Happy Birthday America - Remember The Sacrifices Of Your Founders

America's founders sign the Declaration of Independence

Have you ever wondered what happened to the fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons who were serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six signers fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They had signed the Declaration of Independence and pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners, men of means and well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in rags.

Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, and Rutledge.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and his grist mill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

As you enjoy this Fourth of July holiday, remember the sacrifices of the first American patriots. Say a prayer for them, for the troops who are defending our freedom throughout the world, and for the United States of America.

Charles M. Grist
www.MyLastWar.com

Note: My thanks to Logan Barbee for sending me this information.

Happy Birthday To The United States Army

Today is the birthday of the United States Army. I first joined the Army on December 3, 1968. I had three breaks in service over the years, but I finally managed to retire on February 28, 2009.

Such a lengthy association means that I have served with men who fought in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan and other lesser-known battlefields throughout the world. I served alongside my fellow soldiers in both Vietnam (1970-71) and Iraq (2004).

The following is a description of the birth of the United States Army taken from Robert Wright, The Continental Army. Read more at http://www.history.army.mil/html/faq/birth.html :

"The June 14 date is when Congress adopted 'the American continental army' after reaching a consensus position in The Committee of the Whole. This procedure and the desire for secrecy account for the sparseness of the official journal entries for the day. The record indicates only that Congress undertook to raise ten companies of riflemen, approved an enlistment form for them, and appointed a committee (including Washington and Schuyler) to draft rules and regulations for the government of the army. The delegates correspondence, diaries, and subsequent actions make it clear that they really did much more. They also accepted responsibility for the existing New England troops and forces requested for the defense of the various points in New York. The former were believed to total 10,000 men; the latter, both New Yorkers and Connecticut men, another 5,000."

Please take time to thank a soldier for your freedom. They have been protecting all of us for a long, long time.

Charles M. Grist

First Lieutenant, USAR, Retired

www.MyLastWar.com

Happy New Year for 2009

The sun rises on the first day of 2009 even as our nation faces some of the most challenging times in its history. We’ll have a new president in twenty days and, regardless of our political beliefs, we wish him well in the most difficult job in the world.

America’s financial upheaval grows and it doesn’t appear anyone really knows how to fix it. Many of our friends or family members have lost their jobs or businesses and others will likely follow them in the months to come.

Wars and rumors of wars plague the planet. Dictators rattle their swords and crazed Islamic fundamentalists still don’t get it. Our brave troops find that their mission in Iraq is evolving even before that mission ends in a couple of years. The war in Afghanistan goes on. Throughout the world, our fathers, mothers, sons and daughters are fighting for our freedom and this will surely continue beyond the next New Year’s Day.

Virtually all of us will live through some type of change in our lives this year. It’s comforting to remember that Americans have defeated tough days before. These lessons come from the generations that preceded us and we should be grateful to them for their strength of will. The United States of America is still the greatest nation on earth, founded by those who sought a better life, who demanded the freedom to worship God in their own way and who created their own opportunity for an unlimited future.

When my ancestors loaded their muskets and helped secure our freedom in the American Revolution, some of these patriots must have thought about the descendents who would follow them. I cannot dishonor their sacrifice by ever giving in to defeatism and I refuse to believe that my fellow Americans can give up either.

As always, we shall depend on each other, we will survive the trials and tribulations that confront us and we will move on to better days. We will never, ever quit.

So says the old Ranger.

Happy New Year.

Charles M. Grist
www.TheCobraTeam.com
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

Independence Day: Celebrating Liberty & Those Who Defend It

It was on June 17, 1775 that the American rebels valiantly defended their positions on Breed’s Hill (adjacent to Bunker Hill) against two charges by the far more professional British soldiers. Lightly armed and poorly trained, these Massachusetts citizens were essentially out of ammunition and the third and final charge by the enemy would be a bloody hand-to-hand encounter.

Although the British had bayonets, the American defenders did not. When that final assault came and the two forces commenced their close-quarters battle, a British officer would recognize Dr. Joseph Warren, a member of the Sons of Liberty and one of the well-known leaders of the rebel forces. (His death was the inspiration for the famous painting above).

Warren had just received a commission as a major general in the patriot army, but that commission would not take effect for three days. The men leading the defense of Bunker and Breed’s Hills begged Dr. Warren to take command, but he chose to fight as an individual soldier. When the British officer shot Warren in the head, killing him instantly, one of America’s first citizen soldiers had given his life for the cause of liberty.

I was raised with the story of Dr. Warren as though I was hearing about a distant cousin. My grandmother, Leona Sumner Terrell Lindell, was a proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution based on another relative’s service, but the family had “Warrens” too and we came to believe that there was at least a fair chance we were also related to this great man as well.

Today we are all their cousins and we remember the sacrifices of these courageous patriots and those who have followed them throughout our nation’s history. America is still a shining beacon of liberty to those who are oppressed or those who seek to make a better life. Every citizen must help ensure that this bright light of freedom is never extinguished, either by apathy or by conquest.

Happy Fourth of July to all, especially to America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who continue the legacy started by Dr. Joseph Warren and his fellow patriots.

SFC Chuck Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

Remembering Dr. Joseph Warren of the Sons of Liberty

The American rebels valiantly defended their position against two charges by the far more professional British soldiers. Lightly armed and poorly trained, these Massachusetts citizens were essentially out of ammunition and the third and final charge by the enemy would be a bloody hand-to-hand encounter.

Although the British had bayonets, the American defenders did not. When that final assault came and the two forces commenced their close-quarters battle, a British officer would recognize Dr. Joseph Warren, a member of the Sons of Liberty and one of the well-known leaders of the rebel forces.

Warren had just received a commission as a major general in the patriot army, but that commission would not take effect for three days. The men leading the defense of Bunker and Breed’s Hills begged Dr. Warren to take command, but he chose to fight as an individual soldier. When the British officer shot Warren in the head, killing him instantly, one of America’s first citizen soldiers had given his life for the cause of liberty. (The above painting depicts Warren's death in battle.)

I was raised with the story of Dr. Warren as though I was hearing about a distant cousin. My grandmother, Leona Sumner Terrell Lindell, was a proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution based on another relative’s service, but the family had “Warrens” too and we came to believe that there was at least a fair chance we were also related to this great man as well.

Today we are all their cousins and we remember the sacrifices of these courageous patriots and those who have followed them throughout our nation’s history. America is still a shining beacon of liberty to those who are oppressed or those who seek to make a better life. Every citizen must help ensure that this bright light of freedom is never extinguished, either by apathy or by conquest.

Happy Fourth of July to all…..

SFC Chuck Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com