The Great March on Washington, D.C., September 12, 2009

They came to Defend Freedom

By Judi McLeod
Saturday, September 19, 2009

One week ago today, 1.7 million ordinary Americans flooded Washington, DC to defend their country.

With thousands already gathered in Freedom Plaza in the early morning hours, the fifers and drummers who were to lead the procession to Capitol Hill. were ordered by district police to start the parade one hour and 15 minutes early.

Revolutionary-era en-actors William Temple, of Georgia, and Gene Hoyas, as continental army officer Col. Rash, led the fifers and drummers down Pennsylvania. It was a page come back to life out of glorious American history…the return of Paul Revere on a September Saturday that was no longer ordinary.

“By the time we reached Capitol Hill, a crowd of hundreds of thousands was already waiting to cheer us on,â€