bleechers's Blog

Those Who Neglect History...

Growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia I was guaranteed annual trips to places like Independence Hall and the Franklin Institute, The names Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Dickinson and especially Franklin were ever-present in my world. I became of student of the Revolution and, more precisely, of the Revolutionary generation.

I was excited in 2000 when I moved with my family to a neighborhood adjacent to the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. I spent my first birthday in our new home with my daughter Brooklyn soaking up all the park had to offer. We walked where those rag-tag and maligned soldiers and their great leader, General Greene, handed Cornwallis a costly victory.

History does not rightly honor what happened on that battlefield. It was the bravery of those colonists and their willingness to stand up to the might of the British that sent Cornwallis scurrying to his eventual demise at Yorktown.

I think about that battle each day as I drive along Old Battleground Road. I also think about the three men who risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor by signing the Declaration of Independence on behalf of North Carolina: John Penn, William Hooper and Joseph Hewes.


Keeping the Legacy Alive.

My son's name is Boston Clay in honor of John Adams and Henry Clay. My youngest daughter's name is London in honor of the philosophers and theologians who inspired the Revolutionary generation. Great men such as Wycliffe, Tyndale, Locke and Smith should be remembered. Their contributions to our liberty should not be forgotten. So too should we remember John Penn, William Hooper and Joseph Hewes.

John Penn was one of the great orators of the Continental Congress, This honor comes from the pen of no less than John Adams. William Hooper (originally of Boston) was a Harvard graduate and a respected lawyer (two words not often found together). Joseph Hewes was a native of New Jersey who captured and encouraged North Carolina's desire for freedom. All three men risked life to secure liberty for North Carolina.

In 1894 the bodies of Penn and Hooper were reinterred at Guilford Courthouse (the whereabouts of Hewes' body is unknown). As you walk through the park, the graves of these august men seem but a footnote. What an enormous honor it is for the city of Greensboro to have watch over the graves of these two great men. They are not only great North Carolinians and great Americans, they served as integral parts of one of the greatest events in world history.


Plan a Special Trip

I hope you will take the time to stop by their graves the next time you visit Guilford Courthouse NMP. They lie in the shadow of General Greene's monument. I had the honor of visiting General Greene's grave in Savannah. No such trip is necessary for the people of the Triad who want to honor two other great American (world) heroes.

Let us never forget John Penn, William Hooper and Joseph Hewes. I only wish we could do more to honor their contributions to our liberty,