This week we have traveled north 2.5 hours into Maine
for a combined Zone Conference. The weather has begun
to catch up to the calendar, and with the change
to Standard time, we are trying to adjust to 4:30pm sunsets.
The views near Manchester look more like this image,
with vistas which previously were obscured or
clothed in shadow. It is an interesting transformation.
Now the mornings include below-freezing temperatures,
including a couple of days this week that began
around 13 degrees.
This shot shows what we encountered near Augusta, ME:
leaves with contrast of snow behind.
A highlight for us this weekend was a chance to address
our new "home" ward in Canterbury, where we find we
have been accepted as family, and feel connected
closely to a few dozen people. Our assigned topic
was "spiritual self reliance". My inspiration
as introduction to my remarks was taken from
Revolutionary War incidents that I have enjoyed reading
about from the history "American Spring" by
Walter Borneman (thanks Pamela Morgan for
the recommendation). I share that part of my talk here.
I described two
incidents, and invited others to listen
for ways that these circumstances and choices
might relate to
self reliance.
The year is 1775, early in
the dark morning hours of April 19th.
A decades-long struggle between mother
country and colonies
has come to a crisis and spilled over.
British military
leaders felt compelled to act to remove
fighting resources, munitions and canon,
if possible,
from access or control by the rebellious Colonials
in Boston
The search continues,
following a deadly confrontation that broke out
almost
accidentally on Lexington
Two handfuls of colonial casualties at the
skirmish there
make it impossible to turn back, even to the hostile
but less
violent intensity of what it had been before.
At the time, it appeared
that British troops near Charlestown
and Boston
Neck shipyards were beginning to hunt down
and arrest revolutionary leaders as
well as preparing
to march toward Concord
For local militia, the urgent question was whether
those troops
would march around by land, or deploy more quickly by means of
naval longboats straight
across Charlestown
Patriots had been alerted to watch for the alarm -
a light that would
be visible from what has become known
as “Old
North Church ”
– the highest visible place in Boston
That light would help them understand how the enemy
was approaching, and
therefore how to be prepared.
When secret intelligence
came that Redcoats would deploy
across the water, three couriers bypassed the Boston
roadblocks to relay
the information. William Dawes started
toward Lexington
via a land route, while Paul Revere
traveled by ferry across to Charlestown
on horseback. Samuel Prescott followed somewhat later
along a
southern route.
John Pulling what needed to be done to post the signal.
Pulling
enlisted church caretaker Robert Newman
(who possessed the critical tower entrance
key)
and possibly one other man who protectively stood watch.
The author describes what
happened next:
The two men entered the
building . . . and in its darkened interior
retrieved two lanterns from a
closet. Using leather thongs,
the two men draped the lanterns around their
necks
and climbed 154 creaking wooden steps up the church tower. . .
At some
point, perhaps on the platform beneath the great bells,
[they] took out flint
and steel and showered sparks onto tinder
with which to light the candles in
the lanterns. All that remained
was the delicate climb up the narrow ladder
leading past
the bells to the uppermost perch at the base of the steeple.
[The
final climber had to] manage two lighted lanterns and
still climb the ladder. From
the highest window,
the glow of first one, and then two lights flickered out
to
the northwest, in the direction of Charlestown
The
lanterns emitted only a subtle glow,
and to leave them visible for much more
than a minute
would have attracted the attention of patrolling British
sentries.
But -- it was enough.
(Bunker Hill Monument showing harbor nearby)
Moving forward in time to
mid-June of that same year,
British military strategy is tightening the siege
of Boston
by taking control of the surrounding
hills overlooking
under direction of Colonel
Prescott have moved onto
Breed’s Hill near Bunker Hill
where they built earthen fortifications
to try to defend that strategic
position.
As the British army advanced
in columns up that hill,
limited supply of ammunition,
reportedly told his men
not to fire until they were within range. He
stated
this distance as waiting until they could “see the whites of
their EYES”,
or more probably, the white of their uniform leg gaitors.
When they were close
enough, the colonials let loose
a lethal barrage of musket fire, and the
British retreated
with heavy casualties.
Regrouping at the base of
the hill, other assaults followed,
and little by little, combined British troop
movements
began to pinch and turn and isolate the American forces.
As the
fighting became more dire, and ball and
powder supplies dwindled, many Colonial
fighters fled
from the trenches to escape, while about 150 men stayed
and
fought on. Eventually, the attack achieved its goal,
and the American forces
there were defeated.
In fact, they were wiped out.
Again, I quote the
descriptive writing of author Borneman:
What ended the American
resistance in the fortification
was neither a lack of courage nor unstoppable
British resolve, but rather the absence of rebel gunpowder. . . .
but . . . once their gunpowder was
expended
there was nothing they could do.
As I have been thinking about and planning these remarks,
my lamp has been filled in many ways. I appreciate
the efforts of Early American patriots who acted with resolve
and strength. I was also lifted as I looked into the accepting
faces of our Canterbury Ward members, for their own
valiant efforts to keep the faith here where they live.
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