History Archives - Chris Carosa

Jasper Parrish And The Terror At Civilization’s Edge

By Chris Carosa on February 10, 2026

Massacre of Wyoming (Pennsylvania), 1858, by Alonzo Chappel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Captain Zebulon Parish saw the man hurry out of the dense woods into the field. The smell of burning wood wafted through the air around him. In the distance, black smoke rose above the treetops. He thought he heard muffled screams, but it might have been the wind whipping through the forest.

His eyebrow furled as the curious settlers assembled. He was the captain. They looked to him for guidance.

Zebulon recognized the man. It was Lebbeus Hammond.¹ He didn’t look too good. Out of breath, he huffed and puffed, “We’ve been attacked!”

This is bad, was Zebulon’s immediate conclusion.

His mind raced. They’re probably coming for us next. How long do we have? And should we prepare for defense or run? Continue Reading “Jasper Parrish And The Terror At Civilization’s Edge”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Algonquin, Aurora, British, Captain Blanchard, Colonel John Butler, common sense, Connecticut, Connecticut Yankee, Continental Army, Delaware, England, Forty fort, Iroquois, Ishmeal Benn, Jasper Parrish, John Trumbull, Joseph Elliot, Lebbeus Hammond, Lenni-Lenape, Massacre, Old King, Pennamite-Yankee Wars, Pennsylvania, Queen Esther's Rock, Reubon Jones, Roswell Franklin, Sakayenguaraghton, Second Pennamite War, Seneca, Squire Whitaker, Stephen Kimble, Stephen Parrish, Susquehannah Company, The Shades of Death, Thomas Paine, Wallenpaupack, Westmoreland, Wilkesbarre, Windham, Wintermoot, Wyoming County, Wyoming fort, Wyoming Massacre, Wyoming Valley, Zebulon Parish

Thomas Boyd And The Brutality Of The Western Frontier

By Chris Carosa on February 3, 2026

The monument at the site of the Boyd and Parker ambush. The monument reads: “Sacred To The Memory of Lieut. Thomas Boyd and Sergt. Michael Parker Who were captured and afterward tortured and killed. Afar their bones may lie/but here their patriot blood/baptized the land for aye/and wideened freedom’s flood”
Photo credit: Ed Dehm, CC BY-SA 3.0 httpcreativecommons.orglicensesby-sa3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In the darkness of September 1779, Thomas Boyd heard the muffled squeal of death.

Murphy, he thought. Can’t that man follow orders?

Boyd—an officer barely into his twenties—missed the fatal irony of his question.

But he did sense his mission was compromised. Boyd had orders to scout the British forces, not to engage them. Timothy Murphy’s shot must have echoed through the woods, alerting the Seneca. Worse, the others got away. No doubt the Indian would quickly warn his brothers. The encounter yielded one scalp, a horse saddle, and a bridle.¹ It seemed hardly worth the risk Sullivan’s men now faced.

The scouts needed to get out. And they needed to get out quickly. More importantly, Boyd needed to get word back to the General sooner. He dispatched two runners to ride ahead. They returned to report discovering a handful of Seneca on horseback up ahead.²

The young lieutenant remained confident that he would meet up with the main army soon enough. He rode on with his troops. They had not gotten far before they came upon Continue Reading “Thomas Boyd And The Brutality Of The Western Frontier”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged 1779, Adam Hubley, Ambuscade, Benjamin Lodge, British, Corporal Calhoun, Edward Hand, General Hand, General Sullivan, Genesee Flats, Groveland, Henry Dearborn, John Sullivan, Little Beard, Little Beard's Town, Major General John Sullivan, Mary Jemison, Michael Parker, Mt. Hope Cemetery, Rochester, Seneca, Sullivan, Sullivan Campaign, Sullivan Expedition, Thomas Boyd, Timothy Murphy, Tory

William French and the Westminster Massacre

By Chris Carosa on January 27, 2026

On a late Winter morning in 1775, William French woke up for the last time. The lively 22-year-old lived in the Town of Bennington—itself scarcely older than he was.

Self-named by Benning Wentworth, Governor of New Hampshire, Bennington became—in 1741—the first township granted west of the Connecticut River. It was a fact that would soon matter far more than anyone expected.

French headed to Westminster, a small hamlet on the west side of the Connecticut River, nestled in the broad curve of the oxbowing waterway, in the fertile eastern valley beneath the Green Mountains.

That afternoon, French walked along King’s Highway to the farmhouse of Capt. Axariah Wright, an eccentric old patriot. There he met Daniel Houghton and nearly 100 other men. They were there to confront a problem they believed could no longer be avoided.Continue Reading “William French and the Westminster Massacre”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Act of Outlawry, Albany County, Axariah Wright, Benning Wentworth, Bennington, British, Cadwallader Colden, Charles II, Connecticut River, Daniel Houghton, Duke of York, Dutch, Ethan Allen, French, French and Indian War, General Council of Safety, George Clinton, Green Mountain Boys, Green Mountains, Henry Bridge, Irish Corners, James II, King's Highway, Liberty Men, Mahican, Mohawk, New Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Netherland, New York, Vermont, West Bennington, Westminster, Westminster Massacre, William French, William Patterson

America’s Forgotten First Frontier

By Chris Carosa on January 13, 2026

Before America looked west, it looked here.

Before the wild wilderness of Alaska, before the trans-Mississippi west, even before the Appalachian forests and the Cumberland Gap, the Greater Western New York region stood as America’s First Frontier. It was a rugged place where individuals could test the fruits of its promise—and sometimes discover its limits.

But it was tamed.
Quickly tamed.
Too quick for history books to notice.

And so, it slipped quietly out of the national memory.

Until a sportscaster unintentionally reframed its true origin story.

When Chris Berman proclaimed, “Nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills,” he wasn’t merely referring to a professional football team. He was describing a people. Perhaps without realizing it, he was echoing the rich experience of the region’s earliest pioneers—men and women who braved brutal winters to build permanent homes in the post-Revolutionary War virgin arboreal woodlands and lush valleys of the Greater Western New York Region.

Far beyond the settled coastal cities of the Atlantic, this was the first true frontier of the new nation. Unlike what would later become Kentucky and Ohio, it lay within an original state rather than a federal territory. That distinction mattered more than history remembers.

Europeans called Western New York “terra incognita” during the colonial era. It was, however, home to the Seneca and Cayuga, two member nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. The French were the first Europeans to pass through. Their explorers camped here. Their missionaries converted here. Their soldiers fought and built forts here.

But they didn’t settle here.

That omission was not accidental. Western New York was too valuable to ignore—and too dangerous to control without alliances.

It became a critical artery in the economy of New France, later brokered by the Dutch, and ultimately claimed by the British. That final transfer was secured not by force alone, but through alliance with the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.

The Seneca served as “Keepers of the Western Door.” Ostensibly defensive, that door became a gateway to expansion. During the Beaver Wars, the Confederacy used it to eliminate the Erie tribe and to push its Algonquin adversaries off the map. This left the lands west of the Genesee River wholly vacated a century before the Revolutionary War.

The consequences were profound. French trappers lost their allies. British traders gained control of the valuable fur routes along the fertile waters that flow through western New York and beyond. And America’s First Frontier became one of the earliest battlegrounds for European supremacy in upper North America.

The Western New York region has always been a strategic crossroads.

Long before French missionaries first set foot in the New World, the feud between the Confederacy and its Iroquoian and Algonquin neighbors had been ongoing. The arrival of the Europeans didn’t change the dynamic. It intensified it.

At one time or another, all four Old World powers laid claim to the region. Ambitious Spanish claims, the French fur trade, the Netherlands river-based financial colonies, and the British desire for Empire, all collided here (and elsewhere).

Spain’s claim existed only on paper. They never came close. The Dutch, on the other hand, made the unfortunate decision to choose the Erie as their partners. When the Cat Nation disappeared, New Netherlands shortly followed, mostly without a fight. Mostly.

The French and the British, however, did what the French and the British always did. They went to war. Whether you call it “The French and Indian War” (as North Americans do) or the “Seven Years’ War” (as Europeans do), its outcome determined the fate of American colonies.

Decades later, before Horace Greeley championed Manifest Destiny when his New York Tribune pronounced, “Go West, young man,” New Englanders loaded up their wagons and headed down the ancient Central Trail of the Iroquois Confederacy. They looked past Geneva, at that time, the westernmost settlement in New York State (which itself became a point of controversy).

The Greater Western New York Region promised opportunity and risk in equal measure. It became the proving ground for a new nation’s first attempts to settle undeveloped land.

But it was more than that.

As George Washington quickly learned, America’s first frontier wasn’t just about the pioneers; in true mythic form, this west also posed diplomatic challenges regarding the conquered peoples who had previously claimed the land. The dance between state and federal power in the infant United States proved precarious. Fortunately, Washington’s wisdom and restraint helped protect both the State of New York and the Seneca Nation.

Still, uncertainty lingered.

Though technically part of New York State, the western portion of this original colony lacked clearly defined boundaries. Not until the War of 1812 would the dispute of the “Mile Strip” on the Niagara River be resolved.

Before then, however, the future of the Greater Western New York Region was cloudy at best. It stood on the cusp of history, on the edge of possibility.

Would that history be British, as part of Upper Canada?
Would it remain tethered to America and New York State?
Or would it become an independent state, following Vermont’s example?

Indeed, within a decade of the Paris Treaty that ended the Revolutionary War, no fewer than three attempts were made to separate Greater Western New York from New York State. What was the motivation for this? Why did they fail? How did state and local leaders respond? And what does that response reveal about the fragile architecture of the early republic?

Those unanswered questions are not historical curiosities.

They are the central mystery of our own backyard.

As we celebrate America’s 250^th, perhaps now is a good time to rediscover a chapter of our past that unfolded quietly, quickly, and almost invisibly.

After all, history is not what survives in a bland textbook. It is more alive than that. More contingent. More human. And to the attentive ear, the all-seeing eye, and the genuinely curious, it often reveals far more than we were ever taught to notice.

A history too often skipped in classrooms.
A history unfamiliar to many elected officials.
A history even seasoned historians sometimes overlook.

It’s the history of America’s forgotten first frontier.

And it leads, inevitably, to one enduring question that can finally be revealed to you:

Why did Vermont become a state—
but Greater Western New York did not?

To understand why that question was ever asked—and why it was never answered—we must return to the moments when authority was uncertain, allegiance was fluid, and the future of this frontier was still undecided.

Interested? Have you joined the 1786 Project yet? Go to http://1786project.com/ to access cool stuff about the history of the Greater Western New York Region! (And find out how to participate in the hidden treasure hunt!)

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged 1786 Project, Algonquin, America's First Frontier, Beaver Wars, Buffalo Bills, Cat Nation, Cayuga, Central Trail, Chris Berman, Colonial Era, Dutch, Erie, Europe, France, Frontier, Genesee River, George Washington, Great Britain, Greater Western New York, Horace Greeley, Huron, Iroquois Confederacy, Keepers of the Western Door, Manifest Destiny, Mile Strip, missionaries, New England, New Netherlands, New World, New York, New York Tribune, Niagara River, Old World, Paris Treaty, Revolutionary War, Seneca, Spain, trappers, Upper Canada, Vermont, War of 1812

From Tun To Tripoli, Happy 250th U.S. Marines!

By Chris Carosa on November 4, 2025

Samuel Nicholas, First Commissioned Marine Officer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Happy 250^th U.S. Marines! Two hundred fifty years of storied tradition and patriotic inspiration. Wow. If only they made a movie about them. Or a TV series.

I always wanted to be a Marine. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the dress blues. That’s the uniform I wanted for my G.I. Joe. I was just the right age to get the first run of G.I. Joe action figures. Mine was the “Action Soldier.” It came in Government Issue regular army green fatigues, not the camo fatigues of the Marine version. Still, I insisted he was a Marine. My family allowed it; after all, I was only five years old. (FYI: My uncles and great uncles were in the Army and Air Force. They didn’t seem to mind.)

Naturally, I still have my Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. lunchbox. The thermos was broken when we purchased it. Those were the days when it was hard to return things. Besides, I would never use it as the school sold milk for lunch. To prevent confusion, my brother got the Rat Patrol lunchbox. His thermos worked. Maybe he used it once or twice.

Back then, the Marines weren’t yet 200 years old. This year, on November 10, 2025, will be the 250^th birthday of the Marines. At least that’s the official birthday according to the official website of the United States Marine Corps.¹

It’s true that the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution establishing the “American Marines” on the cold afternoon of Friday, November 10, 1775. The resolution reads plain as day (from the official journal):

“Resolved, That two Battalions of marines be raised, consisting of one Colonel, two Lieutenant Colonels, two Majors, and other officers as usual in other regiments; and that they consist of an equal number of privates with other battalions; that particular care be taken, that no persons be appointed to office, or enlisted into said Battalions, but such as are good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be able to serve to advantage by sea when required; that they be enlisted and commissioned to serve for and during the present war between Great Britain and the colonies, unless dismissed by order of Congress: that they be distinguished by the names of the first and second battalions of American Marines, and that they be considered as part of the number which the continental Army before Boston is ordered to consist of.”²

Two entries just before that order hint at a bolder strategy. They reveal an intriguing story that, if it worked, might have shortened the war and pushed America’s border farther north.

The committee responsible for offering the resolution spent a week working on it. It was in response to a letter received from the inhabitants of Passamaquoddy, Nova Scotia, who “applied to the Congress to be admitted into the association of the North Americans, for the preservation of their rights and liberties”³

The first resolution authorized sending two persons “to Nova Scotia to enquire into the state of that colony, the disposition of the inhabitants towards the American cause…”⁴ The second directed General George Washington to attack Nova Scotia should he judge it “practicable and expedient.”⁵ Congress then ordered a copy of the three resolutions to be sent to Washington.

The General was miffed. As politely as possible, he returned his reply to Congress on November 19, 1775. He wrote, “I beg leave to submit it to the consideration of Congress, if those two battalions can be formed out of this army, whether this is a time to weaken our lines, by employing any of the officers appointed to defend them on any other service? … would it not be eligible to raise two battalions of marines in New York and Philadelphia, where there must be numbers of sailors now unemployed?”⁶

Congress received and read the letter on November 27. By November 30, they agreed with Washington and passed a resolution to suspend the raising of two battalions of Marines from the army.⁷ Oddly, they likely made their decision on November 28. That was the day they commissioned Samuel Nicholas as the first officer of the Marines.⁸

With an amphibious assault of Nova Scotia off the books, attention turned elsewhere. The British suspected the Marines would target New York or Boston. The Marines made the move in Nassau. Not the one in Long Island, but the one in the Bahamas. They seized the British armaments there without firing a single shot.

Legend has it that Nicholas was responsible for recruiting the first few companies of Marines at Tun Tavern. It’s more likely he used his connections with the Schuykill Fishing Company and the Fox Hunting Club to recruit. A look at the membership rolls of those two organizations shows some overlap with the first group of Marines.⁹

After the success of Nassau, Nicholas returned to Philadelphia. In the summer of 1776, Congress tasked him to recruit four companies of Marines. He did something smart. He recruited the recruiters. One of those men, Robert Mullen, inherited Tun Tavern (a.k.a. “sign of the Old Tun”¹⁰) from his father in 1775, Thomas “Mullan” (yes, the names were spelled differently in the primary source material).¹¹ Other contemporary sources spell Robert’s last name as “Mullan.”¹²

Mullen (or “Mullan”) not only ran the Tun, but he was also a member of the Masonic lodge that met there. Between being an innkeeper and active in a fraternal organization with more than 300 members, Mullen was the perfect man to recruit Marines. ¹³

Many histories (including that of the Marine Corps itself) incorrectly associate Mullen and the Tun Tavern with the November 10, 1775, birthdate of the Marines. Some even place Nicholas at the Tun, but he clearly recruited from his sportsman clubs. He may have also recruited from the Tun, especially since it was located on Water Street and frequented by the many sailors from the nearby docks.

While the Tun may be legend—or, more accurately, misplaced history—the shores of Tripoli ring true. Following the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, Congress disbanded the Continental Marines. Their retirement was brief due to the harassment by the French; Congress reestablished the Marines as the United States Marine Corps on July 11, 1798.

The U.S.M.C. earned its stripes—actually, its sword—during the Barbary Wars in 1805. 1st Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon and only eight Marines (but with 500 mercenaries), captured the city of Derna, just outside of Tripoli. Following that battle, the defeated Ottoman Prince presented O’Bannon with a Mameluke sword. Twenty years later, a replica of that sword became part of the ceremonial dress of all Marine officers.

That victory also inspired the line “shores of Tripoli” in the Marine Hymn (which wasn’t made official until 1929). Speaking of songs, “Semper Fidelis” is not only the motto of the U.S.M.C. (adopted in 1883), but it is also the title of the official Marine march. Composed by John Philip Sousa in 1889, it’s featured prominently during the movie Patton. Ironically, the movie is about the Third Army, not about Marines.

It’s funny. I recently shared the Tun Tavern story with an audience. I started by asking any Marines to raise their hands. No one did. Among the several dozen sitting before me, there were plenty of veterans, just no Marines. I guess they really are “the few.”

I never became a Marine. The closest I came—vicariously at least—was my freshman year college roommate. I was such a great roommate that he left school and joined the Marines. He served in Lebanon (but was reassigned before the Beirut barracks attack). Got his picture in Newsweek in some anonymous B-roll shot.

He’s one of the few.

And he’s proud of it.

¹ https://www.marines.mil/Marines250/ [Retrieved November 1, 2025]
² Journals of the Continental Congress 1174-1789, Volume III. 1775 September 21 – December 30, Washington, 1905, p.348 Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 [Retrieved November 1, 2025]
³ Ibid., p. 316
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ford, Worthington Chauncey, ed., The Writings of George Washington Vol. III. 1775-1776, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1889, p225-226
⁷ Journals of the Continental Congress 1174-1789, Volume III. 1775 September 21 – December 30, p.393
⁸ Image of actual commission letter from the Marine Corps Museum. https://destroyerhistory.org/fletcherclass/0_449nicholas/commission.html [Retrieved November 2, 2025]
⁹ A History of the Schuylkill Fishing Company of the State in Schuylkill, 1732-1888, Philadelphia: Members of the State in Schuylkill, 1889, pp. 367, 407.
¹⁰ The Pennsylvania Gazette, Wednesday, September 6, 1770, p.4
¹¹ The Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, Wednesday, April 26, 1775, p.4
¹² The Pennsylvania Gazette, Wednesday, May 10, 1775, p.5
¹³ Moore, Rev. Henry D., The Masonic Review, Vol. 77 No. 1, February 1892, p.154

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1775, America 250, American Marines, Bahamas, Contenental Marines, Derna, Fox Hunting Club, George Washington, Gomer Pyle, John Phillip Sousa, Mameluke sword, Nassau, Nova Scotia, November 10, Patton, Philadelphia, Presley O'Bannon, Rat Patrol, Revolutionary War, Robert Mullan, Robert Mullen, Samuel Nicholas, Schuykill Fishing Company, Second Continental Congress, semiquincentennial, Semper Fidelis, Third Army, Thomas Mullan, Tripoli, Tun Tavern, U.S.M.C., United States Marine Corps

Sails of Discovery, Anchors of Defense Celebrate Two Birthdays, One Destiny

By Chris Carosa on October 7, 2025

The U.S. Navy celebrates its 250^th birthday this Monday, October 13. Coincidentally, that day also marks the official celebration of Christopher Columbus’s discovery of America on October 12, 1492. These two events, centuries apart, show how this month celebrates our nation’s connection to the water, first through exploration and then through protection.

Columbus has long been revered as a patron saint of our country, long before he became the symbol of pride for Italian immigrants. By the 400^th anniversary of his landing in 1892, you’d be hard-pressed not to find evidence of Continue Reading “Sails of Discovery, Anchors of Defense Celebrate Two Birthdays, One Destiny”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 101st Airborne, 1893, American Colonies, American Exceptionalism, Anthony McAuliffe, Battle of the Bulge, birthday, British Empire, Chicago, Chicago Wheel, Chicago World's Fair, Christopher Columbus, Colonial America, Columbian Exposition, Columbus Day, Continental Congress, Continental Navy, Daniel Boorstin, discovery, discovery of America, Father of Our Country, Ferris Wheel, George Washington, George Washington Gale Ferris, I have not yet begun to fight, Italian immigrants, James Joyce, John Paul Jones, Jr., mistake, Nina, Nuts, Pinta, Ptolemy, resolve, Revolutionary War, Royal Navy, Santa Maria, Serapis, stoic, The Discovers, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Tony McAuliffe, U.S. Navy, Ulysses, underdog, USS Hannah, W.S.Mallory

Eerie Echoes Today of Daniel Shays, the Forgotten Patriot Who Sparked the Constitution

By Chris Carosa on September 16, 2025

Did you know that we have a heroic Revolutionary War veteran buried right here in our own backyard? Well, not precisely our backyard, but close enough to call it that.

His heroism, however, isn’t limited to fighting against the British. He took the ideals espoused by the Founding Fathers to heart. So much so that he felt it was his duty to promote those ideals at great personal sacrifice. In fact, the reason he died in Livingston County is that he was chased out of Massachusetts. He knew his family would be safe here in America’s First Frontier.

Without Daniel Shays, America might not have its Constitution. The story behind his plight so worried George Washington that America’s future first president came out of retirement and agreed to preside over the Constitutional Convention.

What follows is an excerpt from a chapter in my book, 50 Hidden Gems of Greater Western New York (Pandamensional Solutions, 2012), that reveals the true story behind this Revolutionary War veteran. It may have happened more than two centuries ago, but as you read the events, don’t be surprised if it seems this could happen (and maybe has happened) even today…Continue Reading “Eerie Echoes Today of Daniel Shays, the Forgotten Patriot Who Sparked the Constitution”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged 50 Hidden Gems, Abigail Adams, America, Bunker Hill, Cincinnatus, Col. Effingham's Raid, Colonel Effingham, Conesus, Constitution Day, Constitutional Convention, Continental Script, Daniel Shays, Federalist, First Frontier, Founding Fathers, George Knox, George Washington, James Bowdoin, James Madison, John Hancock, Lafayette, Livingston County, Massachusetts, NY Route 256, Pelham, Pennsylvania Continentals Mutiny, Prescott, Regulators, Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War Veterans, Ronald Reagan, Samuel Adams, Saratoga, Scottsburg, Shays Rebellion, Sparta, Stony Point, Thomas Jefferson, Ticonderoga, U.S. Constitution, Union Cemetery, West Swamp Road, Whisky Rebellion

Tourist Traps to Timeless Landscapes

By Chris Carosa on July 22, 2025

Not all tourist traps are alike. At some point, a tourist trap transcends its label, becoming a “must-see” simply for being so over the top. I can’t remember when we saw the first Wall Drug roadside sign, but its fame far exceeded its actual appearance.

We’d long left Chicago’s skyline behind for the flatlands. Of course, before the wide-open spaces, we traversed Wisconsin and Minnesota. It’s kind of arbitrary, but somehow poetic, to declare that crossing the Mississippi River truly makes you feel “out West” for the first time.

I-90 crosses the Mississippi on the Wisconsin-Minnesota border immediately south of Lake Onalaska. Yeah, they call it a lake, but it looks like it’s part of the river. Stretching 4 miles across, this is the widest span of the Mississippi River (if you include the Lake).

Oddly, crossing the Mississippi didn’t immediately scream “out West.” Instead, my brain went Continue Reading “Tourist Traps to Timeless Landscapes”

Posted in History, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Advertising, American Dream, Bandlands, Betsy, billboard, bison, Catarina, confidence, consecrated Americans, dinosaurs, Dune, E Pluribus Unum, Emma Lazarus, erosion, Faith, fossil, Founding Fathers, France, freedom, geology, Gutzon Borglum, Hamburger, hope, I-90, Italian, Italian American, jackalope, kitsch, Lake Onalaska, liberty, Lincoln Borglum, Luigi Del Bianco, marketing, McDonald's, melting pot, Minnesota, Minuteman Missle Silo, Mississippi River, Mount Rushmore, Peter, photography, prairie dogs, quarter pounder, Rapid City, Reptile World, roadside sign, sedimentary stone, South Dakota, Space Invaders, spirit of America, statue, Statue of Liberty, strata, sweet light, tourist trap, Wall Drug, William Andrew Burkett, Wisconsin, wretched refuse

America250 Celebrates And Inspires Our Strong Heart And The Enduring American Ideal

By Chris Carosa on July 1, 2025

America250 is approaching fast. Can you feel it—that pulse of pride beating louder throughout our nation? Are you ready?

This July 4, as you stand beneath the sky, oohing and aahing at the bombs bursting in the air above, you also stand on the cusp of a patriotic milestone. It’s one that you share with every other true American. It’s a strength that has carried our nation for nearly 250 years. All of us have it. Or should. Do you?

Remember your childhood years when you first experienced the anticipation, excitement, and ultimate joy of Independence Day? Sure, the food was great. The weather was (usually) great. But there was something greater gnawing at your soul. What made everyone so happy? Where did this universal spirit come from? How and when, you wondered, will your parents, teachers, or anyone else finally reveal this secret to you?

As you held the twinkling sparkler in your soft, young hands, you didn’t know the Founding Continue Reading “America250 Celebrates And Inspires Our Strong Heart And The Enduring American Ideal”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1776, America, America250, American Exceptionalism, Declaration of Independence, Founding Fathers, Fourth of July, French Revolution, Gordon Wood, Independence Day, Philadelphia, The American Experiment, The American Ideal, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson, upward mobility

The Force of 1776 Enlightens Graduates Choosing New Paths

By Chris Carosa on June 24, 2025

This is a high-resolution image of the United States Declaration of Independence. This image is a version of the 1823 William Stone facsimile — Stone may well have used a wet pressing process (that removed ink from the original document onto a contact sheet for the purpose of making the engraving). via Wikimedia Commons

To the Class of 2025: Congratulations, you’ve just inherited the most powerful force in human history! As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, let us also honor your passage into self-determination. Like our Founding Fathers in 1776, Enlightenment principles guide you.

Of course, you might not think the Enlightenment is particularly relevant today, or to you personally. The dazzling philosophy that once sparked revolutions seems dated by today’s standards. However, your enlightenment is real, very personal, and no less profound.

Consider those graduating with you. The moment you share isn’t just about the diploma a school administrator hands you. It’s about the door that’s opening to reveal a brilliant light, beaming with a sudden surge of knowledge, freedom, and potential.

Sound familiar? It should.

The Light Side of 1776 Enlightenment

If you see why America’s 250th excites us, you’ll recognize the same ideals that powered our Continue Reading “The Force of 1776 Enlightens Graduates Choosing New Paths”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1776, America 250, American Freemasonry, Benjamin Franklin, Bowling Green Park, British Freemasonry, Captain Kirk, Class of 2025, commonality, Continental Freemasonry, Daniel Shays, Dark Side, Declaration of Independence, equality, Europe, Founding Fathers, Freemasonry, French Revolution, George Washington, Gettysburg Address, graduation, independence, James Madison, John Hancock, John Locke, John Winthrop, liberty, Light Side, Lincoln, Manhattan, mason, masonic, military lodge, Montesquieu, morale, Second Treatise of Government, self-determination, self-esteem, self-government, Shays Rebellion, Shining City on a hill, Star Trek, Star Wars, The Enlightenment, The Force, Thomas Jefferson, Yoda

Jasper Parrish And The Terror At Civilization’s Edge

Thomas Boyd And The Brutality Of The Western Frontier

William French and the Westminster Massacre

America’s Forgotten First Frontier

From Tun To Tripoli, Happy 250th U.S. Marines!

Sails of Discovery, Anchors of Defense Celebrate Two Birthdays, One Destiny

Eerie Echoes Today of Daniel Shays, the Forgotten Patriot Who Sparked the Constitution

Tourist Traps to Timeless Landscapes

America250 Celebrates And Inspires Our Strong Heart And The Enduring American Ideal

The Force of 1776 Enlightens Graduates Choosing New Paths

The Light Side of 1776 Enlightenment

Welcome to ChrisCarosa.com

Categories

The Light Side of 1776 Enlightenment

Welcome to ChrisCarosa.com

Categories

Tags