Posted on 07/19/2004 5:04:30 PM PDT by flowerjoyfun
:~)
Lord,
Time and again you spared isreal even when she was disobediant to your will.... I ask in Jesus name that you show us your grace once more and forgive our nation deserving of your wrath, brush aside our enemies that would mock you and your name. Confuse their plans, expose them and humiliate them before the nations. And most of all I pray that your will be done and our hearts are turned toward you again. Thank you for doing this, I pray in Jesus name.... Amen
George Washington's Vision of America's Destiny
http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/washington/vision.html
The place was Valley forge, in the cold and bitter winter of 1777. Washington’s army had suffered several reverses and the situation was desperate. Food was scarce. The Continental Congress was not sending supplies or money. Some of the troops did not even have shoes to wear in the snow. Many soldiers were sick and dying from disease and exposure. Morale was at an all-time low and there was great agitation in the Colonies against continued effort to secure our freedom from England. Nevertheless, General Washington was determined to see the struggle through. Anthony Sherman describes the situation:
"When the bold action of our Congress, in asserting the independence of the colonies, became known to the world, we were laughed and scoffed at as silly, presumptuous rebels, whom the British would soon tame into submissions, but undaunted we prepared to make good what we had said. The keen encounter came, and the world knows the result. It is easy and pleasant for those of the present generation to talk and write of the days of ’76, but they little know, neither can they imagine the trials and sufferings of those fearful days. And there is one thing that I much fear, and that is, that the American people no not properly appreciate the boon of freedom. Party spirit is yearly becoming stronger and stronger, and unless it is checked, will, at no distant day, undermine and tumble into ruin the noble structure of the Republic.
"From the opening of the Revolution we experienced all phases of fortune. The darkest period we had, however, was, when Washington retreated to Valley Forge, where he resolved to pass the winter of ’77. Ah! I have often seen the tears coursing down our dear old commander’s care-worn cheeks as he would be conversing with a confidential officer about the condition of his poor soldiers. You have doubtless heard the story of Washington going to the thicket to pray. Well, it is not only true, but he used often to pray in secret for aid and comfort from that God, the interposition of whose providence alone brought us safely through those dark days of tribulation.
"One day, he remained in his quarters nearly the whole of the afternoon, alone. When he came out, his face was a shade paler than usual, and there seemed to be something on his mind of more than ordinary importance. Returning just after dusk he dispatched and orderly to the quarters of the officer I mentioned, who was presently in attendance. After a preliminary conversation, which lasted some half an hour, Washington, gazing upon his companion with that strange look of dignity, which he alone could command, said to the latter.
"I do not know whether it was owing to the anxiety of mind, or what, but this afternoon, as I was sitting at this very table, engaged, in preparing a dispatch, something in the apartment seemed to disturb me. Looking up, I beheld standing exactly opposite me, a singularly beautiful female. So astonished was I, for I had given strict orders not to be disturbed, that it was some moments before I found language to inquire the cause of her presence. A second, third, and even a fourth time did I repeat the question, but received no answer from my mysterious visitor other than a slight raising of the eyes. By this time I felt a strange sensation spreading through me. I would have risen, but the riveted gaze of the being before me rendered volition impossible, I essayed once more to address her, but my tongue had become paralyzed. A new influence, mysterious, irresistible took possession of me. All I could do was to gaze steadily, vacantly, at my visitant. Gradually the surrounding atmosphere seemed as though becoming filled with sensations, and grew luminous. Everything about seemed to rarify the mysterious visitor herself becoming more airy, and even more distinct to my sight than before, I now began to feel as one dying, or rather to experience the sensations which I have sometimes imagined accompany dissolution. I did not think I did not reason, I did not move, all were alike impossible. I was only conscious of gazing, fixedly, vacantly, on my companion.
"Presently I heard a voice, saying, 'Son of the Republic, look and learn!' while at the same time my visitor extended her arm and forfinger eastwardly. I now heheld a heavy vapor at some distance, rising fold upon fold. This gradually dissipated, and I looked upon a strange scene. Before me lay stretched out in one vast plain all the countries of the world, Europe, Asia, Africa and America. I saw rolling and tossing, between Europe and America, the billows of the Atlantic, and between Asia and America lay the Pacific. 'Son of the Republic,' said the same mysterious voice as before 'look and learn!'
"At that moment I beheld a dark, shadowy being like an angel, standing, or rather floating in mid air between Europe and America. Dipping water out of the ocean in the hallow of each hand, he sprinkled some on America with his right hand, while he cast upon Europe some with his left. Immediately a dark cloud arose from each of those countries, and they joined in mid ocean. For a while it remained stationary, and then moved slowly westward until it enveloped America in its murky folds. Sharp flashes of lighting now gleamed throughout it at intervals, and I heard the smothered groans and cries of the American people.
"A second time the angel dipped from the ocean, and sprinkled it out as before. The dark cloud was then withdrawn back to the ocean, into whose heaving waves it sank from view. A third time I heard the mysterious voice, 'Son of the Republic, look and learn!'
"I cast my eyes upon America, and beheld villages, cities and towns springing up one after another, until the whole land, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was dotted with them. Again I heard the mysterious voice say, 'Son of the Republic, the end of a century cometh, look and learn!'
"At this, the dark shadowy angel turned his face southward, and from Africa, I saw an ill omened spectre approaching our land. It flitted slowly over village, town and city, of the latter, the inhabitants of which presently set themselves in battle array, one against the other. As I continued looking, I saw a bright angel, on whose brow rested a crown of light, on which was traced the word Union, bearing the American flag, which he placed between the divided Nation, and said, 'Remember ye are brethren!'
"Instantly, the inhabitants, casting from them their weapons, became friends once more, and united around the national standard. And again I heard the mysterious voice saying, 'Son of the Republic, the second peril is passed, look and learn!'
"And I beheld the villages, towns and cities of America increase in size and numbers, till at last they covered all the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and their inhabitants became as countless as the stars of heaven of the sands of the sea shore. And again I heard the mysterious voice saying, 'Son of the Republic, the end of a century cometh, look and learn!'
"At this, the dark, shadowy angel placed a trumpet to his mouth, and blew three distinct blasts, and taking water from the ocean sprinkled it out upon Europe, Asia and Africa.
"Then my eyes looked upon a fearful scene. From each of those countries arose thick, black clouds, which soon joined into one, and throughout this mass gleamed a deep red light, by which I saw hordes of armed men, who moving with the cloud, marched by land and sailed by sea to America, which country was presently enveloped in the volume of the cloud. And I dimly saw the vast armies devastate the whole country, and pillage and burn villages, cities and towns that I had beheld springing up. As my ears listened to the thundering of cannon, clashing of swords, and shouts and cries of the millions in mortal combat, I again heard the mysterious voice saying, 'Son of the Republic, look and learn!'
"When the voice had ceased, the dark, shadowy angel placed his trumpet once more to his mouth and blew a long, fearful blast.
"Instantly a light, as from a thousand suns, shone down from above me, and pierced and broke into fragments the dark clouds which enveloped America. At the same time I saw the angel on whose forehead still shone the word UNION, and who bore our national flag in one hand, a sword in the other, descend from heaven, attended by legions of bright spirits. These immediately joined the inhabitants of America, who, I perceived, were well nigh overcome, but who, immediately taking courage again, closed up the broken ranks and renewed the battle. Again amid the fearful noise of the conflict I heard the mysterious voice saying, 'Son of the Republic, look and learn!'
"As the voice ceased, the shadowy angel for the last time dipped water from the ocean and sprinkled it upon America. Instantly the dark cloud rolled back, together with the armies it had brought, leaving the inhabitants of the land victorious. Then once more I beheld the villages, towns and cities springing up where they had been before, while the bright angel, planting the azure standard he had brought in the midst of them, cried in a loud voice to the inhabitants, 'While the stars remain and the heavens send down the dew upon the earth, so long shall the Republic last.'
"And taking from his brow the crown, on which still blazed the word UNION, he placed it upon the standard, while all the men kneeling down said, 'Amen.'
"The scene instantly began to fade and dissolve, and I at last saw nothing but the curling white vapor I had at first beheld. This also disappearing, I found myself gazing once more on my mysterious visitor, who, in the same mysterious voice that I had heard before, said, 'Son of the Republic, what you have seen is thus interpreted: three perils will come upon the Republic. The most fearful is the third, passing which, the whole world united shall never be able to prevail against her. Let every child of the Republic learn to live for his God, his land and Union!'
"We as a nation have passed through two perils, the third and greatest is at our door. It would therefore, be well, that we as American citizens heed the warnings of the Father of our Country.
"This nation was founded by divine revelation and intervention and must be preserved by those same principles. Therefore, let each citizen so order his life that we as a people might be worthy of this same great blessing. THE INTERVENTION OF HEAVEN, that this great Republic might be preserved.
"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war." [Ann Coulter at National Review Online]
Great web site Salem ~ thanks!aaaaa
Thanks for the information!
Patton Bump
Wow! Thank you.
And he was also an anti-semite.
Yes he was. It is a disappointment.
I didn't know about his anti-semitism, but was well aware that he had both a "sacred" and "profane" side to his personality.
He could be eloquent in prayer, or colorful in oratory according to whatever situation he was dealing with.
A former Commander of our American Legion Post served under Patton, and recals that "He was a crazy bastard!" but that he certainly knew how to fight.
A few years ago I came by what is reputed to be the "uncensored" version of Patton's address to his Troops just before D-Day at Normandy. I submitted it to the old Veteran who was not in attendance for the address, but confirmed that it is consistant with Patton's style.
I'd post it here, but it's.... well... kinda inapropriate for "Family" reading. It was sanitized quite a bit for the movie, btw..
George Patton had a few Jewish staffers who loved him to death. If Patton was an anti Semite, then he's the kind of anti Semite I like and respect, same as Richrad Nixon. Who cussed Jews in private but came through for Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur war.
My dad was in WW2, worked in logistics support in France for Patton's 3rd Army, has nothing bad to say about General Patton
Bump!
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I have NEVER BEFORE read General Patton's Verse.
It Make's George Scott's Performance SO MUCH MORE Poignant!
It ALSO "Presents Us" with a "Dilemma;" Our "ForeBears" have Given us an ARMY inculcated with the "Will" of our "Best & Brightest."
SUCH a "Force" MUST BE USED for the "Good" of our Species!!
WHAT IS THAT "GOOD??"
& THAT is our "Dilemma!!"
Doc
Beau--thank you for your kind words.
Walkingfeather--from your lips to God's ears. Amen.
BTW: I read his son passd on about 2 or 3 weeks ago.
theDentist wrote ~ "I'd heard he was anti-semetic (though he was enraged when he heard of the death camps and the furnaces). I'd be happy to be shown wrong."
Instead of asking us to prove an unfounded sweeping general accusation which you have just thrown out without offering a bit of proof, let alone source, you should prove your accusation first ~ then we might deal with a defense.
Saying that you just 'heard it somewhere' makes you sound like some kind hateful person yourself and not a rational soul who is interested in the facts.
Source your accusation; and because it is so dire source it from three different respectable sources.
General Patton's accomplishments, and his family's, are too great and too real to be left besmirched by the likes of your rumor mongering. ~ Beau
Try Google, and then whine to all those various sources.
The following is an excerpt from Chapter Eight, "Tunisia: The Verdun of the Mediterranean", from the book "The Path to Victory: The Mediterranean Theater in World War II" by Douglas Porch (FSG, May 2004).
"Kicking butt" was the activity of choice for the autocratic, flamboyant, frequently coarse, pistol-packing Patton. Son of a California lawyer, Patton was a paradoxical mélange of humility and megalomania, geniality and rage, heroics and lunacy. From the moment he matriculated at West Point in 1904, Patton had distinguished himself as an ambitious martinet who excelled on the drill field, not in the classroom-indeed, the joke at West Point is that Patton's statue faces away from the library.
Upon graduation, he selected a wife who could assist an ambition considered gargantuan even in Washington, where Second Lieutenant Patton cultivated important generals and politicians such as John J. Pershing, Army chief Leonard Wood, and Secretary of War Stimson.
A severe wound acquired while fighting in the Saint-Mihiel salient in 1918, followed by the award of a Distinguished Service Cross, failed to atone for Patton's outspoken political views, hard drinking, and reckless polo playing in the interwar army. Under the influence of his wife's family of wealthy Massachusetts industrialists, Patton jettisoned his father's Wilsonian principles, as well as the senior Patton's advice that the "club wit" who strives to dominate conversations was seldom a social success.
Prejudice defined Patton's outlook and his conduct. In 1932 he enthusiastically joined then-chief of staff Douglas MacArthur to flush "Communist" Bonus Army marchers from the capital, in the process unceremoniously ejecting from the marchers' encampment the ex-sergeant who had saved his life in France. As chief of army intelligence on Hawaii in 1936, he drew up lists of prominent Japanese-Americans to be seized as "hostages" on the outbreak of war.
His anti-Semitism exceeded by a considerable margin the polite golf club standards of America between the wars. General Joseph Stilwell called Patton a "braggart," while George Marshall's wife publicly admonished Patton that his profanity and "outrageous" statements little became a man who aspired to general rank.
And from a discussion group on Patton:
(Patton)...deserves a little less hero worship than he has gotten. He was a successful general, perhaps, but he was also a racist of the rawest and most vicious kind. His own writings show that he was convinced of the superiority of Northwestern Europeans, except the Irish, and was convinced of the inferiority of nonwhites. He also hated Jews and called Holocaust survivors "subhumans".
While such views were widespread in the officer corps in the 1920's and '30's, Patton carried them to an extreme which hindered his ability to effectively act in the occupation of Germany. He was so far over the edge that I would say that he probably believed in Nordic superiority more than most of Hitler's generals did.
One good source for the history of antiSemitism in the Army is a book called "The 'Jewish Threat' ". It is quite a shocker. While he served his country bravely, we should never forget that indirectly attitudes such as those held by Patton and Lindbergh helped to prevent America from confronting Hitler or offering timely assistance to those he would go on to murder.
And from his own diaries:
Patton's initial impressions of the Jews were not improved when he attended a Jewish religious service at Eisenhower's insistence. His diary entry for September 17, 1945, reads in part: "This happened to be the feast of Yom Kippur, so they were all collected in a large, wooden building, which they called a synagogue. It behooved General Eisenhower to make a speech to them. We entered the synagogue, which was packed with the greatest stinking bunch of humanity I have ever seen. When we got about halfway up, the head rabbi, who was dressed in a fur hat similar to that worn by Henry VIII of England and in a surplice heavily embroidered and very filthy, came down and met the General . . . The smell was so terrible that I almost fainted and actually about three hours later lost my lunch as the result of remembering it."
These experiences and a great many others firmly convinced Patton that the Jews were an especially unsavory variety of creature and hardly deserving of all the official concern the American government was bestowing on them. Another September diary entry, following a demand from Washington that more German housing be turned over to Jews, summed up his feelings: "Evidently the virus started by Morgenthau and Baruch of a Semitic revenge against all Germans is still working. Harrison (a U.S. State Department official) and his associates indicate that they feel German civilians should be removed from houses for the purpose of housing Displaced Persons.
There are two errors in this assumption. First, when we remove an individual German we punish an individual German, while the punishment is -- not intended for the individual but for the race, Furthermore, it is against my Anglo-Saxon conscience to remove a person from a house, which is a punishment, without due process of law. In the second place, Harrison and his ilk believe that the Displaced Person is a human being, which he is not, and this applies particularly to the Jews, who are lower than animals."
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