It was a time of desperation. The citizen soldiers had battled valiantly against one of the world’s mightiest armies but were vastly outgunned and on the verge of disintegration. The righteous flame of freedom was fluttering. Then a patriot, armed with the power of freedom’s siren call, rallied the downtrodden from defeat and despair.
While this scenario could easily be mistaken as copy taken from today’s news, it instead describes the state of affairs in the winter of 1776-1777 as a ragtag army of freedom fighters battled freeze and famine while wintering at Valley Forge. It was the gloomiest hour to date for the fledgling American army. The patriot forces fought bravely but seemed unable to win a decisive battle. They had been routed out of New York, driven out of New Jersey, and now were amassed on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River. Racked by hunger, cold, and disease, the citizen soldiers who remained simply waited in misery for what would likely be their final defeat.
Their intrepid leader, General George Washington, confided in a letter to a relative, “I think the game is pretty near up.” Amid this crisis, Thomas Paine, published “The American Crisis, Number 1,” on December 19, 1776. The words so stirred Washington that he ordered it read to all his troops at Valley Forge. Its opening is among the most stirring passages in the literature of the American Revolution. Combined with the subsequent victory at the Battle of Trenton later in the month, it had the probable effect of inspiring many soldiers, whose term of service would expire January 1st, to reenlist.
Oh, that our leaders of today could emulate the passion and eloquence of our leaders of the past…
“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 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: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated…
I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to a future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it. Say not that thousands are gone, turn out your tens of thousands; throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but “show your faith by your works,” that God may bless you. It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all. The far and the near, the home counties and the back, the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike. The heart that feels not now, is dead: the blood of his children will curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole and made them happy. 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.”
Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess – Thomas Paine, Rights of Man
Have an AWE-full Weekend!
William “Bill” Bacque