Celebrating a Life Well Lived

Happy 300th Birthday Colonel Peter Kichline

This week I’m celebrating the 300th–yes, 3-0-0th–birthday of my cherished “Grandfather Peter.” Peter Kichline was born on November 8, 1722 in Germany and came to Pennsylvania with his family twenty years later. His was a life of devoted service to God, home, and country.

During the American Revolution, Peter commanded the Northampton County Flying Camp at the Battle of Brooklyn (Long Island), in late August 1776. This was the first engagement with the British following the Declaration of Independence, and the battle was a complete rout. Stacked against enormous odds, the Americans under George Washington were overwhelmed and soundly defeated. Some believed this was the death knell for independence. Peter himself was wounded, captured, and imprisoned.

I tell the amazing story of that battle in two of my books, Great Stories in American History and Easton at the Crossroads. Although the Americans were down, under Washington, they refused to give up, even when conditions for his troops deteriorated throughout the rest of that year. Those were, indeed, the times that tried men’s souls.

My Grandfather Peter remains a shining light in my life as I seek to live as he did, all-out for the people and country he loved. Happy birthday!