Home School Heartbeat Radio Program
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You’ve probably heard the story of the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving. But have you heard the Thanksgiving stories of the Revolutionary War? Learn more this week on Home School Heartbeat with host Mike Farris. Mike Farris: In 1777, Congress issued its first Thanksgiving proclamation, declaring, “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 … . It having pleased him in his abundant Mercy … to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly … to crown our Arms with most signal success … .”1 This signal success was a turning point victory at Saratoga about two years into the Revolutionary War. The British had marched from Canada into New York, hoping to isolate and crush the Continental forces in New England. A letter to General Washington that summer described the American forces at Saratoga as “weak in numbers, dispirited, … [and] destitute of provisions.”2 Although America’s situation looked bleak, victory was in store for the Revolutionary troops that fall; 5,700 British troops surrendered to General Horatio Gates at Saratoga. The 1777 Thanksgiving Proclamation gave credit to God for this triumph. Tune in next time to hear about one of the significant results of the Saratoga victory. I’m Mike Farris. Notes: 2. Major-General Schuyler, Saratoga, 7 July 1777, in Correspondence of the American Revolution; Being Letters of Eminent Men to George Washington, from the Time of His Taking Command of the Army to the End of His Presidency, vol. 1, ed. Jared Sparks (Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, first published 1853, reprinted 1970), 394.
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