Britain had the largest empire in world history.
Out of nearly 200 countries in the world, only 22 were never controlled or invaded by Britain.
In
April of 1775, Britain prepared to send government troops on a
preemptive raid to seize guns from American patriots at Lexington and
Concord.
They also intended to arrest Boston Tea Party leader
Samuel Adams, merchant fleet owner Jeremiah Lee - the wealthiest man in
Massachusetts, and Massachusetts Provincial Congress president John
Hancock.
John Hancock, who had previously experienced British tax collectors confiscating his merchant ship
Liberty in 1768, led the Massachusetts Provincial Congress to declare, April 15, 1775:
"In
circumstances dark as these, it becomes us, as men and Christians, to
reflect that, whilst every prudent measure should be taken to ward off
the impending judgments...
(a day) ... be set apart as a Day of
Public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer...to confess their sins...to
implore the Forgiveness of all our Transgression.
Connecticut
Governor Jonathan Trumbull, whom Washington called 'the first of the
patriots', was the only colonial governor at the start of the Revolution
to support the patriot cause.
Governor Trumbull proclaimed a Day of Fasting, APRIL 19, 1775, that:
"God
would graciously pour out His Holy Spirit on us to bring us to a
thorough repentance and effectual reformation that our iniquities may
not be our ruin;
that He would restore, preserve and secure the
liberties of this and all the other British American colonies, and make
the land a mountain of Holiness, and habitation of righteousness
forever."
The
poem, Paul Revere's Ride, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
described how American patriots sent a warning from Boston's Old North
Church that the British were coming:
"Listen my children and you shall hear
of the midnight ride of Paul Revere...
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch...
One if by land, two if by sea..."
Though Paul Revere was captured along the way, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott continued their midnight ride.
"Through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight."
In
early dawn of APRIL 19, 1775, American "Minutemen," confronted British
government troops on Lexington Green and Concord's Old North Bridge.
Then American patriots chased the British back, as Longfellow's poem continued:
"You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,---
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load."
Longfellow ended:
"So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,---
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere."
One
hundred years later, APRIL 19, 1875, at that same Old North Bridge,
American patriots were honored by the dedication of the 'Minute Man
Statue' designed by Daniel Chester French.
On the statue's base is a stanza of the poem The Concord Hymn, written Ralph Waldo Emerson, APRIL 19, 1860:
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood;
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps,
And time the ruined bridge has swept,
Down the dark stream that seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We place with joy a votive stone,
That memory may their deeds redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
O Thou who made those heroes dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid time and nature gently spare,
The shaft we raised to them and Thee."
New England celebrates APRIL 19th as "Patriots' Day."
Two
months after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Continental
Congress, under President John Hancock, declared, June 12, 1775:
"Congress...considering
the present critical, alarming and calamitous state...do earnestly
recommend, that Thursday, the 12th of July next, be observed by the
inhabitants of all the English Colonies on this Continent, as a Day of
Public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer,
that we may with united
hearts and voices, unfeignedly confess and deplore our many sins and
offer up our joint supplications to the All-wise, Omnipotent and
merciful Disposer of all Events, humbly beseeching Him to forgive our
iniquities...
It
is recommended to Christians of all denominations to assemble for
public worship and to abstain from servile labor and recreations of said
day."
The conflict began that in eight years would result in America's independence.
Get the book, America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations
Also on APRIL 19, in 1951, after 48 years of patriotic service, Five-Star General Douglas MacArthur retired.
One
of the most decorated soldiers in U.S. history, MacArthur served in
France in WWI, was Superintendent of West Point and the youngest Army
Chief of Staff.
General Douglas MacArthur was Supreme Allied Commander in the Pacific in WWII and received Japan's surrender.
He commanded UN forces against North Korea till President Truman dismissed him for not fighting a limited war.
On
January 18, 1955, a monument was dedicated to General Douglas
MacArthur at the occasion of his 75th birthday, which had inscribed his
statement:
"Battles are not won by arms alone. There must exist
above all else a spiritual impulse - a will to victory. In war there
can be no substitute for victory."
Get the book AMERICAN MINUTE - Notable Events of American Significance Remembered on the Date They Occurred
No comments:
Post a Comment