This is not just any country

 POSTED BY BILL

Readers who might have paid any attention to my guest posts and comments are aware that I have little patience for pessimism with regard to the future of our great nation.  I sometimes might let my impatience lead me to replies that sound insulting.  I apologize.

My faith about the future of the United States stems from my belief that our country, from the beginning, has been something special.  This is not just any country.

A study of our history will reveal a number of occasions when only a miracle could have saved us - and did.
 
Washington's army was thoroughly defeated by the world superpower in Brooklyn in August 1776.  Cut off from retreat by the East River (controlled by the Royal Navy) things were bleak for the fledgling Revolution.  The army escaped when a rare fog covered the river overnight, allowed the Americans to be rowed to temporary safety in Manhattan.  Later in 1776, Christmas Eve, Washington led his army across the ice bound Delaware River to take Trenton and revitalize the flagging hopes for independence.

In 1789, with the Articles of Confederation a failure, a small group of colonies huddled on the East Coast sent a group of men rarely seen in history.  Inspired by something, perhaps Divinely so,  they produced the Constitution of the United States.  Washington later stepped down peacefully and gladly after two terms as our first president, setting aside any thoughts of "strongman rule" for the U.S.

At Gettysburg in July 1863, Lee's Army of Northern Virgina was within minutes of winning the war.  Had 15th Alabama troops captured Little Round Top, the flank of the Meade's Army of the Potomac would have been turned with potential catastrophic results.  20th Maine volunteers under Bowdoin College professor Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain suffered heavy casualties and were nearly out of ammunition when Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge that turned the tide of the battle.  He was awarded the Medal of Honor and later was selected by General Grant to accept the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865.

At Appomattox, General Robert E. Lee rejected calls by the Confederate President to disband the army into guerrillas  that would continue the war.  A magnanimous General Grant offered gracious terms of honor to Lee and pledged his opposition to any reprisals.  Many in the North were demanding that Davis, Lee, and others be hanged as traitors.  Other Confederate commanders followed Lee's example and surrendered their troops.  Even the assassination of Lincoln was not able to empower the radicals who demanded treason trials.   One can only imagine a situation persisting to this day much like the Balkans had the war ended thus.

In June 1942, on the verge of defeat in the Pacific, a group of SBD Dauntless dive bombers that had been lost arrived over the Japanese aircraft carriers at precisely the time their decks were filled with aircraft being re-armed for a decisive attack against the U. S. fleet.  A valiant but doomed torpedo attack by Americans flying obsolete TBD Devastators had just been slaughtered without a single hit, pulling the Japanese Zero fighters down to sea level where they could not affect the dive bombers.  Within 10 minutes, 3 Japanese carriers, veterans of Pearl Harbor, were on fire and doomed.  The 4th was sunk later in the day, ending forever the hopes of the Japanese Empire. 

 I can think of other examples of "miracles" occurring to create and preserve our nation.  I do not think for one minute that we are finished or doomed.  I believe I know by what power we are blessed, but I will leave it at that.