During this national celebration of independence, I am especially aware of what brave women as well as men encountered/endured after the Declaration when waging war with what were then (by far) the most powerful military forces in the world.

Near the conclusion of The British Are Coming, Rick Atkins says this:

“Faith would be needed to sustain these revolutionaries — faith in one another and in the America they imagined could emerge fro this strife. ‘I am sure the cause we are engaged in is just, and the call I have to it is clear,’ aged Connecticut warrior Seth Pomeroy wrote his son in mid-February, a week before his death. ‘Who would not go cheerfully, and confront every danger? My love to all the family.’ In a letter to his son Thomas, age nine, Brigadier General Samuel Holden Parsons wrote, ‘Remember if I fall in the war, I shall expect you & all my sons to arm in defense of the glorious cause of Liberty & lay down your lives in defense of your country, & to avenge my death if necessary.'”

Throughout the course of the war, an estimated 6,800 Americans were killed in action, 6,100 wounded, and upwards of 20,000 were taken prisoner. Historians believe that at least an additional 17,000 deaths were the result of disease, including about 8,000–12,000 who died while prisoners of war.

Amidst picnics and parades, let us remember them with the respect and appreciation they deserve. I also hope that we can regain or increase our resolve to protect everyone‘s human rights, whoever they are, wherever they may be.

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The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 (The Revolution Trilogy) was published by Henry Holt & Company (May 2019).