Henry's words below are a perfect example - the passage is taken from a speech given before the Carolina militia, made famous of course for their courageous efforts during the battle at Fort Bellmut that arguably halted the spread of undead in the southern colonies. Here we see Henry at his most sincere: a practical man capable of giving proper weight to both the mundane concerns of dwindling rations and the sheer test of human resolve given form by an enemy that literally kept coming back for more.
"If we wish to be free of the undead horde, if we mean to preserve inviolate the canned goods for which we have been so long storing in the cannon shelter below the estate, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the last of the dead walking our streets has been put back under the ground and the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained - we must fight!"
- Patrick Henry, December 1805.
The glorious object in the final sentence was of course a double entendre: referring figuratively to stopping the undead and winning the war, and literally to the grimoire of John Crowley which held the information that ultimately allowed Gen. Washington's army to do just that. Truly it was this remarkable commitment to life and liberty from our founders that kept them from giving up even when all seemed lost. Powerful stuff indeed, and as usual a timeless lesson. This series will continue tomorrow, along with our hope as always here at Lost and Founders that our readers take time to really ponder the lessons taught by the great patriots so that in the case of historical periods like the Zombie War of 1805, history is not doomed to repeat itself.
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