OT - 233 years ago today...

Post by **AmBraCol** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:14 am

Concord Hymn
by Ralph Waldo Emerson

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 set to-day 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.

Post by **Hobie** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:15 am

..and still we believe...

Post by **AmBraCol** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:22 am

Hobie wrote:..and still we believe...

Barack Hussein Obama's version would include the line...

"Here once the embittered farmers stood; "

Post by **Hobie** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:41 am

A couple of those embittered farmers were ?X great-grandfathers and great-uncles. I am eternally grateful. Because of them I have lived a life that was more comfortable than that King George lived in their time.

Post by **AmBraCol** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:46 am

Hobie wrote:A couple of those embittered farmers were ?X great-grandfathers and great-uncles. I am eternally grateful. Because of them I have lived a life that was more comfortable than that King George lived in their time.

Some of my great-greats came over not long after the Mayflower. There's no family lore about participation of their offspring in the war for independence, but seeing where they lived it would be hard to imagine them NOT being involved. And yes, we should be grateful for the freedoms fought and bled for. The more reason our discussions about infringements of that freedom are important. Sometimes I fear that our nation has forgotten the blood that was shed so that we can have freedom, a word which has lost its original meaning in the eyes of many and become an excuse for a libertine life style rather than that which was envisioned by the embattled farmers on that long ago April morning...

Rod WMG · Post by **Rod WMG** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 10:23 am

I don't know nuthin bout my ancestors, but I'm mighty proud of what was accomplished by the founders of our nation...and very pleased to reap the benefits.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 10:31 am

Way back up the chain one of mine was amongst the group that rowed out and drilled holes in the hull of HMS Revelation!
He was one of three
One brave so & so
Very drunk
Very angry

Post by **AmBraCol** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 10:31 am

Rod WMG wrote:I don't know nuthin bout my ancestors, but I'm mighty proud of what was accomplished by the founders of our nation...and very pleased to reap the benefits.

Two ways of looking at it.

"A ship does not sail on yesterday's wind."

and yet

"If we don't know where we come from, we'll have no idea where we're going."

Shucks, a bunch of my ancestors were yankees. And yet apparently both sides of my family had folks who fought for states' rights during the war of northern aggression. And someone in the family has a picture of one of our distant relatives who's a spittin' image of my favorite uncle - and both of them were/are ministers of the Gospel.

Thank God for those "embattled farmers" and for the thousands more who stayed the course. It is my desire is to see my native land return to the foundations upon which she was built, love of God and love of freedom. In the words of the Apostle Paul, "It is for freedom that you have been set free, see to it that no one enslaves you again." (PM paraphrase)

AJMD429 · Post by **AJMD429** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 11:27 am

mescalero1 wrote:Way back up the chain one of mine was amongst the group that rowed out and drilled holes in the hull of HMS Revelation!
He was one of three
One brave so & so
Very drunk
Very angry

THOSE are the kinds of men (and women) who understood freedom, and gave us a chance unheard of during the centuries of slavery and feudalism which preceded the development of firearms and our fortuitous (except for the original 'Indian' inhabitants) invasion of the U.S. territory. We're slowly squandering it away, unfortunately.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 4:55 pm

Happy Patriot's Day!

Jaguarundi · Post by **Jaguarundi** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 8:08 pm

Ysabel Kid wrote:Happy Patriot's Day!

+1

Cling to your Guns and Religion...I will

!

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:07 pm

AJMD429,
Yes, we are.
And to my eternal damnation, I do not know how to arrest it!

Mokwaw · Post by **Mokwaw** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:48 pm

My G......grandfather (John Lowrance) fought at the Battle of Cow Pens. From what I can find looking back thru ancestry, he was 14 years old at the time.

Charles · Post by **Charles** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 6:52 am

Two days ago, I was inducted into the Son's of the American Revolution as a descendent of Col. Phillip Alston of North Carolina. I have several othere ancestory that served either in the Revolutionary Army or supported the cause. One interesting one was Moses Mathews. He was a rifle maker in Winnsboro North Carolina. When the war broke out he became the gunsmith to General Thomas Sumpters army. The Tories burned his shop to the ground in 1781,