Heroines

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement
Heroines

Published in 1850, the book is old. It’s binding looks like a heavy string. Its contents are fascinating. It contains stories of real women who played heroic roles during our Revolutionary War to win independence from Britain. Besides the more famous women, the stories are about everyday women leading ordinary lives who, thrown into situations which threatened their husbands, homes, or the efforts of the war, rise up to perform dangerous deeds, in threatening, scary situations. Beyond some names that are familiar because of their prominence, most of the dozens of women were not known out of their neighborhoods. Except for letters their brave or clever deeds of patriotism would have gone unrecognized forever. Since the war was waged where sometimes both British loyalists and patriots lived close together, and the battle lines flowed back and forth across the land, women often had to grab up what they could and flee with their families to another location. Sometimes they moved again and again as the battles switched locations.

Women put up enemy soldiers who commandeered their house to billet soldiers there. Demanding they be fed, the women were forced to use up their food reserves and work long hours to cook for them. They feared for their personal safety as well as that of their children. When possible, the women lied about the whereabouts of their husbands who were away fighting the war. Sometimes the British commanders knew what title and role their husbands held and hoped they would show up to be grilled for information before killing. The resourceful women foiled them many times. When the British forces moved on, they often left with all the blankets, clothing as well as any fabric and all the easily transported food, even livestock, leaving hunger and cold behind. Those war years were tense and difficult for our early Americans. The women were brave, resilient, and clever, saving lives, taking chances, and performing amazing feats of physical stamina and courage. Perhaps the early years of carving out a subsistence in an unknown country toughened women for the difficulties of war. Repeatedly, the women acknowledged the saving grace of God in their situations. The records so often demonstrate God’s hand in the way the war went, and the victories won. In those days, belief in God was the norm. People acknowledged His existence and regularly sought His help. Lets pray for a revival in our land from sea to shining sea. That right here, in this day and age, God would sweep through our land with a revival of faith and an uprising of faith in Him to heal the divisions of our land.