The American Revolution From Scotland

The American Revolution From Scotland

          The research that I have done on the Founding Fathers has taken me to check out my own family history.  I have assumed for most of my life that I was from English background.  If my studies are correct, my ancestor Richard Webster came from Glamis, Angus in Scotland.  He supposedly was a schoolmaster and lived in Cambridge, Maryland from about 1704 to 1744.  This knowledge has spurred me on to study the history of Scotland, especially in terms of its impact on the Founding Fathers.  An excellent book to give me that overview of the country has been Scotland: The Story of a Nation by Magnus Magnusson.  With some seven hundred pages, it has been a long read but also an enlightening one. 

          There are nine Scottish signers of the Declaration of Independence: Thomas McKean, James Wilson, George Ross, Matthew Thornton, Edward Rutledge, William Hooper, Philip Livingston, George Taylor and Rev. John Witherspoon.  As I study more about Scottish history especially from about A.D. 1600 onward,  I am seeing many links between the Scots and the desire for independence in America in what became the United States.  Especially when one finds out that Rev. John Witherspoon was a direct descendant  of John Knox of the Reformation, this is really worthwhile to dig into. When one finds out that the American Revolution has been called a Presbyterian revolution and that Scotland had a National Covenant, I had better check this out.

          Being from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, there are many place names that have huge Scottish significance.  Queen Anne’s is the name of a county (where Charles Willson Peale the painter came from).  Little did I know that Queen Anne had 18 children (only one of which survived infancy).   A major battle was fought at Preston in northern England where 2,000 Scots died in battle.  There was also a battle in Worcester and Dunbar.  A lot of these names sound so familiar.

The Whigs got their start in Scotland as a part of the Covenanters.  The Declaration of Arbroath, signed in April 6, 1320 might have had something to do with another Declaration signed 456 years later.

This is just the beginning of hopefully more articles on Scotland and her neglected history.  

HMS Roebuck Visit to Parker Mill Pond (Today Called Leonard's Mill Pond) in February 1777

HMS Roebuck Visit to Parker Mill Pond

(today called Leonard's Mill Pond)

February 1777
Eastern Shore of Virginia (Ninth Regiment) to the Rescue

     Next time you visit the Salisbury Visitor Center on Route 13 between Salisbury and Delmar, Maryland try to envision a 44 gun ship British ship in Leonard's Mill Pond.  Imagine 250 Tories assembled in the area as a staging area for the British to mount an invasion of the Eastern Shore of Maryland.


     Continental Congress moved from Philadelphia on December 12, 1776. After defeats at Brooklyn, White Plains and Harlem in New York, we lost Fort Washington and Fort Lee. British troops kept pursuing the Continental Army in New Jersey and General Washington won a stunning victory by crossing the Delaware River and capturing the Hessian garrison at Trenton December 26, 1776. Colonel William Richardson (from the Eastern Shore of Maryland near Preston) was entrusted with moving the Treasury from Philadelphia to Baltimore. Baltimore served as the capital of nation from December 20, 1776 until February, 27, 1777. The location of Congress in Baltimore was at Liberty Street and Baltimore Street (near the First Mariner Arena where the Baltimore Blast soccer team plays).

     The capital returned to Philadelphia on March 4, 1777. [ It remained there until September 15, 1777. After the defeat at Brandywine, Continental Congress had to move again. They stayed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for one day- September 27, 1777 and then moved to York , Pennsylvania from September 30, 1777 until June 27, 1778. At York, they met at the Court House.]

     During the time frame of the upheaval from Continental Congress having to move from Philadelphia to Baltimore is the time period in which the Tories attempted to take control of Delmarva. Their plan started with the staging area of Parker Mill Pond. All during the time that the capital was located in Baltimore, one of the main focuses was the threat to the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It is hard for current readers to visualize John Hancock in Baltimore but here is a resolve of Congress on February 17, 1777:


[Hancock to Council]
Baltimore, Feb. 17, 1777
Gentlemen:
As Congress have received Information that the Enemy are meditating a Descent upon the Coast of Chesapeake Bay the ensuing Campaign, I have it in Charge to request you will cause all the Stock of every Kind (agreeably to the enclosed Resolve) to be immediately removed from the shore and the adjacent Islands, or otherwise so secured that there may be no Danger of its falling into the Hands of our Enemies, and that you will take the most Effectual Measures to protect those who are well affected to the Cause of America from being plundered and insulted by the Enemy.
I have the Honour to be, Gentlemen,
Your most obed. Serv.
Honble Council of Safety. John Hancock Presid.

[Resolve of Congress.]
In Congress, Feby. 17, 1777
Congress having this day received Information that the Enemy mediates an Expedition to the Bay of Chesapeak in the ensuing Campaign, and that the Eastern Shore of Maryland is the first object or Place of Landing [italics added]
RESOLVED, That the States of Virginia and Maryland be requested to take immediate and the most effectual Measures that the Stocks may be removed from their respective Eastern Shore Counties, and their adjacent Islands, or so secured that they may not fall into the Enemies Hands, and that Means the most effectual be taken to protect & secure the well affected Inhabitants from the Insults and Plunder of the Enemy.
By order of Congress John Hancock, Presid.

     Tangier Sound had three British warships in their area accompanied by tenders and other armed vessels, known to be piloted by Tories. For several months the Tories were on the verge of gaining control of Somerset (Maryland) and Sussex (Delaware) counties. A 44 gun British ship, Roebuck, had landed field artillery pieces (probably from the Wicomico River). In February, 1777 about 250 Tories gathered at the site of the battle of Parker Mill Pond near Salisbury.

     For quite a few years it has been puzzling as to how the HMS Roebuck made its way up the Wicomico River to the Parker Mill Pond location (which is now called Leonard Mill Pond).  Look up Salisbury Maryland on Google using the satellite function.  One can see the river bed of the Wicomico River from the bypass up to Leonard Mill Pond.  There are two dams (one near Isabella and Lake Street and the other at Leonard Mill Pond itself) which have been added since 1777.  Without the dams, a ship could come up to Parker Mill Pond.

     The battle never happened in actuality. Colonel George Dashiell’s militia of 150 was outnumbered and outgunned. Dashiell sent letters for help and help came in strength. Almost 1,000 (980) came from the Upper Shore and Western Shore under Gen. Smallwood. Another 2,000 under Colonel Southey Simpson (of the Ninth Regiment of Virginia) came from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. When the Tories saw the strength against them, they scattered. Fourteen ringleaders were caught but the two leaders, Callallo and Moore were believed to be headed for refuge on Smith or Tangier Island. And boarded the British ship Phoenix

     The Maryland Council sent vessels to transport troops to Eastern Shore: the Enterprise with Captain James Campbell, the Defence with Captain George Cook, the Dolphin with Captain William Patterson and four other vessels. They assembled 980 men to help the Somerset Militia at Salisbury.

Col. William Buchanan’s Regulars- 350 men
Gen. Smallwood’s Battalion- 300 men
2nd Virginia Battalion 300 men
Mattrosses from Annapolis 30 men

“The militia was first on the scene. Their congregation in such numbers and the knowledge that regular army troops and state naval vessels were enroute forestalled junction of tory bands with forces from off-shore enemy warships. Tories quickly evaporated, scattering to Delaware and to the enemy ships, while most simply went ‘underground’ to escape apprehension.”


     Three men attempted to go to the Ohio Valley, find Tories and Indians willing to fight and enlist them against the Patriots. The plan was (1)to seize Pittsburgh with this force (2) invade Maryland and Virginia and (3) join forces with Lord Dunmore at Alexandria, Virginia.

     John Dalzial Smyth was a storekeeper and physician who owned property in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. Smyth joined with Lieutenant Colonel John Connelly (Tory physician fleeing from Pennsylvania) and an alleged Indian agent Allen Cameron. These three men were captured at Hagerstown and were carrying papers with the plans for this Ohio Valley takeover.

     Smyth escaped the log jail for traitors at Frederick but was caught again and imprisoned in Philadelphia. He stayed there for six months and then was transferred to the jail in Baltimore in December 1776. He escaped from the Baltimore jail and crossed the Chesapeake Bay and came up the Nanticoke River into Somerset County. Smyth came into the region and helped with the planning of a Tory uprising.
When the Tory uprising took place in Salisbury, he advised waiting for British warships to strengthen their position in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay regions. When Smallwood’s forces took control of the area, Smyth and other Tories went north to Sussex County in Delaware. On March 12, he and eleven other Tories rowed out to a British man-o-war named Preston in the Delaware Bay.

     Other Tories had planned on joining the force but when they saw the numbers against them, they decided not to show up at Parker's Mill Pond. If the Upper and Western Shore of Maryland and the Eastern Shore of Virginia had not responded so quickly and strongly, Tories would have had a stronghold in the Salisbury area. Think of all the possibilities that the British and Tories could have used with such a strategic location at the center of the peninsula. Washington sent a report that 3,000 British and Hessian troops left New York reportedly to effect a landing on the Eastern Shore. About 70 flat-bottom boats built by British in New York were supposedly intended for the Chesapeake Bay. The British and the Tories were denied this piece of the puzzle.

     Gen. Smallwood arrived in Salisbury on Feb. 19, 1777. While in charge of the militia in the area, he divided his time between Princess Anne, Salisbury and Snow Hill. Do you think he ever stayed in the Washington Hotel? Since the show of force had dissipated the Tory threat in the area, Smallwood released his forces on March 3 so they could go to other needed areas.

     One of the regiments recently recruited in Maryland for Continental Army service (but had not yet left the state) was assigned to the camps to be set up in the neighborhood of Salisbury. It was to be augmented by 500 militiamen from the upper Maryland counties and 100 from Delaware if additional force was found to be needed. Enlistment terms were due to expire December 10, 1777. Col. William Richardson who was named regiment’s commander, went on an expedition to Lewes.

     In summation, Baltimore was the nation’s capital at the time of the Battle of Parker Mill Pond. John Hancock sent a Resolve of Continental Congress stating that Congress had received intelligence that the enemy had plans to have a landing there (they did in August of that same year with 265 ships up the Chesapeake Bay to Elk Landing-Elkton). The local militia saw they were outmanned and out-gunned (Tories had at least two field pieces). Almost 1,000 men from the Western Shore and the Upper Shore came to Salisbury’s defense. The Eastern Shore of Virginia brought up 2,000 men to help out. When the Tories saw all these soldiers and militia against them, most of them disappeared into their home areas. A Tory leader from North Carolina named John Daziel Smyth attempted to raise up an army of Tories and Indians from the Ohio Valley and came through Hagerstown and Frederick. He arrived in Somerset county (which part is in Wicomico County now) by means of the Nanticoke River and tried to stir up the Tories. The arrival of such large numbers of Patriots from the Eastern Shore of Virginia and the Upper and Western Shores thwarted his plans and he left the area by taking a ship called the Preston from Lewes and skedaddled. General Smallwood commanded the forces in the Salisbury and Princess Anne area. When the Tories left the area, Colonel Richardson took command of the 500 men left in the Salisbury area.

Update March 24, 2013

Day of Prayer February 3, 1777

Baltimore, Maryland

(Nation's Capital at that time)

 

     While doing research on John Adams, I came across a letter that he sent to Abigail on February 3, 1777. This is the time period when Continental Congress met in Baltimore.  Adams said that February 3, 1777 had been observed by members of Continental Congress as a day of fasting and prayer.  For those who believe in prayer, it may be that events did not transpire as the Tories and British planned because of those prayers.

Christian New England

Christian New England

     While researching the Christian worldview of the Founding Fathers, one must not throw back on to people in the past things and thoughts from the present. When one thinks of New England in today's time, one does not associate a strong Christian worldview, normally New England today is thought of as a secular area. Going through the 25 volumes of Letters of the Delegates 1774-1789 and 34 volumes of Journals of Continental Congress, the evidence from the primary sources showed me that the nation's strong Christian worldview came from New England. My preconceived idea was that the South would have the stronger Christian worldview. As you read the body of my quotes of Christian worldview from each state, I believe you will see that the Southern signers of the Declaration had a weaker view of Christianity. For many of the signers from the South, it took quite a bit of searching to find one general quotation about a Christian worldview. However, for New England, one does not have to dig hard; the evidence is strongly there. Again, please look at the signers from each state of New England; their Christian worldview glows (New Jersey glows as well with Rev. John Witherspoon and company).

      With many of the New England states, it is a strong unanimous vote for the Christian worldview. In Massachusetts, there are John and Samuel Adams. Look at their Christian worldview quotes on my site as well as their anti-slavery stances. John Hancock, son and grandson of a minister strongly proclaimed days of prayer asking for God's direction. Robert Treat Paine served as a chaplain in the French and Indian War. Elbridge Gerry also had a strong Christian worldview To get insights from the New England mindset of that time, look at the words of the song, "Let Tyrants Break Their Iron Rods." Let tyrants shake their iron rod, And Slav'ry clank her galling chains, We fear them not, we trust in God, New England's God forever reigns. Please take note of the last line of the first verse: "New England's God forever reigns." It was New England and not the South that served as the starting engine for the American Revolution.

     Let us also look to the views of the mother country, England. General James Grant led British troops against American soldiers at Brooklyn, New York. In his September 2, 1776 letter to Harvey said the following: " You will be glad, & gentlemen in Office will not be displeased that we have had the Field Day I talked of in my last Letter- if a good Bleeding can bring those Bible faced Yankees to their senses. The Fever of Independency should soon abate." New England's God, Bible faced Yankees, and the body of Christian worldview quotes from the signers of the Declaration of Independence from New England establish the fact that New England had the strong Christian worldview.

     Conversely, the South at that time had a weak Christian worldview. They followed the established Anglican religion. The reader will note that Thomas Jefferson is not noted for having a strong Christian worldview. This author would class him as having the weakest Christian worldview (if that) of the whole bunch. When many argue that the Christian worldview should not be allowed to have a voice in discussions about government because the Christian worldview allowed slavery back at the Founding, they lay the fault at the wrong party. It was the weak established Anglican Christian worldview of the Southern States (like Jefferson, Rutledge and Middleton and others)at that time that supported slavery. New England with its Christian worldview opposed slavery. Jefferson's Bible that took miracles out of the Bible left readers with a Jefferson Jesus. Jesus to Jefferson was a great moral teacher. Jefferson rejected the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus. Jefferson rejected the miracles of Jesus, all his healings, the raising of the dead, the feeding of the multitudes. Who was the leader for the Democrat party? Is it not called the party of Jefferson and Jackson?Which party supported slavery from the beginning? Was it the Democrat-Republican party/Democrat party? What party made it difficult at every turn to stop slavery? Even though the Founders outlawed slavery from the Constitution in 1787 (by saying that 18 years will allow slave owners to have time to get out of slavery), what party kept pushing at every turn to keep slavery going? It was the party of Jefferson. If one looks at the party of Jefferson from 1820 to 1860, one can see the party platforms saying slavery was fine.

     It was the party of Lincoln who championed the idea of the Founders that all men are created equal. Please do not muddy the waters and say that Jefferson's diluted form of religion that he used when needed was kosher with the Old and New Testaments. His watered down approach to the Bible and God allowed him and his followers to view African Americans as less than people. All citizens of the United States regardless of skin color need to return to what God has revealed in the Old and New Testaments.

     Concerning the three fifths vote, the New England delegation did not want to give the South the full vote because after all the votes were tabulated, the South would have overall more votes that they could use to keep slavery lawful.  New England wanted to eliminate slavery by 1805.  In order to stay alive as a nation (with other nations attempting to conquer us), the compromise was done to keep the nation afloat.

Have We Sold Our Birthright as Americans? Lessons From Esau

Reading the story of Esau and the birthright of Americans is a theme found among the writings of the Founding Fathers

Declaration of Independence
We hold these things to be self-evident that all men are created equal and they are endowed with certain inalienable rights among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

John Jay 

If then, God hath given us freedom, are we responsible to him for that, as well as other talents?  If it be our birthright, let us not sell it for a mess of pottage [referring to Esau selling his birthright], nor suffer it to be torn from us by the hand of violence!  If the means of defence are in our power and we do not make use of them, what excuse shall we make to our children and our Creator?  These are questions of the deepest concern to us all.  These are questions which materially affect our happiness, not only in this world, but in the world to come.

John Jay's "Christmas Address," Dec. 23, 1776

John Dickinson
“Had Almighty God been pleased to give Us our Existence in a Land of Slavery , the Sense of our Condition might have been mitigated by the Force of Education & habit.  But Thanks be to his adorable Goodness, We were born the Heirs of Freedom, and ever enjoyed our Right under the Auspices of your Royal Ancestors, whose Family  was seated on the British Throne, to secure a pious & gallant Nation from the Popery and Despotism, mediated by a superstitious, and inexorible Tyrant...We doubt not, but your royal Wisdom must approve the Sensibility, that teaches your subjects anxiously to guard the Blessing they received from Divine Providence and thereby to prove the performance of that compact, that elevated the illustrious House of Brunswick to the Dignity it now possesses...

What is more important to Americans today?  Do they value their birthright with freedom as their most important denominator or have they sold it for some government benefit?

Benjamin's Franklin- Almost a Christian Worldview

Ben Franklin- Almost a Christian Worldview

      Coming up on Ben Franklin’s birthday (January 17, 1706), it seems appropriate to write about the difficulty of determining whether or not he had a Christian worldview. Those who read this blog as well as my book 1776 Faith will note that I have stated that 54 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence had a Christian worldview. The two exceptions were Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Both have stated in their writings that they doubted or denied the deity of Jesus Christ.

     There is a lot that could go on the side of showing a Christian worldview for both of these gentlemen but their comments about the deity of Christ is the determining factor in not including them in the Christian worldview. Franklin to Ezra Stiles, Philadelphia, March 9, 1790 [Franklin died April 17, 1790] “As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think they System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting Changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his Divinity.” Franklin goes on to say:”I shall only add, respecting myself, that having experienced the Goodness of that Being in conducting me prosperously thro’ a long life, I have no doubt of its Continuance in the next.” Franklin doubts or denies the deity of Jesus Christ yet believed he was going to heaven. One that truly calls himself or herself a Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus claimed to be God as seen in John 8:58 “Before Abraham was I AM.” In Hebrew, the word YHWH was translated as “I AM.” John 14:6 states, Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In Acts 4:10b-12 Peter spoke the following before the Sanhedrin: “.It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name given under heaven to men by which we must be saved.”

     Franklin could honestly say that he followed God according to his fashion but did not specifically follow Jesus Christ. In another entry, Franklin’s strong attestations to God in human events will be presented For someone to call themselves a Christian and deny the deity of Jesus Christ is like: A hunter that does not believe in killing animals A Muslim that does not believe that the Qu’ran is the Word of God A fish that does not believe in water A Catholic that does not believe what the Pope says A vegan that does not believe in eating vegetables Franklin did a load of good things in his life. His scientific inventions include electrical discoveries with lightning, the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, bifocals, etc.

     In the political field he also had many special accomplishments. He helped start the first library in Philadelphia, the first fire company, became president of the Abolition Society in Pennsylvania. He stood for American independence and took a public debunking for it at the Privy Council in London and he never forgot it. He helped win the support of France during our struggle for independence and crossed the Atlantic at great peril. London probably would have a fine gallows prepared for him, or Tower of London special treatment, if he had been caught.

      Personally I wish it were different. I wish Franklin had said that he trusted Christ for the forgiveness of his sins. I do not know if Mr. Franklin had a change of heart and mind after making his statement to Rev. Ezra Stiles. However, if it stands the way Franklin said it then, He died without the Saviour. It would be such a tragedy for someone to be so intelligent but so unwise. Franklin said here that he had really never studied it. He thought it needless to study it now. If one’s eternal destiny is at stake, he needed to study it. The world’s most intelligent man became unwise in the most important question of his existence. This reminds me of a sermon from Billy Graham entitled “Almost Persuaded.” Paul appeared before King Agrippa in the book of Acts26:28 and after giving him a presentation of the good news of Jesus Christ, Agrippa said the following to Paul: “Almost thou persuadeth me to become a Christian.” Almost did not cut it for Agrippa, nor will it help Franklin when he stands before Christ. Dear friend, choose Christ. Take the time to study about the sinless life, the sacrifice and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You may be very intelligent but also be wise.

What Happens to a Nation That Turns its Back on God?

What Happens to a Nation That Turns its Back on God?

What Happens to a Nation That Turns its Back on God? Does a nation that turns its back on God just keep on going forever under its own power? Where is the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire, the Egyptian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Aztec Empire, the Incan Empire, the British Empire today? All these empires came and passed out. Time is ticking for the United States, will we be blessed by following the LORD, or will we be cursed for not following Him? Let us look at Deuteronomy 28 to see what the One Who Has the Final Word has to say about the subject.

Blessings if you follow the LORD

1 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 

2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: 

3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 

4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 

5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 

7 The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. 

8 The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in obedience to him. 

10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. 

11 The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. 

12 The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 

13 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 

14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

Curses for Disobedience

15 However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: 

16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. 

17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. 

18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 

19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. 

20 The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.[a]

 21 The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. 

22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. 

23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. 

24 The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed. 

25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.

26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

27 The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 

28 The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 

29 At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you. 

30 You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. 

31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. 

32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand.

33 A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days.

34 The sights you see will drive you mad. 

35 The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. 

36 The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.

37 You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the LORD will drive you. 

38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. 

39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. 

40 You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. 

41 You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. 

42 Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land. 

43 The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. 

44 They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail. 

45 All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.

46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. 

47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,

48 therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. 

49 The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, 

50 a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. 

51 They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. 

52 They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you. 

53 Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you. 

54 Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, 

55 and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. 

56 The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter 

57 the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities. 

58 If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God— 

59 the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. 

60 He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. 

61 The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. 

62 You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God. 

63 Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. 

64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.

65 Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. 

66 You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. 

67 In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. 

68 The LORD will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you. 

Colonel John Haslet Fell into Delaware River in the Christmas Night Crossing Dec. 25, 1776

On Christmas evening, George Washington crossed the Delaware River in a surprise attack on the Hessian barracks at Trenton. One gentleman named Colonel John Haslet (from Delaware) crossed that evening and had the misfortune to fall into the icy waters. This man served as an ordained Presbyterian minister in Ireland after graduating from the University of Glasgow in 1749 and served as minister in Ireland. His wife died in 1752 and he eventually came to America around Milford, Delaware around 1757. He served in the Pennsylvania militia in the French and Indian War at Fort Duquesne. In 1764 he married Jemima Molleston. He changed his profession to medical doctor (one guesses because of the ordeal of his wife's death). John Haslet survived the icy river incident, “suffering much from exposure and marched ten miles on severely wounded legs and fought a battle without complaint.” (David Hackett Fisher, Washington’s Crossing, New York: Oxford Press, 2004, p.219). Imagine falling into an icy river, living to tell about it and then march ten miles and then fight in the battle! Haslet fought about a week later at the battle of Princeton and died in that battle. As we remember the sacrifice of many soldiers that paved the way for our nation’s freedom, Let us remember John Haslet’s determination and sacrifice as he and others crossed the Delaware on Christmas night 1776.