I’M FREE! by Rev. Ken Rickett

This is an exciting year! It has been 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. Since that day, our nation has been cast as “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” The Revolutionary War that began against England shortly thereafter was indeed a declaration of independence from excessive taxation, from a government that ignores the voice of the people, from religious intolerance, from oppressive denial of individual rights, from unfair trade and tariffs, from edicts issued by the Monarchy…to name a few issues. Therefore, for 250 years, our ancestors as well and you and I can proclaim “I’m free…”

Being a lover of history (which is my college degree), and an avid family genealogist by hobby, I am humbled by the number of my direct paternal and maternal ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War…as well as their siblings, uncles, cousins…. These ancestors fought for the privilege of not only stating “I’m Free…” but also living and experiencing those freedoms right now.

My 4th great grandfather Robert Rickett served in the Maryland militia and so did his father-in-law Richard Allison, my 5th great grandfather.

Also, “I’m free” because of ancestors who fought in other wars.

Having been reared in the South, I had numerous ancestors who served in the Confederacy, but one ancestor, a man by the name of Jeremiah Jenkins, one of my maternal fourth great grandfathers, deserted the Confederacy, came north to Pendleton, Madison County, Indiana, where he joined the 8th Indiana, and fought for the Union until the end of the war. He came back to Vincennes, IN, met and married a lady from nearby Illinois, and they settled in Evansville, IN until 1879 when they moved back to the North Carolina mountains. Incredibly, on June 22 1900, 35 years after the war, a southern sympathizer killed him.

My fourth great Grandmother Ellender Allison Rickett (who settled from Maryland to North Carolina in the 1790s)’ had two siblings who settled with their families in Monroe and Owen Counties, Indiana before 1820. One of those siblings had a grandson, Lt. James W Archer, who fought in the Civil War, enlisting in Owen County IN. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor as he took leadership during a fierce battle after higher ranking officers were killed or wounded… And therefore, our ancestors, in some way, regardless of which “side”, continued to pass on the privilege in which all Americans may declare “I’m free….”

I have in my possession a book entitled “May These Lines Reach Your Kind Hands” by Charles Rich. which is composed of numerous letters exchanged between Martha Henley Poteet, (sister of my great, great grandmother Sarah Henley Rickett), and her husband Marion Poteet, a Confederate soldier. This book title comes from a quote from a letter from Martha to her husband Marion in 1864, detailing not only their strong marital bond, but also the desolation and ruin caused by the long months of separation, describing the harsh difficulty of a mother with nine children from a baby to age 15,, barely able to farm alone, losing livestock to passing soldiers, and the sheer effort to grow and preserve garden produce for the long winter months. This family did not own slaves, and thus Marion Poteet was conscripted for three years into the NC military…which was aligned with the Confederacy. O, how both husband and wife yearned to be able to declare “I’m free…” from devastating conflict and human suffering, despair and waves of hopelessness…

I remember well my great uncle (died 1973) who fought in World War I…and who was gassed in France but lived a long life in which he was limited by damaged lungs…so therefore you and I say, “I’m free….”

In World War II, my cousin Lt, Coit Taylor Henley, whose ancestor was a brother of my great, great grandmother Sarah Henley Rickett mentioned above, was awarded both the Silver Star and the French Croix de Guerre for piloting his ship into Normandy Beach, supplying infantry soldiers, and taking aboard many wounded soldiers, then returning to sea with his ship amid heavy fire from the German fortresses on D-Day, June 6. 1945. His ship USS LCI 85, on fire and badly damaged, was able to stay afloat long enough for the wounded soldiers and crew to be safely removed before the ship sank. And thus, we all can now proudly say “I’m free…” 

And also in World War II, my father, Paul Kenneth Rickett, a member of the Sixth Marine Division, 4th Marine Regiment, First Battalion, Company C, was wounded twice in the brutal battles between April 1, and mid-May, 1945 to take Okinawa…the fighting so fierce that, after being wounded, he continued to fight from a shell=hole…it took two days before medics could reach him. The Sixth Marine Division was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for bravery. And I myself can say, “I’m free…” along with you!

Yes, I had cousins in Vietnam, the Gulf War, etc. And “I’m free…”

And just maybe a more sobering and yet joyful declaration of “I’m free…” comes when we realize that several words of faith that we use constantly…love, forgiveness, and grace allows us to declare “I’m free…” NOT free to exploit and abuse, BUT FREE…released and unbound from all fear, all sin, all efforts to debase us as if we were less than a child of God.

All of God’s Love now revealed to us amid battles and victories of Jesus, the Son of God, two thousand years ago, allows you and I to proclaim “I’m Free…” in a way that no nation can give us…only God!

“For freedom Christ has set us free…”