Thank you to all the men and women fighting around the world so that we may live in the land of the free. Freedom is not free at all. If we don't celebrate it and guard it with our lives, it can be taken away at any moment.
We're not celebrating the day of July fourth, we're celebrating the day we as a nation proclaimed our independence!
Happy Birthday America! I would like to share some paintings related to the American Revolutionary War for this occasion.. Just a sample of some that resonated.. Ofcourse, every American knows this stylized painting of Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas Day (night) to lay some surprise whoopass on the Hessians.. This painting however resonates more with me on what it must have been more likely that wintery night.. What struck me is that he might have used more flat ferry types of boats to bring his cannons across.. The historical reports were that he laid his whoopass with some cannons as well and he must have ferried them like this on a cold frozen winter night.. *Note: Who is the most famous Hessian in modern pop culture from the revolutionary war days?.. Yup.. The Headless Horseman from Washington Irving's The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow *Note 2: Shout out to you know who, who is fighting in a PvP ATM.. It's not about the headless horseman.. it's about WHO sent the headless horseman.. "The Bridge" by John Falter who depicted one of the first engagements between the British army and the American Revolutionary Minutemen in the early days of the war. The Minutemen heavily relied on guerrilla engagements and sniping when the British army is still in its aftermath of Napoleonic war big battle tactics. What I like about this section is how the presumed mother loads the muskets which were lifted by the father to the sons perched on the tree to snipe at the enemy. *Minutemen is a term used to designate specifically picked militia who are ready to engage in skirmishes within "a minutes warning" Respect and shout out to all the folks who carried and carry the Minutemen legacy.. an example of the likes of Ted Williams who dropped his prime baseball career TWICE to fight in WW II and the Korean War.. Molly Pitcher at the Battle of Monmouth.. You will see many stylized paintings of Molly Pitcher commanding or shooting the Cannon, but this painting resonated with me the most because I think this captures the closest to what she did and her commitment and her contribution in that battle.. Last but not least, I will leave you with John Paul Jones fighting on Bonhomme Richards against HMS Serapis, a thousand miles away from the American coast in the British waters, rights before his "I have not yet begun to fight!" quote.. And the grapple boarding and taking over of HMS Serapis in what was to be the last broadside swashbuckling pirate style take over of an enemy ship.. 70 years after Black Beard did his in Queen Anne's war.. I hope the Americans are proud of their hard fought Birthday.. Congratulations!