Copyright 1996 CAROLINA FREE PRESS - Permission to print/copy and distribute is granted as long as content is not altered. Electronic reproduction and distribution is encouraged
MIRIAM'S CORNER
by Gooch
Six hours after losing one-third of their forces to the British at Lexington, the Minute Men, still outnumbered but reinforced, regrouped at a turn in the road known as Meriam's Corner. April 19, 1775 was cold and clear as the British retreated toward Lexington after their successful advance on Concord. There the patriot militia was forced to retreat in the face of overwhelming force. As they waited and watched they surmised the worst as the British conducted house to house searches for arms and burned the confiscated equipment. As the British rounded Meriam's Corner on their return to Concord, the outnumbered militia abandoned the accepted "rules of war" and fired at the British unmercifully as they marched.
Firing from behind rocks, trees, hedges and barns, the march became a rout as the militia avenged their losses and their honor. Even after months of waiting and preparing, the men of the militia could never have been ready to face the best army in the world. Yet they did. And in doing so they must have a tremendous amount of apprehension about their homes, their families and their future. Yet we know that they were inspired with the pervasive ideals of liberty and committed to freeing themselves from the tyranny of King George. They were obviously resolved at first to simply demonstrate their solidarity with the cause of liberty and to hide their few weapons of war. Yet still, they knew they must stand in a show of armed defiance if their cause was to achieve any amount of political recognition.
Waiting as they knew they must, they stood at Lexington. It would be for the British themselves to initiate hostilities if there were to be. Now, with their dead and wounded recently moved off Lexington green, and fearful of having their homes sacked and their families assaulted by British soldiers, they waited at Meriam's Corner. The moment they feared and prepared for had arrived. Pushed to the limit, their homes and honor trampled, their choice was clear; they had none. They must either reject the rhetoric of the past few years and repudiate their ideals of freedom and accept subjugation, or fight.
In our day we have seen the face of our enemy at Ruby Ridge, Waco, and in hundreds of lesser assaults on American citizens which are increasing in number every month and year. Moreover the deeds largely committed by federal agents go completely unacknowledged by the public media and unpunished by those in responsible authority. I understand the choice faced by our first American patriots. Judging by recent history, it is the same one that I may face at any time. I ask myself what do I believe in. There are many who can write reams. I trouble over a simple paragraph.
I know my day to day living and am proud to have been reared in a Christian home. I may not always know the exact reasons, but I know the differencebetween right and wrong, good and evil, and good government from bad government. I know my parents fought to preserve this country for ME. And, I understand my personal obligation to continue thatfight if I must to secure the same liberties for my own family. At Miriam's Corner the militiamen of that day made a conscious choice; one that nightmares are made of. Most certainly, it was a fearful decision, and one they most certainly did not want to make. But the tide of political events then, as now, was upon them.
The choice I do not want to make I know will be forced on me regardless of what I want. In my heart I know that there is no choice but to follow in the steps of my parents and those who went before us. When all else fails and those who seek to establish their New World Order finally send troops into these United States they will be determined to deprive us of our God, our families, out Bill of Rights, our Constitution, and our identity as American citizens. At that time, I'll be waiting at Meriam's Corner.
"The Cross, the Flag are the embodiment of our ideals and teach us not only how to live but how to die." Gen. Douglas MacArthur, 1942