1746 A.D.: God Fights For His Overmatched New England People
The Old South Meeting House, Boston, Mass.
In 1746 A.D. a fairly great fleet of between 60 and 70 ships with about 800 cannons was sent from France under the command of their Admiral the Duke of d’Anville to make attack and reclaim Louisburg, Nova Scotia from the British, who had earlier wrested it away from the French. There was a struggle going on between these two great empires over the land in the New World.
According to their plan the d’Anville forces would then attack the coast of New England and onward to as far south as Georgia, and perhaps even some of the islands of the Caribbean after that. There were about 13,000 troops with the fleet; that was a formidably sized attack force. So large a war fleet as that had never threatened the shores of America at that time, and so it caused great fear in the hearts of those living along the American colonial East Coast.
The New England colonies had nothing which could stand against such a fleet, and so it appeared that the towns on the Atlantic coast were in for a beating. They could run away into the interior, but they could not really hope for a win in any sort of heads-up fight, nor could they protect their homes. That meant that New York, Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston, and many more coastal towns could be shelled to rubble, burned, or both by the 800 cannons the French could bring to bear and the soldiers onboard that could mount attacks into the streets of the various towns once the ships landed. There could be great loss of life. American colonials heard and feared.
In Massachusetts the Governor was William Shirley. He knew he needed to do all he could to prepare the populace of his area for a fight that it did not seem they could win, so he ordered the stockpiling of weapons and supplies, and he called for men to gather. But what he knew they needed against these sorts of odds was help from Almighty God. He declared October 16th of that year (1746 A.D.) a Universal Day of Prayer and Fasting. They would call on Yahweh and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They would seek Heaven’s rescue against this looming threat!
Word had spread widely among the colonists about the coming French fleet, and people responded in great numbers to the Governor’s declaration. By reports the churches were very full when that day came.
In Boston, Massachusetts at a church called the Old South Meeting House, it was a nice fall day outside and the pews inside were filled with a great crowd of highly concerned people. Both Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin would eventually be members of this Puritan built church, though perhaps they were not present on this day.
The Pastor, Reverend Thomas Prince, went up to the pulpit and began to speak. He asked the Lord to deliver them from their enemies. He asked the Lord to raise His right hand and send a powerful storm onto the waters to the east where the French fleet was sailing, to disperse their ships and drive them far away, to sink their ships by the force of His powerful winds.
Just as he spoke those words in that church that day a very peculiar thing occurred. Outside the church the day darkened quickly, and a mighty wind came up fast and shook the church, hammered against the windows, and though no one was in the steeple to work them the churches bell rang twice in the belfry. The startled people and pastor knew this to be something out of the ordinary and the pastor immediately raised his arms and cried out to the Lord that they had heard His voice, His answer to their prayers and that God’s breath was upon the waters to the east, on His great deep waters. With tears on his face he gave Yahweh the glory for this mighty answer to their prayer, and he cried out 'Amen, Amen'!
Soon the events of that day in the Old South Meeting House were heard of all over the area, lending hope to the worried, and the Governor soon sent a ship named the Rising Sun northwards to find out what news there might be of the dreaded French fleet so that they might at least be given some knowledge with which to temper their apprehension. They waited anxiously for the news to return.
In time the Rising Sun returned, and it was a well named ship that day as the news it brought brightened their prospects and could not have been more amazing or more welcome. Certain of their men had posed as Native Americans from French controlled areas and had easily enough gotten information from French soldiers. They had learned that nearly the whole French fleet was lost. The men aboard the remaining ships were suffering greatly from scurvy (which is from inadequate Vitamin C, but that was not yet known in 1746 A.D.) and from Typhus (most commonly ‘Epidemic Typhus’, which is from the Rickettsia bacteria which is often carried by lice.) Of the original 13,000 men many were lost to the sea when ships sank. And in addition, sea battles with the British even before reaching Nova Scotia had also inflicted much damage.
The Admiral, the Duke d’Anville, was dead. His Vice Admiral, d’Estournelle, had reportedly turned to suicide when suffering great sickness and fever. Of the remaining men in the French expeditionary forces at least 2,000 were already dead, 4,000 were reportedly very ill, and only about 1,000 French land forces remained among all of those who still remained of the fleet.
By His mighty storms and the ‘beasts of the field’, microscopic though they might be, God had changed the great fleet from besieger to the besieged. News soon came that the battered French fleet had sailed off towards the south and the east, possibly to the West Indies. The threat was gone by God’s power and providence.
The people of Boston, Massachusetts and other locations in New England had readied themselves in case they had to try to meet the threat, but more importantly they had prayed to the Holy Father for rescue as followers of His Son Jesus. At least one church – the Old South Meeting House - received powerful signs that He had accepted their cry for help, and the next news people heard was that this potent and feared enemy force was laid waste, mostly by such natural forces as only God controls. The people of New England, at least many, knew who they owed their gratitude to and were full of thanks!
God had raised a mighty hand of protection. When we read about the ‘Founding Fathers’ of America, we are reading about people who had such happenings as this still fresh and well known within their mind, and so of course they had great faith in God. Knowing about the great historical acts of God for His people, His people from every century, breeds faith! Mighty beyond measure is our God!
Hello,
I personally believe that knowing how many great deeds of God have actually occurred throughout history will lead some people to be saved giving their life to Christ. If you agree, then please, take the time to be a 'missionary', to love your neighbor enough to care about their soul. Please mention and recommend visiting the Deeds of God website on any social media sites that you belong to. Tell a favorite account to your friends or family and tell them where you read it. To know God is to stand in awe of Him, but too few people know Him today. Accounts like these are yet another way to come to know Jesus and the Holy Father, and the Spirit of Truth that helps us understand. Thank you. Dan Curry