America is very special to God as we are Ephraim of the Bible. Bob Barney has written excellent studies, all Biblically supported on how special America is, and why. See below for links to his commentaries in our Literature Section of The Plain Truth.
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| MARCH 5 – MARCH 11 March 5 Learn Our History Today: On March 5, 1770, American civilians and British soldiers clashed in what became known as the Boston Massacre. At the time, British soldiers had been ordered to Boston to enforce some of the  |
| crown’s new taxes, which had been met with considerable hostility in the colonies. Boston was a hotbed of dissent, and the arrival of British soldiers pushed tensions near the breaking point. Soldiers and civilians frequently jeered at one another in the streets and soon began brawling with each other.However, nothing compared to what happened on the frigid night of March 5 when a large angry mob began to form at Boston’s Custom’s House. They began to hurl rocks and snowballs at the British sentries standing guard at the building. The soldiers quickly called for assistance, with Captain Thomas Preston and several additional soldiers showed up to help. These soldiers loaded their weapons and fixed bayonets, yelling for the crowd to disperse. But the crowd only became more agitated, yelling at the British to fire and throwing more and more objects at them.One of these objects struck Private Hugh Montgomery who slipped and dropped his weapon. Montgomery hastily picked the weapon back up and fired it into the crowd. He was then promptly struck on the head with a club by a local innkeeper named Richard Palmes, who then proceeded to strike Captain Preston. After a pause of a few seconds, all the British soldiers fired their weapons at the crowd. When the smoke cleared from the street, five colonists had been killed. These deaths are widely regarded as the first of the American Revolution.Also, on this day in U.S. history:1821: President Monroe is the first to be inaugurated on March 5th, because the 4th fell on a Sunday.1853: Piano company Steinway & Sons founded by Henry Steinway in New York City.1960: Elvis Presley’s 2-year service in the U.S. Army ends. |
 March 6 Learn Our History Today: On March 6, 1836, the Battle of the Alamo, one of the most pivotal events in Texas history, was fought in San Antonio, Texas. In the months prior to the battle, the Mexican province of Texas, which |
| was populated by a vast number of transplanted Americans, had been thrown into revolution. The Texans won many of the early battles of the revolution, including one in which they took control of the city of San Antonio de Bexar, today known simply as San Antonio. Following the battle, Texan troops under the command of Jim Bowie and William Barret Travis were sent to garrison the town, taking up residence in a makeshift fort built out of a former Spanish mission known as the Alamo. Bowie had received orders from Texan Commanding General Sam Houston to destroy the fort and take the cannon, but upcoming events quickly put that order on the back burner. On February 23, thousands of Mexican troops under the command of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna arrived to take back the city.The Texans, who had recently welcomed the arrival of famous hunter and Congressman Davy Crockett, hastily fell back to the Alamo. They numbered little more than 150 men. As soon as his men had taken up positions around the Alamo, Santa Anna ordered a blood red flag raised, signaling that no quarter would be given to the Texans, whom he considered to be “pirates.” Upon seeing this, Travis answered back with a shot from one of the Alamo’s cannons.Thus, a siege began of the Alamo with the two sides skirmishing on and off. Two days into the siege, Jim Bowie collapsed from illness and was confined to bed, leaving Travis in full command. Travis promptly sent couriers to sneak through the enemy’s lines with letters pleading for help. His most famous letter was addressed “To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World,” This letter contained some of Travis’ most famous words: “I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country. VICTORY OR DEATH.”Unfortunately, the only responders to Travis’ letter were thirty-two rangers from the town of Gonzalez. The arrival of these troops gave the Alamo defenders a boost in moral, but at that point it was really too little too late. In the pre-dawn hours of March 6, Santa Anna unleashed his army on the Alamo.The Texans valiantly defended the outer walls before retreating into the interior of the mission. Travis was killed very early in the fighting from a shot to the head while defending the wall and as the Mexicans surged into the interior of the Alamo, the grievously ill Jim Bowie was bayonetted to death in his bed. The last remaining Texan defenders, including Davy Crockett, retreated into the famous chapel, were they made their last stand, firing at the advancing Mexican horde and then charging in with rifle and musket butts. True to their word the Mexicans gave no quarter, slaughtering every Texan inside the Alamo. The Texans sacrifice at the Alamo would not be forgotten. It would, in fact, become a rallying cry for Texas independence. At San Jacinto, the climactic battle of the Texas revolution, General Sam Houston would rally his troops by shouting, “Remember the Alamo!”Also, on this day in U.S. history:1861: The Confederate Army is established by the Provisionary Confederate Congress.1902: Congress passes legislation to create a permanent US Census office.1918: The U.S. naval boat “Cyclops” disappears in the Bermuda Triangle. |
| March 7 Learn Our History Today: On March 7, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in Boston, Massachusetts. Scottish by birth, Alexander Graham Bell moved to Boston after helping his father devise a system of teaching  |
| speaking to the deaf. While in Boston, Bell observed the telegraph and was inspired to create a device that would be an improvement on it. Bell called this device the “harmonic telegraph.” Combining the telegraph with the record player, it would allow people to speak to each other from long distances.With the help of Thomas Watson, a local machine shop employee, Bell developed a prototype. It worked by using sound waves to vibrate a small metal plate called a diaphragm. These vibrations would be transferred magnetically to another device which also had a diaphragm. This diaphragm would then vibrate and replicate the sound. Three days after patenting the telephone, Alexander Graham bell famously sent the first intelligible message to Watson, saying, “”Mr. Watson, come here, I need you.”Also, on this day in U.S. history:1778: The Oregon coast at Yaquina Bay is first discovered by Captain James Cook.1801: The first voter registration law is enacted in Massachusetts.1862: The Battle of Pea Ridge is fought in northwest Arkansas. |
 March 8 Learn Our History Today: On March 8, 1862, during the Civil War, the Confederate ironclad the C.S.S. Virginia, formerly known as the U.S.S. Merrimack, began attacking the Union fleet located off Hampton Roads, Virginia. The |
| Virginia was the first ironclad ever used by the Confederacy and was built using the lower hull and steam engines off of the U.S.S. Merrimack, which had been scuttled in southern waters. One day after it was completed, the Virginia was sent out to attack the entire Union fleet.This new kind of vessel had never been dealt with before, and the Union ships did not know how to fight it. Multiple Union vessels attacked the Virginia simultaneously. One vessel, the U.S.S. Cumberland, was rammed and sunk by the Virginia almost immediately. Union ships continued to fire at the iron vessel, but the shots, according to an observer, “[had] no more effect than peas from a pop-gun.” The Virginia proceeded to sink two more Union ships before the day was done.By the end of the fighting, ninety-eight shots had bounced off the Virginia’s hull and it seemed the era of the wooden ship was officially over. Fortunately for the Union men they had an iron clad of their own on the way, the U.S.S. Monitor. The next day the Monitor duked it out with the Virginia, fighting it to a standstill.Also, on this day in U.S. history:1817: The New York Stock Exchange is founded.1884: Susan B. Anthony addresses the House Judiciary Committee seeking an amendment to the Constitution granting women the right to vote.1917: The Senate introduces the Cloture Rule that requires a two-thirds majority to end debate. |
March 9Learn Our History Today: On March 9, 1916, famous Mexican bandit Pancho Villa launched a raid into the United States, attacking the town of Columbus, New Mexico along with several hundred guerillas. The force killed  |
| seventeen Americans and laid waste to the town. U.S. Cavalrymen from nearby Fort Furlong pursued the raiders, catching up with and killing dozens of them before the bulk of the bandits were able to escape into Mexico. Immediately, President Woodrow Wilson mobilized all available forces to apprehend Villa and his men. To search out the bandit nearly 10,000 soldiers entered Mexico. Unfortunately for them, Villa had intimate knowledge of Northern Mexico’s rugged terrain. He was able to elude his pursuers for months, hiding out among a populace that supported him and his activities. On June 21 American troops were still in Mexico and the crisis widened even further.Mexican troops, fed up with the U.S. for lingering so long in their territory, launched an attack on a detachment of U.S. Cavalry outside Carrizal, Mexico. War would most likely have been declared, but at the time the situation in Europe regarding World War I was becoming critical. In January 1917, all American troops were ordered home, unsuccessful in their quest to catch Pancho Villa.Also, on this day in U.S. history:1864: Ulysses S. Grant is appointed commander of the Union Army.1933: FDR calls Congress into a special session beginning the “100 days.”1959: In New York Barbie makes her debut at the American Toy Fair. Since her debut over a billion have been sold around the world. |
 March 10 Learn Our History Today: On March 10, 1945, during World War II, U.S. bombers dropped over 3,000 tons of incendiary bombs on the Japanese capital city of Tokyo. Huge portions of the city were devastated by this bombing, which |
| was part of a larger campaign by the United States to break the Japanese morale and force them to surrender. The bombing began very early in the morning, with the attacking force consisting of nearly 300 B-29 bombers.The bombs dropped were filled with magnesium and napalm incendiary devices, and they were unleashed on the packed residential districts of Eastern Tokyo located along the Sumida River. The result was utter devastation of the highest magnitude. The first and most immediate result of the bombing was a hurricane like wind which blew fire all throughout the city. Because the buildings in this area were mostly constructed of wood they were perfect targets, and as a result nearly ten square miles of the city were burned out and obliterated.100,000 Japanese people died in the firestorm. This would not be the last bombing mission undertaken, with the U.S. launching raids on the cities of Kobe, Nagoya, and Osaka. In the end, the constant bombardment by U.S. raids, and most significantly the dropping of the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, had the desired effect, forcing the Japanese to finally surrender on September 2, 1945.Also, on this day in U.S. history:1849: Abraham Lincoln is the first and only U.S. President to apply for a patent for a device to lift a boat over obstructions.1862: The U.S issues the first paper money in the denominations of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000.1876: The first phone call is made by Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant Thomas Watson. |
| March 11 Learn Our History Today: On March 11, 1779, Congress established the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the purpose of building structural and environmental facilities for the Army. The original engineers were  |
| made up of a combination of Continental Army volunteers, civilians, and French volunteers, and these men served with distinction through many of the Revolutionary War’s most famous battles. Their most famous engagement was the Siege of Yorktown, during which they built the fortifications and siege lines that the Continentals used to batter the British into submission.At the end of the war, the Corps of Engineers went through many transition phases and was disbanded for several years. In 1802, the engineers were re-established and have existed as an integral of our military ever since. The engineers immediately set to work building and strengthening American forts and military fortifications along the frontier and the coast, a strengthening that came just in time, with the War of 1812 looming on the horizon.In the 1860s, during the American Civil War, the engineers were crucial when it came to building bridges, surveying, and constructing roads and rail lines, maintaining supply lines, and constructing fortifications. In nearly every conflict America has been involved with since then, the engineers have fulfilled similar crucial roles. Today the Corps of Engineers maintains a strength of 35,000 men and women who in recent years have assisted the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to assisting with reconstruction in the city of New Orleans following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.Also, on this day in U.S. history:1941: FDR signs Lend-Lease Bill which allows the lending of money to Great Britain.2018: The superhero movie “The Black Panther” becomes the fifth Marvel movie to earn $1 billion worldwide. |
The Plain Truth – America in Biblical Prophesy
~ The Number “13” and the United States! We are lost Israel! – The Plain Truth