We Few, We Happy Few, We Band of Brothers

Our history is replete with major events whose final outcomes were completely unpredictable. One such event was the English victory over the French at Agincourt on 25 October 1415. The English army of 12,000, led by King Henry V had landed in France on 13 August 1415. The latest chapter in the 100 Years War (1337-1453), a conflict over which family should rule France, was about to be written. And you thought American politics was crazy.

After an extended siege, the French surrendered the port city of Harfleur on 22 September. The English army had been reduced to about 9000, some from fighting but mostly due to dysentery which left many others weakened by the disease. Henry realized the campaign season was coming to an end. He made the decision to march his tired, hungry and weakened army 170 miles north to the port city of Calais and then to transport back to England.

However, a sizeable French force was able to block and turn the 170-mile-march to Calais into a 260- mile-two-and-a-half-week-march further weakening the English army. Finally, on 24 October both armies faced each other for battle and camped on the open ground that night. During the lull, Henry was said to have taken mass three times. Then, on the eve of battle, he made an impassioned speech to his faithful army. (See excerpts below)

The next day began with the French seeking to negotiate, a delay ploy for reinforcements to arrive. Henry, having none of this, ordered his unified army to advance as he led them to engage the reluctant French army. And so, the Battle of Agincourt began on St. Crispians Day with bold leadership, as well as, reluctant leadership.

The bone-weary English army was outnumbered, three or four to one by most accounts, and facing a fresh well-fed and well-equipped “home team.” However, they believed in their leader and believed in their cause and the outcome was a decisive English victory. Most historians place the French casualties at 6000 dead and 2000 captured. Many of the dead and captured, were nobles and other members of the ruling class. The English casualties were 400 to 600 dead and none captured.

Playwright William Shakespeare immortalized Henry’s speech in his play Henry V. Here are excerpts from Henry’s speech on the eve of battle:

That he which hath no stomach for this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made… We would not die in that man’s company That fears his fellowship to die with us ...

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother, be he ne’er so vile, And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispian’s day.

Henry’s speech is the source of the phrase, “Band of Brothers”, that we are so familiar with in 2020. The phrase resonates in the masculine gender because it speaks to our transcendent dimension, it beckons us to unity…to relationship with other men. It invites us to come out of our isolation, our mediocrity and our comfort zones. The phrase summons us to a fellowship, a noble tradition and a conscious desire and willingness to sacrifice for others and with others, in the pursuit of a noble cause. It can turn an ordinary soldier into “a warrior”.

“Agincourts” (I’d explain this term with a short statement) still occur and continue to require men with “a stomach for the fight”. Men prepared to put individual heart and soul fearlessly into a fellowship of “we few, we happy few, we band of brothers”, will also be victorious men in impossible-looking battles. Like the consummate Band of Brothers and first fire team---Jesus and the three--- we are being called into “life-giving” relationships. Back-to-back brothers---Triads of brothers---quads of brothers---in relationship to multiple quads---servants in pursuit of valor. Turning battlefields into harvest fields.

Barney Barnes, 04-15-2020, Promise Keepers National Ambassador for the Military and Prisons