As our American Independence Day approaches, I want to draw much-needed attention to the men and women who have yielded up so much―their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor―so that we and our children may live free. A profound example has been set by our forebears. Let us never forget the precedent they established for us to follow.
America the Battlefield
by Timothy A. Pope
June 24, 2014
A week before the Battle of Bull Run, Sullivan Ballou, a Major in the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers, wrote home to his wife in Smithfield:
July the 14th, 1861
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sarah,
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days, perhaps tomorrow. And lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I am no more.
I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how American civilization now leans upon the triumph of the government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this government, and to pay that debt.
Sarah, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but omnipotence can break. And yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind, and bears me irresistably with all those chains to the battlefield. The memory of all the blissful moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me, and I feel most deeply grateful to God, and you, that I have enjoyed them for so long. And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing we might still have lived and loved together, and see our boys grown up to honorable manhood around us.
If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you, nor that when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you; how thoughtless, how foolish I have sometimes been. But, oh Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they love, I shall always be with you in the brightest day and the darkest night. Always. Always. And when the soft breeze fans your cheek, it shall be my breath. Or the cool air, your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not mourn me dead. Think I am gone, and wait for me. For we shall meet again.
Major Sullivan Ballou was killed two weeks later in the first Battle of Bull Run on July 29, 1861, in Prince William County, Virginia, near the city of Manassas, not far from Washington, D.C.
He was 32 years old.
So many have gone before us, and have sacrificed so very much―their property, their families, their wives, their children, their relatives, their mothers and fathers, part of their bodies, and even their lives―so that we might enjoy all that has been passed down to us. But especially the blessings of Liberty and Freedom that only Americans have ever enjoyed over the entire face of this earth, in the entire history of the human race.
If they were willing to give so much, then so am I. And so should you. For, as goes America, goes the world.
CONTRIBUTE TO MY RESEARCH!
| I work very hard and spend innumerable hours studying, researching and digging out the truth, which is a great cost to a husband and father. I have nothing to sell; no advertising, no contracts, no corporate partners nor sponsors. Please help me by donating the amount that you feel this information deserves. Thank you for contributing to my time and effort, and ultimately to the restoration of Liberty and Freedom for all. May God bless each and every single one of you. |
Few men speak, love, and carry the flame of liberty and willingness to sacrifice for this great nation as expressed in this letter during the civil war.... what are you willing to sacrifice? Do you share these beliefs? are you willing to simply pass this along?
ReplyDeleteWhat lofty expressions of devotion are demonstrated in Major's Ballou letter to his wife!
ReplyDeleteHe professes an ardent love to his wife and celebrates the joys of a happy marriage. He also expresses his passion for a cause which is greater than his happy life with his wife and sons.
How great is his willingness to sacrifice certain future joys for the cause of the Republic! For he has discovered a link with those patriots who decades before had, too, as he had, found a cause for which to risk their lives and sacred honor.
Such devotion to country is amazing. It humbles us. And we ask ourselves that, if we were called upon to lay all our goods on the line for the cause of a greater, general, transcendental good—would we do it with willingness and certainty as he did—and with a courage that does not halt or falter?