Dear T.L., A Love Story of the American Revolution: Dear T.L., A Love Story of the American Revolution

Dear T.L., A Love Story of the American Revolution is the true story of American heroes, Christians, during the Revolutionary War as told through their love story.

Samuel Benjamin became one of America's original elite soldiers who was first a Minuteman at Lexington and Concord. He fought in some of the era's most famous battles and became a soldier in the Light Infantry eventually fighting under the command of Alexander Hamilton at the Siege of Yorktown.

Samuel and his sweetheart, Tabitha Livermore, weren't rich or connected. They were average colonists who risked their lives for the ideal of liberty driven by their faith. Tabitha was from an abolitionist town. Based on the war diaries of Lt. Samuel Benjamin, "Dear T.L., A Love Story of the American Revolution" explores how Christian faith inspired Samuel and Tabitha to help create the United States of America and secure freedom of religion.

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our great nation, we must understand that the patriots declared their independence in 1776. But weren't truly free until September of 1783.

Samuel and Tabitha, and their communities, were on the frontlines of the sacrifice for liberty. The fight included the struggle for religious liberty and freedom from the Church of England with the King as the head of the church and colonists forced to tithe by the government.

The Continental Congress opened in prayer on its second day of meeting on September 6, 1774, months before Lexington and Concord.[1] It called for national days of thanksgiving and of "humiliation, fasting, and prayer" at least twice a year throughout the war.[2] So it was that faith guided Samuel and Tabitha.

They aren't the famous names many of us know from American history. But it was tens of thousands of Christians like Samuel and Tabitha who fought and won the Revolutionary War. Samuel picked up a musket, a bayonet, and a sword as a man of Christian faith. He wrote more than four dozen Bible verses in the back of one of his war diaries. He was in the Corps of Light Infantry, which historian Michael Sheehan calls "the Navy Seals of the day."[3]

I am eternally thankful to Lieutenant Benjamin and his sweetheart, Tabitha Livermore, who are my fourth-great-grandparents, as well as their compatriots and their families. They represent the sacrifice made by tens of thousands of common people for the ideal of liberty-freedom from the rule of a King. Twenty-five thousand souls made the ultimate sacrifice.