Samuel Adams: “Truly the Man of the Revolution”
“When the top British general in America, Thomas Gage, offered a general amnesty in June 1775 to all revolutionaries who would lay down their arms, he exempted only two men – John Hancock and Samuel Adams. “
- Essex Journal, June 16, 1775 (quoted by Ira Stoll in “Samuel Adams: A Life”)
“For depth of purpose, zeal, and sagacity, no man in Congress exceeded, if any equaled, Samuel Adams”
- Thomas Jefferson
“I pity Mr. Sam Adams, for he was born a Rebel.”
- John Adams, 1794
Samuel Adams – “Born a Rebel”
Some the darkest days of the war for independence from the tyranny of the British crown occurred in late September 1777.
“British troops controlled New York City. The Americans had lost the strategic stronghold of Fort Ticonderoga, in upstate New York, to the British in July. In Pennsylvania, on September 11, troops led by General George Washington had lost the Battle of Brandywine, in which two hundred Americans were killed, five hundred wounded, and four hundred captured. Early in the morning of September 21, another three hundred American soldiers were killed or wounded and one hundred captured in a surprise attack that became known as the Paoli Massacre.”
[“Samuel Adams: A Life”, Ira Stoll, Simon and Schuster, 2008]
Washington’s troops were fatigued and dispirited, having persevered under an onslaught of bad weather which had soaked their battle gear and their uniforms, and rendered their waterlogged ammunition useless. Many soldiers were without essential needs such as boots and cloaks, and many were actually forced to travel barefoot. Moreover, Congress was beginning to lose faith in its own generals, hearing reports of high-ranking officers who were apparently “addicted to liquor”.
The diplomatic situation had not produced the hoped-for support from France. Yet a capable and highly-regarded French colonel of artillery , Mons. du Coudray, had volunteered to serve with the Americans. To the great misfortune of the struggling American forces, this much-needed French officer was drowned while attempting to cross the Schuylkill River as he proceeded to join the American army.
In response to this tragedy, John Adams led an effort in the Congress to honor this French volunteer as a hero of the American Revolution, describing him as “the most learned and promising officer in France” and gaining the concurrence of the Congress that Colonel du Coudray would be buried “at the expense of the United States, and with the honors of war”.
Despite the seriousness of these developments, perhaps the greatest blow yet to the fight for liberty in the American colonies was the loss to the British Army on September 26 of the American capital at Philadelphia, the young nation’s largest city. Members of Congress were forced to flee for their lives, arriving first at Lancaster, then continuing on to York, PA where a temporary capital was established.
Ira Stoll writes:
“The departure from Philadelphia was frantic, prompted by an alarm from Washington’s aide, Alexander Hamilton, who said the enemy soldiers were so close that one had shot his horse. One delegate to Congress was wakened by a servant at two in the morning and advised to abandon the city. A delegate from Virginia, Richard Henry Lee, evacuated Philadelphia in such a hurry that he left his clothes behind. Another delegate to Congress, John Adams of Massachusetts, wrote in his diary:
“The prospect is chilling on every Side – Gloomy, dark, melancholy, and dispiriting.”
When the members of Congress present in York gathered for a private meeting, their number had dwindled to a mere twenty from the fifty-six members who had signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
“One of those present was John Adams’ cousin, the patriot leader (and newspaperman) Samuel Adams, who had already suffered losses that would shatter an ordinary man. His first wife and four of their children died of natural causes before the war began. At the Battle of Bunker hill, British officers decapitated Samuel Adams’ close friend Joseph Warren and presented his head as a trophy to the British commanding general. Samuel Adams had spent the better part of three years at the Congress in Philadelphia separated from his two surviving children and his second wife. ‘Matters seem to be drawing to a crisis’ he had written her recently. Back in Boston, the British soldiers ripped out the pews of Old South Church, where Samuel Adams’ father had once worshipped, covered the floor with dirt, and used the church as a riding academy. Samuel Adams’ own house in Boston was vandalized by British troops so badly that it was uninhabitable. If the Revolution failed, Samuel Adams could expect to meet the same fate at the hands of the British as Warren.”
Sensing the pessimism and feelings of resignation to defeat which had overtaken the Congress, Samuel Adams rose to deliver a moving and inspirational speech which has been rarely mentioned in the record of the American Revolution. In this speech, known as his“Pillars of Fire” speech, Adams draws from the Old Testament story of the Israelites who had fled the slavery of Egypt.
Samuel Adams addressed the delegates in York, many of whom were beginning to doubt the wisdom of continuing the fight, and reminding them of the trust they had placed in God to carry them through their ordeal, just as had the Israelites so many centuries before:
“If we despond, public confidence is destroyed, the people will no longer yield their support to a hopeless contest, and American liberty is no more… Through the darkness which shrouds our prospects, the ark of safety is visible. Despondency becomes not the dignity of our cause, nor the character of those who are its supporters.”
He went on, reminding them of Exodus, chapter 15, where a description is provided of God guiding the Israelites in the wilderness with a “pillar of cloud by day” and a “pillar of fire by night”:
“Let us awaken then, and evince a different spirit, — a spirit that shall inspire the people with confidence in themselves and in us, — a spirit that will encourage them to persevere in this glorious struggle, until their rights and liberties shall be established on a rock.
We have proclaimed to the world our determination ‘to die freemen, rather than live as slaves.’
We have appealed to Heaven for the justice of our cause, and in Heaven we have placed our trust. Numerous have been the manifestations of God’s providence in sustaining us. In the gloomy period of adversity, we have had ‘our cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.’
We have been reduced to distress, and the arm of Omnipotence has raised us up. Let us still rely in humble confidence on Him who is mighty to save. Good tidings will soon arrive. We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid and protection.”
The surrender of the British forces at Saratoga under General John Burgoyne, October 17, 1777
The assurance given to the delegates by Sam Adams that good tidings would soon arrive turned out to be prescient.
“On October 17, at Saratoga, north of Albany, New York, the American general Horatio Gates accepted the surrender of 5,800 British soldiers led by General John Burgoyne. The American troops seized from the British twenty-seven pieces of artillery and thousands of pieces of small arms and ammunition.
Detailed news of the victory at the Battle of Saratoga did not reach Congress at York until October 31, but when it did, it was greeted with exuberance. ‘We had almost begun to despair, but at length our joy was full’, wrote a congressman from Connecticut, Eliphaler Dyer. The president of the Congress, Henry Laurens of South Carolina, wrote, ‘the glorious intelligence is now extending from City to City diffusing Joy in the heart of every Loyal American’.
The victory at Saratoga turned the tide of the war. News of it was decisive in bringing France into a full alliance with America against the British.”
On November 1, just after receiving news of the victory at Saratoga, Congress adopted a report drafted by Samuel Adams, declaring Thursday December 18 as a ‘day of Thanksgiving to God, particularly in that He hath been pleased in so great measure to prosper the means used for the support of our troops and to crown our arms’ with most signal success’.”
“Merely having a national day of thanksgiving was a tremendous step forward in creating an American identity.”
Here is the text of the Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, drafted by Samuel Adams and issued by the Continental Congress on November 1, 1777, establishing the first official national Thanksgiving Day holiday in order to commemorate the momentous American victory at Saratoga, and to succeed what had previously been a regional New England tradition:
First Thanksgiving Day Proclamation – November 1, 1777
IN CONGRESS
November 1, 1777
The committee appointed to prepare a recommendation to the several states, to set apart a day of public thanksgiving, brought in a report; which was taken into consideration, and agreed to as follows:
Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits received, and to implore such farther blessings as they stand in need of; and it having pleased him in his abundant mercy not only to continue to us the innumerable bounties of his common providence, but also smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war, for the defense and establishment of our unalienable rights and liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased in so great a measure to prosper the means used for the support of our troops and to crown our arms with most signal success:
It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive powers of these United States, to set apart Thursday, the 18th day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise; that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor; and that together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins, whereby they had forfeited every favor, and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance; that it may please him graciously to afford his blessings on the governments of these states respectively, and prosper the public council of the whole; to inspire our commanders both by land and sea, and all under them, with that wisdom and fortitude which may render them fit instruments, under the providence of Almighty God, to secure for these United States the greatest of all blessings, independence and peace; that it may please him to prosper the trade and manufactures of the people and the labor of the husbandman, that our land may yield its increase; to take schools and seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of true liberty, virtue and piety, under his nurturing hand, and to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
And it is further recommended, that servile labor, and such recreation as, though at other times innocent, may be unbecoming the purpose of this appointment, be omitted on so solemn an occasion.
If our Creator responded to the pleas of the Founders for His divine assistance in achieving a dramatic reversal of the fortunes of war at the Battle of Saratoga, thus providing an ultimate assurance of justice and liberty for the long-suffering Colonists, perhaps He will also hear our pleas for help in this critical time for our nation as the promises and guarantees of our precious Constitution are steadily eroded by a new tyranny of progressive socialism imposed on this nation by a rogue administration, a hapless Congress, and a thoroughly corrupt judiciary.
David F. LaRocque
CDR USNR (ret)
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The new United States celebrates its first national day of thanksgiving on Thursday, December 18, 1777, commemorating the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga after the surrender of General John Burgoyne and 5,000 British troops in October 1777.
In proclaiming the first national day of thanksgiving, Congress wrote, "It is therefore recommended to the Legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES, to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for solemn THANKSGIVING and PRAISE; That at one Time and with one Voice the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor"
Neither when the Congress proclaimed the day of Thanksgiving on November 1, nor when the population celebrated in December, were they aware that on December 17, the French would finally formalize a military and trade alliance with the rebelling states. These were not disconnected events. The victory at Saratoga convinced the French king that the Americans might be worthy allies and the ensuing alliance made an American victory possible.
Merely having a national day of thanksgiving was a tremendous step forward in creating an American identity. Previously, the colonies had celebrated individually or as part of the British Empire. Now they had experienced an event that had affected them all and formalized a celebration that involved them all. With the French alliance, they had an ally who supported them all. Americans had just taken a major step on the tortured trail from colonies to states and from states to nation.
