It is interesting to note that George Washington was probably personally responsible for the shot in the wilds of Pennsylvania that started the first world war.
Posted on 05/31/2010 12:45:20 PM PDT by paltz
The American Indian chief looked scornfully at the soldiers on the field before him. How foolish it was to fight as they did, forming their perfect battle lines out in the open, standing shoulder to shoulder in their bright red uniforms. The British soldiers—trained for European war—did not break rank, even when braves fired at them from under the safe cover of the forest. The slaughter continued for two hours. By then 1,000 of 1,459 British soldiers were killed or wounded, while only 30 of the French and Indian warriors firing at them were injured.
Not only were the soldiers foolish, but their officers were just as bad. Riding on horseback, fully exposed above the men on the ground, they made perfect targets. One by one, the chief’s marksmen shot the mounted British officers until only one remained.
“Quick, let your aim be certain and he dies,” the chief commanded. The warriors leveled their rifles at the last officer on horseback. Round after round was aimed at this one man. Twice the officer’s horse was shot out from under him. Twice he grabbed a horse left idle when a fellow officer had been shot down. Ten, twelve, thirteen rounds were fired by the sharpshooters. Still, the officer remained unhurt.
The native warriors stared at him in disbelief. Their rifles seldom missed their mark. The chief suddenly realized that a mighty power must be shielding this man. “Stop firing!” he commanded. “This one is under the special protection of the Great Spirit.” A brave standing nearby added, “I had seventeen clear shots at him…and after all could not bring him to the ground. This man was not born to be killed by a bullet.”
As the firing slowed, the lieutenant colonel gathered the remaining troops and led the retreat to safety. That evening, as the last of the wounded were being cared for, the officer noticed an odd tear in his coat. It was a bullet hole! He rolled up his sleeve and looked at his arm directly under the hole. There was no mark on his skin. Amazed, he took off his coat and found three more holes where bullets had passed through his coat but stopped before they reached his body.
Nine days after the battle, having heard a rumor of his own death, the young lieutenant colonel wrote his brother to confirm that he was still very much alive.
As I have heard since my arrival at this place, a circumstantial account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of contradicting the first and of assuring you that I have not as yet composed the latter. But by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!
This battle, part of the French and Indian War, was fought on July 9, 1755, near Fort Duquesne, now the city of Pittsburgh. The twenty-three-year-old officer went on to become the commander in chief of the Continental Army and the first president of the United States. In all the years that followed in his long career, this man, George Washington, was never once wounded in battle.
Fifteen years later, in 1770, George Washington returned to the same Pennsylvania woods. A respected Indian chief, having heard that Washington was in the area, traveled a long way to meet with him.
He sat down with Washington, and face-to-face over a council fire, the chief told Washington the following:
I am a chief and ruler over my tribes. My influence extends to the waters of the great lakes and to the far blue mountains. I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. It was on the day when the white man’s blood mixed with the streams of our forests that I first beheld this chief [Washington].
I called to my young men and said, “Mark yon tall and daring warrior? He is not of the red-coat tribe—he hath an Indian’s wisdom and his warriors fight as we do—himself alone exposed. Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies.”
Our rifles were leveled, rifles which, but for you, knew not how to miss—’twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we shielded you.
Seeing you were under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, we immediately ceased to fire at you. I am old and shall soon be gathered to the great council fire of my fathers in the land of the shades, but ere I go, there is something bids me speak in the voice of prophecy:
Listen! The Great Spirit protects that man [pointing at Washington], and guides his destinies—he will become the chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire. I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle.
* * * * * This story of God’s divine protection and of Washington’s open gratitude could be found in virtually all school textbooks until 1934. Now few Americans have read it. Washington often recalled this dramatic event that helped shape his character and confirm God’s call on his life.
suggest Kevlar if you are ever in the same situation.
The story was in my textbook in the early 1950s in NJ.
* * * * * This story of God’s divine protection and of Washington’s open gratitude could be found in virtually all school textbooks until 1934. Now few Americans have read it. Washington often recalled this dramatic event that helped shape his character and confirm God’s call on his life.
It is interesting to note that George Washington was probably personally responsible for the shot in the wilds of Pennsylvania that started the first world war.
To win freedom for - and establish this Great country.
He did not do it to have it now turned over to despots and enemies of freedom.
They who are enemies of freedom, are enemies of GOD.
And GOD will protect and preserve this country and Freedom again - IF WE fight, even if we may have to fight as hard and as long as Washington did.
Freedom isn't free - but it IS OURS if we fight for it - and if we fight for it, GOD will be at our side.
The story is believable, but attempts to verify it have not produced satisfactory results, to my knowledge. http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=16064
There postulations are mad up from pretty thing air and a lot of presupposing on their part of knowing what people - or how LITTLE, in their esteemed estimation from this 200-year old vantage point, people back 200+ years ago would know.
For example, they speculate that the Indians would've had no way to know who Washington was. Poppycock.
Read your histories - they are resplendant with such battles and names and minute details, going back thousands of years...
No, the story is not believable.
It’s wonderful hagiography. Hagiography serves a valuable role. I admire and respect George Washington. We should honor him. Glowing, positive stories about him should be in school textbooks, and aren’t.
But this story is not believable. My professional historian’s antennae went up as I read it. The critiques on the Snopes site are all quite proper. The story comes from a play, a clear work of fiction, intended to be understood as a work of fiction, by Washington’s step-descendent, ______ Custis. In other words, when it was first told, it was told as fiction. But the realization that it was fiction got lost over time.
I know they lean port side, but one or more made the point that he could have been recognizable, and some tried to research it.
Ping
I tend to agree with you. However, it should be possible to confirm whether a letter from Washington exists containing the words attributed to him:
As I have heard since my arrival at this place, a circumstantial account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of contradicting the first and of assuring you that I have not as yet composed the latter. But by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!
If this quotation is authentic, the story is still remarkable, even without the later embellishments.
Got a couple of old indian fighters in my lines, too. Virginia, Richard and Joshua Cox/Cocke, descendants of the Irish Sir Richard Cox, III. A number of their descendants married indians. Just business, nothing personal, I guess.
Letter is in the Library of Congress, quote here...
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/george-washington/langarts.html
George Washington to John Augustine Washington, July 18, 1755
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw010115))
I don’t question the four bullets through his coat and two horses shot out from under him. No problem. And yes, that’s a powerful story.
It could have been left there and served a valuable purpose.
But that’s not the story told in this tract. Call it embellishment if you wish, but whopping embellishment—that’s what catches the critical eye. This story simply crosses the line into incredulousness.
George Washington to John Augustine Washington, July 18, 1755
bttt
Upon my next visit to Mount Vernon, I'm going to ask the experts there what happened to his bullet-ridden coat. If you were him, wouldn't you have kept it?
Any FReepers have an answer? Also, does anyone know if this fact is back in the textbooks in Texas?
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