Neddy's Palaver

“On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive, Who remembers that famous day and year….” ~~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.”

In honor of this day and the many American patriots who fought for freedom during the years of the American Revolution, I have created a slideshow of some of those patriots’ graves: Patriots of ‘76.

If you would like to listen to appropriate music while viewing the Patriots’ Graves slideshow, click this little arrow to hear America’s Liberation Song, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, and then open the slideshow in a new tab or page. It is music that expresses the spirit that once motivated America, “a giant filled with a terrible resolve, unleashed against tyrants and oppressors.” It was performed at the funerals of Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan, and at the memorials for the victims of September 11th in Washington, New York and London. This version is sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the language style of the Old Testament of the Holy Bible.

Celebrate Christmas with the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Overture of 1776 ~ is a great piece of modern music (18mb MP3), written for the United States Military Academy, by composer Thomas C. Duffy of Yale University. LISTEN while perusing this site. Overture 1776 was composed in honor of West Point’s bicentennial and was premiered there on 25 August 2002. The composer created a work of American music to replace Tchaikovsky’s Overture of 1812, as he believed it time that a great nation had its own music to celebrate American Independence, rather than music depicting the Russians versus the French. Using the Overture of 1812 as his model, he created a piece depicting the struggle between the British and the American colonials, including fireworks and cannons. The old tune God Save the King, now known to Americans as My Country ‘Tis of Thee, is countered by Chester, the anthem of the American Revolution, and the country’s unofficial national anthem until 1931. He includes other contemporary tunes such as Yankee Doodle, The White Cockcaid (played by the Acton, Massachusetts Militia as they marched to the Concord Bridge on April 19, 1775), and the World Turned Upside Down (played by the British as they surrendered to George Washington). This is true American music, celebrating and honoring the music of the Revolutionary period and of those patriots who secured our liberties and who built our country so long ago.

The public is invited to the 4th Annual Open House at DAR National Headquarters in Washington, DC on Wednesday, December 7, 2005, from 5:30 p.m – 8:00 p.m. Tour the historic period rooms and enjoy refreshments and holiday carolers. For more information, click HERE or HERE.

View pictures from the 2004 Open House HERE.

Today is the 115th anniversary of the founding of the Daughters of the American Revolution on October 11, 1890, in Washington, D.C. The famous women’s organization continues its dedication to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America’s future through better education for children. Members of the DAR volunteer more than 55,000 hours annually to veteran patients. They award over $150,000 in scholarships and financial aid each year to students and they support schools for the underprivileged with annual donations exceeding one million dollars.

Today there are 168,000 members who have proven their lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution. These women own an entire downtown city block in Washington, D.C. across from the White House. Their buildings, DAR National Headquarters, contain one of the nation’s premier genealogical libraries, one of the foremost collections of pre-industrial American decorative arts, Washington’s largest concert hall, DAR Constitution Hall, and an extensive collection of Americana.

Their objectives are “Historic Preservation, Patriotism, and Education“. Their motto is “God, Home, and Country“. There are DAR chapters in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and international chapters in Australia, Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Happy Birthday, DAR, and many happy returns.

About three years ago, in late 2002, the U.S. Navy announced that it would be flying the flag known as the ‘First Navy Jack‘ which pictures a rattlesnake slithering across a field of thirteen red and white stripes, with the motto DONT TREAD ON ME. This is different from the ‘Gadsden Flag‘, with which it is often confused. That ensign depicts a coiled rattlesnake on a yellow background. The naval ships were to fly the old time ensign in accordance with the U.S. Navy declaration: “The temporary substitution of this Jack represents an historic reminder of the nation’s and Navy’s origin and will to persevere and triumph.”

Sunday, September 1, 2002 ~ U.S. Navy Revives Old Rattlesnake Flag, ‘Don’t Tread On Me,’ To Fly On All Vessels The U.S. Navy is ordering its fleet to fly the defiant Don’t Tread on Me rattlesnake flag aboard all its vessels to emphasize America’s determination in the war on terror, reports TIME magazine on Monday. Navy Secretary Gordon England’s directive said the resurrected flag “represents an historic reminder of the nation’s and Navy’s origin and will to persevere and triumph.“

Not only does this antique emblem show defiance to our enemies today, it reminds all of us of the courage and determination of our revolutionary forebears who created it. They were but a ragtag army of local militiamen when they impertinately admonished the world’s greatest army at that time, to “get out of the way, or else“!