Recently, we toured the sites of the first battles of the American Revolution, at Lexington and Concord.
Walking in the footsteps of Johnny Tremain
As we walked the Battle Road Trail at Minute Man National Park, images of the Johnny Tremain movie by Walt Disney ran through my mind.
In retaliation to the Boston Tea Party, the British punished Boston by closing their port, dissolving their colonial assembly, and placing the colony under martial law.
British Major-General Thomas Gage, informed by spies of the amassing of arms by the local militia, ordered a march to seize the arms.
As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow famously wrote, on the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five… British Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Smith led 800 men to Concord.
En route, Smith ordered Major John Pitcairn to advance with his light infantry.
Meanwhile the Lexington’s militia captain, John Parker, ordered his men: Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon. But if they want to have a war, let it begin here.
Approaching about 80 of the local militia lined up on the green, Pitcairn shouted: Disperse, ye rebels, disperse!
Today it remains a mystery of who fired the first shot.
After a skirmish, Smith finally arrived at the scene of fleeing militia men and a scattered British light infantry.
Regrouping the British pushed on to Concord.
When 90 of the light infantrymen discovered about 500 of the militia at the North Bridge, another skirmish occurred.
Suffering numerous casualties, the British army marched back to Boston.
Markers along the Battle Road Trail informed us of how many miles were left to Boston.
I was extremely grateful our van was parked much closer than that!
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Concord Hymn
In 1834, poet Ralph Waldo Emerson moved to Concord to live in the Old Manse, home of his grandfather who witnessed the battle at nearby North Bridge.
Three years later, Emerson wrote Concord Hymn for the monument dedication at the North Bridge.
Concord Hymn -Ralph Waldo Emerson
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breezes unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The Colony of Virginia responds
Upon receiving news of the battle, Mann Page left his Fredericksburg, Virginia home to furiously ride his horse to the capital in Williamsburg to inform everyone: I bring news from the North! Blood has been shed in Massachusetts!
A month before, on March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry predicted: It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
