Transcript

During the American Revolutionary War, God performed many miracles on behalf of American army

>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Stephen McDowell. Hello. Glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. In the last number of podcasts, we have been looking at the hand of God in the American Revolution. You know, during the American Revolutionary War, God performed many miracles on behalf of the American army because God desired to see America win its struggle for freedom, become a nation and fulfill its divine purposes. So we looked at evacuation of Long Island. We looked at, Trenton and the crossing of the Delaware, the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga. We looked at events that led actually to our declaring our independence in July of 1776. We looked at the suffering at Valley Forge and how God answered their prayers. And today we want to examine a few more important events during the American Revolution where the hand of God was conspicuous. And one of those was the providential discovery of Benedict Arnold's treason in September of 1780. You know, this certainly reveals God's providential protection through this amazing capture of that British spy, Major Andrew, which revealed the treachery of Benedict Arnold. Now, Washington wrote to John Lawrence concerning this particular occurrence and said, in no instance since the commencement of the war has the interposition of Providence appeared more conspicuous than in the rescue of the post and garrison of West Point from Arnold's villainous perfidy. A combination of extraordinary circumstances. Now, Washington's letter of September 26, 1780, to Major General William Heath gives more details on what happened of the discovery of Major Andre and the treasonous act of Benedict Arnold. Washington writes, major General Arnold has gone to the enemy. He had an interview with Major Andre, adjutant general of the British army, and had put into his possession a state of our army. General M M Arnold was in command of West Point at that time, and he had this meeting with Major Andre. Andre. And this is what Washington is referring to. Back to Washington's letter, he said of it put into his possession a state of our army, of the garrison at this post, of the number of men considered as necessary for the defense of it, a return of ordnance and the disposition of the artillery corps in case of alarm. By a most providential interposition, Major Andre was taken in returning to New York with all these papers in General Arnold's handwriting, who, hearing the matter kept its secret, left his quarters immediately under pretence of going over to West Point on Monday, forenoon, about an hour before my arrival. Then Pushed down the river. Pushed down the river in the barge, which was not discovered till I had returned from West Point in the afternoon. Major Andre was finally brought to General Arnold. So on the 26th. And then the full story of his capture came to light. So again, Major Andre had met with Benedict Arnold. And in this secret meeting, Benedict Arnold gave to Major Andre, secret information that was going to help the British army to, perhaps capture West Point, because Arnold was going to kind of leave it open, leave it defenseless so the British could come in. so, Major Andre had been captured, as we'll see. And when Benedict Darnold found out that Major Andre had been captured, he snuck out to get away. So Major Andre is finally brought to Washington on the 26th when the full story came to light. So on September 23rd, three young militiamen had posted themselves on the old post road close to Tarrytown, waiting to waylay some cowboys who were stealing cattle and driving them into the British line. So suddenly, about 9:30 in the morning, they saw a solitary rider coming toward them. They stopped him and learned that he was on his way to New York. This person was Major Andrew, who believed that they were Loyalists and who had established a lookout for the British. And so he didn't show them his past and talked so freely that the young militiamen began to be suspicious. So see, they didn't know Major what Major Andre was doing. They, posed as an American sympathizer. But then Major Andre thought, well, hey, these are Tories, Loyalists, those lawyers to the Crown. And so he kind of let slip some words out that made them think, what's. This guy's very suspicious. So they made him strip off his clothes and discovered the incriminating paper stuffed in the feet of his stockings. all the information that Benedict Arnold had given him, he had stuck in his stockings. And when they saw this, these paper stuff there, they recognized, this guy's up to no good. So realizing the game was up, Andre then tried to bribe the boys. But they contemptuously dismissed his efforts and took him to the nearest outpost, which was North Castle. And so it be later that they took General Washington interview Major Andre, and he began to put all this together. So the following is General Washington's message. This was delivered by General Greene to his troops concerning Arnold's treason and its discovery. General Orders Headquarters orange town Tuesday, September 26, 1780 Treason of the blackest dye was yesterday discovered. General Arnold, who commanded at West Point, lost to every sentiment of honor, of public and private obligation, was about to deliver up that important post into the hands of the enemy. Such an event must have given the American cause a deadly wound, if not a fatal stab. Happily, the treason has been timely discovered to prevent the fatal misfortune. The providential train of circumstances which led to it affords the most convincing proof that the liberties of America are the object of divine protection. Those are the words of Washington that. That's what I've been saying in the last number of podcasts, that God miraculously moved on the behalf of the American cause because the liberties of America are the object of divine protection. God was advancing the cause of liberty not just in America, but worldwide, because he's the author of liberty and he came to liberate mankind. So here it was through this event of the capture of Andre, because, see, Andre met with Benedict Arnold. He was getting away, and he not kind of let down his guard. He would have probably, made it away from those, those men who, who found the incriminating evidence in his sock. He would have given this information to the British. And as general Washington said in these orders, this could have been a deadly wound if not a fatal stab, had the British taken over West Point. But God in his providence didn't want that to occur. And so Major, Andre was, was captured and discovered what was going on. Well, this is. Here is the official response of Congress to this event. Journals of Congress Wednesday, October 18, 1780. Congress took into consideration the resolution reported for setting apart a day of thanksgiving and prayer, and agreed to the following. Whereas it hath pleased almighty God, the father of all mercies amidst the vicissitudes and calamities of war, to bestow blessings on the people of these states, which call for their devout and thankful acknowledgments, more especially in the late remarkable interposition of his watchful providence in rescuing the person of our commander in chief and the army from imminent dangers at the moment when treason was ripened for execution, in prospering the labors of the husbandman and causing the earth to yield its increase in plentiful harvests, and above all, in continuing to us the enjoyment of the gospel of peace. And so in this official proclamation from Congress, they recognize the hand of God one, in bringing forth the treasonous act of Benedict Arnold, rescuing them in that, and then for all the other blessings. Back quoting from the congressional proclamation, it is therefore recommended to the several states to set APART Thursday, the 7th day of December, next to be observed as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, that all the people may assemble on that day to celebrate the praises of our divine benefactor, to confess our unworthiness of the least of his favors, and to offer our fervent supplications to the God of all grace, that it may please him to pardon our heinous transgressions and incline our hearts for the future to keep all his laws, to comfort and relieve our brethren who are anywise afflicted or distressed, to smile upon our husbandry and trade, to direct our public councils and lead our forces by land and sea to victory, to take our illustrious ally under his special protection and favor our joint councils and exertions for the establishment of speedy and permanent peace, to cherish all schools and seminaries of education and to cause the knowledge of Christianity to spread over all the earth. Done in Congress, the 18th day of October, 1780, and in the 5th year of the independence of the United States of America. So you see here is one of at least 15 days of prayer and fasting are prayer and thanksgiving that our Continental Congress proclaimed during the American Revolution. And in these proclamations, they recommend everybody go to church, hear appropriate sermon and pray to God. And they mentioned specific incidences that occurred, how God brought forth to light the treason of Benedict Arnold. And this, proclamation. And then they list a whole bunch of things, recommend, here's some things you can pray for when you gather together. So here's the Continental Congress, acting in a spiritual matter, if you will, saying, here's prayers that we can do. And one of those is we need schools, seminaries to train people in biblical worldview and to cause the knowledge of Christianity to spread over all the earth. So they even recommend pray for the Great Commission to be fulfilled, that, we might disciple the nations, all the people. I wanted to read that just to give you again a taste of the worldview, the heart, the mind of the civil leaders of America that directed us to gain our independence during this American, revolutionary period. That was one of God miraculous event, one of many, many miraculous events. Again, if you want to read about these, go to our website, providencefoundation.com, pick up our book, America's Providential History, where you can read these proclamations. We have primary source documentation, for these. But God did many other miracles as well. For example, the miraculous retreat from Cowpens in February 1781. The first few years of the war up at Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill. the conflict occurred in New England after the Americans drove the British out of Boston. Then the battle scenes shifted to the middle colonies. And we talked about the Battle of Long island and the miraculous retreat from Long Island. Then we have the battle at Trenton and the crossing of the Delaware. There's the Battle of Princeton, there's the winter at Valley Forge. But then in the later years of the war, some of the battles shifted to the southern colonies because the British sent troops to the south to fight in that arena, to hopefully to take over a lot of territory and to defeat the Americans. So the Battle of Cowpens, took place in the south in the Carolinas.

American army miraculously defeated the British at Cowpens in 1781

Now, led by General Morgan, the Americans defeated Colonel Tarleton's British Colonel Tarleton's entire detachment at the Battle of cowpens on January 17, 1781. Lord Cornwallis, leading the large British army in the south, was infuriated by the defeat. So destroying his heavy baggage, he headed for the Catawba river to cut off the retreat of the small American army. So American army miraculously defeated the British at Cowpens because the first conflicts the, British, won when they went ashore and landed there at Charleston, marched inland into South Carolina that they pushed back the Americans who came together to fight them. But here at Cowpens, the, Americans had miraculously defeated them. And they then began to retreat, and they retreated across a number of different, rivers. So one first was the Catawba river. And, and the British wanted to capture them in this retreat because they had superior forces. And so they pushed forward, to the river. Well, Cornwallis reached the Catawba river just two hours after General Morgan had crossed. Confident of victory, the British general decided to wait until the next morning to cross. But during the night, a storm m. Filled the river, detaining his troops. They had to wait and till the water level went down before he could cross. Twice more in the next 10 days, Cornwallis nearly overtook the American army. On February 3rd, he reached the Yadkin river in North Carolina just as the Americans were landing on the eastern slopes. But before, he could cross Cornwallis could cross that river, a sudden flood cut off the British troops again. And then on February 13, the Americans reached the Dan river that would lead them into friendly Virginia territory. They crossed, and a few hours later, when Cornwallis arrived, rising waters once again stopped him from defeating the American army. Even Clinton, the commander in chief of Lord Cornwallis, acknowledged that divine providence had intervened. He wrote here the Royal army was again stopped by a sudden rise of the waters which had only just fallen, almost miraculously to let the enemy over, who could not else have eluded Lord Clar Wallace's grasp so close Was he upon their rear? So here we have at least three times the Americans get to a river, the they crossed the river. Then a flood comes, rises the river to help keep the British from crossing. Then they came again. They crossed, and a storm came up to kept the British from being able to cross right away. And then finally, when they came to the Dan river, of course it had been swollen from all the rain. But as. As, Cornwallis wrote to his superior, well, the water fell, the Americans went across, and miraculously, then it rose again, cutting off the ability for Cornwallis to cross the river and capture the American army. So the significance of the battle of Cowpens and the safe retreat of the patriots that followed is that our small army in the south was saved by God's providence so that it could harass General Cornwallis and drive him to the sea. And this set the stage for the final defeat of the British at Yorktown in October of 1781. Because, of course, after crossing the Dan river, when the water went down, the British did march into Virginia, and in essence, for many months, had their way moving up and down Virginia, doing whatever they wanted to do. But as the winter of 1781 and 82 was approaching, Cornwallis decided, well, I'm going to march to Yorktown, Virginia. It was a port city on the York river, where he would then wait for reinforcements and wait for the navy to come and pick him up and carry him off to winter quarters. And so while Cornwallis waited for reinforcements, Washington, who got word of all that was happening, he had main body of troops up around New York. He marched his troops secretly from New York to Yorktown. Well, unknown to Washington, our, Cornwallis, a French fleet under Admiral de Grasse arrived just in time to defeat the British fleet sent to relieve General Cornwallis at Yorktown. So, remember, after the battle of York, Saratoga, the British, decided to become an ally of. Of America, of the United States. And with that, it brought money, much needed money, and in particular, a, navy. And so the navy had come, and, that navy had sailed up just in time to the Chesapeake Bay to meet the British navy, which was coming down from New York to sail into the Chesapeake Bay, then up the York river, where it was going to meet General Cornwallis, pick up his troops, carry him off to winter quarters, or reinforce them, there. But Admiral de Grasse and his fleet got there just in time. They had a conflict at sea. The British were forced to turn around and turn back. Cornwallis didn't know that at the Time and that he was always, he was expecting reinforcements to come, but without reinforcements, he was outnumbered. Now, ah, you remember when I told you a couple of podcasts ago, you can go back and listen of the miraculous retreat from Long island, how during that retreat, God used the weather to help assure that the Americans were to reach Crete to retreat across the east river into Manhattan, because they were they greatly outnumbered, about 4 to 1. They're surrounded by the British on land, their backs to the East River. But the British fleet couldn't sail up, from Staten island to completely surrounded because of the weather, storms and contrary winds. But during that night, as they retreated, the weather became calm, they were able to affect their retreat. The next morning they were still loading the ships and God miraculously sent a fog to cover the, the retreat of the last remaining troops. So God used the weather to support the American cause. But here at the Battle of Yorktown is kind of the reverse position because Cornwallis was in Yorktown. Washington marched with his troops from New York, joined by a number of French troops and also joined by the Virginia militia under the charge of the governor, Thomas Nelson Jr. Who by the way, his home was in Yorktown and the British forces were occupying, his home at the Battle of Yorktown. But so here Cornwallis was, he was in a situation with his back to the wide York river, just like Washington had been a few years before up at Long island, who was surrounded by the enemy. And the Americans and French outnumbered the British 2 to 1 or so. So without reinforcements, Cornwallis was barely holding out against the siege of the American and French forces. And as a last resort, he attempted, or decided to attempt to retreat across the York river. So at 10 o' clock on the night of April 17, 16 large boats were loaded with troops and embarked for Gloucester, which is settled little town right across the river. And Cornwallis had stationed a few trips there troops there. Well, after the first few boats had landed, a great turn of events occurred. In the official dispatch to his superior, Cornwallis wrote, but at this critical moment, the weather from being moderate and calm changed to a violent storm of wind and rain and drove all the boats, some of which had troops on board, down the river. So due to this miraculous weather change, Cornwallis was unable to complete his intended retreat. He found his force divided by. When Washington's batteries opened at daybreak, they had been for many days unloading their cannons, into Yorktown in the British army. And that's why they were trying to retreat because no reinforcements came. They were outnumbered, they weren't going to fight just like Washington couldn't when he was outnumbered. He was outnumbered four to one, the British back at Long Island. Here the British route numbered about 2 to 1. And so Washington unloaded their guns that morning. And so when the boats finally returned from being washed down the river because of that miraculous storm that arose, as he said, at that critical moment, the weather, from being modern and calm, changed to a violent storm of wind and drove all the boats, some of which had troops on board, down the river. So when the boats finally returned, he ordered them to bring back the troops that had passed during the night. And later that day, he surrendered his forces to general Washington. And this essentially marked the end of the war, the last major battle of the war. And here, when he was in this situation, the exact opposite, the weather worked against him, unlike what had happened at the retreat of Long island, when the weather worked in favor of the American cause. You see, God is in charge of the weather. God is the sovereign one in charge of all of history and his providence. He governs to accomplish his purposes in response to his plan, in response to the prayers of his people. And certainly the American people had been praying personally in their churches and, their government offices as well. And so God brought about this miraculous weather change in order to advance the American cause. General Washington in our congress certainly recognized the providence of God in the battle of Yorktown. The journals of the continental congress record this entry resolved that the congress will, at ah, 2 o' clock this day go in procession to the Dutch Lutheran church and return thanks to almighty God for crowning the allied arms of the United States and France with success by the surrender of the earl of Cornwallis.

David Frum: The hand of Providence was evident during the American Revolution

So here is another one of those days of prayer and thanksgiving that the continental Congress proclaimed during the American Revolution many times, as I said before, at least 15 times that our continental Congress proclaimed days of prayer and fasting, or prayer and thanksgiving. Here with the surrender of the British at Yorktown, they said, let's go to church and give thanks to God because he gave us this success. By the surrender of the earl of Cornwallis. George Washington, in his congratulatory order to the allied army on the day after the surrender, said the general congratulates the army upon the glorious event of yesterday. Divine service is to be performed tomorrow in the several brigades and divisions. The commander in chief recommends that the troops not on duty should universally attend with that seriousness of deportment and gratitude of heart which the recognition of such reiterated and astonishing interpositions of providence demand of us. So Washington Sin said his troops. We're going to go to church, we're going to give thanks to God because God is the one who gave us this victory. His hand is evident in all the events that had taken place and surrender of the British at United Yorktown. And so we've just examined in the last number of podcasts a number of miraculous events where the hand of Providence was evident in events during the American Revolution. He was protecting the Continental army because he supported the cause of American liberty and he wanted to advance his cause. They saw it. The people here, the leaders, the Congress, the individuals, George Washington, the troops, they all recognize and acknowledge the hand of God. Unfortunately, in recent times, when we teach events of American history, when we teach events of the American Revolutionary War, we haven't seen the hand of Providence. We haven't taught the God's hand, we haven't taught the response of these, of these people. I know some secularists today would say, well, we believe there's not really a God. He's just something people make up in their own head. He's a, crutch people rely upon. So we're going to ignore it. It's not really real. We're going to leave it out. But certainly these people who fought the American Revolution led us during the American Revolution. They did not, ignore it at all. They believed that God was the one who was supporting the cause of American liberty and they wanted to give thanks to God Almighty to acknowledge his hand. This shows you something of the thinking, the heart, the lives of these individuals. And as we've been declaring in all these podcasts, without God in the Bible, there would be no United States of, America. Because his truth revealed in the Bible was the source of our worldview, was the motivation for why people came and colonized the states. They recognized God's desire to liberate mankind. But to bring liberty required obedience to God, reliance upon Him. It involved searching out the truth and then acknowledging the truth. And they did it time after time again, thankfully, because of their heart, we became a nation, we became the United States of America, established on Christian self government, unique in the history of mankind. And these individuals suffered and paid their the price they did to purchase liberty. yes, for them, though many of them didn't even benefit from it so much, but for posterity, for their children, their children's children, and even us today. So it behooves us to acknowledge the hand of God, to proclaim, his goodness, to turn our nation to him in this way, way. and so it begins by learning of God's hand in our history. So if you want to learn more, I invite you to pick up some of our books and materials. Go to our website, providencefoundation.com pick up America's providential History or many of other of our books and materials. Read for yourself more of how God moved on our behalf. Thanks for joining us this week. look forward to speaking with you again next week. God bless you.