Bulletproof

We live in a skeptical, if not cynical age – an age largely without heroes.
 
That is too bad, because while most postmodern academics scoff at the idea of anything regarding ultimate meaning, ridiculing those things that are larger-than-life, it seems culturally we are set to drift aimlessly in search for that which we know not.  Our young people are left to look amongst the coarseness of the locker room or to sort through the rubbish left in the wake of a voyeuristic entertainment industry for someone to look up to; in seeking someone to emulate.  Each one offered up to us by our culture seemingly worse than the ones who came before.  We all seem to sense the need.  We are losing our way.  And we are all so much the worse off in the absence of a hero.

This malaise seems to have kicked into high gear sometime in the mid to late 60's, and the disease has been spreading unabated since that time.  It impacts almost every realm:  historical, political, religious, the news media.  To use an analogy from my favorite movie genre, the American Western, it seems everywhere we turn, the well-meaning, if rough around the edges, hero of John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn in True Grit has been replaced with Clint Eastwood's openly sadistic, immoral anti-hero, the Stranger, from High Plains Drifter.

Just a little over a week ago, Legacy Christian Academy had the privilege of hosting David Barton, Christian historian.  Reflecting on Barton’s visit that Monday evening triggered memories I had of a story he had written probably 20 years ago, which I think merits retelling here. As I understand it, versions of this story were included in most textbooks in generations past, but sadly, that is no longer the case.  Due to the influence of liberal historical revisionism, great stories such as this, have largely faded from the public's memory.

Twenty years prior to the Revolutionary War, a youthful George Washington, found himself an officer serving under British General Braddock and his veteran forces.  At the time, Washington was the 23 year old commander of the 100 man Virginia Regiment, joined with British forces against the French and their Indian allies in a territorial dispute between the two nations.

I will let Barton tell the story as he discovered it from an 1856 Maryland textbook (taken from his book America’s Godly Heritage):

The British troops arrived in Virginia, where George Washington (colonel of the Virginia militia) and 100 Virginia buckskins joined General Braddock. They divided their force; and General Braddock, George Washington, and 1300 troops marched north to expel the French from Fort Duquesne — now the city of Pittsburgh. On July 9, 1755 — only seven miles from the fort — while marching through a wooded ravine, they walked right into an ambush; the French and Indians opened fire on them from both sides.

But these were British veterans; they knew exactly what to do. The problem was, they were veterans of European wars. European warfare was all in the open. One army lined up at one end of an open field, the other army lined up at the other end, they looked at each other, took aim, and fired. No running, no hiding, But here they were in the Pennsylvania woods with the French and Indians firing at them from the tops of trees, from behind rocks, and from under logs.

When they came under fire, the British troops did exactly what they had been taught; they lined up shoulder-to-shoulder in the bottom of that ravine — and were slaughtered. At the end of two hours, 714 of the 1300 British and American troops had been shot down; only 30 of the French and Indians had been shot. There were 86 British and American officers involved in that battle; at the end of the battle, George Washington was the only officer who had not been shot down off his horse — he was the only officer left on horseback.

Although various accounts differ on exactly how many total casualties there were that day - one account I found said 63 of 86 officers were killed or wounded with a total of 878 casualties - it was a crippling loss for the British-American side.  Yet, despite having lost two horses, and with four bullet holes in his coat, Washington emerged from the melee untouched.  Most of the other officers were killed or wounded.  In the ensuing retreat, General Braddock himself died of injuries suffered in the ill-fated battle.

The young George Washington, who wasn't technically even in Braddock's chain of command, organized some semblance of order amid the slaughter, and managed to engage in an orderly retreat until the remaining survivors could rejoin the main force.  From that point onward, he would be known by many as "Hero of the Monongahela".

If that was the end of the story, as told by most early textbooks, we could on that basis alone be disappointed that our children are being denied an inspiring story illustrating the heroism of a founding father and a retelling the Providential protection afforded the one who would go on to become one of our greatest Presidents.  Yet, when you continue reading, note how the 1856 text book recounts Washington’s interpretation of the events that day and yet again how it appeared from the perspective of one of his opponents that day, a chief fighting with the French:


The next day, Washington wrote a letter to his family explaining that after the battle was over, he had taken off his jacket and had found four bullet holes through it, yet not a single bullet had touched him; several horses had been shot from under him, but he had not been harmed. He told them:

"By the all powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation."

Washington openly acknowledged that God’s hand was upon him, that God had protected him and kept him through that battle.

However, the story does not stop here. Fifteen years later, in 1770 — now a time of peace — George Washington and a close personal friend, Dr. James Craik, returned to those same Pennsylvania woods. An old Indian chief from far away, having heard that Washington had come back to those woods, traveled a long way just to meet with him.

He sat down with Washington, and face-to-face over a council fire, the chief told Washington that he had been a leader in that battle fifteen years earlier, and that he had instructed his braves to single out all the officers and shoot them down. Washington had been singled out, and the chief explained that he personally had shot at Washington seventeen different times, but without effect. Believing Washington to be under the care of the Great Spirit, the chief instructed his braves to cease firing at him. He then told Washington:

"I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle…. I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle."

Is the account of the meeting with the Indian Chief accurate?  From what I could tell, the sole source of the story of the meeting with the chief comes from Washington's step-grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, who claimed he was told the story by Dr. Craik after his grandfather's death.  However, even if we dismiss that particular portion of the story as murky legend, it is still pretty clear from what we know to be true about the battle of Monongahela and what Washington himself acknowledges, that he miraculously survived the catastrophic battle - a battle in which almost every other officer was killed or wounded.  God had still greater plans for young George Washington.  This is the kind of story that needs to be told.

George Washington's complete story can be found in the short history Bulletproof George Washington by David Barton.  Another great book I recently became aware of for a culture desperately in need of a hero, is 7 Men and the Secret of their Greatness by Eric Metaxas.  I haven't got to this one yet, so feel free to leave a comment below about that book or other stories about worthy heroes.

We are a culture greatly in need of heroes.

10/16/15 Addendum:  My wife informed me that her 4th grade A Beka history curriculum includes the above story.  However, as primarily a Christian curriculum, the vast majority of students will likely not profit from A Beka's inclusion of the story.