Celebrating President's Day
Since
this is the month we celebrate President’s Day in the United States.
Take some time each day to tell your children stories about our
presidents. Let them learn about their heritage as Americans. Here are
some interesting accounts concerning George Washington, the first
president of the United States. There are some resources at the end of
this article for you to learn more, including the book this story came
from.
Give Others A Reason To Believe
Nearly
all of us know that George Washington was the first U.S. President and
was called the “Father of our Country” but did you know about this time
in his life – years before the Revolutionary War? April 1755 – General
Braddock arrives and promotes George Washington, serving with the
British Army during the French and Indian War.
On July 9th 1755
the British were on their way to Fort Duquesne when the French
surprised them in an ambush. The British, unaccustomed to fighting
unless in an open field, were being annihilated. Washington rode back
and forth across the battle delivering General Braddock’s orders. As
the battle raged, every other officer on horseback, except Washington,
was shot down. General Braddock was mortally wounded, at which point
the troops fled in confusion.
On Sunday night July 13th ,
General Braddock died and it was Washington who read the funeral
service over him by the light of a torch. On July 18th, in a letter to
his brother, John Washington, he wrote, “I have heard a circumstantial
account of my death…I want to take this opportunity to contradict it…
By the All-Powerful Dispensations of Divine Providence, I have been
protected beyond all human probability or expectation, for I had four
bullet holes through my coat, and two horses were shot from under me,
yet I escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on
every side of me.”
Fifteen years later (1770) Washington and Dr.
Craik, a long-time friend were traveling through those same woods near
the Ohio River. They were met by an old Indian chief, who addressed
them through an interpreter: “I am a chief and ruler over my tribes. My
influence extends to the waters of the great lakes and the far blue
mountains. I have traveled a long and weary path that I could see the
young warrior of the great battle. It was on a day when the white man’s
blood mixed with the streams of our forests…I first beheld this young
Chief – I called to my young men ‘see you the tall daring warrior? He
is not of the red-coat tribe – he possesses an Indian’s wisdom, and
fights as we do – Quick! Let your aim be certain – and he dies!’
Our
rifles were leveled – rifles which, but for you, know not how to miss –
in vain – a power mightier than ours, shielded you. Seeing you were
under the protection of the Great Spirit, we immediately ceased to fire
at you. I am old and will soon be gathered to the great council fires
of my fathers in the land of shades, but ere I go, I must speak of this
in a voice of prophesy ‘Listen! The Great Spirit protects this man
{indicating
Washington} and guides his destinies. He will become a chief of
nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the Founder of a
mighty empire’. I am come to pay homage to the man who is a particular
favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle”
In another
account of that battle, an Indian stated “Washington was never born to
be killed by a bullet! I had seventeen fair fires at him with my rifle,
and after all could not bring him to the ground!”
On July 8th
1755, Mary Draper Ingalls had been kidnapped from her home in Draper
Meadows, Virginia by a band of Shawnee Indians. In her biography she
recorded her escape in mid-winter and her nearly 1000-mile trek back
home. At one point during her captivity, she overheard a meeting that
the Shawnee had with some French men. They described in detail the
British defeat in the Battle of Monogahela at Duquesne, and how chief
Red Hawk claimed to have shot Washington eleven times, but did not
succeed in killing him.
These accounts of the Battle of the
Monogahela were taught in American History books, in public school,
until 1934 – The last generation to have heard these accounts would
have been the World War II generation – arguably the “greatest
generation” which secured peace and security when the entire planet was
threatened by totalitarian regimes – They understood that “to him to
whom much is given, much is required” – and understood that Almighty
God “rules in the affairs of men” – their history proves it many times
over –
When they are reminded of it – Psalm 78 tells us of this – “I
will utter sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our
fathers have told us…” “We will not hide them from their
children…(verse5)…that they should make them known to their
children…(verse6) that the generation to come might know them…(verse7)
that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God,
but keep His commandments.”
When the truth of what God has done for
others is withheld from those who must learn to put their trust in God,
how can a generation of people learn to trust in anyone but themselves?
“How can they believe in Whom they have not heard?”
God is not
just Someone Who Was Around In Bible Days, but He has always proven
Himself to be a “very present help in times of trouble” – and if God is
allowed to be that for us, we will teach our children how truly Present
He is – We must tell the stories. We will either give them a proper
perspective of God, the World, the Heart and Purpose of Man, or we
will, by default, allow them to think that the world revolves around
each one of them.
Give Others A Reason to Believe -
I
remain confident, that God always remembers His covenant, and it must
be hoped that we will always remember our covenant with Him.
Yours in His Service
Ed Jahn
(Historic accounts gathered from “The Light and the Glory” by Peter Marshall and Peter Manuel)
There
are many resources you can find about the presidents. Do a search on
your computer – facts about presidents of the United States. Two
sources you will find are:
www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/
http://www.classroomhelp.com/lessons/Presidents/index.html
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