REMARKS OF JESSE H. MERRELL, FOURTH-GREAT-GRANDSON
OF CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL (1731-1771),
PREPARED FOR DELIVERY AT THE FIRST FAMILY REUNION
OF DESCENDENTS OF CAPTAIN MERRELL
AT LEXINGTON, NC, JUNE 30-JULY 1, 2006
MY NAME IS AMERICA!
I WAS BORN AT JAMESTOWN!
AND BECAME A MAN WITH THE BOLD HELP
OF THE GALLANT CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL[1]
AT THE BATTLE OF ALAMANCE, GIVING US ALL:
THE CROWN JEWEL OF ALAMANCE!
BY JESSE H. MERRELL
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
THIS IS A BRIEF STORY OF AMERICA—AND OUR PRICELESS, MAGNIFICENT FREEDOM—THE ENVY OF THE WHOLE WORLD!
THIS IS HOW AMERICA GREW FROM ITS INFANCY AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA, IN 1607—INTO THE EXTRAORDINARY, UNBELIEVABLY WONDERFUL COUNTRY IT IS TODAY!
THAT EXHILARATING GROWTH WAS ALSO MARVELOUSLY INSPIRED BY THE DECISIVE, OUTSTANDING ENRICHMENT OF OUR SPLENDID SELF-RULE AT ALAMANCE, NORTH CAROLINA, IN 1771, WHERE A DARING PIONEER OF LIBERTY, CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL, FORGED A POWERFUL BRICK IN THE INVINCIBLE WALL OF AMERICA’S MIGHTY FORTRESS OF FREEDOM!
LET’S EXAMINE OUR GRAND FREEDOM FOR A MOMENT…
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHO GAVE YOU THE LIFE YOU LIVE TODAY AS A FREE AMERICAN?
I DON’T MEAN YOUR FAMILY—OR JUST BEING ALIVE.
BUT RATHER, WHAT YOU DO WITH THAT LIFE: THE LIBERTY TO LIVE IT FREELY, TO SPEAK OUT OPENLY, WITHOUT DESPOTIC, GOOSE-STEPPING, TYRANNICAL SECRET POLICE SMASHING DOWN YOUR DOOR, HURLING YOU INTO PRISON, WITHOUT CHARGE, AND THROWING AWAY THE KEY.
HOW DID WE COME TO ENJOY THE TREMENDOUS FREEDOMS WE BENEFIT FROM AS AMERICANS TODAY?
DID THEY JUST MAGICALLY FLOAT IN FROM THE BLUE?
HOW IS IT THAT YOU CAN CALL THE PRESIDENT A LIAR AND A CRIMINAL—AND NOT BE WHIPPED OR SHOT, AS YOU WOULD BE IN SO MANY DICTATORIAL COUNTRIES?
I HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN MY FIRST REAL LESSON IN OUR OVERWHELMINGLY PRECIOUS FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
MY FOURTH-GRADE TEACHER, NINA BRASHER, TOLD US OF A BUS DRIVER CARRYING A LOAD OF NEWLY ARRIVED IMMIGRANTS, WHO STOPPED IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE, GOT OUT, AND BEGAN ANGRILY DENOUNCING PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT.
HE CALLED ROOSEVELT A CROOK, A FRAUD, A LIAR, A CHEAT, A DICTATOR—EVERY DIRTY NAME HE COULD THINK OF—AND SAID HE OUGHT TO BE LOCKED UP FOR ALL HIS TERRIBLE CRIMES.
THE IMMIGRANTS WERE HORRIFIED—EXPECTING TO SEE THEIR CRAZY DRIVER HAULED OFF TO A CONCENTRATION CAMP FOR CRUEL PUNISHMENT…ENDING IN SLOW, AGONIZING DEATH.
BUT THE POLICEMEN JUST STOOD THERE, DOING NOTHING, AS THE MAN KEPT VICIOUSLY CONDEMNING THE PRESIDENT.
THE DRIVER FINALLY CLIMBED BACK ON THE BUS AND SAID: “NOW, THAT’S WHAT YOU CAN DO IN AMERICA!”
I’VE NEVER FORGOTTEN THAT POWERFUL STORY!
WE SHOULD ALL REMEMBER IT!
WHERE DID THAT CHERISHED RIGHT COME FROM?
WAS IT MERELY AN ACCIDENT—SOME RANDOM CHANCE?
CERTAINLY NOT!
MANY PEOPLE HAVE NOBLY SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES, TO GIVE US THE PRECIOUS FREEDOMS WE ENJOY, BUT TOO OFTEN TAKE FOR GRANTED.
OUR BRAVE SOLDIERS OF LIBERTY—OUR MILITARY, THANK GOD—PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE FOR OUR BELOVED LIBERTIES!
ONE OF THOSE BRAVE SOLDIERS OF FREEDOM—WHOSE NAME YOU DON’T USUALLY FIND IN MOST HISTORY BOOKS—IS ONE WE ALL KNOW AND HOLD DEAR, AND GATHER HERE TODAY TO PAY SIGNAL HONOR TO: CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL!
EVEN BEFORE PATRICK HENRY AND THE OTHER EARLY PATRIOTS IN VIRGINIA COURAGEOUSLY CONFRONTED TYRANNY, CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL WAS A LEADER AMONG THE NORTH CAROLINA REGULATORS WHO GALLANTLY ROSE UP AND MAGNIFICENTLY STRUCK A FEARLESS BLOW FOR FREEDOM!
IN CAPTAIN MERRELL’S HEROIC HEART, THERE SWELLED A PASSIONATE LOVE OF LIBERTY—WHICH STILL POWERFULLY PULSATES IN THE HEARTS OF ALL FREEDOM-LOVING AMERICANS, ONE WHICH BEGAN THROBBING ALMOST 170 YEARS BEFORE OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WAS WRITTEN.
IT’S TIME WE TRANSMIT THAT EXTRAORDINARY STORY.
IT BEGAN NEARLY 400 YEARS AGO, WHEN THE DARING VOYAGE OF THREE SMALL ENGLISH SHIPS DRAMATICALLY CHANGED THE COURSE OF WORLD HISTORY FOREVER!
THOSE THREE SHIPS—THE SUSAN CONSTANT, GODSPEED AND DISCOVERY—LEFT ENGLAND ON DECEMBER 20, 1606. THEIR PERILOUS VOYAGE ENDED FIVE MONTHS LATER, ON MAY 13, 1607.
THE 104 GALLANT MEN LANDED AT JAMESTOWN, FOUNDING THE FIRST PERMANENT ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN AMERICA…
…13 YEARS BEFORE THE STIFF-NECK PURITANS EVEN SET FOOT ON PLYMOUTH. AND THE MASSACHUSETTS FOLKS WERE HEADED FOR JAMESTOWN—BUT JUST GOT BLOWN OFF-COURSE.
THAT WAS A BREAK FOR US—KEEPING TEDDY KENNEDY AND HIS ZEALOUS, WITCH-BURNING FANATICS UP THERE FOR THE CHAPPAQUIDDICK DRIVING DERBY AT EDGARTOWN FERRY!
THE JAMESTOWN PIONEERS FEARLESSLY FORGED…
THE FOUNDATION OF AMERICA…
WITH THEIR EVERLASTING COURAGE…
AND UNDYING FORTITUDE.
IN 2007, WE CELEBRATE THE 400TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CREATION OF VIRGINIA AND THE UNITED STATES.
JAMESTOWN IS THE BLESSED EMBRYO OF AMERICA’S MOST CHERISHED TRADITIONS AND ENDURING PRINCIPLES—REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT, THE RULE OF LAW, INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM, THE FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM AND MUCH MORE.
ALL THESE VALUABLE IDEALS WERE
BORN…
GERMINATED…
AND FLOURISHED INTO…
MAGNIFICENT FULFILLMENT FROM…
JAMESTOWN’S LUSH FERTILE KERNEL…
THAT BOLDLY GAVE BIRTH TO AMERICA!
THE FLAME OF FREEDOM THAT BURNS SO BRIGHTLY IN AMERICA TODAY WAS HEROICALLY SET ABLAZE 400 YEARS AGO AT JAMESTOWN, BY THE DARING, DEDICATED ENGLISH PIONEERS WHO BOLDLY LIT THE GLORIOUS STAR OF LIBERTY THAT STILL MAGNIFICENTLY GUIDES US TODAY—JUST AS GOD’S PILLOW OF FIRE GUIDED THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL FROM THE SLAVERY OF EGYPT TO THE FREEDOM OF THE PROMISED LAND 3,500 YEARS AGO, AND JUST AS THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM LED THE WISE MEN TO THE CHRIST CHILD IN A LOWLY MANGER 2,000 YEARS AGO.
THE SOUL-WARMING RADIANCE FROM OUR ETERNAL FLAME OF FREEDOM, FIRED IN THE FURNACE OF AFFLICTION AND SUFFERING AT JAMESTOWN, IS WHAT MAKES AMERICA DIFFERENT FROM ALL THE OTHER NATIONS OF THE WORLD—AND WHY SO MANY PEOPLE CONSTANTLY TRY TO COME HERE.
THE 400TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF AMERICA—AND THIS FIRST FAMILY REUNION OF DESCENDANTS OF CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL, ON THE 236TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH—IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR US ALL TO RE-IGNITE OUR ORIGINAL, DAZZLING, MORNING-STAR FLAME OF FREEDOM.
CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL’S LOVE OF LIBERTY DOUBTLESS GREW OUT OF THAT FIRST TINY HEARTBEAT OF AMERICA AT JAMESTOWN NEARLY 400 YEARS AGO.
WE SHOULD ALL KNOW, REALIZE, UNDERSTAND AND CONTINUALLY TEACH OUR CHILDREN THAT IT WAS BRAVE MEN LIKE CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL, AND LATER GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON AND HIS ARMY, NOT THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE—GRAND AS THEY WERE—WHO REALLY GAVE US OUR LIBERTY.
THAT IS STILL TRUE TODAY—ESPECIALLY TODAY.
CRUDE AND BARBARIC AS IT MAY SEEM TO SILLY-WILLY SCHOLARS AND FUZZY-HEADED INTELLECTUALS, FINE-SOUNDING WORDS ON PAPER MEAN NOTHING—ABSOLUTELY NOTHING: NADA, NIL, NAUGHT, ZILCH, ZERO—UNLESS THEY ARE BACKED UP BY SUPERIOR MILITARY POWER, WITH MILLIONS OF BULLETS AND THOUSANDS OF BOMBS.
HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR GEORGE WASHINGTON AND HIS HALF-STARVED, RAG-TAG AMERICAN ARMY, ALL THE BOLD SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WOULD HAVE BEEN HANGED FOR HIGH TREASON—AS CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL WAS IN 1771—AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE END OF OUR GRAND AMERICAN EXPERIMENT IN INDEPENDENCE.
IT WOULD ALSO HAVE BEEN THE END OF OUR FREEDOM IF WASHINGTON HAD DONE WHAT ALL FAMOUS CONQUERORS THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE DONE—BECOME DICTATOR!
AND HE COULD HAVE. HIS OFFICERS URGED HIM TO BECOME KING—AND WOULD HAVE SUPPORTED HIM IN A MILITARY COUP TO OVERTHROW CIVILIAN CONTROL.
BUT WASHINGTON REFUSED—SURRENDERING HIS SWORD TO CIVILIAN AUTHORITY—ASSURING OUR FREEDOM, NOT TYRANNY. WE ACCEPT THAT AS ROUTINE. BUT IT’S NOT.
INDEED, WASHINGTON IS PERHAPS THE ONLY GREAT CONQUEROR IN HISTORY TO EVER VOLUNTARILY SURRENDER SUCH TEMPTING, SWEEPING, DICTATORIAL POWER!
WHAT WOULD AMERICA BE LIKE TODAY—IF THERE EVEN WAS AN AMERICA—HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THIS SPOTLESS, SHINING PARAGON OF VIRTUE AND MORALITY WHO INCREDIBLY, AGAINST OVERPOWERING ODDS, LED US TO FREEDOM?
PERHAPS THE FINEST EXAMPLE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON’S UNPARALLELED, UNBLEMISHED CHARACTER WAS HIS JUDICIOUS DECISION NOT TO SEEK A THIRD TERM AS PRESIDENT.
HE COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN RE-ELECTED—AND RE-ELECTED FOR AS LONG AS HE LIVED—BUT SOMEHOW HE KNEW THAT WOULD SET THE WRONG EXAMPLE…WHIRLING US BACK INTO THE DESPOTIC FIRE-PIT WE HAD JUST ESCAPED FROM— TRADING ONE KING GEORGE FOR ANOTHER KING GEORGE.
BECAUSE HIS COMMANDING INFLUENCE WAS SO POWERFUL, HIS MAJESTIC INSPIRATION SO ELOQUENT, HIS EXALTED REVERENCE SO ILLUSTRIOUS—HIS DIGNIFIED, HONORABLE, GLORIOUS MODEL WAS FOLLOWED BY EVERY SINGLE PRESIDENT AFTER HIM—EVEN THOUGH IT WAS TRADITION, NOT LAW—UNTIL FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT DISRESPECTFULLY BROKE IT, SEEKING THREE, EVEN FOUR TERMS, ALTHOUGH DYING, AFTER WHICH CUSTOM WAS MADE LAW—LIMITING PRESIDENTS TO TWO TERMS!
WASHINGTON’S AUGUST PRESENCE STILL OVERSHADOWS THE MOMENTOUS OATH EVERY PRESIDENT TAKES TODAY—BECAUSE OF ANOTHER STERLING CHARACTER TRAIT OF THIS IDEAL, FAULTLESS, EXEMPLARY FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY.
AFTER SOLEMNLY SWEARING TO FAITHFULLY DISCHARGE THE DUTIES OF PRESIDENT, WASHINGTON SPONTANEOUSLY ADDED THESE CRITICAL WORDS: “SO HELP ME GOD!”
THOSE GRAVE WORDS WERE ACTUALLY NOT IN THE OATH THEN—BUT HAVE BEEN EVER SINCE—BECAUSE WASHINGTON UTTERED THEM AS A FIRM, ROCK-SOLID, SACRED SIGNAL OF HIS DETERMINED, UNWAVERING, RIGHTEOUS INTENT.
AND WASHINGTON, THIS INCOMPARABLE GIANT, DOES NOT GET NEARLY THE CREDIT HE DESERVES, CONSIDERING ALL THE SUPERB EXAMPLES HE LEFT US, WITH NO MODEL TO GO BY. HE WAS THE GRAND, LOFTY PATTERN HIMSELF. HE FASHIONED THE EXCEPTIONAL CHARACTER OF AMERICA BY HIS POWERFUL, MATCHLESS, FLAWLESS EXAMPLE OF UNRIVALED EXCELLENCE!
WE CANNOT PRAISE A VIRTUOUS MAN LIKE THIS TOO MUCH!
ABRAHAM LINCOLN SAID IT BEST: “WASHINGTON IS THE MIGHTIEST NAME ON EARTH…ON THAT NAME, NO EULOGY IS EXPECTED. IT CANNOT BE. TO ADD BRIGHTNESS TO THE SUN, OR GLORY TO THE NAME OF WASHINGTON, IS ALIKE IMPOSSIBLE. LET NONE ATTEMPT IT. IN SOLEMN AWE, PRONOUNCE THE NAME, AND IN ITS NAKED, DEATHLESS SPLENDOR LEAVE IT SHINING ON.”
JUST AS OUR PRECIOUS FREEDOMS WOULD HAVE BEEN STILLBORN IF WASHINGTON HAD BECOME DICTATOR, THEY WOULD LIKEWISE VANISH TODAY IF WE DISBANDED OUR ARMED FORCES—DESPITE THE RADICAL LEFTIST LIBERAL DRUMBEAT THAT TYRANTS ABROAD WOULD STILL RESPECT US, AND EVERYTHING WOULD BE JUST PEACHY.
AND THESE ACADEMIC IDIOTS—OR, AS LENIN CALLED THEM, “USEFUL IDIOTS”—STILL DON’T REALIZE THEY WOULD BE THE FIRST TO BE SHOT. THEY THINK POWER-HUNGRY DICTATORS WOULD KEEP THEM ON AS TRUSTED ADVISORS!
AND THEY WOULD KEEP RIGHT ON THINKING IT—RIGHT UP TILL THE BULLET ENTERED THEIR ADDLED BRAIN.
BY THEN, THEY WOULD NO LONGER BE “USEFUL IDIOTS.”
THEY ARE UTTERLY POSITIVE SOCIALISM WOULD WORK—IF IT WERE ONLY GIVEN ENOUGH TIME.
GIVEN ENOUGH TIME?
WAS NOT 75 YEARS OF DISMAL FAILURE IN RUSSIA LONG ENOUGH TO RECOGNIZE A MISERABLE DISASTER? YOU DON’T HAVE TO EAT THE WHOLE EGG TO KNOW IT’S ROTTEN!
RUSSIA IS THE ONLY COUNTRY IN HISTORY TO SUFFER CROP FAILURE FOR 75 YEARS IN A ROW—DUE TO “BAD WEATHER.”
HISTORY ALSO TEACHES US—THOUGH MOST NEVER LEARN THE TRAGIC, AGONIZING LESSON—THAT WHEN WE CUT BACK OUR MILITARY, THAT’S WHEN TYRANTS TEST OUR RESOLVE.
GEORGE WASHINGTON SAID IT ALL: THE SUREST WAY TO KEEP PEACE IS TO ALWAYS BE READY FOR WAR!
MANY TODAY SEEK TO BANISH GOD FROM AMERICA’S PUBLIC LIFE, ESPECIALLY THE VILE, ANTI-AMERICAN ACLU!
WHENEVER I SEE THAT, I THINK OF CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL, ON THE GALLOWS, SINGING A CHRISTIAN HYMN.
I ALSO THINK OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, KNEELING IN PRAYER IN THE ICY, STINGING SNOW OF VALLEY FORGE.
WHAT WOULD WASHINGTON THINK OF THE SPITEFUL ANTI-GOD MOVEMENT, FIERCELY PUSHED BY THE OBNOXIOUS ACLU AND OTHERS, TO REMOVE GOD AND JESUS FROM OUR SCHOOLS?
WASHINGTON ANSWERED THAT HIMSELF IN 1779: “WHAT STUDENTS WOULD LEARN IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS, ABOVE ALL, IS THE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST.”
HE ALSO ANSWERED THE QUESTION OF WHETHER GOD SHOULD BE IN GOVERNMENT: “IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO RIGHTLY GOVERN THE WORLD WITHOUT GOD AND THE BIBLE.”
GEORGE WASHINGTON, THE FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY, TO WHOM WE ALL OWE SO MUCH—“FIRST IN WAR, FIRST IN PEACE, AND FIRST IN THE HEARTS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN”—WAS RIGHT ON MORALITY, RIGHT ON THE BIBLE, AND RIGHT ON PRESERVING PEACE. IN HIS OWN WORDS: “TO BE PREPARED FOR WAR IS ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE MEANS OF PRESERVING PEACE.”
THAT IS STILL TRUE TODAY. IT WILL ALWAYS BE TRUE—UNLESS AND UNTIL THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF MEN AND WOMEN ARE CHANGED BY THE TRANSFORMING LOVE OF GOD.
UNTIL THAT HAPPENS—NOT LIKELY TOMORROW—IT IS THE BRAVE SOLDIER, NOT THE ARROGANT NEWSPAPER OR TELEVISION REPORTER, WHO GIVES US FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.
IT IS THE SILENT SOLDIER, NOT THE ORATORICAL PASTOR, PRIEST OR RABBI, WHO GIVES US FREEDOM OF RELIGION.
IT IS THE UNHERALDED SOLDIER, NOT THE CELEBRATED POET OR AUTHOR, WHO GIVES US FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
IT IS THE DEDICATED SOLDIER, NOT THE SLIMY STREET PROTESTER, WHO GIVES US FREEDOM TO DEMONSTRATE.
IT IS THE FAITHFUL, FRONT-LINE SOLDIER, NOT THE PERFIDIOUS, REAR-ECHELON PROFESSOR OR VIOLENT STREET AGITATOR, WHO SALUTES THE FLAG THAT REVOLUTIONARY RADICALS AND SLEAZY PROTESTERS SPITEFULLY SPIT ON.
IT IS THE SENSIBLE SOLDIER, RISKING HIS LIFE DAILY ON THE PERILOUS RAMPARTS OF LIBERTY’S BULWARKS, WHO SAFEGUARDS OUR LIBERTIES—NOT THE FOOLISH FANATICS, WILDLY GUSHING IVORY-TOWER IDIOCY, SMUGLY SPEWING VICIOUS, TREASONOUS, ANTI-AMERICAN VENOM FROM THE FRAUDULENT, COUNTERFEIT COLORS OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM—NO, THEY NEVER DO ANYTHING TO PROTECT US. NEVER!
OUR DEFENDERS OF LIBERTY ARE NOTHING LIKE THEM, NOTHING AT ALL. NOT EVEN CLOSE. AND WHILE THESE PHONY, IMITATION PATRIOTS CLUTCH THE FIRST AMENDMENT THEY UTTERLY DESPISE IN OTHERS TO THEIR TENURED BREASTS, THE REAL DEFENDERS OF OUR LIBERTIES ARE EXPOSING THEIR VULNERABLE BREASTS TO GRAVE DANGER ALL AROUND THE WORLD, DEFENDING THE BRAZEN TRAITORS WHO VILIFY THOSE WHO MAKE THEIR BLATANT, SHAMELESS TREACHERY POSSIBLE.
NO! NO! NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! A THOUSAND TIMES NO! THEY ARE NOT THE ONES GUARDING OUR LIVES. THEY NEVER HAVE BEEN—AND NEVER WILL BE—AND THANK GOD FOR THAT!
NO, INDEED! TO CONSECRATE OUR PRICELESS FREEDOMS, WE MUST REVERENTLY GAZE UPON THE UPLIFTING, SANCTIFIED SPEARHEAD OF LIBERTY: TENS OF THOUSANDS OF HALLOWED WHITE CROSSES AT ARLINGTON CEMETERY, THE BLOOD-SOAKED BEACHES OF NORMANDY, THE HORRIFYING SANDS OF IWO JIMA, AND COUNTLESS OTHER SACRED SITES—HONORING THE BRAVE BOYS WHO FOUGHT, BLED AND DIED ON THE FRONT LINES OF FREEDOM, DEFENDING THE RIGHT OF DEADBEAT DEMAGOGUES TO FOOLISHLY MOUTH OFF FROM THE SAFETY OF THE REAR.
WE MUST ALWAYS BEWARE OF LIBERALS BEARING GIFTS:
BEWARE, AS AESOP WISELY WARNED US, LEST WE LOSE THE SUBSTANCE—BY GRASPING AT THE SHADOW!
BEWARE, INDEED! IN EVERY PHONY, LEFT-WING, SNAKE-OIL OFFERING—WITHOUT EXCEPTION—BENEATH THE CHANGEABLE CLOAK OF THE HARMLESS CHAMELEON, COILS THE INVARIABLE VENOM OF THE DEADLY SERPENT!
AMERICA’S INSIDIOUS, BOGUS, SHAM PATRIOTS, UNLIKE THE REAL SOLDIERS OF FREEDOM, HAVE NEVER PROTECTED US—AND NEVER WILL!
ABSOLUTELY NOT! IT IS STILL THE LONELY, LOYAL SOLDIER WHO SPLENDIDLY SERVES UNDER THE FLAG, WITH NO THANKS FROM RADICAL MARXISTS, ISLAMIC MILITANTS, FAR-LEFT PROTESTORS, LEFTIST-LIBERAL MEDIA ELITES, ACADEMIC BONEHEADS OR MANGY-ASS MUSLIM TERRORISTS, WHO REALLY PROTECTS US FROM DANGER AND SAFEGUARDS OUR LIBERTIES.
IT IS THE SELF-SACRIFICING, UNSELFISH SOLDIER, NOT THE SELFISH STREET AGITATOR, WHOSE REAL COFFIN IS DRAPED BY OUR SACRED, BLOOD-SANCTIFIED, RED-WHITE-AND-BLUE FLAG.
IT IS THE GALLANT SOLDIER, THROUGH HIS ULTIMATE SACRIFICE, NOT THE PINKO PROTESTOR WITH HIS SHAMEFUL SUBVERSION, THAT ALLOWS GRUBBY RADICALS WHO HAVE CONFUSED THEIR DISTASTE FOR SOAP AND WATER WITH PROFUNDITY, TO BURN THE GLORIOUS FLAG THAT SO MANY GALLANT SOLDIERS HAVE NOBLY LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES TO MAGNIFICENTLY DEFEND, SO THAT WE MAY LIVE IN FREEDOM.
IF OUR RADICAL ELITES CARRIED ON LIKE THAT, IN FRONT OF SADISTIC DICTATORS, THAT WOULD BE REAL BLOOD, THEIR OWN, SMEARED ON THEIR MADE-UP FACES, AND THAT PHONY DEATH PALLOR WOULD BE THE REAL, HORRIBLE, HIDEOUS, TERRIFYING REALITY—NOT A FAKE, SHAM PRETENSE!
FORTUNATELY FOR THEM, THANKS TO THE GALLANT SERVICE OF THE NOBLE SOLDIERS THEY VILELY SCORN, SADDAM HUSSEIN IS A LITTLE BIT INDISPOSED AT THE MOMENT.
IT IS THE FEARLESS, FREEDOM-LOVING, SELF-SACRIFICING SOLDIER, NOT THE DEVIOUS, SCHEMING, SOCIALISTIC SENATORS, WHO PROTECTS ALL THE PRECIOUS LIBERTIES WE HOLD DEAR.
WITHOUT THE COURAGEOUS AMERICAN SOLDIERS, GOD REST THEIR BLESSED SOULS, SOME OVERSEAS NAPOLEON OR HITLER WOULD HAVE LONG AGO CAMPED ALONG THE POTOMAC, LAID WASTE TO WASHINGTON, PLUNDERED AMERICA AND DESTROYED ALL OUR LIBERTIES.
AND, LEST WE FORGET, THE DARING BEGINNING OF ALL OUR CURRENT FREEDOMS SPRINGS FROM THE FIRST AMERICAN SOLDIERS OF FREEDOM AT JAMESTOWN IN 1607.
THEN, 164 YEARS LATER, IN 1771, CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL GALLANTLY SEIZED THE SPLENDID TORCH OF LIBERTY THAT JAMESTOWN PATRIOTS HAD SET ABLAZE AND FANNED THE FLAME EVEN BRIGHTER, NOBLY TRANSFORMING ITS ALREADY-AUGUST GRANDEUR—WITH THE LAST CHERISHED DROP OF BLOOD FROM HIS OWN REVERED, SACRIFICIAL VEINS.
YES, CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL TRULY GAVE US LIFE—WITH HIS OWN INTREPID DEATH.
BY LAYING DOWN HIS LIFE FOR OURS, HE ELOQUENTLY FORMED WITH HIS OWN HANDS—AND THEN COURAGEOUSLY WENT TO SLEEP IN—AMERICA’S TRUE “CRADLE OF FREEDOM”!
LIKE THE HALLOWED GROUND OF ALAMANCE, JAMESTOWN IS FOREVER BLESSED TO ME—EXCEEDINGLY SACRED—AS IT SHOULD BE TO ALL TRUE AMERICANS.
AND THIS IS WHY:
OVER 30 YEARS AGO, DR. DAVIS PASCAL, THEN PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY, TOLD ME HE WAS ON A WARSHIP DURING WORLD WAR II, BRINGING THE CROWN JEWELS OF EUROPE TO THE UNITED STATES FOR SAFEKEEPING.
GAZING AT THE FRIGID, CHOPPY BLUE WATERS OF THE SPRAWLING NORTH ATLANTIC, SWIRLING RELENTLESSLY BEFORE HIM, HE GOT TO WONDERING: IF WE HAD TO BOX UP AMERICA’S CROWN JEWELS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
WE DON’T HAVE ANY, DO WE? NO—NOT THAT KIND.
BUT WE HAVE SOMETHING FINER AND MORE PRECIOUS THAN ALL THE GOLD, JEWELS, DIAMONDS AND RUBIES ON ALL THE CROWN HEADS OF EUROPE.
OUR FOREFATHERS LEFT ENGLAND, WITH A KING, AND A CROWN GLITTERING WITH PRECIOUS STONES.
THEY GAVE US AMERICA, WHERE EACH PERSON COULD BE A KING OR QUEEN IN HIS OWN RIGHT, WITH PRICELESS CROWN JEWELS WORTH MORE THAN ALL THE EUROPEAN RICHES.
AND CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL SURRENDERED HIS OWN LIFE TO MOLD A RADIANT DIAMOND IN AMERICA’S PRICELESS CROWN OF FREEDOM—THE CROWN JEWEL OF ALAMANCE!
OUR MATCHLESS AMERICAN CROWN JEWELS ARE THE MUTE, ETERNAL MEMORIALS OF SACRIFICIAL COURAGE, CHERISHED IN THE SACRED AND INVIOLABLE SOUL OF ALL FREEDOM-LOVING AMERICANS—OUTSTANDING, MAGNIFICENT, INDESTRUCTIBLE, NEVER-ENDING TREASURES, GLEAMING RESPLENDENTLY IN THE NOONDAY SUN, EACH AND EVERY DAY—AN INFINITE, ILLUSTRIOUS, ABIDING HONOR: TIMELESS AND UNDYING…UNUTTERABLE, IMPERISHABLE AND EVERLASTING.
FOUR OF OUR FINEST CROWN JEWELS, TO ME, ARE:
THE ROTTING, DUST-TO-DUST TIMBERS OF
THE OLD JAMESTOWN FORT.
THE BLOOD-SOAKED, FREEDOM-SPARKING,
LIBERTY-SEEDING PLAINS OF ALAMANCE BATTLEFIELD.
THE FIERY, SHELL-POCKED RAMPARTS OF YORKTOWN.
THE BAREFOOTED PATRIOTS OF
1777—TRAILING BLOOD IN THE FRIGID, ICY SNOW OF VALLEY FORGE…
HEART-RENDING SCENES THAT WRENCH OUR SOULS:
TREASURES YOU CAN’T BOX UP!
FOR ME, OUR FINEST CROWN JEWEL—LIKE THE RENOWNED BIBLICAL PEARL OF GREAT PRICE—IS SET, NOT IN SOME DIAMOND-STUDDED, ROYAL DIADEM OF EXQUISITE GOLD, BUT THE PLAIN, ORDINARY, COMMON EARTH OF JAMESTOWN.
NO, NOT QUITE COMMON—BUT VERY UNCOMMON!
IT IS THE HALLOWED GROUND OF JAMESTOWN, WHERE I ALWAYS WALK SOFTLY, KNOWING I AM ON SACRED SOIL.
GAZING OUT, I FEEL LIKE GEORGE PERCY, WHO WROTE OF: “FAIRE MEDDOWES AND GOODLY TALL TREES, WITH SUCH FRESH WATERS RUNNING THROUGH THE WOODS THAT I WAS ALMOST RAVISHED AT THE FIRST SIGHT THEREOF.”
OR JOHN SMITH’S PITHY PORTRAIT: “HEAVEN AND EARTH NEVER AGREED TO FRAME A BETTER PLACE FOR MAN’S HABITATION THAN VIRGINIA.”
LOOKING AT THE HUSHED REMNANTS OF THIS SANCTIFIED PLACE, STEPPING REVERENTLY AMONG THE SILENT SENTINELS OF HISTORY, TIME SLOWS LIKE AN EASYGOING, ROUNDABOUT COUNTRY CREEK…
LAPPING GENTLY AT YOUR FEET LIKE THE SOFT WAVES OF THE NEARBY JAMES RIVER—A MUTE WITNESS PAYING PERPETUAL HOMAGE TO THE SUBLIME, INSPIRING BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICA’S FIRST SELF-GOVERNING BODY: THE RENOWNED HOUSE OF BURGESSES.
WHEN I FIRST VISITED JAMESTOWN SOME 40 YEARS AGO, AN ELDERLY, CARING, INSIGHTFUL BLACK GENTLEMAN STOOD BY THE GRAVEYARD AT THE OLD FALLING-DOWN CHURCH, SAYING SIMPLY: “DIS IS DE FRAGMENT OF DE GRAVE.”
THAT SAYS IT ALL!
THERE IS NO MORE POWERFUL ELOQUENCE THAN HIS SOFT, PROFOUND SIMPLICITY: “DIS IS DE FRAGMENT OF DE GRAVE.”
NO HARVARD PROFESSOR, NO YALE LINGUIST, NO WILLIAM AND MARY ELOCUTIONIST—NOBODY, WITH THEIR DIGNIFIED, HIGHFALUTIN, 400-DOLLAR WORDS—CAN TOUCH THE SAINTLY VIRTUE, THE DOWN-TO-EARTH DIGNITY OF HIS SINCERE, PERSUASIVE PROSE: “DIS IS DE FRAGMENT OF DE GRAVE.”
FOR JAMESTOWN IS THE FRAGMENT OF AMERICA’S GRAVE!
THE HIDEOUS, FAMINE-PLAGUED, UNSPEAKABLY BRUTAL WINTER OF 1609-10 CALLED, THE STARVING TIME:
WHEN BITTER, RUTHLESS, UNAPPEASABLE DEATH STEPPED GRIMLY AND WITHOUT MERCY OVER THE RAW, BLEAK, AGONY-DRENCHED THRESHOLD OF EVERY WRETCHED, FORBIDDING, MOURNFUL JAMESTOWN HUT…
WITH HARSH, UNYIELDING, AND UNIMAGINABLE SAVAGERY—KILLING NINE OUT OF TEN FRAIL SETTLERS, FEEBLY ANXIOUSLY, FRANTICALLY, DESPERATELY HUGGING THE DELUSIVE PHANTOM OF HOPE, SHIVERING MISERABLY IN THE LONELY, INCONSOLABLE DEEPFREEZE OF HORRIFYING ANGUISH…
ALMOST MADNESS…AS DESPERATION, DESPAIR AND HOPELESSNESS REDUCED DISMAL, DEJECTED, DEMORALIZED COLONISTS—RAVENOUSLY BESIEGED WITH DEVASTATING, CRAZED, UNQUENCHABLE HUNGER…
…TO GHASTLY, ALMOST RAVAGED CORPSES…FAINTLY EMITTING A GAUNT, WITHERED, SHRUNKEN IMITATION OF LIFE…FINALLY…FANATICALLY, HYSTERICALLY, EATING SHOE LEATHER, BELTS…EVEN THE FLESH OF THOSE WHO DIED OF DISEASE OR STARVATION...
THE FRAGILE, DELICATE, FADING LIFE OF EARLY JAMESTOWN—AND THE AMERICAN DREAM IT BOLDLY PRODUCED, SAVING THE WORLD FROM NAZI GERMANY, WORLDWIDE COMMUNISM AND THE SOVIET UNION, AND TEARING DOWN THE INFAMOUS BERLIN WALL—ALMOST PERISHED IN THOSE DARK, GLOOMY DAYS OF SINISTER ANGUISH.
THE CANDLE OF FREEDOM…THE FRAIL, FLICKERING, FEEBLE CANDLE OF FRANTICALLY FADING FREEDOM…BURNED GRAVELY LOW, GASPING, ALMOST GOING OUT…
DANGLING PRECARIOUSLY IN GRIM, INDESCRIBABLE DESPONDENCY…PERILOUSLY SUSPENDED OVER AN ALARMING ABYSS OF SWIFT AND IRRETRIEVABLE RUIN.
OF 600 ALIVE IN THE FALL, ONLY 60 LIVED TO SEE SPRING!
“THESE ARE THEY,” SAYS A MODERN MARKER QUOTING REVELATION 7:14, “WHICH COME OUT OF GREAT TRIBULATION,”
GREAT TRIBULATION INDEED: THEY TOLERATED THE INTOLERABLE. SUFFERED THE UNSUFFERABLE. AND ENDURED THE UNENDURABLE. THEY DIED—SO THAT WE MIGHT LIVE.
BUT THEIR UNBREAKABLE COURAGE AND INDESTRUCTIBLE DETERMINATION MOLDED THE FIERY CRUCIBLE THAT AMERICA WAS FORGED IN—A NEW CAULDRON OF FREEDOM, WHERE SELF-DETERMINATION AND WORTH, NOT SERF-BOUND POVERTY AND WANT, AWAITED EACH MAN WHO DARED TO BOLDLY REACH OUT AND TACKLE ALL OBSTACLES TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS.
BECAUSE THESE BRAVE JAMESTOWN PIONEERS FREELY SPILLED THEIR BLOOD AND INFUSED THEIR BONES INTO THIS BLESSED EARTH—JUST AS CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL LATER SACRIFICED HIS BLESSED BLOOD AT ALAMANCE, GALLANTLY SOWING THE EXCEPTIONAL SEEDS TO HARVEST FUTURE AMERICAN GREATNESS—AN EXTRAORDINARY, INEXPLICABLE AURA SHROUDS THESE HONORED SPHERES.
JAMESTOWN AND ALAMANCE STILL SPLENDIDLY RADIATE A GHOSTLY, INDEFINABLE ETHER—PERMEATING THE ENDLESS, FAR-FLUNG EDDIES AND CURRENTS OF TIME’S ETERNAL BLOODSTREAM, ILLUSTRIOUSLY GLIDING US BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN YESTERDAY AND TODAY.
YOU CAN LOSE YOURSELF IN THE UNFATHOMABLE VEIL THAT INDESCRIBABLY ENVELOPES THIS SACRED FIRMAMENT.
AMID ITS EXHILARATING, ARRESTING GRANDEUR, I FEEL WHISKED AWAY BY THE INSCRUTABLE CHARIOT OF THE AGES—
WHIRLING THROUGH TIME’S IMPENETRABLE BARRIER…
SAILING INTO THE SEETHING UNDERTOW OF ETERNITY’S ENIGMATIC, INDECIPHERABLE, INCOMPREHENSIBLE VORTEX…
SEEING FIRST-HAND THE PRISTINE, UNVARNISHED GLORY OF THIS NOBLE BAND OF SETTLERS WHOSE HEROIC SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE AND ENDURANCE STILL COURSES IN OUR OWN VEINS—IF WE WILL BUT HARNESS IT.
JAMESTOWN’S BLOOD-DRENCHED, DISEASE-RAVAGED, GRAVE-SCARRED GROUND—LIKE THE HUSHED, SANCTIFIED, SACRIFICIAL ALAMANCE SOIL—DISTILLS THE LOFTY, SOARING ESSENCE OF AMERICA’S DARING, IMPERISHABLE SPIRIT—TODAY, YESTERDAY, TOMORROW AND FOREVER: TIME WITHOUT END.
STEADFAST AND UNYIELDING IN DEFENSE OF FREEDOM!
JUST LIKE CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL!
JAMESTOWN IS LIKE THE SUN: PERPETUALLY IMPARTING WARMTH AND BRIGHTNESS—YET NEVER EXHAUSTED.
JUST LIKE ALAMANCE AND CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL!
JAMESTOWN—AND CAPTAIN BENJAMIN—GIVE US FRESH INSIGHT INTO THE OLD ADAGE: “EXCEPT A GRAIN OF WHEAT FALL TO THE GROUND AND DIE, IT ABIDETH ALONE. BUT IF IT DIE, IT BRINGETH MUCH FRUIT.” (JOHN 12:24)
THE FERTILE FRUIT OF JAMESTOWN AND ALAMANCE IS ALL AROUND US: EPITOMIZED BY THE GOLDEN HARVEST MAGNIFICENTLY GATHERED AT INDEPENDENCE HALL IN PHILADELPHIA.
TALL MEN, SUN-CROWNED, HOLDING HIGH THE LOFTY TORCH OF FREEDOM, HEROICALLY SET ABLAZE AT JAMESTOWN, AND RICHLY KINDLED WITH THEIR MATCHLESS WISDOM STILL BOLDLY GUIDING US EVEN TODAY—IF WE WILL BUT LISTEN.
LIKE PATRICK HENRY’S BOLD, ROUSING, INSPIRING CRY:
“IS LIFE SO DEAR…
“OR PEACE SO SWEET…
“AS TO BE PURCHASED AT THE PRICE…
“OF CHAINS AND SLAVERY?
“FORBID IT, ALMIGHTY GOD!
“I KNOW NOT WHAT COURSE OTHERS MAY TAKE…
“BUT AS FOR ME…
“GIVE ME LIBERTY…
“OR GIVE ME…
“DEATH!”
HE DIDN’T SAY—AND NEITHER DID CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL—AS MANY OF TODAY’S TIMID, SUPPOSED LEADERS WOULD: “HEY, HOLD ON A MINUTE! IF WE START FOOLING AROUND THOSE BRITISH, SOMEBODY MIGHT GET HURT!”
HE SAID, WITHOUT TAKING A POLL, OR CONDUCTING A FOCUS GROUP, BUT WITH THE FIRM, UNCHANGEABLE CERTAINTY OF A GLORIOUS SUNRISE, AND THE UNDAUNTED COURAGE OF A CONQUERING GENERAL: “GIVE ME LIBERTY—OR GIVE ME DEATH!”
WHEN NATHAN HALE, THE YOUNG REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO, WAS CAUGHT SPYING FOR GEORGE WASHINGTON, HE DIDN’T WHINE, AS MANY SUNSHINE PATRIOTS WOULD TODAY: “DON’T HANG ME! I’LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING ABOUT WASHINGTON AND HIS ARMY, IF YOU’LL JUST LET ME GO!”
NO, INDEED!
NATHAN HALE HEROICALLY ECHOED CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL’S FINAL, COURAGEOUS WORDS ON THE GALLOWS—WHEN THE MAN AND THE HOUR FUSED INTO DIVINE DESTINY!
BOTH MEN BOLDLY TELESCOPED THROUGH THE DARK, OMINOUS CLOUDS OF TYRANNY AND DOOM—MAJESTICALLY EMBRACING THE WARM, PROMISING BRIGHT SUNSHINE OF HOPE.
BOTH GALLANTLY DEFIED CERTAIN DEATH, DAMNING ITS TREACHEROUS FLATTERY OF TURNCOAT SAFETY WITH UNCOMPROMISING GALLANTRY AND FEARLESS NOBILITY—EVEN AS THE HANGMAN’S NOOSE TIGHTENED AROUND THEIR NECKS!
CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL, 40 YEARS OLD WITH TEN CHILDREN, SOLEMNLY PROCLAIMED HE WOULD NOT TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE ON THE GROUNDS!
NATHAN HALE, ONLY 21, RESOLUTELY DECLARED: “I REGRET THAT I HAVE BUT ONE LIFE TO GIVE FOR MY COUNTRY!”
BOTH BRAVE, UNCONQUERABLE PATRIOTS VALIANTLY AND UNFLINCHINGLY LOOKED TO GOD AND MET THEIR MAKER WITH THE LOFTY, INSPIRING, PATRIOTIC SPIRIT THAT GAVE BIRTH TO AMERICA—AND THE ONLY ONE THAT WILL PRESERVE IT!
THIS UNRIVALED HONOR BEGAN AT JAMESTOWN, HALLOWED BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICA—THEN SOARED FROM ALAMANCE TO LEXINGTON AND CONCORD, MARVELOUSLY SPARKING THE FAMED “SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD!”
FROM PATRICK HENRY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON…
BENJAMIN MERRELL TO NATHAN HALE…
GEORGE WASHINGTON TO GEORGE MASON (FATHER OF OUR SACRED BILL OF RIGHTS)…
VALLEY FORGE TO YORKTOWN…
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE TO THE CONSTITUTION…
NOBLE AND UNDYING…
INFINITE AND ABIDING…
SACRED AND INVIOLABLE…
HONOR AND INTEGRITY…
DUTY AND SACRIFICE…
MAJESTIC AND HEARTWARMING…
PRINCIPLED AND STATELY…
RESOLUTE AND UNYIELDING…
PERPETUAL AND NEVER-ENDING…
ETERNAL AND IMPERISHABLE…
INEXHAUSTIBLE AND EVERLASTING…
INCLUDING THE PRIVILEGED BIRTHRIGHT THAT A MAN’S HOME, HOWEVER HUMBLE OR WRETCHED IT MAY BE, IS HIS CASTLE—AND THE SIMPLE, PRECIOUS RIGHT TO BE LEFT ALONE, NO MATTER YOUR RANK OR STATION IN LIFE, IN PERFECT PEACE—WITHOUT FEAR OF JACK-BOOTED GESTAPO STORM TROOPERS SMASHING DOWN YOUR DOOR AT MIDNIGHT.
EVEN THE GLORY OF GREECE AND ROME, EXQUISITE AS THEIR TEMPLES AND CIVILIZATIONS WERE, LOSES ITS LUSTER HERE—IN THE TONGUELESS SILENCE AND SIMPLE, SERENE MAJESTY OF THE UNCOMMON DIRT OF JAMESTOWN, WHICH IMMUTABLY LINKS ALL AMERICANS WITH ITS EXALTED, STABLE, FIRM, RESOLUTE, ENDURING, SANCTIFIED, UNDYING GREATNESS.
I AM ALWAYS MOVED, EVEN HAUNTED, BY THE OLD MAN’S PENETRATING INSIGHT INTO THE FRAGMENT OF THE GRAVE.
THE GRAVES TELL IT ALL:
DEATH MAY HAVE STILLED THEIR DISTANT VOICES—JUST AS IT MUTED THE SHOUT OF CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL—BUT THEIR GALLANT DEEDS STILL MAJESTICALLY SING THE DEATHLESS, IMMORTAL AND UNENDING SONG OF FREEDOM—WITH THE RESOUNDING ROAR OF GIDEON’S TRUMPET!
WHILE TENDERLY BESEECHING US WITH US IN THEIR STILL-SOFT, VELVET-LADEN VOICE OF LOVE AND SUPREME SACRIFICE: “REMEMBER…REMEMBER…REMEMBER…”
JUST AS CAPTAIN BENJAMIN’S BLOOD BOLDLY CRIES OUT TO US, EVEN TODAY, TO REMEMBER HIS HEROIC SACRIFICE!
OUR FOUNDING PATRIOTS WERE CAST HEADLONG INTO A BURNING, FIERY FURNACE—LIKE SHADRACH, MESHACH AND ABEDNEGO—A FURNACE HEATED SEVEN TIMES OVER.
MERCIFULLY, THEY ENDURED THE SCORCHING, INDESCRIBABLE, UNSPEAKABLE NIGHTMARE—
AN AGONY SO INCREDIBLY HORRIFIC THAT EVEN THE SOARING SYMBOL OF THE GREAT NATION THEY WERE FORGING IN THE FURNACE OF AFFLICTION—WEPT IN SILENT ANGUISH AT THE RAW, UNMITIGATED TORMENT OF THEIR HARSH SUFFERING.
THANKFULLY FOR US—THOSE BRAVE COLONISTS WHIRLED YESTERDAY’S BITTER ASHES OF HIDEOUS HORRORS…INTO TOMORROW’S TRANSFORMING TRIUMPH, LAUNCHING THE FANTASTIC, REMARKABLE, ENDLESS AMERICAN DREAM THAT CONTINUES TO MARVELOUSLY ENRICH ALL OF US TODAY.
YES, THE GRAVES STILL SPEAK TENDERLY TO US OF THEIR FEARLESS, NOBLE, SELF-SACRIFICING EXPLOITS—WITH A STEADFAST AND UNWAVERING REFRAIN—SOLEMNLY AND UNSHAKABLY REMINDING US OF OUR BELOVED BIRTHRIGHT THAT IS LIMITLESS, AND BEYOND COMPARE.
TO ME, NOTHING IS MORE CONSECRATED THAN THE LONG ROOTS OF TALL TREES, SILENTLY THREADING THE FRAGILE BONES OF BRAVE PIONEERS NAMED ARCHER, FORD, BROOKES, MIDWINTER, WEBBE, PERCY, SMITH, WHITE—ENGLISHMEN, BORN TO BECOME AMERICANS!—TOWERING TAPROOTS ON THE INCOMPARABLE AMERICAN TREE OF LIBERTY.
I CONFESS SOME PERSONAL PRIDE IN OUR INVALUABLE TREE OF LIBERTY. THERE STANDS CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL, MY FOURTH-GREAT-GRANDFATHER, ON THE GALLOWS, HANGED BY THE BRITISH ROYAL GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA ON JUNE 19, 1771, AFTER THE BATTLE OF ALAMANCE—FIRST BATTLE OF OUR AMERICAN REVOLUTION—FOR BOLDLY PROTESTING HIGH UNJUST TAXES, TYRANNICAL GRAFT AND WIDESPREAD CORRUPTION—THE SAME THING WE SEE IN OUR GOVERNMENT TODAY, UNFORTUNATELY.
CAPTAIN MERRELL WENT TO HIS DEATH WITH A SONG OF LIBERTY ON HIS LIPS—AND THE SAME GALLANT COURAGE OF THE HEROIC PIONEER FOUNDERS OF AMERICA AT JAMESTOWN.
AS THE NOOSE TIGHTENED AROUND HIS NECK, HE BRAVELY SANG A CHRISTIAN HYMN. HIS STIRRING SPEECH WAS SO MOVING, SO HEARTRENDING—SAYING HE WOULD NOT TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE ON THE GROUNDS—THAT ONE BATTLE-HARDENED, TEARY-EYED BRITISH OFFICER SAID: “IF ALL MEN WENT TO THE GALLOWS WITH A CHARACTER SUCH AS CAPTAIN MERRELL’S, HANGING WOULD BE AN HONORABLE DEATH.”
BUT HE WASN’T JUST HANGED. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN MERCIFUL. GOVERNOR TYRONE CRUELLY DECREED THAT HE BE “HANGED, DRAWN AND QUARTERED” THAT IS: HANGED, BUT TAKEN DOWN WHILE YET ALIVE, GUTTED, HIS BOWELS THROWN IN HIS FACE AND SET AFIRE, HIS HEAD CUT OFF…AND HIS MUTILATED BODY BE NAUSEATINGLY DIVIDED INTO FOUR QUARTERS.
THUS: HANGED, DRAWN AND QUARTERED.
CAPTAIN MERRELL’S DISTRAUGHT WIFE, JEMIMAH, SOBBING IN UNCONTROLLABLE HYSTERIA, AND HIS TEN SMALL CHILDREN, INCLUDING MY FOUR-YEAR-OLD THIRD-GREAT-GRANDFATHER, JONATHAN, WERE FORCED TO WATCH THE GRIM, HORRID, INDESCRIBABLE, BEASTLY TORTURE.
BUT THERE WAS NO PULPIT LIKE THE MARTYR’S PYRE!
CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL’S SPILLED BLOOD—LIKE LUSH, FRUITFUL SEED, GENEROUSLY AND OPENHEARTEDLY SPRINKLED ON BOUNTIFUL, VIRGIN SOIL—RICHLY AND ABUNDANTLY FERTILIZED THE DELICATE AMERICAN TREE OF LIBERTY, MARVELOUSLY SPAWNING A HUNDRED-FOLD HARVEST OF LIBERTY-LOVING PATRIOTS, THEN TENS OF THOUSANDS FOR THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION…AND OUR FINAL FREEDOM!
THAT GRIM MEMORIAL, CONSECRATING THE HALLOWED SPOT WHERE CAPTAIN MERRELL HEROICALLY YIELDED UP HIS LIFE FOR FREEDOM, CAN BE SEEN AT ALAMANCE BATTLEFIELD PARK, JUST OFF INTERSTATE 85, NEAR ALAMANCE, NC.
“THE TREE OF LIBERTY,” SAID THOMAS JEFFERSON, “MUST BE REFRESHED FROM TIME TO TIME WITH THE BLOOD OF PATRIOTS AND TYRANTS. IT IS ITS NATURAL MANURE.”
THE INTREPID BLOOD OF CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL EXTRAORDINARILY FERTILIZED THE ROOTS, AND REMARKABLY REFRESHED THE TRUNK, OF THE MAJESTIC TREE OF LIBERTY.
YES, AMERICA’S MATCHLESS, HALLOWED, UNPARALLELED, STILL-RADIANT CROWN JEWELS OF FREEDOM ARE FAR MORE VALUABLE, MORE OVERWHELMINGLY PRECIOUS, THAN ALL THE GARISH, ORNAMENTAL CROWN JEWELS OF EUROPE COMBINED.
OUR INCALCULABLE, INEXPRESSIBLE AMERICAN CROWN JEWELS—LIKE THOSE THREE SMALL SHIPS, THE SUSAN CONSTANT, GODSPEED AND DISCOVERY—FOREVER SIGNIFY…
THE UNASSAILABLE AND IMPREGNABLE BASTION OF INDEPENDENCE…
THE INVINCIBLE AND ETERNAL FLAME OF FREEDOM…
THE ENDLESS AND INDESTRUCTIBLE LOVE OF LIBERTY.
FROM THE BARONS OF RUNNYMEDE…
TO THE GENTLEMEN OF JAMESTOWN...
MAJESTIC. STABLE. DURABLE. INCORRUPTIBLE.
NOW AND FOREVERMORE.
TIMELESS AND IMMORTAL.
TENDERLY TUGGING AT OUR NOBLE HEARTSTRINGS WITH THAT HUSHED, MELODIOUS, MOVING REFRAIN OF OLD: DUTY… HONOR…COUNTRY—ABOVE ALL ELSE…EVEN AT GREAT COST.
OUR PRICELESS CROWN JEWEL OF JAMESTOWN, THE HEART AND SOUL OF AMERICA, PEERLESSLY PERSONIFIES THE BLOOD, TOIL, TEARS AND SWEAT OF AMERICA’S FEARLESS FOUNDERS—AND OUR ABUNDANT INHERITANCE OF THEIR POWERFUL, ENTERPRISING, UNWAVERING, UNCONQUERABLE SPIRIT.
JAMESTOWN’S IMMORTAL VALOR, SUFFERING AND ENDURANCE TRIUMPHANTLY USHERED IN FOR US ALL 400 SPECTACULAR YEARS OF PRICELESS SELF-RELIANCE, SELF-DIRECTION AND SELF-GOVERNMENT.
AND LONG MAY THE TIMELESS, BOUNDLESS, IMPERISHABLE BANNER OF JAMESTOWN’S THREE DARING SHIPS GALLANTLY WAVE OVER US ALL! AND MAY GOD ALWAYS BLESS JAMESTOWN!
AND AMERICA—OUR GREAT NATION BORN 400 YEARS AGO ON THE HONORED, INSPIRING GROUND AT JAMESTOWN—WHOSE COURAGEOUS, SELF-SACRIFICING PIONEERS BEQUEATHED TO POSTERITY AN EXTRAORDINARY, UNPARALLELED HERITAGE THAT IS STILL THE MARVEL OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
LIKE THE ANCIENT, BREATHTAKING COLOSSUS OF RHODES, JAMESTOWN VALIANTLY FIRED THAT UNRIVALED BEACON OF HEROIC CHALLENGE, DEEP FAITH, BRIGHT HOPE AND ENDLESS OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL AMERICANS—AND WHICH STILL MAGNETICALLY DRAWS THE WORLD’S TEEMING MASSES TO AMERICA’S PROMISING, OPTIMISTIC SHORES—FROM ITS PURPLE MOUNTAIN MAJESTY, ABOVE THE GLEAMING FRUITED PLAINS.
INDEED, IF ALL THE IMMIGRATION BARRIERS AROUND THE WORLD WERE SUDDENLY TORN DOWN IN ALL NATIONS, AMERICA IS THE ONLY ONE WHERE NO ONE WOULD WANT TO LEAVE—BUT COUNTLESS MILLIONS FROM ALL OTHER NATIONS WOULD INSTANTLY LINE UP IN GRATEFUL DROVES TO FLOCK HERE.
THE REMARKABLE MIGRATION THAT BEGAN 400 YEARS AGO AT JAMESTOWN… CONTINUES UNABATED TODAY.
YES, JAMESTOWN STILL SHINES BRIGHTLY LIKE THE SUN—LIGHTING UP AMERICA WITH THE UNDIMINISHED LAMP OF LIBERTY, AND THE UNENDING WARMTH OF FREEDOM.
WE CANNOT ADD BRILLIANCE TO THE SUN, OR TRANSMIT GREATER GLORY TO THE REVERED NAME OF JAMESTOWN—WHICH STANDS ALONE IN PREEMINENT DIGNITY AND INVINCIBLE NOBILITY IN THE HUMAN SPIRIT’S GRAND VICTORY OVER UNIMAGINABLE DISASTER AND INDESCRIBABLE SUFFERING.
BUT WE CAN—AND DO, AND ALWAYS WILL—IN SOLEMN AWE, REVERENTLY CHERISH AND PERPETUALLY PROCLAIM THE ILLUSTRIOUS, EVERLASTING, NOBLE NAME OF JAMESTOWN.
AND THE NOBLE NAME OF CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL!
AND WHILE FOREVER TREASURING ITS AUSTERE DIGNITY, UNVARNISHED MAJESTY AND UNDYING SPLENDOR, LEAVE THAT ELOQUENT, UNBLEMISHED, PRISTINE PARAGON OF VIRTUE THAT SPRANG VICTORIOUSLY FROM JAMESTOWN’S SACRED SOIL, IGNITING THE AMERICAN DREAM…THE GLORIOUS ETERNAL FLAME OF FREEDOM…THAT STILL BURNS BRIGHTLY—THE LIGHTHOUSE OF THE WHOLE WORLD, BEAMING LIBERTY TO ALL THOSE TIRED SOULS WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR FREEDOM.
JAMESTOWN: MOTHER OF AMERICA, FATHER OF OUR UNIQUE WAY OF LIFE—AND ALL THE INVALUABLE LIBERTIES WE ENJOY, WITHOUT APPRECIATING HOW DIFFICULT THEIR THORNY BIRTH WAS, EMERGING FROM THE PUNISHING, FIERY FURNACE OF AFFLICTION THEY WERE EXCRUCIATINGLY FORGED IN DURING JAMESTOWN’S AGONIZING STRUGGLES, UNSTINTING COURAGE AND UNBREAKABLE DETERMINATION…
THEIR SAVAGE WILDERNESS OF WANT BLOOMED INTO OUR PRICELESS PARADISE OF PROFUSION. THEIR BURNING DESERT OF DISTRESS FLOWERED INTO OUR GRAND OASIS OF INFINITE ABUNDANCE—THE ETERNAL FOUNTAINHEAD OF FREEDOM.
WE SHOULD ESPECIALLY THEN—IN HONOR OF OUR GLORIOUS FOUNDERS—ALWAYS PRESERVE, PROTECT AND DEFEND AMERICA’S POWERFUL, INSPIRING AND ETERNAL FLAME OF FREEDOM… MAGNIFICENTLY SET ABLAZE BY THE UNCOMPROMISING COURAGE AND EVERLASTING FORTITUDE OF JAMESTOWN’S HARDY, ROBUST, ENDURING COLONISTS…
WHICH, WITH OUR REVITALIZED, DETERMINED EFFORTS, WILL STILL KEEP BEAUTIFULLY AND RESPLENDENTLY SHINING ON—IN ILLUSTRIOUS, IMMACULATE, UNEMBELLISHED, TIMELESS TRIUMPH FOR ANOTHER 400 YEARS.
NOW, AS WE PONDER THESE FINAL—BUT I HOPE NOT FLEETING—IMAGES OF FREEDOM FLICKERING IN OUR MIND’S EYE, PLEASE TAKE A BRIEF MOMENT TO REFLECT, WITHIN THE UNASSAILABLE AND SACRED INNER CHAMBER OF YOUR OWN HEART, WHAT AMERICA TRULY MEANS TO US ALL…
AND HOW WE SHOULD STRIVE, LIKE THE PIONEERS WHO PASSED DOWN TO US THIS ILLUSTRIOUS LEGACY OF LIBERTY, TO WORK JUST A LITTLE HARDER TO SAFEGUARD OUR PRICELESS, INDESCRIBABLE, IMMEASURABLE HERITAGE OF FREEDOM…
SO THAT WE MIGHT LEAVE THE WOODPILE OF LIBERTY A LITTLE BIT HIGHER THAN WE FOUND IT…
JUST AS CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL DID WITH HIS SPIRIT-STIRRING SACRIFICE UPON THE SACRED ALTAR OF FREEDOM.
PLEASE LET ME CLOSE WITH THIS INSPIRING EXAMPLE:
WHEN I THINK OF JUNE 19, 1771, AS CAPTAIN MERRELL STOOD HEROICALLY ON THE GRIM GALLOWS, I AM REMINDED OF ANOTHER DATE, WHEN ANOTHER BRAVE PATRIOT ALSO GAVE HIS ALL FOR A NOBLE CAUSE.
IT WAS MAY 21, 1946, AT LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO.
I KNEW NOTHING OF IT AT THE TIME, SINCE I WAS FINISHING THE FIRST GRADE IN SHELBY, ALABAMA.
A YOUNG SCIENTIST WAS CONDUCTING AN EXPERIMENT NEEDED FOR THE ATOMIC BOMB TEST IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC, AT BIKINI ATOLL.
IT WAS NOT THAT HARD. BUT IT WAS DANGEROUS. IN FACT, THEY CALLED IT “TICKLING THE DRAGON’S TAIL.”
I DON’T WANT TO GET TOO DEEP INTO NUCLEAR SCIENCE HERE, BECAUSE WE DON’T UNDERSTAND IT THAT WELL.
BUT, TO BUILD THE BOMB, TO UNLEASH THE AWESOME POWER OF THE ATOM—GOD’S MIRACULOUS BUILDING BLOCK OF THE UNIVERSE—SCIENTISTS DISCOVERED YOU HAVE TO PRODUCE A “CHAIN REACTION”: A FUSE, TO MAKE THE BOMB EXPLODE.
THIS FUSE IS EITHER URANIUM 235 OR PLUTONIUM. THE TRICK IS HOW MUCH TO USE. TOO LITTLE: THE BOMB WON’T GO OFF. TOO MUCH: YOU COULD BLOW UP THE WHOLE WORLD.
SO, TO DETERMINE THE PRECISE AMOUNT NECESSARY FOR THE CHAIN REACTION—SCIENTISTS CALL IT “CRITICAL MASS”—THE YOUNG PHYSICIST, LOUIS SLOTIN, WOULD PUSH TWO SMALL HEMISPHERES OF PLUTONIUM TOWARD EACH OTHER.
THEN, JUST AS THE MASS BECAME CRITICAL, HE WOULD SHOVE THE SPHERES APART WITH HIS SCREWDRIVER, INSTANTLY STOPPING THE CHAIN REACTION.
IT WAS ROUTINE. HE’D DONE IT LOTS OF TIMES.
BUT ON THAT FATEFUL DAY, JUST AS THE PLUTONIUM SPHERES REACHED CRITICAL MASS—WHEN THE ENORMOUS, UNIMAGINABLE POWER OF THE UNIVERSE WAS ABOUT TO EXPLODE—THE SCREWDRIVER SLIPPED!
THAT DAY—THE SCREWDRIVER SLIPPED!
SLOTIN WAS HELPLESS!
THE PLUTONIUM PODS SLID TOGETHER! THE GEIGER COUNTER WENT CRAZY—CLICKING WILDLY!
VHOOM!
THE ROOM EXPLODED IN A BRILLIANT, DAZZLING, BLUISH VAPOR—AND BLISTERING, UNBEARABLE HEAT.
LOUIS SLOTIN FACED A PERILOUS CHOICE.
HE COULD HAVE DUCKED—AND MAYBE SAVED HIMSELF.
BUT HE DIDN’T.
INSTEAD, SLOTIN TORE THE TWO FIERY PLUTONIUM BALLS APART WITH HIS BARE HANDS—HALTING THE CHAIN REACTION!
THEN, LIKE DIVING INTO A SWARMING, HISSING NEST OF DEADLY COBRAS: HE BOLDLY THREW HIS BODY OVER THE VENOMOUS, FATAL FIRE-PIT OF GAMMA RADIATION—THIS SEETHING CALDRON OF CERTAIN, IRREVERSIBLE DEATH—TO SAVE HIS FRIENDS.
HIS INSTANT, SELF-SACRIFICING MARTYRDOM SAVED THE LIVES OF ALL SEVEN OTHER PEOPLE IN THE ROOM.
SLOTIN KNEW AT ONCE, OF COURSE, THAT HE WAS DOOMED FROM THE MASSIVE, OVERWHELMING, LETHAL RADIATION HE HAD ABSORBED.
BUT HE DIDN’T THINK ABOUT HIMSELF.
STILL IGNORING HIS OWN SAFETY, HE SHOUTED TO EVERYONE: “STAND EXACTLY WHERE YOU WERE.”
HE QUICKLY DREW A SKETCH OF THEIR DISTANCE FROM THE EXPLOSION, SO DOCTORS WOULD KNOW HOW MUCH RADIATION EACH SUFFERED, AND KNOW HOW TO CURE THEM.
BUT FOR HIM, HE KNEW IT WAS ALL OVER.
AS HE WAITED FOR THE AMBULANCE, ALREADY VOMITING FROM RADIATION SICKNESS, HE CHATTED WITH HIS FRIEND, ALVIN GRAVES, THE SCIENTIST WHO, EXCEPT FOR HIM, HAD SUFFERED THE MOST EXPOSURE TO THE TOXIC RADIATION.
“YOU’LL COME THROUGH ALL RIGHT,” SLOTIN TOLD GRAVES. “BUT I HAVEN’T THE FAINTEST CHANCE MYSELF.”
HIS PROPHECY CAME TRUE. OH, SO PAINFULLY TRUE!
NINE DAYS LATER—SUFFERING WILD, VIOLENT SEIZURES, MASSIVE BLISTERS, COMPLETE INTESTINAL PARALYSIS, GHASTLY GANGRENE AND OTHER HIDEOUS, INDESCRIBABLE TORMENTS—LOUIS SLOTIN DIED…IN EXCRUCIATING AGONY.
JUST AS CHRIST DIED AT CALVARY!
AND JUST AS CAPTAIN BENJAMIN DIED AT ALAMANCE.
A FRIEND PENNED THIS POETIC TRIBUTE TO SLOTIN:
MAY GOD RECEIVE YOU, GREAT-SOULED SCIENTIST!
WHILE YOU WERE WITH US, EVEN STRANGERS KNEW
THE BREADTH AND LOFTY STATURE OF YOUR MIND
BUT IT WAS ONLY IN THE CRUCIBLE OF DEATH
WE SAW AT LAST YOUR NOBLE HEART REVEALED!
ONLY IN THE CRUCIBLE OF DEATH—WAS HIS NOBLE HEART REVEALED.
AND SO IT WAS WITH CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL!
HIS NOBLE HEART WAS MAGNIFICENTLY REVEALED IN THE BITTER CRUCIBLE OF DEATH AT ALAMANCE.
IT WAS AS IF—PEERING THROUGH THE ILLUSTRIOUS PRISM OF FREEDOM—CAPTAIN BENJAMIN WAS SAYING TO US, AS LOUIS SLOTIN DID THAT TRAGIC DAY: “YOU’LL COME THROUGH ALL RIGHT—BUT I HAVEN’T THE FAINTEST CHANCE MYSELF.”
CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL GAVE HIS ALL—BUT HE LEFT US A PRICELESS LEGACY THAT STILL BURNS BRIGHTLY IN OUR CHERISHED CONSTELLATION OF PERSONAL LIBERTY
TO ME, IT IS ALMOST AS IF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE HAD CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL IN MIND WHEN HE PENNED THESE ILLUMINATING LINES IN ROMEO AND JULIET:
AND WHEN HE SHALL DIE,
TAKE HIM AND CUT HIM INTO LITTLE STARS,
AND HE WILL MAKE THE FACE OF HEAVEN SO FINE,
THAT ALL THE WORLD WILL BE IN LOVE WITH NIGHT,
AND PAY NO WORSHIP TO THE GARISH SUN.
CAPTAIN BENJAMIN’S COURAGEOUS COUNTENANCE STILL SHINES BRIGHTLY UPON US TODAY, SPLENDIDLY LIGHTING UP THE SKIES WITH UNDIMINISHED GRANDEUR, IN OUR GLORIOUS AMERICAN FIRMAMENT OF FREEDOM.
AND THIS EXEMPLIFIES IT PERFECTLY:
A VERY WEALTHY MAN HAD JUST DIED. AT HIS GRAVESIDE, ONE MAN SAID: “I UNDERSTAND HE WAS QUITE RICH.”
A FRIEND SAID: “YES, HE WAS.”
ANOTHER ASKED: “I WONDER HOW MUCH HE LEFT?”
SOMEONE ANSWERED: “ALL OF IT.”
YES—ALL OF IT!
HE DIDN’T TAKE ANY OF IT WITH HIM.
YOU CAN’T. I CAN’T. NOBODY CAN.
YOU’LL NEVER SEE A HEARSE STOP AT THE BANK, ON THE WAY TO THE CEMETERY, AND MAKE A WITHDRAWAL.
CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL DIDN’T HOLD BACK!
HE GAVE HIS ALL—HIS VERY LIFE—FOR OUR FREEDOM!
THE HEART THAT DOES NOT GIVE IS LIKE A STAGNANT POND, OR A BROKEN CISTERN, THAT EVAPORATES AND LOSES ITS VALUABLE, LIFE-GIVING TREASURE.
BUT THE HEART THAT GIVES—LIKE CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL GAVE, LIKE LOUIS SLOTIN GAVE, LIKE CHRIST GAVE, LIKE WE ALL CAN GIVE—IS LIKE A FRESH, INVIGORATING, NEVER-ENDING MOUNTAIN STREAM, FED BY PURE, UNFAILING, INEXHAUSTIBLE SPRINGS, WHOSE COOL, CLEAR, SPARKLING CRYSTAL WATERS LEAP FROM ROCK TO ROCK, REFRESHING THE TIRED, THE WEARY, THE HEAVY-LADEN AND THE BROKEN IN SPIRIT.
YES: THE HEART THAT GIVES—GATHERS.
ONE INSPIRING ILLUSTRATION OF THIS—SHOWN WITH SERMON ON THE MOUNT SIMPLICITY—IS FOUND IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY IN LONDON, ON THE TOMB OF CHRISTOPHER CHAPMAN, DATED 1680:
THIS WAS THE WISDOM OF GIVING HE LEFT US ALL:
WHAT I GAVE, I HAVE,
WHAT I SPENT, I HAD,
WHAT I LEFT, I LOST
--BY NOT GIVING IT!
MAY GOD HELP US ALWAYS TO GIVE.
JUST AS GOD GAVE HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST, ON THE CROSS OF CALVARY, TO SAVE US FROM OUR SINS.
LIKE LOUIS SLOTIN GAVE HIS LIFE AT LOS ALAMOS.
LIKE CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL GAVE US HIS LIFE, FOR OUR LIVES AND OUR LIBERTY, ON THE GALLOWS AT ALAMANCE.
HE HELPED PRESERVE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS THE MAGNIFICENT ETERNAL FLAME OF FREEDOM BEQUEATHED TO US ALL BY THE NOBLE, LIBERTY-LOVING AMERICANS WHO HAVE GALLANTLY SACRIFICED THEIR WONDERFUL LIVES FOR US…
SO THAT WE MIGHT TRULY LIVE IN THE ELEVATING, SOUL-STIRRING, HEART-WARMING SUNBEAMS OF FREEDOM!
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL THOSE WHO STRUGGLED, SACRIFICED AND DIED TO DEFEND THE HONOR AND INTEGRITY OF AMERICA—EVEN BEFORE THERE WAS AN AMERICA.
AS PATRIOTIC AMERICANS, DEFENDERS OF OUR BELOVED FATHER’S FAITH, LET US SOLEMNLY SWEAR—ON THE SACRED GRAVES OF OUR FOREFATHERS, AND CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRELL IN PARTICULAR—THAT WE WILL NOT SHRINK FROM DEFENDING FREEDOM—AS THEY DID NOT SHRINK FROM DYING TO PRESERVE IT FOR US—IN THESE TIMES THAT TRY OUR SOULS, AS THEIRS WERE TRIED…AND THEY FAILED US NOT…
MAY WE ALWAYS BE STEADFAST AND UNYIELDING IN DEFENSE OF THE PRICELESS LIBERTY THAT GOD GAVE US ALL!
AND MAY WE ALWAYS BLESS GOD!
SO THAT GOD WILL CONTINUE TO BLESS AMERICA!
© 2006 BY JESSE H. MERRELL
Jesse H. Merrell, president of Merrell Enterprises, 2610 Garfield St. NW, Washington, DC 20008, is a fourth-great-grandson of Captain Benjamin Merrell, whose grandson (Amos, through Jonathan), was the pioneer founder of the Merrells of Alabama.
A native Alabamian, Merrell is a former newspaper editor in Virginia and Washington, DC. In his five years as a Virginia newsman, Merrell won five awards, including first place for news writing and first place for editorial writing. His writings have also won several awards from Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge and the Congress of Freedom, and several have been entered into the Congressional Record.
Merrell has been a motivational speaker for many years. His inspiring “Jamestown” speech, which he gives to various civic, church and professional groups, won the prestigious George Washington Honor Medal from Freedoms Foundation in 2002.
He is listed in such publications as the Marquis Who’s Who in the World and Who’s Who in America. He is a former Dale Carnegie Course instructor, and was the first president of the Dale Carnegie Course Instructors Association of Washington.
He is a member of the National Press Club, National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Raleigh Tavern Society of Colonial Williamsburg, the General George Washington Council of the 1607 Society of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the Regent’s Circle of Mount Vernon (George Washington’s home) and a benefactor of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.
Merrell was also a member of the Ambassadors Speakers Bureau for Jamestown 2007, which spearheaded the upcoming celebration of the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in America, which landed at Jamestown, Virginia, on May 13, 1607.
He is semi-retired now—which he has found to mean he is working more than ever.
For further information:
Jesse H. Merrell
Merrell Enterprises
2610 Garfield St. NW
Washington, DC 20008-4104
Phone: 202-265-1925
Cell: 202-288-3334
Fax: 202-265-8721
Email: Jessemerrell@Comcast.net