HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

Paul Revere by J.S. Copley


I can't claim I was onto this - a loyal member of Team STORMBRINGER brought this to my attention just now . . . I haven't been blogging long enough to get my calendar in order to be on top of everything . . . that having been said, going on a year into the project I can't whine & cry "I'm new around here!" much longer . . . S.L.


Happy Birthday America! 19/4/1775 is Lexington and Concord and the routing of the Lobsterbacks!

(No offense to Theo, of course.)

How come all the talking heads on TV and the radio all they had to talk about was Waco and Oklahoma City and not a effing one of them mentioned it was the anniversary of the BIRTH OF AMERICA AS A FREE COUNTRY?

- from Tom . . . EXCELSIOR!


The Battle of Lexington

The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 were the opening engagements of the American Revolution. After the 1774 passage of the Intolerable Acts by the British Parliament, unrest in the colonies increased.

The British commander at Boston, Gen. Thomas Gage, sought to avoid armed rebellion by sending a column of royal infantry from Boston to capture colonial military stores at Concord. News of his plan was dispatched to the countryside by Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott.


The old Church Steeple where lamps were hung, signaling Revere, Dawes and Prescott to make their fateful ride . . .

As the advance column under Major John Pitcairn reached Lexington, they came upon a group of militia (the Minutemen).


Minutemen militia at Lexington.

After a brief exchange of shots in which several Americans were killed, the colonials withdrew, and the British continued to Concord. Here they destroyed some military supplies, fought another engagement, and began a harried withdrawal to Boston, which cost them over 200 casualties.

Minuteman Memorial in Concord, Massachusetts.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

I love the American Revolution; the only successful revolution in the history of the world. Of the many amazing aspects of the American Revolution is the fact that it was not contained to a time and place in the late eighteenth century, but that it has continued throughout our nation's history - from the War of 1812 (the second American Revolution), through the convoluted legislative struggles that led to the War Between the States (known in the South as the War of Northern Aggression), through to the California Taxpayers Revolt of the Seventies that led in turn to the incredible Reagan Revolution of the eighties.


I have often stated on this blog that generally, I avoid politics; on account that it generates Dark Energy within me. But now we are witnessing a remarkable phenomena. What is playing out before us deserves comment.


The American Revolution continues to this day. Perhaps you didn't see it, perhaps you were not aware that it is playing out right now, before our very eyes. Bear witness:







The powers-that-be and their willing minions in the press may be dismissive of what took place this month in Massachusetts; of course they are - this a sign of desperation, a measure of defense against a remarkable groundswell, a popular uprising against the status quo. All of it; the tea parties, the populist sentiment prevailing time after time in Virginia, in New Jersey and now in Massachusetts - remarkably all scenes of significant events in the FIRST American Revolution - the rise of populist, charismatic leaders like Palin the MooseSlayer, and now truck-driving Scott Brown - represent a political vector that is impossible to ignore.





"Take Due Notice Thereof, and Conduct Yourself Accordingly."



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WHISKEY REBELLION

Today - September 24th - marks the day in 1794 when President Washington ordered the militia out to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion.


The Whiskey Insurrection was a popular uprising that had its beginnings in 1791 and culminated in an insurrection in 1794 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Monongahela Valley. During George Washington's presidency, the government decided to tax whiskey in order to pay off the national debt. This infuriated the citizenry and led to the Whiskey Rebellion.

The militia force of 12,950 men was organized, roughly the size of the entire army in the Revolutionary War. Under the personal command of Washington, Hamilton, and General Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee, the army assembled in Harrisburg and marched to Bedford, Pennsylvania the site of Washington's headquarters, then on to western Pennsylvania (to what is now Monongahela) in October of 1794.

According to Jefferson, the rebels "could never be found," but the militia expended considerable effort rounding up 20 prisoners, clearly demonstrating Federalist authority in the national government. The men were imprisoned, where one died, while two were convicted of treason and sentenced to death by hanging. Washington, however, pardoned them on the grounds that one was a "simpleton," and the other, "insane."

George Washington

This marked the first time under the new United States Constitution that the federal government used military force to exert authority over the nation's citizens. It was also one of only two times that a sitting President personally commanded the military in the field; the other was after President James Madison fled the British occupation of Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812.

Alexander Hamilton; Banker, Federalist, and second-rate duelist

"Lighthorse Harry" Lee, Revolutionary War hero and father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee