In 1776 many of the Americans had had enough of the tyrany of the British king. They were ready to revolt and form their own independent country. This they did. However, it was such a dangerous course at the very beginning, that many were afraid to go along with the patriots. At this very critical time, Thomas Payne in Genereal Washington’s army of revolutionaries sat down in their camp and wrote a thesis that inspired the whole nation and that very first group in the new army of America, also.

Few have ever heard of this thesis. Thomas Payne published it anonymously, but called it “The American Crisis”. Without it, the revolution most probably would have ended right then. It is so very, very important to the founding of our country, that I am recording it for you to see, below:

The American Crisis

It started out stating in December 1776: “”Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph”

In today’s era of hostility toward freedoms of religion and conscience, it is important to be reminded of challenges Americans have faced in the past.

At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, as the American army was being chased out of New York and New Jersey, Thomas Paine, an aide-de-camp to General Nathanael Greene, anonymously wrote “The American Crisis,” filled with historical and Biblical references. In the freezing cold, not having a table in camp, Paine used the head of a drum for his desk. He signed the it “Common Sense.”

It was immediately published in the Pennsylvania Journal, December 19, 1776.

General George Washington was so moved by “The American Crisis” that he ordered it read out loud to his troops, rallying them not to disperse at the end of the year when their six-month enlistment was up. This was vital to keep the army together prior to the Crossing of the Delaware River and the Battle of Trenton.

In “The American Crisis,” Thomas Paine wrote: “THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. Heaven knows how to put a price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.”

Paine went on: “Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right – not only to TAX – but ‘to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER,’ and if that is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery. So unlimited a power can belong only to God. God Almighty will not give up a people to military destruction who have so earnestly sought to avoid the calamities of war. Neither have I so much of the infidel in me, as to suppose that He has relinquished the government of the world to the care of devils. I cannot see on what grounds the King of Britain can look up to heaven for help against us: a common murderer, a highwayman, or a house-breaker.”

Paine wrote further: “‘Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them. Britain has trembled like an ague – fever – at the report of a French fleet of flat-bottomed boats; and in the – fifteenth – century the whole English army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear by a few broken forces headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that heaven might inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair fellow sufferers from ravage and ravishment!”

Paine added: “I am as confident as I am that God governs the world, that America will never be happy till she gets clear of foreign dominion. Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to repulse it. Throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but ‘show your faith by your works,’ that God may bless you.”

His line “throw not the burden of the day upon Providence” was a rebuke to those who just prayed but did not exert themselves to do anything. It echoed the phrase “tempting Providence,” used by Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull in a letter to General Washington, August of 1776: “In this day of calamity, to trust altogether to the justice of our cause, without our utmost exertion, would be tempting Providence. March on! — This shall be your warrant: Play the man for God, and for the cities of our God, May the Lord of Hosts, the God of the Armies of Israel, be your Captain, your Leader, your Conductor, and Saviour.” – 2nd Samuel 10:12.

Thomas Paine continued in “The American Crisis”: “It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil will reach you. The blood of his children will curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink’; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”

Paine went on: “Not all the treasures of the world could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to ‘bind me in all cases whatsoever’ to his absolute will, am I to suffer it? Let them call me rebel, I feel no concern from it”

Paine condemned the weak-willed, who were willing to lose their souls in order to keep their jobs: ” But I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul by swearing allegiance to one whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man. I conceive likewise a horrid idea in receiving mercy from a being, who at the last day shall be shrieking to the rocks and mountains to cover him, and fleeing with terror from the orphan, the widow, and the slain of America.”

Paine was referring to the last day judgement, as prophesied in the Book of Hosea 10:8: “Then they will say to the mountains, ‘Cover us!’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us!’”

The Gospel of Luke 23:28-30 stated: “Jesus turned to them and said: The days are coming when ‘they will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!'”

This is also prophesied in the Book of Isaiah 2:19: “Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of his majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.”

The apocalyptic Book of Revelation 6:15-16, states: “And the kings of the earth, and the great men hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.”

Thomas Paine continued in “The American Crisis”: “There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we ought to guard equally against both.”

In “The American Crisis,” Paine warned that “men must be fools” who surrender their weapons in exchange for a “promise” of peace: “British General Howe’s first object is, partly by threats and partly by promises, to terrify or seduce the people to deliver up their arms and receive mercy. This is what the Tories call making their peace. A peace which would be the immediate forerunner of a worse ruin than any we have yet thought of. Were the back counties to give up their arms, they would fall an easy prey to the Indians, who are all armed: this perhaps is what some Tories would not be sorry for. Were the home counties to deliver up their arms, they would be exposed to the resentment of the back counties who would then have it in their power to chastise their defection at pleasure. And were any one state to give up its arms, that state must be garrisoned by all Howe’s army of Britons and Hessians. Howe is mercifully inviting you to barbarous destruction, and men must be fools that will not see it.”

In his third edition of Common Sense, published in Philadelphia, February 14, 1776, Thomas Paine warned of the danger of kings claiming a hereditary right: “Most wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever treated hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, which when once established is not easily removed; many submit from fear, others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the king the plunder of the rest”

Paine explained: “The present race of kings could we take off the dark covering of antiquity, and trace them to their first rise, that we should find the first of them nothing better than the principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners or preeminence in subtility obtained him the title of chief among plunderers; and who by increasing in power, and extending his depredations, over-awed the quiet and defenseless to purchase their safety by frequent contributions.”

Paine ended by referring to Mohammed: “In those days, and traditionary history stuffed with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a few generations, to trump up some superstitious tale, conveniently timed, Mahomet like, to cram hereditary right down the throats of the vulgar.” In the face of challenges, Thomas Paine ended “The American Crisis,” December 1776, stating: “I thank God, that I fear not.”

President Reagan stated, March 20, 1981: “Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid. “Isaiah 41:10: “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’”

Ron

The amazing Mountain Men of the old west tamed the frontier and made it possible for civilization to move to the western United States.  Here is a short history of these increible individuals.  Do enjoy it:

History of The Mountain Men

Following Lewis and Clark’s expedition, Christian missionaries made their way to the West.

These include: Jason Lee, Methodist missionary to the Kalapuya tribe, who founded the capitol city of Salem, Oregon, and whose statue is in the U.S. Capitol.

Marcus Whitman, and his wife Narcissa, were Methodist missionaries to the Cayuse and Walla Walla tribes. He pioneered the Oregon Trail and his statue is in the U.S. Capitol.

Henry & Eliza Spalding were Presbyterian missionaries to the Nez Perce tribe and helped found Lapwai, Idaho.

During this time, mountain men explored America’s west: John Colter was on Lewis and Clark’s Expedition. Afterwards, he explored Yellowstone National Park and the Teton Mountain Range, spending several months alone in the winter of 1807–1808. He is considered the first “mountain man.”

Joseph Meek was a fur trapper in the Oregon Territory who led the Champoeg Meetings, the area’s first government.

John Sutter owned Sutter’s Mill, where gold was discovered, and established “Sutter’s Fort,” which became Sacramento, California’s State capital.

John David Albert worked on a Mississippi keelboat before he became a fur trapper. In 1847, during the Mexican-American War, he survived an attack by 500 Indians and Mexicans at Turley Mill in Taos, New Mexico;

Jedediah Smith pioneered the South Pass across the Continental Divide. He was the first to explore Salt Lake to the Colorado River, and the first to cross the Mojave Desert into California. Attacked by a bear, he had a fellow fur-trapper sew his scalp back on.

Hugh Glass was mauled by a bear and left for dead by his companions. He crawled and stumbled 200 miles to Fort Kiowa, South Dakota and survived.

John “Grizzly” Adams captured bears with just a knife or his bare hands. His wilderness survival adventures were the basis for a movie in 1974;

James “Bloody Arm” Beckwourth was a freed slave who lived with Crow Indians. A renown black frontiersman, he discovered Beckwourth Pass through the mountains of Sierra Nevada (Reno to Portola, California).

Jeremiah Johnson was hunting in 1847 when a his Flathead Indian wife was killed by a Crow brave. He went on a vendetta and in revenge, according to historian Andrew Mehane Southerland, “killed and scalped more than 300 Crow Indians.” A movie was made about him 1972, staring Robert Redford.

Peter Skene Ogden explored with his North West Company through Oregon, Washington, Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, often confronting the Hudson’s Bay Company, North America’s oldest commercial corporation and largest landowner from Great Lakes to Arctic Circle to the Pacific Northwest.

William Sublette and his four brothers improved routes along the Oregon Trail. He was co-owner of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.

Jim Bridger’s trail-blazing tales include being chased by 100 Cheyenne warriors into a dead-end canyon and barely escaping with his life. Bridger explored Jackson Hole, the Teton Range, and discovered “Bridger Pass” across the Continental Divide, cutting some 60 miles off of what would become the Oregon Trail. He was one of the first white men to see the geysers of Yellowstone, petrified wood forests, and the Great Salt Lake. Though illiterate, Bridger spoke the language of Sioux, Black Foot, and Crow.

Singer Johnny Horton recorded a song dedicated to Jim Bridger in 1960: “Once there was a mountain man who couldn’t write his name. Yet he deserves the front row seat in History’s Hall of Fame. He forgot more about the Indians than we will ever know. He spoke the language of the Sioux the Black Foot and the Crow. There’s poems and there’s legends that tell of Carson’s fame. Yet compared to Jim Bridger, Kit was civilized and tame.”

Kit Carson was a fur trapper, soldier and Indian agent. His exploits west of the Mississippi were as famous as Daniel Boone’s were east.

Kit Caron’s father fought in the Revolutionary War, then moved his family from Kentucky to a tract of land in Missouri owned by Daniel Boone’s sons. At age 16, Kit Carson followed the Santa Fe Trail to Taos, New Mexico, which was the capital of the fur trade in the Southwest. He stayed with a friend who had served with Carson’s older brothers in the War of 1812. Learning the skills of a fur trapper, Kit Carson became fluent in speaking: Paiute, Spanish, Navajo, Apache, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Shoshone, and Ute.

Francis Parkman, Jr., wrote in The Oregon Trail (1849): “The buffalo are strange animals; in order to approach them the utmost skill, experience, and judgment are necessary. Kit Carson, I believe, stands preeminent in running buffalo.”

In 1835, at the age of 25, Carson went to the annual mountain man rendezvous in Wyoming, where he met an Arapaho girl named Waa-Nibe or “Singing Grass.” Carson fought a gun fight with a French-Canadian trapper over her. Kit married Singing Grass and together they worked with the Hudson’s Bay Company. Later they worked with Jim Bridger and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. Kit Carson and Singing Grass trapped beaver along the Yellowstone River, the Powder River, and the Big Horn river.

They traveled throughout Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. Carson considered these years as “the happiest days of my life.” It broke Kit Carson’s heart when Singing Grass died of a fever after giving birth to their second daughter. The trapping of beaver drove the exploration of the west. It was fueled by demand for beaver top hats popular in eastern America and Europe.

Around 1840, silk from China allowed hats to be made less expensively and the demand for beaver suddenly ceased. In 1841, Kit Carson married a Cheyenne woman, but she left him to follow her tribe’s migration.

In 1842, Carson met Josefa Jaramillo, the daughter of a prominent Taos family. Carson received religious instruction from Padre Antonio Jose Martinez, was , was baptized, married Josefa and together they had eight children.

Kit Carson led John C. Frémont on expeditions across the South Pass of the Continental Divide which “touched off a wave of wagon caravans filled with hopeful emigrants.” Carson led Frémont to map the second half of the Oregon Trail, from South Pass to the Columbia River, traveling along the Great Salt Lake into Oregon. They came within sight of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Hood, and ventured into Mexican territory, where Carson’s wilderness skills averted mass starvation in the Sierra Nevadas. Traveling across the Mojave Desert, they arrived at a watering hole called Las Vegas (Spanish for “The Meadows”). When Congress published Frémont’s reports in 1845, Carson’s reputation as a frontiersman and Indian fighter inspired writers to use him as the hero in dime novels.

In 1846, Carson accompanied John Frémont to California. Carson participated in several battles which eventually led to California being brought into the Union as the 31st State.

He even once courageously slipped through a siege at night and ran 25 miles barefoot through the desert to San Diego for reinforcements. General Sherman wrote of meeting Kit Carson in The Memoirs of General William T. Sherman: “As the spring and summer of 1848 advanced, the reports came faster and faster from the gold mines at Sutter’s saw-mill.

It was our duty to go up and see with our own eyes, that we might report the truth to our Government. As yet we had no regular mail to any part of the United States, but mails had come to us at long intervals, around Cape Horn.” Sherman continued: “I well remember the first overland mail. It was brought by Kit Carson in saddle-bags from Taos in New Mexico. We heard of his arrival at Los Angeles, and waited patiently for his arrival at headquarters. His fame then was at its height, from the publication of Frémont’s books, and I was very anxious to see a man who had achieved such feats of daring among the wild animals of the Rocky Mountains, and still wilder Indians of the Plains.

  

At last his arrival was reported at the tavern at Monterey, and I hurried to hunt him up. I cannot express my surprise at beholding a small, stoop-shouldered man, with reddish hair, freckled face, soft blue eyes, and nothing to indicate extraordinary courage or daring. He spoke but little, and answered questions in monosyllables.”

Sherman added: “He spent some days in Monterey, during which time we extracted with difficulty some items of his personal history. He was then by commission a lieutenant in the regiment of Mounted Rifles serving in Mexico under Colonel Sumner, and, as he could not reach his regiment from California, Colonel Mason ordered that for a time he should be assigned to duty with A.J. Smith’s company, First Dragoons, at Los Angeles. He remained at Los Angeles some months, and was then sent back to the United States with dispatches, traveling two thousand miles almost alone, in preference to being encumbered by a large party.”

During the Civil War, Kit Carson was a scout and soldier for the Union Army, which carried out a Federal mandate of subduing the west. When General James Carleton and Colonel Chivington used severe tactics against the Indians, Carson strongly objected and sent a letter of resignation, February 3, 1863, but General Carleton refused it.

Kit Carson’s fame was such that “Buffalo Bill” Cody named his son after him. His sister, Helen Cody Wetmore, wrote in Last of the Great Scouts-The Life Story of Col. William F. Cody ‘Buffalo Bill’: “The first boy of the family was the object of the undivided interest of the outpost for a time, and names by the dozen were suggested. Major North offered ‘Kit Carson’ as an appropriate name for the son of a great scout and buffalo-hunter, and this was finally settled on.” “The mantle of Kit Carson has fallen upon his shoulders, and he wears it worthily.”

Buffalo Bill Cody

Buffalo once roamed the western plains, numbering in the millions, and were hunted for blankets, meat and leather. When railroads began moving west, buffalo were shot by the thousands to clear the way for the tracks.

Documenting the changing West, frontier artist Frederic Remington wrote: “I knew the railroad was coming — I saw men already swarming into the land. I knew the wild riders and the vacant land were about to vanish forever, and the more I considered the subject, the bigger the forever loomed.  Without knowing how to do it, I began to record some facts around me, and the more I looked the more the panorama unfolded.”

The Federal Government adopted a big government solution, namely, force migrating plains Indians onto reservations by killing off the buffalo.

A bill to protect buffalo was introduced in the Texas Legislature in 1875, but U.S. General Philip Sheridan retorted (John Cook, 164): “They are destroying the Indians’ commissary. And it is a well known fact that an army losing its base of supplies is placed at a great disadvantage. For a lasting peace, let them kill, skin, and sell until the buffaloes are exterminated, as it is the only way to bring lasting peace and allow civilization to advance.”

As herds were slaughtered, Indian hostilities increased. The Federal Government made treaties with Indians, which were later often ignored by greedy politicians if gold, oil or other valuable minerals were found. Sympathetic to the Indians’ plight, Kit Carson was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Colorado, January of 1868.

Like Sam Houston, who in 1818 escorted a delegation of Cherokee to Washington, D.C., Kit Carson escorted Ute Indian Chiefs to Washington, DC., to arrange a treaty. Though physically weak and having difficulty breathing, Carson led them through northern cities where they met crowds and posed for pictures with western military notables, such as General James Carleton and Former California Governor John C. Frémont. Governor John C. Frémont.

While staying with the Indian Chiefs at New York City’s Metropolitan Hotel, Kit Carson almost died. He wrote: “I felt my head swell and my breath leaving me. Then, I woke; my face and head all wet. I was on the floor and the chief was holding my head on his arm and putting water on me. The Chief was crying. He said, ‘I thought you were dead. You called on your Lord Jesus, then shut your eyes and couldn’t speak.’ I did not know that I spoke. I do not know that I called on the Lord Jesus, but I might have. It’s only Him that can help me where I now stand. Carson ended: “My wife must see me. If I was to write about this, or died out here, it would kill her. I must get home.”

Carson successfully arranged the treaty, as President Andrew Johnson wrote: “I herewith lay before the Senate, a treaty made on the 2d day of March, 1868, by and between Nathaniel G. Taylor, Commissioner of Indian Affairs; Alexander C. Hunt, governor and ex officio superintendent of Indian affairs of Colorado Territory, and Kit Carson, on the part of the United States, and the representatives of the Tabeguache, Muaehe, Capote, Weeminuche, Yampa, Grand River, and Uintah bands of Ute Indians.”

Carson returned to Taos, New Mexico, but unfortunately, his wife Josefa soon died from complications after giving birth to their eighth child.

One month later, Kit Carson died of an abdominal aortic aneurysm on MAY 23, 1868, at the age of 58. He was buried next to his wife. His last words were: “Adios Compadres”

Ron

“The bloody butcher” is what colonists called British Colonel Banastre Tarleton. He let his dragoons bayonet and hack hundreds of surrendering Americans at Buford’s Massacre during the Battle of Waxhaw, May 29, 1780.

In January of 1781, 26-year-old Colonel Banastre Tarleton led 1,200 of Britain’s best troops, consisting of British dragoons, regulars, highlanders and loyalists, in a day-long, non-stop pursuit of the Americans.

American General Daniel Morgan led Colonel Banastre Tarleton into a trap — the Battle of Cowpens, January 17, 1781. The Americans took a stand at two low hills with the Broad River behind them, leaving them no opportunity to retreat.

Seeing this as a tactically foolish move, British Colonel Tarlton gave into the temptation to pursue the Americans without doing any reconnaissance.

The Americans had some fierce fighters on their side: Gen. Andrew Pickens (nicknamed “the Wizard Owl”); Gen. Francis Marion (nicknamed “the Swamp Fox); and Col. Thomas Sumter (nicknamed “the Carolina Gamecock”).

Approaching Cowpens, without allowing his fatigued troops to catch their breath after their exhaustive day long march, Tarlton ordered a headlong attack upon the American militia.

American General Daniel Morgan had his line of weak militia fire twice into the charging British cavalry, then quickly retreat around a hill.

Tarlton’s dragoons were now at a full gallop, charging toward the American position.

Suddenly, Tarlton discovered that behind the militia was hiding a line of 400 battle-hardened American Continental soldiers, with their rifles leveled. The American Continentals stood immovable and fired at point-blank range. Over 100 British dragoons were hit and fell from their saddles.

Then the militia which had retreated, circled around and appeared on the other side of the hill to attack Tarlton’s flank. Tarlton barely escaped. In the confusion, 110 British were killed and 830 captured. Captured British officer, Maj. McArthur of the 71st Highlanders commented that “he was an officer before Tarleton was born; that the best troops in the service were put under ‘that boy’ to be sacrificed.”

The Battle of Cowpens is widely considered the tactical masterpiece and turning point of the Revolutionary War.

The battle strategy was similar to the smaller Carthaginian army of Hannibal defeating the overwhelmingly large Roman army at the Battle of Cannae on August 2, 216 BC. Roman generals put their strongest men in the center of the attack. Hannibal knew he could not defeat them head on, so he put his weakest men in the center, instructing them to fall back when attacked. Hannibal’s cavalry and strong infantry waited on the flanks till the Roman soldiers pursued Hannibal’s retreating soldiers. When the Romans were sucked into the collapsing line and nearly surrounded in a concave, Hannibal’s cavalry and strong infantry attacked, defeating the Romans.

News of the British defeat at the Battle of Cowpens was rushed to British General Cornwallis, who was leaning on his sword. Upset, he leaned so hard the blade snapped. Cornwallis gave chase, abandoning his slow supply wagons so he could pursue faster.

General Daniel Morgan hastily retreated north, meeting up with American General Nathanael Greene. They raced to get out of South Carolina, across North Carolina to the border of Virginia, where was the Great Dismal Swamp — over 100,000 acres of dangerous wetlands which would prevent British pursuit.

Cornwallis regrouped to chase the Americans as fast as he could, discarding his slow and cumbersome supply wagons. Cornwallis arrived at the Catawba River just two hours after the Americans had crossed, but a sudden storm made the river impassable, delaying the British pursuit. The British nearly overtook the Americans at the Yadkin River, but again rains flooded the river slowing the British. Now it was a frantic race to the Dan River.

The local historical marker reads: “Boyd’s and Irwin’s ferries to the west were used by Nathanael Greene in his passage of Dan River, in mid-February, 1781, while Cornwallis was in close pursuit.”

General Nathanael Greene quickly got the Americans across the Dan River, then another storm and flash flood ended the British chase. British Commander Henry Clinton wrote: “Here the royal army was again stopped by a sudden rise of the waters, which had only just fallen (almost miraculously) to let the enemy over, who could not else have eluded Lord Cornwallis’ grasp, so close was he upon their rear.” (Here, once again, it is my opinion that God miraculously intervene on behalf of General Washingtons troops.)

Having discarded his supply wagons in the desperate chase, Cornwallis was now at a logistical disadvantage. General Nathanael Greene recrossed and fought against Cornwallis again at the Battle of Guilford Court House, March 15, 1781. Colonel Tarleton was shot in the right hand, causing the loss of two fingers. Though the British technically won that battle, their heavy losses of over 500 killed or wounded, and their failure to capture American supplies, contributed to their subsequent defeat.

For the next seven months, the Americans pushed back. On April 25, Greene was defeated at Hobkirk’s Hill, SC, but retook it. On May 15, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee forced British Major Andrew Maxwell to abandon Fort Granby, SC. On June 6, Americans recaptured Augusta, GA. On June 18: Americans attacked the British at Ninety Six, SC, though they did not dislodge them. On July 6, “Mad” Anthony Wayne attacked but was repulsed by the British at Green Springs Farm, VA. On September 8, Greene’s forces confronted the British at Eutaw Springs, SC, but were forced to retreat.

Badly needing supplies for his army, Cornwallis was ordered by British General Henry Clinton to move his 8,000 troops to a defensive position where the York River entered Chesapeake Bay, and wait for British ships to come to his aid.

Providentially, Ben Franklin and young Marquis de Lafayette were successful in their efforts to persuade French King Louis XVI to send ships and troops to help the Americans. The French fleet stopped off at Havana, Cuba, where the Spanish raised funds for George Washington. The “Ladies of Havana” gave their gold and silver jewelry with the note: “So the American mothers’ sons are not born as slaves.”

French General Rochambeau wrote in his “Daily Memoirs” ( Now in the Library of Congress): “The joy was enormous when it was received, the money from Havana: The contribution of 800,000 silver pounds which helped stop the financial bankruptcy (of the Revolutionary Army) and raised up the moral spirit of the Army that had began to dissolve.”

French Admiral de Grasse and the French fleet abruptly left off fighting the British in the West Indies and sailed with 24 ships to the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, where arriving just at the precise moment to fight in the Battle of the Capes. Admiral de Grasse successfully drove off the 19 British ships which were sent to evacuate Cornwallis’ men.

Then De Grasse’s 3,000 French troops and General Rochambeau’s 6,000 French troops hurriedly joined yound General Lafayette’s division as they marched to Yorktown. There they joined General Washington in trapping Cornwallis against the sea.

Altogether, 17,000 French and American troops surrounded Cornwallis. On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered and the Revolutionary War was effectively over.

Yale President Ezra Stiles wrote, May 8, 1783: “Who but God could have ordained the critical arrival of the Gallic (French) fleet, so as to assist in the siege of Yorktown? Should we not ascribe to a Supreme energy the wise generalship displayed by General Greene leaving the roving Cornwallis to pursue his helter-skelter ill fated march into Virginia. It is God who had raised up for us a powerful ally, a chosen army and a naval force: who sent us a Rochambeau to fight side by side with a Washington. in the battle of Yorktown.”

General Washington wrote to William Gordon in March of 1781: “We have abundant reasons to thank Providence for its many favorable interpositions in our behalf. It has at times been my only dependence, for all other resources seemed to have failed us.”

Ron

The first of the new American fighting ships was now finished in Boston. The war of 1812 had started. The USS Constitution, under the command of Captain Isaac Hull, sailed from Boston on August 2, 1812 and steered for the blustery waters southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia. After two weeks of daily gun drills in preparation for combat, Hull and his crew sighted the British frigate HMS Guerriere, under the command of Captain James Richard Dacres, on the afternoon of August 19, 1812. Guerriere was one of the ships in a British squadron Hull and his crew had outrun a few weeks earlier.

As Guerriere closed to within a mile of Constitution, the British hoisted their colors and released a broadside, but the cannonballs fell short. The crew asked Hull for permission to return fire, but he refused so as not to waste the first broadside. Soon, however, Constitution slid alongside her opponent and Hull gave command to fire. The battle commenced. 

Constitution’s thick oak hull was composed of very durable oak from the Colonies and was never available to the British in England. It proved resilient to enemy cannonballs. During the engagement, an American sailor was heard exclaiming, “Huzza! Her sides are made of iron! See the British cannon balls are bouncing off!” Boarding parties were summoned as the ships came together, and Lieutenant William Sharp Bush, commander of Constitution’s Marine detachment, took the initiative. Jumping on the taffrail, sword in hand, he called to Hull, “Shall I board her?” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than a musket ball hit him in the cheek, instantly killing him. Seeing Bush fall, First Lieutenant Charles Morris leapt to take his place, but he too fell seriously wounded with a ball in the abdomen. Aboard Guerriere, Captain Dacres was gravely wounded when an American musket ball struck him in the back. Before either side could reorganize, the two ships wrenched apart. The severely damaged Guerriere was forced to surrender.

All through the night, the Americans tended to the wounded and dead, and ferried the British prisoners of war and their possessions across to Constitution. By the morning, it was clear Guerriere could not be saved and Hull made the difficult decision to scuttle the ship by igniting the warship’s powder in the magazines. 

Constitution and the prisoners sailed for Boston and arrived on August 30. It was not the first American naval victory of the war (that honor went to USS Essex’s crew, who captured HMS Alerton on August 13), but it established Constitution as a household name. Throngs of cheering Bostonians greeted Hull and his crew upon their return. A militia company escorted Hull to a reception at the Exchange Coffee House and more dinners, presentations and awards followed in the ensuing weeks, months, and years. USS Constitution, for her impressive strength in battle, earned the nicknamed “Old Ironsides” since British cannon balls just bounced off her strong oak sides.

On December 29, 1812, while cruising off the coast of Brazil, USS Constitution’s masthead lookout sighted two ships on the horizon. Constitution, under the command of Commodore William Bainbridge, stood toward them, and the larger of the two, HMS Java, tacked toward the Americans.

Java, a 38-gun frigate (but mounting 47) commanded by Captain Henry Lambert, maneuvered to close with Constitution. The Americans opened fire as the range decreased, but the gun crews had difficulty hitting their target. Soon, Java ranged alongside Constitution and the battle commenced. As the two ships maneuvered to rake each other, Java suddenly turned under the American’s stern and fired.

British shot smashed Constitution’s wheel and wounded or killed the four quartermasters manning it. The same broadside shattered a railing surrounding the after hatchway, embedding a shard of copper in Bainbridge’s thigh. Despite his wound, Bainbridge rallied his crew. To regain control of the ship, crew members were sent to the berth deck to steer the ship using the tiller directly connected to the rudder. The heavy American shot, coupled with the defensive properties of Constitution’s thick hull, began to turn the tide of battle. Captain Lambert decided to board the American frigate, and aimed Java’s shattered bow at Constitution. As the two ships neared, American shot toppled Java’s foremast and the boarding attempt failed. Soon after, Lambert received a mortal wound in the chest.

The Americans fired several more broadsides and then stood off out of range to repair damaged rigging. On Java, the devastation was complete with her three masts and bowsprit damaged, and many of her guns inoperable. An hour later, Constitution swept back and took up a raking position off Java’s bow. First Lieutenant Henry Ducie Chads surrendered the ship for Constitution’s second victory of the War of 1812.

After removing the British prisoners, Bainbridge determined that he could not tow Java to an American port. A demolition party lit fires in Java’s hold, causing the magazine to explode. Although Constitution suffered damage to her rig and hull, the ship made Boston on February 15, 1813. News of the victory had arrived six days before, and the city was ready to welcome its heroes. When the news reached England, the British Admiralty took steps to ensure that no more of their frigates would fall victim to the Americans. In July 1813 they issued orders forbidding their captains from engaging American frigates one on one.

On December 24, 1814, the United States and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent, putting an end to the War of 1812. The hostilities officially concluded on February 17, 1815, when the U.S. Congress ratified the treaty. However, word of the war’s end had not yet reached USS Constitution, at sea three thousand miles away. Having escaped from British blockaders off Boston on December 18, 1814, the ship, under Captain Charles Stewart, had spent the intervening two months cruising Atlantic sea lanes in search of prizes.

By February 20, 1815, Constitution was near the island of Madeira off Portugal. At 1:00 that afternoon, the masthead lookout spied a large ship sailing to the southwest. A half hour later, another ship was spotted further westward. The two ships were HMS Levant, a sloop-of-war mounting 21 guns commanded by Captain the Honorable George Douglas, and HMS Cyane, a 22-gun frigate (mounting 34) commanded by Captain Gordon Falcon. By 5:00 the ships had closed, and Stewart ordered two guns fired to try the range. The shot fell short. At about 6:00, the British shorted sail and formed a line with Levant leading. All the ships hoisted their ensigns and the battle commenced.

Constitution had the windward advantage of greater maneuverability and the ability to block the wind from her opponents’ sails. It also meant that clouds of gun smoke would envelop the British warships, obscuring their view of the American vessel. Stewart ordered his crew to fire. Both British ships returned fire and a 15-minute exchange between the three vessels ensued. Once the smoke cleared, Constitution was alongside Levant and fired a broadside. Then, with Cyane maneuvering to attack Constitution’s port after quarter (a vulnerable spot), Stewart ordered the main and mizzen topsails braced a back, causing the ship to back sternward, under the cover of the gun smoke, surprising Cyane. The battle continued for another 30 minutes.

After more sailing and blistering fire from Constitution’s larger guns, Cyane surrendered just before 7:00. An hour later, Constitution gave chase to Levant and exchanged broadsides. The Americans raked Levant’s stern, thereby prompting Captain Douglas to flee. Constitution pursued, firing with the bow chasers, cutting up the British warship’s rigging and masts. By 10:00, finding they could not escape, Levant surrendered.

Despite the two-to-one advantage of the British, it had hardly been a fair fight. Constitution’s heavier guns and heavy construction were able to both deal out and absorb more punishment than her opponents. Still, it was a hard fought battle with brilliant ship handling, and both the U.S. Navy and the American press were quick to sing the praises of the ship and crew. The battle with HMS Cyane and HMS Levant was USS Constitution’s last time engaging in active combat.

On November 3, 1853, USS Constitution, the flagship of the Africa Squadron captained by Commander John Rudd and under the leadership of Commodore Isaac Mayo, seized the New York schooner H.N. Gambrill off the coast of Africa near the Congo River delta. There was evidence indicating the ship was en route to pick up enslaved people who would be illegally sold into captivity. Bulkheads had been removed and an abundance of provisions had been loaded aboard – far more than was needed by any ship without living cargo.

The ship’s cook eventually told one of Constitution’s lieutenants that Gambrill‘s captain was planning a slaving voyage to Cuba. A prize crew was assigned to the schooner and sailed it back to New York, where the court adjudicated its disposition. H. N. Gambrill was the last capture of USS Constitution’s long career.

USS Constitution went on to more exploits. However, the US Navy could not bring itself to put her on the junk heap in retirement. Over the years they kept her in fighting condition. To this day she is the last fighting sailing ship in the U.S. Navy.

So here she is today under sail with a group of F-15s passing overhead in escort:

Ron

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