America loves a hero. This is a story about a hero who was trained to speak but acted in his place. I love hero stories, do you?
“Denles Watts, guys” is where the story begins. I know it’s an unusual way to start a story, but this is an unusual story. What does “Give them guys Watts” mean? For starters, the phrase “Give them Watts boys” was a battle cry for the Continental Army used after the Battle of Springfield, New Jersey, on June 23, 1780, during the War for Independence.
It became a battle cry because it symbolized so many wonderful things about America. He said that we were a people who would fight to the end, with whatever we had available, for as long as necessary, for freedom, to win against tyranny and oppression.
Give ’em Watts boys is really a “painted story” about 2 men; Isaacs Watts and the Reverend James Caldwell (primarily James Caldwell).
Isaacs Watts was an interesting man. He grew up in the home of a committed maverick. His father, who was jailed twice for his disruptive beliefs, which he openly expressed, was a nonconformist.
Mavericks were so called, in England, in the late 17th century because they did not conform to the beliefs of the Anglican Church. Watts grew to become a prominent hymn writer and theologian during this time. He wrote hymns and rewrote ancient hymns in more modern language, about 750 of them in fact.
In Ben Franklin’s printing days, it was rumored that Ben printed a hymnal with all of Watt’s hymns, which was very popular with Protestant churches at the time.
“Give them Watts boys” is actually the title of a painting depicting the second character: James Caldwell. The Rev. James Caldwell was pastor of a Presbyterian church in Elizabeth New Jersey that supplied more than 40 line officers to George Washington’s army of patriots – the continental army.
As history recalls, a fierce battle took place near this small New Jersey church. The British and their German-Hessian compatriots clashed with the Continental Army and outnumbered them, nearly 5 to 1. The battle was so fierce and protracted that the Patriot Army was running out of paper wadding for their weapons. Wadding was needed to hold the gunpowder and musket ball in place and was generally made of paper.
The Rev. Caldwell heard the cries of more wadding from the brave and committed patriots. He mounted his horse, riding swiftly toward his church building, where the pews held many Watts hymnals. He collected the hymnals and rode back into battle, distributing the hymnals and shouting “Give them Watts boys,” referring to the Watts hymnals and the pages they could tear out of the hymnals and use as wadding for their weapons.
I know it is Christmas and this is not about Christmas. The moral of this story is really about acting rather than just talking, and that thinking applies at any time. Reverend Caldwell did something – he acted, he didn’t just complain – in the middle of a heated battle that would likely be lost. He didn’t know if his action would have an impact on the outcome or not, but he did it anyway. Sometimes we must consider doing it anyway.
You know what happened?
The Continental Army stopped the British, who eventually turned and left the army of patriots with a victory for freedom with the help of the hymnals of Isaac Watts.
