As we celebrate another July 4th with fireworks, parades, grilled burgers and apple pie, let’s not forget what we’re really honoring: a fierce, determined stand for liberty. It’s a day to remember that this freedom wasn’t handed to us. It was won with the price of blood and life. The Revolutionary War was no sure thing. At the time, America was up against the most powerful military on earth. And yet, our Founding Fathers, and the thousands of ordinary men and women who stood with them, believed enough in freedom to risk everything. In my own family line, several answered that call. They fought through the snow, hunger, and sickness not for fame or fortune, but so that their children—and ours—might live free.
One of them was my fifth great-grandfather, David Wilson of Enfield, Connecticut. He served under General George Washington and spent that brutal winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. Historians might say no battles were fought there, but anyone who knows the story understands that Valley Forge was one of the war’s greatest tests. Over 8,000 men arrived. By spring, 2,000 were dead—not from bullets, but from disease, starvation, exposure, and frostbite. Washington led a struggling army fighting not only the British, but the elements that threaten to break both spirit and hope. And yet, they endured. In that bitter cold, surrounded by despair, something unshakable was forged—American tenacity. They left that camp not defeated, but sharpened.
David Wilson survived. For his service, Enfield gave him a yearly cord of wood and an allotment of whiskey. Later, his sons Justus, Austin, and Luther headed west to the Connecticut Reserve and helped found Paris Township, Ohio, in 1820. They were frontier men, carving homesteads out of wild land, fueled by grit and a heritage of service. In 1818, Justus, my fourth great-grandfather, helped build what would become the Wilson family homestead, of which part still remains in the family. The American experiment—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—wasn’t just talked about in my family. It was lived. Their perseverance is an example of what has come to be known as the American Spirit, a mixture of inspiration, will and faith in God Almighty.
It is not common knowledge, but this Spirit was nurtured at Valley Forge, where the soldiers were given sermons and pamphlets to read during the long, cold nights. Messages like “The Duty of Standing Fast in Our Spiritual and Temporal Liberties” urged them to keep going—not just with swords, but with spirit. Today, we face new challenges. Enemies foreign and domestic chip away at the foundation laid by generations past. But the lesson of Valley Forge—and of men like David Wilson—is that freedom is never easy, never free, and never finished. My prayer is that we, too, have the Spirit to not only maintain, but even prosper what has been bestowed upon us. Cherish this July 4. Share stories of greatness with your family. Toast the sacrifice. Enjoy the pie—but know why you can. We are the inheritors of liberty. Let’s be worthy of it.
