Happy Independence Day -- If You Can Keep It
No, it's not "the Fourth of July." Don't erase those who fought for our Independence
As a boy my parents took me and my grandfather to Lexington and Concord to watch a reenactment of the opening of the Revolutionary War.
On a cold April morning young men not much older than I was then and way younger than I am mustered together to fire the shot heard ‘round the world.
Among the older members of the group was an ancestor of mine — my sixth great-grandfather Charles Butler (1732-1783). Butler was then approximately 43 years old.
Here’s his tombstone which lists his involvement in the “Lexington Alarm.”
Here’s the commission, which interestingly was sold at auction many years later.
This rare official document of the Second Continental Congress is signed by John Hancock and dated January the first, 1776. The document reads, in full, with the portions completed in manuscript in italics: "In Congress. The Delegates of the United Colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, and South-Carolina, to Charles Butler Gentleman. We reposing especial trust and confidence in your patriotism, valor, conduct and fidelity, DO by these presents constitute and appoint you to be Second Lieutenant of Captain Samuel Wright's Company in the twenty-second Regiment of Foot Commanded by Colonel Samuel Wyllysin the army of the United Colonies, raised for the defence of American Liberty, and for repelling every hostile invasion thereof. You are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the duty of Second Lieutenant by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto belonging. And we do strictly charge and require all officers and soldiers under your command, to be obedient to your orders, as Second Lieutenant. And you are to observe and follow such orders and directions from time to time as you shall receive from this or a future Congress of the United Colonies, or Committee of Congress, for that purpose appointed, or Commander in Chief for the time being of the army of the United Colonies, or any other your superior officer, according to the rules and discipline of war, in pursuance of the trust reposed in you. This commission to continue in force until revoked by this or a future Congress. Albert Chas Thomson Junr. January the first, 1776. By Order of the Congress, John Hancock President." With his bold signature, Hancock grants Charles Butler a commission as a Second Lieutenant of infantry.
Butler’s career was further memorialized in a history of the ancient families of Wethersfield Connecticut.
Most members of my family live well into old age but not Charles Butler. He succumbed to his illness, an illness which he is said to have contracted in the field.
Here’s more from those who auctioned off his commission letter:
Charles Butler (1732-1783), a native of Wethersfield, Connecticut, marched as a sergeant with his town's company on the Lexington Alarm in April 1775. The following week, encamped near Boston, Butler was promoted to ensign in the 9th Company of the 2nd Connecticut Regiment commanded by Col. Joseph Spencer. The regiment remained in Boston throughout the siege, manning the lines at Roxbury. (A detachment of the 2nd Connecticut is believed to have fought at Bunker Hill). In late 1775, Butler became a 2nd lieutenant in Col. Wyllys (22nd Continental) Regiment. Butler's promotion was confirmed with the present document, signed and executed by John Hancock on January 1, 1776. When the British evacuated Boston in March 1776, Butler marched with his regiment to New York, where they spent much of the summer constructing fortifications in Brooklyn before seeing action at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776. Following the retreat from New York, Lieutenant Butler fell ill, and in early October was listed as sick and unfit for duty. The regiment was present at White Plains, and following that battle marched to Peekskill until the expirations of their terms of service at the end of 1776. (Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA, M881).
Independence was fought for. We are keen to remember the reason for the season during Christmas. So too should we remember that the “Fourth of July” is a holy day. It is Independence Day.
As it was then, so it is now. We are engaged in a great conflict whereby some of our elite and not a small number of our politicians have been bought off by foreign autocrats.
Once again we are called to build alliances and to assemble and to fight and to win.
Let us remember the sacrifices of those who came before us so that we might be worthy of the service expected of us.