Page 40 - Discover WINTER 2022

Christmas Saved CONTINUED
Revolution. He was of the opinion
that the British would be impossible
to defeat. Despite his lack of faith, he
granted permission for Washington to
house his troops on his land.
George Washington was a faithful
Christian, and would attend services
every Sunday at the nearest church. He
was happy to worship in a church of any
denomination.
With his army in dire straits, the
happy thoughts of Christmas and its
attendant festivities were the furthest
things from Washington’s mind.
He was deeply concerned about the
survival of his men and the cause of the
Revolution. There is a famous portrait
of him, kneeling beside his horse in the
snow, praying to God for deliverance.
Isaac Potts chanced upon the
General as this scene unfolded, and
went away supremely impressed by the
Commander’s spirit and character. Potts the King’s troops. The letter was to be
was a Quaker, and he was near his home
when he heard Washington’s prayer.
“It was a most distressing time of the
war,” Potts recounted. “All were giving
up the ship but that great and good
man. In that woods, I heard a plaintive
sound, as of a man at prayer. I tied my
horse to a sapling and went quietly into
the woods, and to my astonishment I
saw the great George Washington on
his knees alone, with his sword on one
38 Discover Smith Mountain Lake WINTER 2021
side and his cocked hat on the other. He
was at prayer to the God of the Armies,
beseeching to interpose with his Divine
aid, as it was a crisis, and the cause of
the country, of humanity and of the
world. Such a prayer I never heard from
the lips of man. I left him alone praying.
I went home and told my wife I saw a
sight and heard today what I never saw
or heard before. We never though a
man could be a soldier and a Christian,
but if there is one in the world, it is
Washington.”
As his prayers went seemingly
unanswered, the General reached
a difficult decision. He foresaw a
miserable winter for his troops in Valley
Forge, and he could imagine no possible
means of relief. He resigned himself
to defeat, and sat down in his tent to
write a final letter to the President of
the Continental Congress, which had
fled Philadelphia when it was taken by
his resignation as Commander in Chief,
and to convey Washington’s belief that
the cause was now hopeless.
He wrote: “I am now convinced
beyond a doubt that unless some great
and capital change suddenly takes place,
this army must inevitably be reduced
to one or other of these three things.
Starve – dissolve – or disperse, in order
to obtain sustenance in the best manner
they can. Rest assured, Sir, this is not