Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

If I hadn’t tipped my hand in talking about the Battle of Thermopylae a few weeks ago during a sermon, I’ve always had a bit of a thing for studying historical battles. I used to take Legos or blocks and map out battles on my bedroom floor. So I’d have several red blocks arranged like the Roman battle lines and a few more arrayed like Hannibal’s and then re-enact the battles with the movement of the blocks.

An incident which I could never map took place at the Battle of Germantown during the American Revolution.

At the Battle of Germantown, there was a brief cease fire. This ceasefire broke out when a little dog, a terrier, was seen wandering between American and a British lines. You see, the British General, General Howe, had this pet terrier that had gotten loose and wandered onto the battlefield.

General Howe’s dog was captured by the revolutionaries. It was taken to General Washington. The revolutionaries thought That Washington might keep it as a trophy. Instead, Washington took it to his tent. He fed it, gave him water, and even brushed him.

Then he formally returned the dog to General Howe under a flag of truce. You know, we often tell the story of George Washington and the tree to demonstrate his good character. But this story is perhaps far more indicative of the kind of person he was — and shows why the sympathies of so many ended up not with the Tories and the Anglicans, but with George Washington and the Revolution.

Anyway, the story is evocative. Here is this pup, wandering between the warring lines, and a truce is called so he can be cared for and brought home.

Believe it or not — this may be something like the Gospel.

Here we are, not even combatants in the conflicts, fights, and warfare all around us. Here we are, wandering between the warring lines of humanity. Here we are, just trying to escape, or find peace, or seeking shelter, here we are amidst the noise trying to find our way home.

Here we are — and there Christ is.

Here we are — and there Christ is on the Cross.

We wander, and stray, and dodge the heated passions of the world.

Here we are, lost and confused, and there Christ is.

In the midst of the battle, God calls a truce. He puts between our sins and himself his own son.

He carries us back. He feeds and tends us. He brings us home in that brief space between our anger and his mercy.

May we always seek to find Christ and to be found by him amidst the turmoil of the world’s never ending wars as he draws us to the Kingdom — toward more than truce — toward his eternal peace.

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert

PS: Washington arranged for a messenger to return the dog to Howe with a two-line letter:

“General Washington’s compliments to General Howe, does himself the pleasure to return [to] him a Dog, which accidentally fell into his hands, and by the inscription on the Collar appears to belong to General Howe.”

While many of the stories about Washington’s character seem to have been created by his earliest biographer, Parson Weems, this lovely story of kindness and gallantry is one that can be fully documented as a draft of the note still exists. It is written in the handwriting of Washington’s aide-de-camp Alexander Hamilton, and the note can be found is in the Washington Papers at the Library of Congress.