George Washington and Patrick Ferguson

GEORGE WASHINGTON - The only truly indispensable figure in the American Revolution, and one of my all time heros.

Corey and I are giving talks at church on Sunday, and since it is the Sunday before the 4th of July, we have been given the topic of "One Nation Under God". I am having a little bit of a hard time finding a nitch to focus my remarks around, but I think it will be about how we show our unity as a nation by the things we do individually to demonstrate our Trust in God, and a tangent I might go on in how we don't have to worry about our lives, (which you have to admit we really don't have much control over anyway) because we have been promised that if we are righteous, we will not be taken before our appointed time. That made me think of the following story that I read about when we were living near DC and went up to Pennsylvania to visit the Brandywine Battlefield. First, a little background:

PATRICK FERGUSON -- KEEN RIFLEMAN

Joining the British army at age 15, Patrick Ferguson was a well known marksman and the inventor of a breechloading rifle. The son of a Scottish judge, Ferguson had an affable disposition, a gentle face and was slight of build. Nevertheless, his soldiers named him "Bulldog."

Ferguson distinguished himself early on in his military career. Serving as a cornet in the Royal North British Dragoons, Ferguson was considered by his superiors as a courageous fighter during the wars of Flanders and Germany in the 1760's. In 1768, he joined the Seventieth Regiment of Foot in the West Indies, where British troops engaged in guerilla warfare with the native Carib tribes. Ferguson went for garrison duty at Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1773 but soon became bored.

Ferguson's ability with a rifle was well known. While visiting his family's estate in Scotland before the American Revolution, he began to develop a rifle of his own. After completing the invention, Ferguson displayed the rifle for military leaders and even King George III witnessed one of Ferguson's demonstrations.

During one demonstration, Ferguson fired at a rate of 4-6 shots per minute during pouring rain and high wind. Apparently, Ferguson only missed the target three times while firing from a distance of 200 yards -- this was not possible with the British Brown Bess musket. A patent was issued and a limited number of the breechloading rifles were produced. Ferguson established an elite rifle corps which joined Sir Henry Clinton in America. Their mission: to help stop the rebellion in the colonies.

FERGUSON HAS WASHINGTON IN HIS SIGHTS

At the Battle of Brandywine (September 11, 1777), Ferguson had an American officer in his gun sight. However, Ferguson did not pull the trigger, saying that "it is ungentlemanly to shoot a man in the back of the head."

Ferguson himself mentioned the incident in a letter he dictated a few months later. During the battle, he did not realize the identity of the American officer. While recuperating in the hospital from his arm injury, he discovered that the American officer in question was George Washington. Ferguson wrote that even if he had known, he would not have pulled the trigger. (Ferguson's letters are available in the library at Edinburgh University.)