In the early morning hours of 19 April 1775, General Thomas Gage sent troops into the countryside outside of Boston. Gage’s orders that day were to proceed:
“with utmost expedition and secrecy to Concord, where you will seize and destroy all the Artillery, Ammunition, Provisions, Tents, Small Arms, and all Military stores whatever.”
General Gage had no way of knowing that with these orders, he had set in motion a series of events that would forever alter history. This was to be just another in a series of raids and attempted raids where the British were endeavoring to gain tighter control over war materials that the colonists possessed, as part of their duties as the militia. Gage understood the gravity of this particular undertaking, as preparation for this particular raid had been underway for almost a month prior to that fateful day. The British Regulars that departed Boston that fateful morning, were some of the finest troops at Gage’s disposal. Gage was not leaving anything to chance.
Despite all of his careful preparations, the selection of his finest troops for the initial raid, the careful route planning, the establishment of a pre-planned relief element to augment the original column, etc. etc., Gage’s attempt to seize these materials would ultimately become the catalyst that would ignite the flames of a revolution that would reshape the world and more importantly establish a heritage, a tradition, a culture, and empowered a new class of individual that would embody these traits. That which was established on that epochal day will be the purpose and endeavor of this website.
Welcome to Sempratus.
On 19 April 1775, ordinary individuals, who up to that point had led ordinary and normal lives, did something extraordinary. While tensions were simmering and some passions boiling over, I hazard that most of them were completely unaware of the role they would play in shaking the very foundations of empires. In fact, this group of farmers, blacksmiths, children, and others would in one 24 hour day, come within a whisper of winning American independence. The question that we will be the thesis of this site, is how did John Colonial, loyal subject of the Crown, answer the bell and carry the field against one of the greatest militaries of the day?
Our study of the question posed above is not the endeavor of a historian, or someone simply interested in what happened on 19 April 1775. Our study will be focused on how we can restore the heritage, tradition, and culture that was established on that day. We have for too long, lived lives of luxury and excess while our freedoms were taken from us. For too long we have sat idly by while the opposition has grown bolder with every law or diktat that they have imposed upon us. A day of reckoning is due and in the event that a peaceful resolution is impossible, we must be prepared to stand ready, to take the field against our adversaries, and prove to them that we are indeed, “men…who know very well what they are about.”
Before moving on, there is one thing to make clear. This page is not and never will advocate for beginning an armed insurrection or rebellion. To honor this heritage, we must strive to hold ourselves to the same standard as our ancestors and reserve violence as a tool of absolute last resort. However, it is foolhardy to believe that reasonable men have been left an abundance of options. The noose has been tightening for years and to not be prepared is to be willfully ignorant of current events. As the men of New England stood ready for a day that they hoped would never come, we too must make ourselves ready for fate to call us to lay down our plows and to take up our swords. This calling is present in the very name chosen for this project. Sempratus is derived from the Latin phrase Semper Paratus which translates to Always Ready/Prepared (we are not in any way shape or form connected to Semper Paratus Arms and wish to be abundantly clear about that).
The foundation of Sempratus is a belief in Anarcho-Capitalism. Simply put, we do not believe that any individual has the right to govern another. This belief is the filter through which everything on this page will pass. Resting on this Anarcho-Capitalist foundation will be three pillars:
- Firearms/Gear
- Prostasiology
- Tribes/Clans
Firearms/Gear: The first pillar is simple enough, every trade has tools and our tools will be firearms, body armor, magazines, rucksacks, medical, boots, etc. We will focus on the gear we need and the supplies required to conduct and carry out our mission/calling. This pillar will be focused on the objects themselves.
Prostasiology: The second pillar will be the broadest and most unique of our pillars. This topic is so unique that we had to invent a word to describe it. The root of the word is the Greek word, prostasia, which translates to “protection”. This pillar will be our study of protection and all that could comprise such a broad topic. We will cover personal self-defense, multiple security fields (OPSEC, PERSEC, INFOSEC, etc), prepping, the philosophical aspect of defense (eg the Non-Aggression Principle, who are valid targets in an active insurrection, etc.), the application of violence, communal defense, and many more. This area will be focused on knowledge and application. There will be much to cover and discuss here.
Tribes/Clans: The final pillar will be that of a foundational belief. For far too long, we have been taught to believe that diversity is a strength, but I beg the question, what have the results of that drive been? History is replete with empires that were full of diverse cultures, bound together only by a national identity. Where are those empires today? Hint, start looking in the dust bin of history. This is not to say that diversity is, in of and by itself a bad thing, but to force diverse groups of people with radically different ideas to form a shared community is folly. We believe in restoring communities that are built on shared principles and ideas. We desire to reawaken the concept of tribal and clannish existence, to rebuild communities that create and nourish strong bonds. We want to restore the historic bonds of community, that enabled our ancestors to begin to build the world we live in today.
There will be juvenile minds that will mindlessly screech that this pillar is a dog whistle for <insert idiotic ideology here>. To those individuals I will simply say, this probably isn’t the blog for you and we humbly request that you simply go on about your day and leave us in peace.
Throughout this journey we will not claim to have all the answers, nor do we claim to be experts. We’ve simply been passionate about these topics, are widely read in them, and wish to share what we have learned and guide others to those we have learned from. We’ll also be documenting our journeys through these topics, training that we attend, and lessons that we have personally learned. Through it all, our commitment is to be forthcoming and always honest. We will strive for perfection, yet we will not die on dogmatic hills. If we are wrong, we will do our best to admit our errors, improve for the future, and call out our mistakes. Mistakes can and should be used as opportunities to learn and the man that has nothing left to learn has nothing left to live for. We seek constantly to understand and uphold the standards of both performance, knowledge, and data. There is plenty of corrupt knowledge on the interwebs and our goal is to eradicate it and to become a trusted voice.
Join us on this journey and honor the men from that fateful day. Honor the heritage that was bestowed upon us 19 April 1775 and become dangerous again. Become someone who knows very well what they are about.
