportunity to serve mankind as we once served ourselves in the great day of our Declaration of Independence, by taking up arms against a tyranny that threatened to master and debase men everywhere. Our duty not only to defend our own rights as a nation but to defend also the rights of free men throughout the world.”

On October 8, 1918, an American battalion was pinned down by machine gun fire along the Decauville rail-line north of Chatel-Chehery, France. The Germans were along a ridge with 32 machine gun nests in a row. If they could be dislodged and defeated, it would be a turning point in the war. However, they were so well defended that American troops could not overcome them.

That is when it is my opinion that God directly intervened. That part of the whole American army was just stopped and pinned down. Then one single Americn soldier walked up there and started at one end of the ridge and cleaned-out that entire German force by himself, alone. His name was Alvin C. York. He became our greatest hero of WW1. He was just an uneducated country boy. Here is what happened as related in his own recorded words. (See how much you thing God was involved.):

Sergeant Alvin. C. York described: “The Germans got us. They stopped us dead in our tracks. Their machine guns were up there on the heights overlooking us and well hidden, and we couldn’t tell for certain where the terrible heavy fire was coming from. Those machine guns were spitting fire and cutting down the undergrowth all around me.”

With all but 8 of his whole platoon killed, Sergeant York took charge and proceeded to take out all 32 machine guns, kill 28 of the enemy and take 132 captive. Sergeant Alvin. C. York received the Medal of Honor. His story, edited by Tom Skeyhill, was printed in The Washington Post, March 17, 1929: “Some of them officers have been saying that I being a mountain boy and accustomed to the woods done all these things the right way jes by instinct.

I hadn’t never got much larnin’ from books, except the Bible. Maybe my instincts are more natural, but that ain’t enough to account for the way I come out alive, with all those German soldiers raining death on me. I’m a-telling you the hand of God must have been in that fight. Jes think of them 30 machine guns raining fire on me point-blank from a range of only 25 yards and all them-there rifles and pistols besides, those bombs, and then those men charged with fixed bayonets, and I never receiving a scratch, and bringing in 132 prisoners. I have got only one explanation, that God must have heard my prayers.”

Sargent York said further: “When you have God behind you, you can come out on top every time”; and “The fear of God makes a hero; the fear of man makes a coward.”

Sergeant Alvin C. York received a host of awards for his World War I heroism, most notably the Medal of Honor for capturing 132 German soldiers and destroying those machine gun nests. He was also awarded the French Croix de Guerre and the French Legion of Honor. Additionally, he received the World War I Victory Medal and was later awarded the American Campaign Medal for his service during World War II.

Sargent Alvin C. York

Sergeant York’s story was turned into the movie ‘Sergeant York’ starring Gary Cooper. The highest grossing movie of 1941, York donated his proceeds to fund a Bible college, The York Bible Institute.

On November 11, 1918, the war ended with the signing of the Armistice. World War I left combined casualties of nearly 18 million killed or missing and 20 million wounded.

Five days after the signing of the Armistice, President Wilson proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer: “Complete victory has brought us, not peace alone, but the confident promise of a new day. God has indeed been gracious. While we render thanks for these things, let us not forget to seek the Divine guidance in the performance of those duties, and divine mercy and forgiveness for all errors of act or purpose. Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate a day of thanksgiving and prayer, and invite the people throughout the land to cease upon that day from their ordinary occupations and in their several homes and places of worship to render thanks to God, the Ruler of Nations.”

President Wilson said in his 6th Annual Address, December 2, 1918: “What we all thank God for with deepest gratitude is that our men went in force into the line of battle just at the critical moment when the whole fate of the world seemed to hang in the balance.”

Ron

Lafayette believed in the American Revolution, though he was a French citizen and a young French militay officer. While still in his teens, he purchased a ship and persuraded some other French Officers to sail to America and fight for its revolution against the British. General Washington was so grateful, and since he had no son, he more or less adopted young Lafayette. Following are some of his amazing exploits. Do read about them:

Marquis de Lafayette was born September 6, 1757. His father died before he was two-years-old and his mother died when he was twelve, leaving him to inherit their fortune. He inherited their very large fortune without restrictions. Fortunately he was very mature for his age, already very well educated, and quite disciplined.

At 14-years-old, he joined the French Military and, at age 16, became a captain. He married Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles, whose family was related to King Louis the Sixteenth.

At age 19, against the King’s wishes, Lafayette purchased a ship and persuaded several French officers to accompany him to fight in the American Revolution, arriving June 13, 1777.

Trained in the French Military, he was a descendant of one of the oldest French families, with ancestors who fought alongside of Joan of Arc, and previously fought in the Crusades against Muslim occupiers of what had been the Christian Middle East.

Commander-in-Chief George Washington appointed Lafayette as a Major General in the Continental Army. He insisted on serving without pay, covering all his own expenses. Lafayette was one of several European military leaders who courageously helped in the American Revolution.

Marquis de Lafayette endured the freezing winter at Valley Forge, 1777-1778. He was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777. Lafayette served with a soldier who was wounded at the Battle of Trenton, James Monroe, the future 5th U.S. President.

Lafayette fought with distinction at the: Battle of Gloucester, Battle of Barren Hill, Battle of Monmouth, Battle of Rhode Island, and Battle of Green Spring.

Returning to France, Lafayette worked with Ben Franklin to persuade King Louis the Sixteenth to send General Rochambeau with ships and 6,000 French soldiers to America’s aid.

Lafayette led troops against the traitor Benedict Arnold. He also commanded at Yorktown, helping to pressure Cornwallis to surrender. On October 19, 1781, British General Cornwallis surrendered.

Three years later, Charles Willson Peale painted a full-length portrait of the event, depicting Marquis de Lafayette with General George Washington, together with Washington’s trusted aide-de-camp Lieutenant Colonel Tench Tilghman of Maryland. The portrait was placed in the Maryland State House by the approval of the Governor and Samuel Chase.

Lafayette had never known his father, and as George Washington never had children of his own. Washington, viewed Lafayette as an “adopted son.”

After the war, Washington wrote a belatedly note to Lafayette from Mount Vernon, June 25, 1785: “My Dear Marquis, I stand before you as a culprit: but to repent and be forgiven are the precepts of Heaven: I do the former, do you practice the latter, and it will be participation of a divine attribute. Yet I am not barren of excuses for this seeming inattention; frequent absences from home, a round of company when at it, and the pressure of many matters, might be urged as apologies for my long silence. I now congratulate you, and my heart does it more effectually than my pen, on your safe arrival in Paris, from your voyage from this Country.”

Lafayette named his son after George Washington – “Georges Washington Louis Gilbert de La Fayette.”

Lafayette joined the French abolitionist Society of the Friends of the Blacks, which advocated the end of the slave trade and equal rights for blacks. Lafayette’s plan to emancipate all slaves was thought impossible by some. Lafayette replied: “If it be a wild scheme, I had rather be mad in this way, than to be thought wise in the other tasks.”

Washington encouraged Lafayette, April 5, 1783: “The scheme which you propose as a precedent, to encourage the emancipation of the black people of your Country from that state of Bondage in which they are held, is a striking evidence of the benevolence of your Heart. I shall be happy to join you in so laudable a work; but will defer going into a detail of the business, ’till I have the pleasure of seeing you.”

In the later years of his life, Washington attempted to take four of the farms on his plantation and make them into rental properties, thus transitioning away from slavery.

On May 10, 1786, George Washington wrote from to Marquis de Lafayette: “Your late purchase of an estate in the colony of Cayenne, with a view of emancipating the slaves on it, is a generous and noble proof of your humanity. Would to God a like spirit would diffuse itself generally into the minds of the people of this country.”

On August 15, 1787, in a letter from Philadelphia to the Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington wrote: “I am not less ardent in my wish that you may succeed in your plan of toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself to any mode of worship, I am disposed to indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road to Heaven which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest and easiest, and the least liable to exception.”

On May 28, 1788, George Washington wrote to Marquis de Lafayette regarding the U.S. Constitution: “A few short weeks will determine the political fate of America. I will confess to you sincerely, my dear Marquis; it will be so much beyond any thing we had a right to imagine or expect eighteen months ago, that it will demonstrate as visibly the Finger of Providence, as any possible event in the course of human affairs can ever designate it.” (So, that shows what Washington thought about the adoption of our Constitution.)

When the French Revolution began, President Washington wrote to Marquis de Lafayette, July 28, 1791: “I assure you I have often contemplated, with great anxiety, the danger to which you are personally exposed with that French Revolt. To a philanthropic mind the happiness of 24 millions of people cannot be indifferent; and by an American, whose country in the hour of distress received such liberal aid from the French, the disorders and incertitude of that Nation’s present state are to be particularly lamented. We must, however, place a confidence in that Providence who rules great events, trusting that out of confusion He will produce order, and, notwithstanding the dark clouds which may threaten at present, that right will ultimately be established.

Washington continued: On the 6 of this month I returned from a tour through the southern States, which had employed me for more than three months. In the course of this journey I have been highly gratified in observing the flourishing state of the Country, and the good dispositions of the people. Industry and economy have become very fashionable in these parts, which were formerly noted for the opposite qualities, and the labors of man are assisted by the Blessings of Providence.”

The French Revolution spiraled into a bloody Reign of Terror. King Louis the Sixteenth and Queen Marie Antoinette were beheaded in 1793.

Lafayette was imprisoned for five years, with his wife and two daughters choosing to be imprisoned with him. However, when finally Napoleon came into power, he negotiated Lafayette’s release.

On June 10, 1792, from Philadelphia, President Washington wrote to Marquis de Lafayette: “And to the Care of that Providence, whose interposition and protection we have so often experienced, do I cheerfully commit you and your nation, trusting that He will bring order out of confusion, and finally place things upon the ground on which they ought to stand.”

Upon the incredible purchase of the huge Lousiana Territory from Napoleon, President Jefferson asked Lafayette to be the Governor of the Louisiana Territory, but he declined.

Fifty years after the American Revolution began, Marquis de Lafayette visited America again. He traveled over 6,000 miles to 24 States. While on his six month tour of America, Lafayette praised: “The grandeur and prosperity of those happy United States, who, at the same time they nobly secure the complete assertion of American independence, reflect, on every part of the world, the light of a far superior political civilization.”

He admired:

“The national love of liberty of a virtuous resistance to oppression, and institutions founded on the rights of man, and the republican principle of self-government.”

On June 17, 1825, Lafayette helped lay the cornerstone for the Bunker Hill Monument.

Daniel Webster spoke to a crowd of 20,000, which included General Marquis de Lafayette: “God has granted you this sight of your country’s happiness ere you slumber in the grave forever. He has allowed you to behold and to partake of the reward of your patriotic toils; and He has allowed to us, your sons and countrymen, to meet you here, and in the name of the present generation, in the name of your country, in the name of liberty to thank you!”

Beginning with Fayetteville, North Carolina, numerous cities, counties, streets, parks, and ships were named after Lafayette.

Lafayette died in Paris, May 20, 1834.

When word came to America that Marquis de Lafayette had died, President Andrew Jackson wrote to Congress, June 21, 1834: “The afflicting intelligence of the death of the illustrious Lafayette has been received by me this morning. I have issued the general order inclosed to cause appropriate honors to be paid by the Army and Navy to the memory of one so highly venerated and beloved by my countrymen, and whom Providence has been pleased to remove so unexpectedly from the agitating scenes of life.”

In 2002, Marquis de Lafayette was posthumously awarded honorary United States citizenship.

While back in the United States, Lafayette visited the Brandywine battlefield where he had fought alongside of George Washington in 1777. While there, he filled a large trunk with American soil, stating that he wanted it put on his grave. After his death, his son, “Georges Washington Louis Gilbert de La Fayette,” fulfilled his father’s wish.

Ron

In 1788, poet Robert Burns published an ancient Scottish folk song that many sing at New Years celebrations……..”Auld Lang Syne,” meaning “in days of old gone by.”

A similar poem was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1881, titled “Auf Wiedersehen,” meaning “until we meet again.” Longfellow dedicated this poem to the memory of his friend James T. Fields. In it, he alluded to the Bible verse in Hebrews 11:

“By faith women received their dead raised to life again,” and that Heaven is where we will see our friends again forever: “Until we meet again! That is the meaning Of the familiar words, that men repeat at parting in the street. Ah yes, till then! But when death intervening Rends us asunder, with what ceaseless pain We wait for the Again!

Believing, in the midst of our afflictions, That death is a beginning, not an end, We cry to them, and send Farewells, that better might be called predictions, Being fore-shadowings of the future, thrown Into the vast Unknown.

Faith overleaps the confines of our reason, And if by faith, as in old times was said, Women received their dead Raised up to life, then only for a season Our partings are, nor shall we wait in vain; Until we meet again!

James T. Fields was born December 31, 1817. His father was a sea captain and died before Fields was three years old.

James T. Fields was the editor of The Atlantic Monthly, 1862-1870, where he became friends with the most notable writers of his day, including: William Wordsworth, William Makepeace Thackeray, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., and James Russell Lowell.

The Atlantic Monthly published many notable works, including: Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic”; works of Mark Twain; and later, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s response to pacifist clergy who argued that preachers should not get involved in politics. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” referred to Christian and Jewish thinkers such as St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Paul Tillich and Martin Buber.

Another famous writer who had some works published in James T. Fields’ The Atlantic Monthly, was Charles Dickens, author of The Christmas Carol, 1843.

Dickens wrote a relatively unknown work for his ten children titled, The Life of Our Lord, 1849. It was left in the possession of his sister-in-law, Miss Georgia Hogarth. At her death in 1917, it was given to Charles Dicken’s eighth son, Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, who made provision in his Last Will and Testament to have it published.

In March of 1934, Marie Dickens proceeded to have it published in serial form by the Associated Newspapers, Ltd., of London. In it, Charles Dickens wrote:

“My dear children, I am very anxious that you should know something about the History of Jesus Christ. For everybody ought to know about Him. No one ever lived, who was so good, so kind, so gentle, and so sorry for all people who did wrong, or were in anyway ill or miserable, as he was. And he is now in Heaven, where we hope to go, and to meet each other after we are dead, and there be happy always together, you never can think what a good place Heaven is, without knowing who he was and what he did.”

Relaying the Gospel, Dickens continued: “When he came out of the Wilderness, he began to cure sick people by only laying his hand upon them; for God had given him power to heal the sick, and to give sight to the blind, and to do many wonderful and solemn things of which I shall tell you more bye and bye, and which are called the ‘Miracles’ of Christ. I wish you would remember that word, because I shall use it again, and I should like you to know that it means something which is very wonderful and which could not be done without God’s leave and assistance.”

Giving the account of Lazarus, Dickens wrote: “Jesus ordered the stone to be rolled away, which was done. Then, after casting up his eyes, and thanking God, he said, in a loud and solemn voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ and the dead man, Lazarus, restored to life, came out among the people, and went home with his sisters. At this sight many of the people there, believed that Christ was indeed the Son of God, come to instruct and save mankind.”

The Atlantic Monthly published an article by abolitionist minister Thomas Wentworth Higginson, April 1862, titled “Letter to a Young Contributor,” which inspired the young Emily Dickinson. Of Puritan descent, Emily Dickinson’s grandfather Samuel Fowler Dickinson founded Amherst College. Growing up, her family had daily religious observances. At age 13, her father gave her a Bible. She wrote in her letters of church sermons: “We had such a splendid sermon from that Prof Park — I never heard anything like it.”

While Emily Dickinson was attending Amherst College in 1845, there was great religious revival which resulted in the Temperance Movement closing the town’s saloons. At this time, her father, Edward, and sister, Lavinia, publicly declared their faith in Christ and officially joined the Congregationalist Church, August 11, 1850. Emily Dickinson wrote: “I never enjoyed such perfect peace and happiness as the short time in which I felt I had found my savior – it was the – greatest pleasure to commune alone with the great God & to feel that he would listen to my prayers.”

Though attending church regularly for years, she later mentioned in a poem written around 1852, that she still kept the Sabbath: “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church — I keep it, staying at Home.” Though virtually unknown during her lifetime, Emily was a searching soul who allowed religious imagery to find its way into her poems.

She wrote: “Faith — is the Pierless Bridge, Supporting what We see,  Unto the Scene that We do not.”

Emily Dickinson referred to the Creator in her poem “As If The Sea Should Part”: As if the Sea should part, And show a further Sea, And that – a further – and the Three, But a presumption be.

Of Periods of Seas, Unvisited by Shores. Themselves the Verge of Seas to be. Eternity – is Those. Time feels so vast that were it not For an Eternity, I fear me this Circumference, Engross my Finity, To His exclusion, who prepare By rudiments of Size For the stupendous Volume Of His Diameters.

The Atlantic Monthly editor James T. Fields wrote a poem in 1858, titled “The Captain’s Daughter or The Ballad of the Tempest”: “WE were crowded in the cabin, Not a soul would dare to sleep, It was midnight on the waters, And a storm was on the deep.

‘Tis a fearful thing in winter To be shattered by the blast, And to hear the rattling trumpet Thunder, ‘Cut away the mast!’ So we shuddered there in silence, For the stoutest held his breath, While the hungry sea was roaring And the breakers talked with death.

As thus we sat in darkness Each one busy with his prayers, ‘We are lost!’ the captain shouted, As he staggered down the stairs. But his little daughter whispered, As she took his icy hand, ‘Isn’t God upon the ocean, Just the same as on the land?’ Then we kissed the little maiden, And we spake in better cheer, And we anchored safe in harbor When the morn was shining clear.”

Reverend Alfred Barnard Smith helped develop the idea of Youth for Christ with Billy Graham and George Beverly Shea in 1943. He published Living Hymns: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs of the Faith, 1972.

Reverend Alfred Barnard Smith wrote: “I know Who holds the future and I know Who holds my hand. With God things don’t just happen, Everything by Him is planned. So as I face tomorrow, With its problems, large and small, I’ll trust the God of miracles, and give to Him my all!”

Though we may not know what the future holds, we can know Him who holds the future.

Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.”

Zechariah 1:3 “Turn ye unto me and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts.”

Malachi 3:7 “Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.”

Ron

People have heard much about George Washington as General over the Revolutionary War and as President of the new nation. However, they have heard very little about him as a young man. He was such an interesting young man. To rectify that, I have compiled some of his feats as a young man. Do read them below:

As a young lad, one of his most prized possessions was an ax that he was allowed to have. He spent long hours honing that ax to being exceedingly sharp. Then he wanted to try it out. He was not allowed to go into the woods near his house because it was full of bears and panthers and dangerous boars that ran free in those days. So, he needed have a way to try out his new ax. His solution was to go back of the house into the family orchard. He selected a young cherry tree and gloriously chopped it down.

Of course Young Geouge was confronted by his folks about the destroyed cherry tree. It has been confirmed that he never told a lie in his whole life, so he confessed to the deed. It has never been recorded what punishment he received. However, it has become American folk lore that he never told a lie.

It was sparked first in the American colonies by the ambush in 1754 of a French detachment in the Ohio Valley by British militia led by 22-year-old Virginia Colonel George Washington.

It is interesting to me that during the crisis of this war, people turned to Christ all through the colonies. The Great Awakening Revival swept through the American colonies.

One of the notable preachers of this revival was Samuel Davies. He even spread revival across racial lines and was heard by many in Virginia, including Patrick Henry, who credited Davies with “teaching me what an orator should be.”

Rev. Davies regularly invited hundreds of slaves to his home for a Bible study on Saturday evenings, their only free time, and taught them hymns and how to read. Realizing the importance of education, Davies helped found Princeton University, and was chosen as its president.

In 1755, 1,400 British troops marched over the Appalachian Mountains to seize French Fort Duquesne, near present day Pittsburgh. One of the wagon drivers for the British was 21-year-old Daniel Boone.

On July 9, 1755, they passed through a deep wooded ravine along the Monongahela River eight miles south of the fort. Suddenly, they were ambushed by French regulars and Canadians accompanied by Potawatomi and Ottawa Indians. Not accustomed to fighting unless in an open field like in Europe, over 900 British soldiers were annihilated in the Battle of the Wilderness, or Battle of Monongahela.

Colonel George Washington rode back and forth during the battle delivering orders for General Edward Braddock, who was the Commander-in-Chief of British forces in America. General Braddock was trying to get his soldiers into a formation typical of European warfare, which tragically made them an open target for the French and Indians, who were firing from behind trees. Eventually, every British officer on horseback was shot, except Washington.

General Braddock was mortally wounded. Washington carried Braddock from the field. Braddock’s field desk was captured, revealing all the British military plans, enabling the French to surprise and defeat British forces in succeeding battles.

The terrible British losses convinced the Iroquois tribes of Senecas and Cayugas to switch their allegiances to the French.

Before he died, General Braddock gave Washington his battle uniform sash, which Washington reportedly carried with him the rest of his life, even while Commander-in-Chief and President. Washington presided at the burial service for General Braddock, as the chaplain had been wounded. Braddock’s body was buried in the middle of the road so as to prevent it from being found and desecrated by the Indians.

Shortly after the Battle of Monongahela, George Washington wrote from Fort Cumberland to his younger brother, John Augustine Washington, July 18, 1755: “As I have heard, since my arrival at this place, a circumstantial account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of contradicting the first, and of assuring you, that I have not as yet composed the latter. But by the All-Powerful Dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!”

Reports of the defeat of General Braddock at the Battle of Monongahela spread across the country. A short time later, on July 8, 1755, a band of Shawnee Indians massacred the inhabitants of Draper’s Meadow, Virginia. Mary Draper Ingles was kidnapped and taken as far away and Ohio.

At one point during her captivity, she overheard a meeting that the Shawnee had with some Frenchmen. They described in detail the British defeat in the Battle of Monongahela at Duquesne, and how the Indian Chief Red Hawk claimed to have shot Washington eleven times, but did not succeed in killing him. After several months, Mary Draper Ingles escaped in mid-winter, as recorded in her biography, and trekked nearly 1,000 miles back home.

Fifteen years after the Battle of Monongahela, George Washington and Dr. Craik, a close friend of his from his youth, were traveling through those same woods near the Ohio river and Great Kanawha river. There they were met by an old Indian chief, who addressed Washington through an interpreter: “I am a chief and ruler over my tribes. My influence extends to the waters of the great lakes and to the far blue mountains.

I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. It was on the day when the white man’s blood mixed with the streams of our forests that I first beheld this Chief. I called to my young men and said, mark yon tall and daring warrior? He is not of the red-coat tribe-he hath an Indian’s wisdom, and his warriors fight as we do—himself alone exposed. Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies. Our rifles were leveled, rifles which knew not how to miss; `twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we, shielded you.

Seeing you were under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, we immediately ceased to fire at you. I am old and soon shall be gathered to the great council fire of my fathers in the land of shades, but ere I go, there is something bids me speak in the voice of prophecy.”

The Indian Chief continued:

“Listen! The Great Spirit protects that man and guides his destinies. He will become the chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire. I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of the Spirit of Heaven, and who can never die in battle.”

The account of the old Indian warrior chief spread, that: “Washington was never born to be killed by a bullet! I had seventeen fair fires at him with my rifle and after all could not bring him to the ground!”

Washington was especially close to God as a young man.

The qualities of faith, virtue and discipline were evident during this early period of George Washington’s public career, as seen in his actions and correspondence as following recorded:

The young Colonel George Washington wrote from Alexandria, Virginia, to Governor Dinwiddie, February 2, 1756: “I have always, so far as was in my power, endeavored to discourage gambling in camp, and always shall while I have the honor to preside there.”

Colonel Washington wrote from Winchester, Virginia, to Governor Dinwiddie, April 18, 1756: “It gave me infinite concern to find in yours by Governor Innes that any representations should inflame the Assembly against the Virginia regiment, or give cause to suspect the morality and good behaviour of the officers. I have, both by threats and persuasive means, endeavored to discountenance gambling, drinking, swearing, and irregularities of every kind; while I have, on the other hand, practiced every artifice to inspire a laudable emulation in the officers for the service of their country, and to encourage the soldiers in the unerring exercise of their duty.”

Washington issued the following order while at Fort Cumberland in June of 1756: “Colonel Washington has observed that the men of regiment are very profane and reprobate. He takes this opportunity to inform them of his great displeasure at such practices, and assures them, that, if they do not leave them off, they shall be severely punished. The officers are desired, if they hear any man swear, or make use of an oath or execration, to order the offender twenty-five lashes immediately, without a court-martial. For the second offense, he will be more severely punished.”

In 1756, Colonel George Washington issued the order: “Any soldier found drunk shall receive one hundred lashes without benefit of court-martial.”

About a year after General Braddock’s defeat, Colonel Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie from Winchester, Virginia: “With this small company of irregulars, with whom order, regularity, circumspection, and vigilance were matters of derision and contempt, we set out, and by the protection of Providence, reached Augusta Court House in seven days without meeting the enemy; otherwise we must have fallen a sacrifice through the indiscretion of these whooping, hallooing, gentlemen soldiers.”

Young Washington wanted a chaplain for any group of soldiers he may command.

On September 23, 1756, Colonel Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie from Mount Vernon: “The want of a chaplain, I humbly conceive, reflects dishonor on the regiment, as all other officers are allowed. The gentlemen of the corps are sensible of this, and propose to support one at their private expense. But I think it would have a more graceful appearance were he appointed as others are.”

On November 9, 1756, Colonel Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie: “As to a chaplain, if the government will grant a subsistence, we can readily get a person of merit to accept the place, without giving the commissary any trouble on the point.”

On November 24, 1756, Colonel Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie: “When I spoke of a chaplain, it was in answer to yours. I had no person in view, though many have offered; and I only said if the country would provide subsistence, we could procure a chaplain, without thinking there was offense in expression.”

On April 17, 1758, after Governor Dinwiddie was recalled, Colonel Washington wrote from Fort Loudoun to the President of the Council: “The last Assembly, in their Supply Bill, provided for a chaplain to our regiment. On this subject I had often without any success applied to Governor Dinwiddie. I now flatter myself, that your honor will be pleased to appoint a sober, serious man for this duty. Common decency, Sir, in a camp calls for the services of a divine, which ought not to be dispensed with, although the world should be so uncharitable as to think us void of religion, and incapable of good instructions.” So, young Washington got his chaplain.

On July 20, 1758, in a letter to his fiancée, Martha Dandridge Custis, Colonel George Washington wrote from Fort Cumberland: “We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier is starting for Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportunity to send a few lines to one whose life is now inseparable from mine. Since that happy hour when we made our pledges to each other, my thoughts have been continually going to you as to another Self. That an All-Powerful Providence may keep us both in safety is the prayer of your ever faithful and ever affectionate Friend.”

On January 6, 1759, George Washington was married to Martha Dandridge Custis by Rev. David Mossom, rector of Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, New Kent County, Virginia. After having settled at Mount Vernon, George Washington became one of the twelve vestrymen in the Truro Parish, which included the Pohick Church, the Falls Church, and the Alexandria Church.

On February 15, 1763, the Fairfax County Court recorded: “George Washington, Esq. took the oath according to Law, repeated and subscribed the Test and subscribed to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England in order to qualify him to act as a Vestryman of Truro Parish.”

So, after an illustrious career as a young officer in the British Army, the oppressive activities and orders of the British King forced the Colonies to rebel against the British and seek independence. Thirteen years later, the Colonial authorities made Washington the General over their army of resistance and revolution. Following is his first statement to his troops and the new Nation:

General George Washington stated, July 2, 1776: “The time is now near at hand which must probably will determine whether Americans are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore to resolve to conquer or die.”

Ron

“I have not yet begun to fight!” shouted John Paul Jones when the captain of the 50-gun British frigate HMS Serapis taunted him to surrender.

Their ships were so close their cannons scraped and masts entangled, yet his American ship Bonhomme Richard, named for Ben Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac, refused to give up. When two cannons exploded and his ship began sinking, John Paul Jones lashed his ship to the enemy’s to keep it afloat.

In the Revolutionary War the Americans had almost no navy, especially compared to the mighty British Fleet. It did have one lightly armed frigate called the Bonhomme Richard. But it was captained by a very brave, intrepid and extremely aggressive captain named John Paul Jones.

He did not try to fight in home waters. He sailed all the way to England to engage the British Navy. He encountered a big British fighting Ship of the Line just coming into its harbor on the British coast. He followed it into its harbor and attacked it with his much smaller frigate.

He did some damage to the enemy ship, but the big HMS Serapis with its 50 big cannons just blasted poor John Paul Jones’s Bonhomme Richard all to pieces. However, as I related above Jones lashed his ship to the enemy ship so that it would not sink.

The British captain figuring that he had certainly already won, called for Jones to surrender. That is when Jones uttered those famous words through his bull horn, “I have not yet begun to fight.”

What was happening was that the American sailors were hiding high up in the rigging of their furled sails with their long hunting rifles. The British only had a few inaccurate muskets which were doing little damage in such a close range battle. So, the American sailors were killing a huge number of the British sailors. After 3 more hours of fighting, the British surrendered, even though the lower part of the Bonhomme Richard was shot to pieces by the British cannons.

It was an incredible victory for the American Navy. John Paul Jones took over the captured British ship and sailed away with his now much better prize. This battle took place SEPTEMBER 23, 1779.

John Paul Jones is called the “Father of the American Navy.”

John Paul Jones had commanded the Continental Navy’s first ship, Providence, in 1775. With 12 guns, it was the most victorious American vessel in the Revolution, capturing or sinking 40 British ships.

In 1778, sailing the Ranger, Jones raided the coasts of Scotland and England, striking terror and panic into the British Isles.

Just after midnight, April 23, 1778, Jones raided the British town of Whitehaven, and spiked the town’s big defensive cannons to prevent them being fired. Jones sailed to Scotland, and seized silver plating adorned with the family emblem, from the estate of the Earl of Selkirk, who lived on St. Mary’s Isle near Kirkcudbright. For decades, British children would be scared hearing tales of the “pirate” John Paul Jones.

In A Brief Account of Religion and the Revolutionary War Chaplaincy, James E. Newell recorded: “John Paul Jones sought a man with a set of qualifications that indicated that the chaplain would also be Jones’ private secretary.” He wanted a Chaplain because it was considered evident that God was blessing Jones’s actions in the Revolutionary War.

Thomas Jefferson wrote to General Washington, 1788: “The war between the Russians and the Turks has made an opening for our Commodore Paul Jones. The Empress has invited him into her service. She insures to him the rank of rear admiral. I think she means to oppose him to the Muslim Captain Pacha, on the Black Sea.”

In his Narrative of the Campaign of the Liman, John Paul Jones wrote of victoriously sailing his 24-gun flagship Vladimir (supplied by the Russian Empress) against the Muslim Turks by the Black Sea’s Dnieper River.

Thomas Jefferson wrote to M. Limozin, 1788: “You have heard of the great victory (in the Black Sea) obtained by the Russians under command of Admiral Paul Jones, over the Turks commanded by the Captain Pacha.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Carmichael, 1788: “I am pleased with the promotion of our countryman, Paul Jones. He commanded in the first engagement between the Russian and Turkish galleys, proving his superiority over the Captain Pacha, as he did not choose to bring his ships into the shoals in which the Pacha ventured, I consider this officer as the principal hope of our future efforts on the ocean.”

When the Empress of Russia wanted to award him the St. Anne Decoration, John Paul Jones asked Jefferson if this was permitted, to which Jefferson replied in 1791: “In answer to your request to obtain and transmit the proper authority of the United States for your retaining the Order of St. Anne, conferred on you by the Empress of Russia. Our Executives are not authorized either to grant or refuse the permission you ask.”

Jefferson wrote to John Paul Jones, June 1, 1792: “Sir, The President of the United States thought proper to appoint you commissioner for treating with the Dey (governor) of Algiers, on the subjects of peace and ransom of our captives. It will be necessary to give you a history: On the 25th of July, 1785, the schooner Maria, Captain Stevens, belonging to a Mr. Foster, of Boston, was taken off Cape St. Vincents, by an Algerine cruiser; and 5 days afterwards, the ship Dauphin, Captain O’Bryan, belonging to Messrs. Irwins of Philadelphia, was taken by another, about 50 leagues westward of Lisbon. These vessels, with their cargoes and crews, 21 persons in number, were carried into Algiers.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote in April of 1792: “President Washington wished to redeem our captives at Algiers and to make peace with them on paying an annual tribute. The Senate were willing to approve this. He agreed he would enter into the provisional treaties with the Algerines, not to be binding on us till ratified here.”

Paying ransom was not at all consistent with the aggressive John Paul Jones. He wanted to go into Algiers and blow hell out of those Muslims. But later the U.S. Marines went into Tripoli and shot down all of the Pasha’s guards. That is where the words in the Marine’s Battle Hymn about where they will fight, “On the Shores of Tripoli” come from.

John Paul Jones died July 18, 1792 and was buried at Paris in St. Louis Cemetery for Alien Protestants. During the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror the cemetery was neglected and sold, resulting in John Paul Jones’ body being lost track of. When his grave was finally identified, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote February 13, 1905: “The remains of Admiral John Paul Jones were interred in a certain piece of ground in the city of Paris used as a burial place for foreign Protestants. The great service done by him toward the achievement of independence lead me to do proper honor to the memory of John Paul Jones.”

The remains of John Paul Jones were transported to the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Maryland, where they are guarded 24 hours a day.

On May 8, 1783, Yale President Ezra Stiles gave an Election Address to the General Assembly of Connecticut: “While we render our supreme honors to the Most High, the God of Armies; let us recollect the bold and brave sons of freedom, who willingly offered themselves, and bled in the defense of their country: Especially The John Paul Jones’s and other gallant commanders and brave seamen of the American navy. Never was the profession of arms used with more glory, in a better cause, since the days of JOSHUA, the son of Nun.”

Ron

The Bible Says: Psalm 51:6

“You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part you will make me know wisdom.”

Are you debating whether or not to talk to God about a certain concern? Are there burdens weighing you down because you’re afraid to give them over to Him? Do they seem unworthy of His attention or cause you shame? Do you think to yourself, I should be praising Him, not complaining?

Friend, transparency is absolutely necessary for growing closer to Jesus. The Father wants you to feel confident enough in His unfailing love to be completely honest before Him with whatever is in your heart. He is devoted to you and cares about what concerns you. You can always feel free to speak with Him honestly about the matters that weigh on your heart.

The father already knows every thought and emotion you have, but you express your trust in Him when you can openly confess your sins, anxieties, desires, doubts, and frustrations. So share all the details that concern you with God, and allow Him to minister to the deepest part of your soul.

Ron

The first nation to recognize early America was Morocco. Morocco began recognizing American colonists in 1625.

Governor William Bradford described the incident in the History of the Plymouth Settlement. In 1625, the Pilgrims sent two ships back to England carrying dried fish and 800 lbs of beaver skins to trade for much needed supplies. What happened next?

Bradford related the fate of one ship: “They were well within the English channel, almost in sight of Plymouth. But there she was unhapply taken by a Turkish man-of-war and carried off to Morocco where the captain and crew were made slaves. Now by the ship taken by the Turks, all trade was dead.”

Expansionistic Islamic pirates of Morocco raided the coasts of Europe and carried away over a million Europeans to the North African slave markets.

 Islamists captured and enslaved an estimated 14 million Africans and sold them in notorious slave markets from Timbuktu to Zanzibar, from the Black Sea to the Indian Ocean.

In 1627, Algerian pirates, led by Murat Reis the Younger, raided Iceland, and carried 400 into North African slavery. One captured girl, who had been made a slave concubine in Algeria, was rescued back by King Christian IV of Denmark.

Thomas Osborne Davis wrote in his poem, “The Sack of Baltimore” (1895): “The yell of ‘Allah!’ breaks above the shriek and roar; O’blessed God! the Algerine is lord of Baltimore.”

Des Ekin wrote in The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates (2008): “Here was not a single Christian who was not weeping and who was not full of sadness at the sight of so many honest maidens and so many good women abandoned to the brutality of these barbarians.”

Kidnapped Englishman Francis Knight wrote: “I arrived in Algiers, that city fatal to all Christians and the butchery of mankind.” Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail had 500 wives, mostly captured from Europe, and forced 25,000 white slaves to build his enormous palace at Meknes. He killed an African slave just to try out a new hatchet.

The Catholic Order “Trinitarians” or “Mathurins,” collected alms to ransom slaves. One of those ransomed from North Africa was Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote de La Mancha (1605).

European countries would pay exorbitant tribute payments in exchange for Barbary pirates not attacking their ships. When America became independent, it was no longer covered by the British tribute payments to the Barbary coast pirates. Morocco “recognized” the United States in 1785 by capturing two American ships and holding the sailors for ransom.

Thomas Jefferson worked to free them, writing to John Jay, 1787: “There is an order of priests called the Mathurins, the object of whose institution is to beg alms for the redemption of captives. They keep members always in Barbary, searching out the captives of their country, and redeem, I believe, on better terms than any other body, public or private. It occurred to me, that their agency might be obtained for the redemption of our prisoners at Algiers.”

In 1786, Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Carmichael regarding Tripoli’s demand for extortion tribute payment, 1786: “Mr. Adams and I had conferences with a Tripoline ambassador, named Abdrahaman. He asked us thirty thousand guineas for a peace with his court.”

When Jefferson asked the Islamic Ambassador what the new country of America had done to offend them, he reported to John Jay, March 28, 1786: “The ambassador answered us that it was founded on the laws of the prophet, it was written in their Qur’an, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman (Muslim) who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy’s ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once.”

Jefferson read the Qur’an, not out of admiration or devotion, but to understand why Muslims were attacking Americans unprovoked. The word Islam means submission to Allah, and a Muslim is one who has submitted to Allah. Islam is supposed to be a religion of peace, it is just the Islamic definition of “peace” is different. To someone raised in Western Civilization, “peace” is achieved when different groups get along. In fundamentalist Islam, “peace” is when everyone is submitted to Allah. Essentially, to a fundamentalist Muslim, “world peace” means “world Islam.”

Lincoln gave an example of one word having two different meanings in his address at the Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland, April 18, 1864: “We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.” A moderate Muslim believes the world will submit to Allah later, maybe in the distant future or at the end of the world, and since it is so far off, they are not preoccupied with it and are non-violent. A fundamentalist or “Islamist” Muslim believes the world is supposed to submit to Allah now, and they are excited to help make it happen. This is referred to as becoming radicalized.

 The dilemma for Western Civilization is, the more it shows itself welcoming and tolerant, the more a percentage of moderate Muslims begin to rethink that maybe the world is actually submitting to Allah now rather than later. They gravitate from the “future” non-violent mindset into the radicalized “now” mindset. In other words, the nicer the West is, the more violent Islamists become. It is the law of the jungle – weakness invites aggression. This reflects a fundamentalist attitude, that when your enemy is strong, retreat; when your enemy is weak, attack. When an Islamist senses fear in the heart of their enemy, they take it as a sign that Allah wants them to attack their enemy.”

Psychologist Nicolai Sennels explained it this way (Hapeles Orthodox Jewish Newspaper, July 5, 2016): “Muslims instinctively see our lack of reaction as fear, its an invitation to attack.”

Another word which has a different definition is the word “innocent.” In sharia Islam, it is wrong to kill the innocent, but the definition of innocent is a faithful follower of the way of Allah. Those who reject sharia are not faithful followers, therefore they are not innocent:

“Allah loveth not those who reject Faith” (Sura 3:32); “Be ruthless to the infidels” (Sura 48:29); “Make war on the infidels (Sura 9:123; 66:9); “Fight those who believe not in Allah” (Sura 9:29); “Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them” (Sura 2:191); “Be ruthless to the infidels” (Sura 48:29); “Make war on the infidels (Sura 9:123; 66:9); “Fight those who believe not in Allah” (Sura 9:29); “Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them” (Sura 2:191).

 Saying it is wrong to kill the innocent is code for saying it is wrong to kill faithful Muslims. Fundamentalist Muslims accuse moderate Muslims of being unfaithful, of having backslidden from the way of Allah, of not following the example of Mohammed and the Rightly Guided Caliphs. Islamists are just as motivated to kill a moderate Muslim as they are to kill an infidel.

Lawrence of Arabia wrote of sharia Islamists in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1922: “Wahhabis, followers of a fanatical Moslem heresy, had imposed their strict rules. Everything was forcibly pious or forcibly puritanical.”

But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance.

Winston Churchill wrote in The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War (Dover Publications, 1898): “The Mad Mullah was a wild enthusiast, convinced of his divine mission, he preached a crusade, or Jehad, against the infidel. It is impossible for the modern European to fully appreciate the force which fanaticism exercises among an ignorant, warlike and Oriental population. Several generations have elapsed since the nations of the West have drawn the sword in religious controversy, and the evil memories of the gloomy past have soon faded. Indeed, it is evident that Christianity must always exert a modifying influence on men’s passions, and protect them from the more violent forms of fanatical fever, as we are protected from smallpox by vaccination. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since, its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness”

Churchill continued:

“In a moment fear of death itself, flung aside, seizing their weapons, they become Ghazis. as dangerous and as sensible as mad dogs: fit only to be treated as such. Tribesmen become convulsed in an ecstasy of religious bloodthirstiness. Poorer and more material souls derive additional impulses from plunder and the joy of fighting. Thus, whole nations are roused to arms.”

Ronald Reagan wrote in his autobiography, An American Life (Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 409): “Radical fundamentalist sects have institutionalized murder and terrorism in the name of God, promising followers instant entry into paradise if they die for their faith or kill an enemy who challenges it. Twice in recent years, America has lost loyal allies in the Middle East, the Shah of Iran and Anwar Sadat, at the hands of these fanatics.”

Reagan added:

“I don’t think you can overstate the importance that the rise of Islamic fundamentalism will have to the rest of the world in the century ahead, especially if, as seems possible, its most fanatical elements get their hands on nuclear and chemical weapons and the means to deliver them against their enemies.”

In 1793, the Islamist Barbary pirates captured and plundered the U.S. cargo ship Polly, imprisoning the crew. The pirate captain justified his brutal treatment of the Americans: “For your history and superstition in believing in a man who was crucified by the Jews and disregarding the true doctrine of God’s last and greatest prophet, Mohammed.”

In 1795, Muslim Barbary Pirates of Algiers captured 115 American sailors. The United States was forced to pay nearly a million dollars in ransom. At one point, nearly 20 percent of the U.S. Federal budget was used to make extortion tribute payments to the Muslim pirates. The Treaty of Tripoli failed.

Christopher Hitchens wrote in his article “Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates”: “Of course, those secularists like myself who like to cite this treaty must concede that its conciliatory language was part of America’s attempt to come to terms with Barbary demands.”

 Immediately after Jefferson became President in 1801, Barbary pirates demanded $225,000, plus an annual tribute of $25,000. When Jefferson refused, the Pasha (Lord) of Tripoli declared war, the first war the U.S. was in after becoming a nation. Jefferson sent U.S. frigates to the Mediterranean to protect American shipping.

In his First Annual Message, December 8, 1801, Jefferson stated: “Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary States, had come forward with demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself to (declare) war on our failure to comply before a given day. The style of the demand admitted but one answer. I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean, with assurances to that power of our sincere desire to remain in peace, but with orders to protect our commerce against the threatened attack. The Bey (lord) had already declared war. His cruisers were out. Two had arrived at Gibraltar. Our commerce in the Mediterranean was blockaded and that of the Atlantic in peril.”

“The arrival of our squadron dispelled the danger.

One of the Tripolitan cruisers having fallen in with and engaged the small schooner Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant Sterret, which had gone as a tender to our larger vessels, was captured, after a heavy slaughter of her men, without the loss of a single one on our part. The bravery exhibited by our citizens on that element will, I trust, be a testimony to the world.”

On December 29, 1803, the new 36-gun USS Philadelphia ran aground on Morocco’s shallow coast. Muslims surrounded and captured Captain William Bainbridge and his 307 man crew and held them for 18 months. To prevent this important ship from being used by Muslim pirates, Lieut. Stephen Decatur, in what was described as the “most bold and daring act of the age,” sailed his ship, Intrepid, on FEBRUARY 16, 1804, into the Muslim pirate harbor. He climbed about the captured USS Philadelphia and set if ablaze, then fled out of the harbor.

Jefferson sent the Navy and Marines to capture Tripoli, led by Commodores Edward Preble, John Rogers and Captain William Eaton. They marched into Tripoli with the Navy band playing. The marines lined up in battle formation and shot to death all of the large group of the Pasha’s guards with the Navy band still playing. The Pasha was force to make peace on all U.S. terms.

The First Barbary War, 1801-1805, was America’s first war after the Revolution.

Christopher Hitchens wrote in “Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates – America’s first confrontation with the Islamic world helped forge a new nation’s character,”

“On the United States’ undertaking of the First Barbary War to suppress the Muslim Barbary pirates along the southern Mediterranean coast, ending their kidnapping of Europeans for ransom and slavery, Pius VII declared that the United States ‘had done more for the cause of Christianity than the most powerful nations of Christendom have done for ages.'”

Frederick Leiner wrote in The End of the Barbary Terror-America’s 1815 War Against the Pirates of North Africa (Oxford University Press): “Commodore Stephen Decatur and diplomat William Shaler withdrew to consult in private. The Algerians were believed to be masters of duplicity, willing to make agreements and break them as they found convenient.”

In a bibliography by John Quincy Adams published in New York, he stated: “Our gallant Commodore Stephen Decatur had chastised the pirates of Algiers, The Dey (Omar Bashaw) disdained to conceal his intentions; ‘My power,’ said he, ‘has been wrested from my hands; draw ye the treaty at your pleasure, and I will sign it; but beware of the moment, when I shall recover my power, for with that moment, your treaty shall be waste paper.'”

Sure enough, a few years later the Muslims started their acts of piracy again.

Thus in 1815 the United States sent the Marines there again. This time they wiped out the whole bunch, including all of the Muslim pirates. It was called The Second Barbary War and gave rise to the Marine Anthem:

“From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli.”

The curved Marine sword is from the confiscated Muslim scimitars, called “mamluke” swords. Marines were called “leathernecks” for the wide leather straps worn around their necks to prevent being beheaded. For (Sura 47:4) states: “When you meet the infidel in the battlefield, strike off their heads.”

 Francis Scott Key, nine years before he wrote the Star-Spangled Banner, wrote a song to the same tune to commemorate the victory over the Islamist Barbary Pirates. He titled his song, “When the Warrior Returns from the Battle Afar,” published in Boston’s Independent Chronicle, Dec. 30, 1805:

“In conflict resistless each toil they endur’d

Till their foes shrunk dismay’d from the war’s desolation:

And pale beamed the Crescent, its splendor obscur’d

By the light of the Star-Spangled Flag of our nation.

Where each flaming star gleamed a meteor of war,

And the turban’d head bowed to the terrible glare.

Then mixt with the olive the laurel shall wave

And form a bright wreath for the brow of the brave.“

Ron

The Bible Says: Psalm 103:19

“The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.”

Have you considered what an astounding gift it is to be able to know the living God? To be able to approach Him at any time with whatever issue presses on your heart?

No matter what you encounter today, He already knows all about it and has the best plan for leading you successfully through it. He knows you better than you know yourself—your past, present, and future; the thoughts you think; the motives of your heart; the places where you need to heal, and the ways you must grow.

With His sovereign, omnipotent hand, He can handle any obstacle or difficulty you face. With His unfathomable knowledge, He guides you with perfect wisdom. And because of His unfailing, unconditional love, He makes sure everything that touches your life will ultimately be used for your good.

Is your heart set on knowing Him? I hope it is, because there’s absolutely nothing better or more encouraging than walking with Him and experiencing His awesome presence.