American History on the 20th of October,

American History

On the 20th of October, 1776, the address to the brigade by Jones spoke of many topics of concern. First of all, Jones mentioned that it was their god's wish for them to assemble and fight against the enemies of the righteous folks at the region of Northern Lake George, especially Fort Ticonderoga. These enemies were the British who were believed to be on their way to attack. In the address, it was mentioned that if the people would not gather and defend the area, the citizens of the area would eventually be enslaved and put under circumstances that would not be acceptable. In order to prevent such a situation, the troops were gathered for defense so that eventually, the American people would attain salvation. They were to defend their homeland even though the enemies had no reason to put them in such a situation to begin with. Thus, the gathering of people was willed by god and it was a sign that they had the support of their lord.

Jones highlighted two keys reasons as to why the Continental Army should defend the country folks from British invasion. To start with, he explained that the British planned to impose tyrannical rule over the American people and cause the innocent folks harm and rejoice at the problems faced by them. He emphasized on how the enemy was wrong by mentioning that even the citizens of Britain refused to help their leaders in taking over the American land. The social effects were explained in the speech as well that as a whole, by the British, innumerable changes would be brought to the comfortable lives the American people lived. Jones detailed that the wives of the men could possibly be stripped from their comfortable ways of living and made to do immodest actions, the young, unmarried girls put through such torment that they would wish for death, and the innocent children left unsupported with no place to work or play. The goal of the army was thus to prevent such circumstances from occurring.

As a soldier of this army, I would have definitely known that the time to come in the near future would be challenging, with tough weather conditions, and a strong opposing enemy to face inescapably. I would personally have felt a mixture of feelings after listening to the speech. On one hand, I would feel immense fear of the British and the harm they could potentially cause, due to its clear mentions even though its reality was already well-known. Therefore I may have felt quite discouraged, thinking that the British were an invincible power, and had such motivation that when their own people refused to help them, they were willing to hire outsiders to be of aid to them at the time of fighting. I believe many of the soldiers in the army at that time may have felt the same. However, the reverend's words may have also softened the hearts of the brigade that was listening to the people and helped in making them joyful that they were but one brotherhood and were all ready to work together to defend their beloved land and people and together they could help escape the potential threat. When the reverend may have read out the end of his speech in which he took the example of the bible and blessed the people working in the interest of the country and cursed those causing harm to it, it may have instilled hope in the hearts of the people that alongside the power of teamwork and brotherhood, the power of god could perhaps save them and help them attain the salvation they dreamt of for themselves and their people. Thus, even if there were people who knew the war was at a crucial stage and that all the facts were against the American people defeat may not have been something the American brigade believed they would have to face. The speech must have been encouraging and motivating for them and more like guidance in darkness. It may have helped in boosting their performance on the fighting field by bringing the people together in a way that was most needed.