July 3, 2020.

The Declaration of Independence was not signed on July 4, 1776. It was signed on July 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of 1776. As members of the Continental Congress filtered in to Philadelphia, they signed the document that declared independence from England, who had one of the most feared armies in the world. It took several days for everyone to get there, and when they did arrive, they signed. Overwhelming heat, war ready to break out, their own lives in the balance, these men started the process. For most of them, they emerged from the war impoverished, grieving for lost loved one or, in some cases, they never got through the war themselves.

The War of 1812. Again, fought against England. By now, Washington D.C. was the capital. The British marched on the city and burned it. This war started as a naval confrontation. The mightiest navy in the history of man against tiny sailing vessels with puny cannon. Again, a fearsome army against rag-tag woodsmen. The war was fought from 1812-1815.

 The Civil War. The country was torn apart on the question of states rights. The right in question was the right to own another human being. In the writings from the South at the time leading up to the war the question often asked was, If the federal government can take away the right of someone to own slaves, what other rights will they take? Before the war, each state acted more or less as an independent nation. They were joined together as a nation, but mostly each state made and had their own laws. There wasn’t even a federal tax. Federal money was generated by tariffs and commerce tax. Obviously, the government wasn’t awash in cash. If you served as a Representative or a Senator, you knew you were going to be losing money. You ran for office and served out of patriotic duty. The president was a full-time job, but other government positions were losing propositions. The war changed everything, not just slavery. Incredible heroism was on both sides.

My father’s family came to this country from England in 1696. My mother’s family came here from Ireland sometime around 1720. The Wades came as three brothers and came in at what is now the Portsmouth, Virginia area. The brothers eventually travelled to the Fredericksburg, Virginia area together and from there they split up, one going north, one going south and one going inland. The one who went inland, with his new family, was my ancestor. They eventually settled in what is now Kentucky but at that time was still part of Virginia. My mother’s family shows up in the census of Russell County in present day Kentucky in 1720. No one knows for sure when they entered the country. It is thought that my mother’s family, O’Sullivan, (later shortened to Sullivan) may have come to these shores as many of the Irish did, as slaves.

I had family that fought in the Revolutionary War, in the War of 1812 and in the Civil War. In the Civil War, I had family on both sides of the issue. Again, family fought in the Spanish/American War, World War One, World War Two, Korea, Vietnam and the wars in the Middle East. When my time came, against my parent’s wishes, I joined. I was part Wade, part Sullivan. It was kind of what we did.

As a history major in college I focused on the Civil War. I dragged Marsha to battlegrounds at Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Chambersburg and Gettysburg. We were at Fort Defiance. Frederick, Maryland. We were at the headwaters of the Potomac River. During the Revolutionary War, there was a lot of fighting in the ‘west,’ which was Kentucky and Ohio. The Americans had built a string of forts along the western border. One of those forts has come to be known as Boonesboro, commanded by Col. Daniel Boone. I had a direct ancestor that fought there. The fort has been recreated and in front of the fort is a tall monument with the names of the soldiers that fought there inscribed on it. I couldn’t find my ancestor’s name, so I began to climb. (I was a lot younger) Finally, at the top, I found his name. Meanwhile, Marsha was going nuts, sure I was going to get caught and put in federal prison. I called down and asked her to throw her camera up. She looked at me and said, “Sorry, I didn’t bring it.” The one time I needed the camera and it wasn’t there.

Anyway, there is a point here. My family has been here for over three hundred years. It is highly likely that my mother’s side came as slaves. (In spite of Tim Kane’s absurd claim that colonial Americans invented slavery by enslaving Africans. That man was almost the vice president of the United States with Hillary Clinton.) I am extremely weary of hearing that I have ‘white privilege,’ whatever that is. I see monuments torn down that reflect stages of history of this country that I love. I hear that the white Europeans came here and stole the land from the peaceful and nature loving natives. I see history being rewritten to make criminals out of my family and thousand of others. And I see people who would not know a cotton plant if they tripped over it claiming they need reparations because they were slaves.

The first person to die in the Revolutionary War was a black man. Thousands of black, native American, Asian people have died fighting to defend this country. Hispanic, black, white, red, yellow….they all look pretty much the same wearing a camo field uniform with an American flag on the shoulder, carrying a gun, going into combat. They look the same because they are the same. They are Americans. And, surprise, surprise, they all bleed red.

I can say, I really don’t know any people who are racist. I see a lot on the news who are. They were made that way by an out of control media. But regular people in this country, whatever their background, love the country.

Remember 9/11? We had a gathering of our whole community. We were a racially diverse community and I saw tears on black faces, Asian faces, white faces, Hispanic faces. America had been attacked. Americans had died. America was going to go to war. And it was breaking our hearts.

But you can’t make news when everyone is united. You can’t make political gains when everyone is united. So, you work to divide. And then you blame others for the division.

Can America get through this? I do not know. But I do know that we cannot get through on our own. Back when the country was becoming a country, the people went to the Lord in prayer. When war again hit the country thirty odd years later, the people went to prayer. There is a story from the Civil War. Fighting had been fierce, but Sunday came and fighting was set aside. A Confederate unit was sheltered on one side of an old dirt road. On the other side was a Union unit. On the Confederate side a chaplain began a service. There was a call from the Union side. “We have no chaplain! Can we come over.” They were invited over. The officers were not happy, but they finally came, too. They spoke the same language, sang the same songs, prayed to the same God, believed on the same Jesus. For a few hours in a clearing of some woods, the divided came together.

And it can be done again.