Two Cent Piece

Five decades ago, as a young Boy Scout, I acquired a “two-cent piece.” It was dated 1864, worn so you could barely read the date. I loved it, though, imagining Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant might have touched it. Such is history’s power.

As we move beyond July 4th celebrations of our Declaration of Independence – signed 250 years ago – God’s ways are worth pondering.

The entire enterprise, our Republic itself, was at risk of collapsing into a Civil War being fought to end the scourge of slavery – on July 1, 1863.

General Robert E. Lee was viewed as the best general on either side, and was hurling himself north, from there to descend on Washington DC to divide the nation forever.

God had a different plan. Two battles would end decisively for the Union by July 4th, 1863. First, due to a mistake of military intelligence, Lee was forced to engage Union General Mead at Gettysburg and was defeated on July 3, withdrawing on July 4th.

Meantime, the humble but powerfully effective General U.S. Grant finally won at Vicksburg, a brilliant, extended, daring, and highly consequential victory – also on July 4th.

Taken together, those two battles effectively spelled the beginning of the end for the Lee-led Army of Northern Virginia and the end of the Confederacy.

So, on the 87th birthday of our nation, in the midst of the most costly war in American history – measured by incalculable pain, wounding, grief, and loss of life – God delivered to America a blessing, two victories.

These lifted Lincoln, secured for Grant epic status, reduced Lee to a man in retreat, and began what would be the last years of the war.

All this, my younger self found spellbinding, later reinforced in books like “Killer Angels” and reading Grant’s autobiography. But perhaps most significant was that, while Lincoln still lived – in 1864 – the US mint began minting its famous “two-cent piece,” the first US coin to say “In God We Trust.”

More than 100 years later, a young me held in hand one of those coins, no longer made after 1873, but still fascinating to me, since – only God knows – it might also have been held by President Lincoln or General Grant. Such is the power of history.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!