REVOLUTIONARY WAR PATRIOT

 

LTC Jacob Reed, Hatfield, PA

Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Reed was the son of Johann Phillip Reed who immigrated from Mannheim, Germany, landing at Philadelphia on the ship Friendship, October 17, 1727.  My nephew Mike Davis discovered during his Ancestry research that my grandmother Ida Ulm-Davis was six generations removed from LTC Reed but only one generation removed from the Reed name of her mother, Nettie Belle Reed-Ulm.  Jacob was an American patriot from the start and had an adventurous life during his lifetime, set during the Revolutionary War of 1776.  He was born in Philadelphia Co., Pa., June 30, 1730 and died in New Britain Township, Bucks Co., Pa., November 2, 1820 at the age of 90.  On May 6, 1777, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1^st Battalion of the Philadelphia County Militia.  He saw active service under General George Washington at the battles of Trenton, Germantown and Brandywine.  Three years later he was elected Major of the 5^th Battalion, Pennsylvania Troops, until the end of the war.

One of the significant project teams I was involved with early in my Industrial Engineering career at VF Corp. was developing and installing an automated shopping experience for the original outlet center in the USA at Reading, Pennsylvania, where the corporate offices resided at that time.  We were one of the pioneers in the apparel business to apply printed UPC labels at our plants and efficiently scan them at the checkout stations.  Those trips to Berks County neighboring Philadelphia, Montgomery and Bucks counties stirred a lifelong interest in the early development of this country and the Revolutionary War.  Little did I realize at the time that my grandmother had distant roots in that struggle, understanding that ancestry branches quickly become voluminous with each succeeding generation.  And it’s fortuitous that my son-in-law was born and raised in Montgomery county where his parents still reside and we’ve celebrated holidays at their home while I stayed near and scouted Valley Forge National Park.

LTC Reed was active during the entire war serving under General Washington and participating in the battles of Trenton, Germantown and Brandywine. The British army evacuated Philadelphia on June 18, 1778, moving toward Trenton, N.J.  General Washington broke camp the next day at Valley Forge to intercept them.  He was known for conversing with soldiers that were familiar with the lay-of-the-land before a battle.  This led him and part of his staff to Jacob Reed’s log cabin in the area for a hastily prepared dinner at their old home in Hatfield.

Since Jacob was a notable advocate of the patriotic cause, he was a marked man by the British and Tories.  During the winter of 1777 and 1778 Jacob was surprised and made captive by his Tory enemies.  They first shot him in the leg, then tied him to a tree, tarred and feathered him and began to dig his grave.  Supporters arrived to set him free as the Tories fled the country.  Their property was subsequently confiscated.  On another occasion as Jacob was riding from home a Hessian sniper shot at him and the bullet grazed his head as the horse bolted away to safety before he could reload.

A Great-Great-Granddaughter, Mrs. Findley Braden, composed a poem entitled He Fought with Washington on the occasion of the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Norristown, PA dedicating a monument on October 8, 1901 at Emmanuel (Leidy’s) Church to LTC Jacob Reed.  She wrote this prophetic verse as humanity was entering the twentieth century and two world wars.

It reads in part:

“O wise forefather, still so calmly sleeping!

He cannot hear our eager words today,

Sun, moon, and stars their faithful watch are keeping,

While we can only kneel, and humbly pray,

That out amid the world’s dull whirl and rattle,

We, too, may stand courageous through all strife,

Not heroes on some deadly field of battle,

But on the deadlier field of modern life.”

DNLR--DOES NOT LOOK RIGHT

Bugler Boy, Summerfield, NC

There’s an awesome world out there to be explored and experienced, but I’ve learned over the years while traveling across America, parts of Canada, Europe, Israel, Mexico, Costa Rica and Honduras that we also need to be “street smart”.  I’ve met and been privileged to know a multitude of wonderful human beings that have assisted me in growing into the older, somewhat wiser person I am today.  We’ve shared triumphs and some defeats along the way, but every challenge was a learning experience for all of us. 

Yet, we shouldn’t be naïve to the existence of bad people that walk among us.  That means we must be vigilant to our surroundings at all times—not paranoid so much that we’re afraid to leave the house, but alert to anyone that could do us harm.  One past incident I vividly recall involved a night close to the Mexico border where I was walking through a dark parking lot to my rental car.  Just as I entered the car and closed the door, I noticed a hand grab the outside handle and I automatically hit the lock.  The shady looking man shouted that he just needed a ride for one block, but I’m confident he was after something more sinister as I quickly started the car and hit reverse.

I attended a training session one morning a few years ago after the Trustees Committee I served on began reacting to the horrendous school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  The security consultant spoke all morning on the reality of our time and at the closing, he seared one lesson permanently into my brain; “Brand the letters DNLR on your forehead if you learn nothing else this morning.  If you see something or someone that Does Not Look Right, you need to investigate and/or call 911 immediately.”

I was out driving this Saturday morning into the countryside with a cup of coffee and simply enjoying the ride to nowhere in particular while looking for any photo/blog opportunities.  Suddenly I passed a historical marker that I could only read the title of Bugler Boy.  So, I turned around and drove into a short dead-end gravel road to investigate the area and photograph the sign for later review.  As I exited my vehicle, I noticed an older white pickup had quietly pulled over and was backing into the dead-end road.  I quickly snapped the marker and opened my door, reentered, locked the doors and started the engine.  As I hit reverse and glanced at the driver who had a grim look on his face, he placed the truck in drive and drove off.  The entire short episode Did Not Look Right!

When I returned home and zoomed in on the marker, it told the poignant story of a teenage bugler boy with Light Horse Harry Lee who was chased by Tarleton’s British Dragoons, caught and killed by the sword on this site during the Revolutionary War on February 12, 1781.  He is buried nearby and died too young to gain much street smarts.  I couldn’t help but wonder on this day of February 8, 2020, almost exactly 239 years later, if the wiser spirit of young James Gillies hadn’t alerted me to such a fate.

THE TREE BESIDE LIVING WATERS

Beside Living Waters, Yorktown, VA

"The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's Tree."
--Thomas Campbell

I take a lot of photographs out in nature and I especially like to photograph images of light such as sunrises, sunsets and reflections. Not too many images of trees catch my eye, but one did as I was standing on the hallowed ground of the final battle of the American Revolution in Yorktown, Virginia. The graceful, wide ranging branches of a tree that was growing beside the York River immediately caught my attention. This living creation seemed to be bowing in silent reverence. Its symmetry and innate beauty is a visual testament to the last breaths taken by so many patriots that had fought and fell in the pursuit of freedom at this place. Their life blood had literally been spilled on this ground and it’s plausible that elements had eventually been drawn up by the giant tree’s life giving root system to sustain the organism.

I’m reminded of the writings of the very first Psalm in which those who place their faith in God are likened to a tree that is planted beside flowing, cool streams of water that never run dry. The Psalmist relates that your fruit ripens in its time and your leaves never fade or curl in the summer sun. No matter what you do, you prosper, i.e., when we apply God’s wisdom the fruit or results we bear will be good and receive God’s approval. This doesn’t imply an easy life, but a worthwhile life of true value. The Psalmist continues that those who turn their back on Him are like fallen husks of wheat, tossed by an open wind, left deserted and alone. Their path will end tragically, but the journey of all has been charted by the Eternal if we choose to follow. Those first Americans sought individual and religious freedom and dreamed of a future where their descendants worshiped God in a grand experiment of diversity and the unbridled pursuit of happiness. They planted their dream of a new country and new beginnings beside a stream of living water and the roots ran deep and they were never thirsty again.

ONE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Liberty, One Country, One Constitution, One Destiny, Yorktown, VA

I just had the pleasure of visiting friends who are native to the historic Yorktown, Virginia area. Since I still find stories of human struggle and victory so fascinating, I also found the area to be equally fascinating, especially the final battle of the American Revolution at Yorktown! The end began for British General Cornwallis here in North Carolina when General Washington’s second in command, General Nathaniel Greene, engaged Cornwallis’ troops at the battle of Guilford Courthouse. Greene and his revolutionaries didn’t win this engagement, but they did cripple the opposition who marched on to the Outer Banks and Yorktown.

Destiny awaited both armies at Yorktown via both French and divine intervention. Cornwallis dug in with earthen redoubts and an escape route at his back across the York River if necessary. He knew reinforcements were sailing from New York in the form of 24 British war ships. But the French had deployed 36 warships from the West Indies to assist the young upstarts and they engaged the British ships in the Chesapeake and routed them out to sea. That victory left the ports open to sail ships up the river with siege mortars and reinforcements for the Americans. The French Comte de Grasse commanding his naval army and the Comte de Rochambeau commanding his auxiliary troops joined Washington’s troops and the Marquis de Lafayette to begin a nineteen day siege of Cornwallis’ defenses. He was outnumbered two to one and ordered a retreat across the York in numerous boats. One wave of one thousand men made it to the opposite shore before a severe storm scattered and sunk the next wave. Cornwallis understood the grave implications and surrendered to end the revolutionary war on October 19, 1781.

A 95 foot tall memorial rose above the shore of this hallowed ground near the York River to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the struggle. The chosen designer, Richard Morris Hunt, fittingly studied architecture in Paris and left an indelible imprint on the American landscape with such other designs as Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, the Administration building at Chicago’s World Columbian exposition, the Tribune building, the façade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty in New York. Lady Liberty stands atop the site as the cool breezes off the York still power sailing ships and billowing storm clouds pass in remembrance of the deciding blow to the defeated army. And circling around the monument are kindred souls locked in unity for the hope of “One Country, One Constitution, and One Destiny”—One United States of America!