Prayer stops the
French Invasion of America in 1746.
Miracles attended the founding of America, beginning well
before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. One such miracle
involves the intended attack of the Eastern seaboard by the French.
In 1746 French Duke d’Anville sailed for New England with
the largest naval force ever to set
sail for the New World prior to the American Revolution—70 ships with more
than 10,000 troops aboard. This
effort was the fourth and final French attempt to regain territory in Nova
Scotia. Duke d’Anville also had orders to destroy the American seacoast
from Boston to Georgia.
The massive French fleet of King Louis XV, with its
square-rigged sailing vessels bristling with guns, was rapidly approaching
across the Atlantic, nearing Boston’s doorstep. The entire community of Boston
was in turmoil as it prepared for the invasion. Governor Shirley of
Massachusetts proclaimed a fast day to pray for deliverance. The men of
Boston—old, young and in between—gathered at Boston Common, 6000 strong with
their weapons, for the upcoming attack. John Adams, future Founding Father and
president of the United States, was 10 years old at the time.
On a clear, calm morning, the worried citizens of Boston had
walked to church in pleasant sunshine to hear the words of their pastor. From
the pulpit of Old South Church, The Reverend Thomas Prince addressed God as he prayed
before his congregation. Standing at the church pulpit, Reverend Prince
implored, “Deliver us from our enemy! Send Thy tempest, Lord, upon the waters
to the eastward! Raise Thy right hand. Scatter the ships of our tormentors and
drive them hence. Sink their proud frigates beneath the power of Thy winds!”
He had scarcely pronounced the words when the sunshine gave
way to skies darkened with roiling clouds, leaving the church in shadows. A
sudden wind sprang up from nowhere, shrieking so loudly that the great church
bell broke free and began to ring “a wild an uneven sound…though no man was in
the steeple”.
The Reverend Thomas Paine, with both arms outstretched to
heaven, paused in his prayer, “We hear Thy voice, O Lord! We hear it! Thy
breath is upon the waters of the eastward, even upon the deep. The bell tolls
for the death of our enemies!” He momentarily bowed his head, and looking up,
with tears streaming down his face, he prayed, “Thine be the glory, Lord. Amen
and amen!”
The storm came as a raging hurricane that scattered and sank
the entire French fleet. Two thousand troops were dead, including d’Anville.
The second in command, Vice Admiral Cornelle, seeing the utter disgrace of the
affair, threw himself upon his sword.
The French attack never came to the shores of New England.
A week later other vessels entering Boston brought the rest
of the story. The French fleet was nearly lost and all who survived the storm
suffered from a pestilential fever. The few remaining ships, half manned, were
limping southward. There would be no French invasion of America.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized the battle in the Ballad
of the French Fleet:
Admiral d’Anville had
sworn by cross and crown,
To ravage with fire
and steel our helpless Boston Town…
From mouth to mouth spread tidings of dismay,
I stood in the Old
South saying humbly, “Let us pray!”…
Like a potter’s vessel
broke, the great ships of the line,
Were carried away as
smoke or sank in the brine.
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