Posted on 04/18/2007 11:22:01 PM PDT by NonValueAdded
On April 19, 1775, British and American soldiers exchanged fire in the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord. On the night of April 18, the royal governor of Massachusetts, General Thomas Gage, commanded by King George III to suppress the rebellious Americans, had ordered 700 British soldiers, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith and Marine Major John Pitcairn, to seize the colonists' military stores in Concord, some 20 miles west of Boston.
A system of signals and word-of-mouth communication set up by the colonists was effective in forewarning American volunteer militia men of the approach of the British troops. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Paul Revere's Ride" tells how a lantern was displayed in the steeple of Christ Church on the night of April 18, 1775 as a signal to Paul Revere and others.
One if by land, and two if by sea;At Lexington Green, the British were met by 77 American Minute Men led by John Parker. At the North Bridge in Concord, the British were confronted again, this time by 300 to 400 armed colonists, and were forced to march back to Boston with the Americans firing on them all the way. By the end of the day, the colonists were singing "Yankee Doodle" and the American Revolution had begun.
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex, village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.
(Excerpt) Read more at memory.loc.gov ...
See also J. L. Bell's excellent Web site covering this period at blogspot: Boston 1775
By the way, there will be a quiz:
1) Hancock and Adams missed out on their planned salmon dinner that day. What did Hancock eventually pay for the meal he did receive?
2) Capt. Isaac Davis made the famous statement "No, I am not and I haven't a man that is!" in response to what question?
3) What was special about Davis' Acton Minutemen?
4) How many eventually responded to the alarm that day? Which group traveled the most distance?
5) Who was Mother Batherick and what did she do that day?
6) Who was the "White Horseman?"
7) Why would some think AlGore was present in Lexington & Concord on April 16th of this year?
8) In which Massachusetts town was the fighting the fiercest that day? (Extra credit for its name both then and now).
And double extra credit if you can source all of the answers within the confines of FreeRepublic.com
ping
follow up ping
People armed were vital to this nation gaining freedom. Now, it's vital to KEEPING it.
You should get some US Constitution History/Studies threads going also.
The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington Ping list
Please freepmail me to get ON or OFF this list
Thanks for the post and ping, NonValueAdded.
Indeed, a great day to remember that those men who stood up that day did it for LIBERTY.
bttt!
8.Menotomy (Arlington)— gotta go to work, or I’d be pursuing 1-7 also. God Bless the memory of Jonathan Harrington.
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
Good Patriots’ Day morning posters and thank you for visiting the thread. Just Lori, right you are! I have a special answer to your post but must save it until after the quiz is over.
It was unseasonably cold that day?
You are on the right track but your answer must evolve :)
7) Because the weather was unseasonably cold and awful. This made the water extra high at Lechmere's Point, so the lobsterbacks would be extra soaked as they started their forced march.
8) The Village of Menotomy, which is known today as Arlington. That's where Samuel Whittemore made his famous stand.
Click for much bigger image.
Molon Labe
The Powder House Alarm, seven months earlier, was an even more brazen gun grab. You almost never hear about that these days.
i will share this with my US History students... i teach in a homeschool co-op (my class consists of four boys)... we just finished studying the American Revolution last quarter... this quarter we are touching on The Bill of Rights...
Ronmey, Guiliani, and McCain - never met a gun control law that they didn't like.
No.
It was celebrated on Monday with a nice Red Sox win over the Angels.
Happy Patriots Day to all.
Well it makes a change anyway. Are they still threatening to arrest the re-enactors for carrying around muskets, or did they get over that?
I'm fairly sure that was only a theoretical risk, at best. Re-enactors are certainly allowed to carry muskets.
And it wasn’t just GUNS...but the people also had CANNONS (GASP! Could it be that the Second Amendment covers more than single shot target rifles and shotguns?! :-) ...and General Gage’s troops had already confiscated American cannons elsewhere in MA before this. But these brave colonists didn’t let it go unopposed at Lexington & Concord.
BTTT!
Thanks for the post. Happy Patriots Day to you and all.
Ironically, not twenty years before, New Englanders had been instrumental in driving the Acadians from l'Acadie through sheer terror---and---grabbing their guns. In other words, they knew very well what could go down, because they'd been on the other side.
2) Capt. Isaac Davis made the famous statement "No, I am not and I haven't a man that is!" in response to what question?
"Are you afraid to go?"
3) What was special about Davis' Acton Minutemen?
They were well equipped for irregulars, even having bayonets, and had trained extensively (paid for it, too).
I remember watching a show on TV about the battle. The lefty history professor they had on said that the red coats were just going to reclaim the cannons that the militia had stolen. Let’s see the militia had stolen their own canons?
Same to you. Lexington and Concorde. Wooooo-hooooo!
Bump
Thank you for the faithful pings.
What a gorgeous photo.
One of them, Job Pratt, farmed near Westborough and was among several of the town mustered into service in time for the action at Concord Bridge.
It is my distinct pleasure, m’dame.
You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,-—
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,-—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.
6. Percy, later to be Duke of Northumberland
5. Mother Batherick was working in the field had her gun ..saw the battle and took British Redcoats prisoner...then delivered her prisoners to a minute man captain and told them, “If you ever live to get back, you tell King George that an old woman took six of his grenadiers prisoners.”
We women ROCK!!
Pencils down, everyone. I’d display your grades but Federal law prevents that. 1975 or so, wasn’t it? A change whose aftershock only now made it to Virginia a few days ago.
2. When asked if he was afraid to advance.
3.Concord Action men....The Acton’s company was the only one present that was entirely outfitted with bayonets, perhaps because Isaac Davis himself was a blacksmith and a gunsmith. Isaac Davis became the first commissioned officer to die in the Revolutionary War. The British were turned back at the bridge, in large part due to Acton’s stand. April 19th, 1775 was the day it truly all began, and the turning point at the old North Bridge was the first time the British had been forced to retreat in the face of colonial opposition.
I knew Davis was the first officer down, but does this mean that the Acton Minutemen were the first to fire a shot at the British?
(maybe next time the guys in concord can get their asses out of bed and get to their own bridge... before guys from another town ;)
And a few things for you all to consider …
Imagine if Capt. Isaac Davis survived the battle and was able to serve General Washington in the role eventually filled by von Steuben, and train Washington’s men as well as he, Capt. Davis, trained the Acton Minutemen?
Further, what impact did the general lack of training and equipment of the April 19th militia (save Isaac Davis’ men) have on the crafting of the 2nd Amendment? Did the founding fathers aim to a) justify April 19th and b) ensure the militia would be ready for the task within Jefferson’s 25-year rinse & repeat timeframe?
To Paige’s point “we women Rock!” in telling us about Mother Batherick, let me add “all the elders rocked” that day. Consider that the militia that captured Percy’s resupply train and chased off the lobsterbacks into Mother Batherick’s custody were too old to keep up with the youngin’s answering the alarm. The same held true for The White Horseman. But look at the pivotal role those seasoned citizens played from that day forward.
Now think about this … there is an age cutoff in the current United States Code that defines what is the militia. And what if by some change in the Supreme Court the 2nd Amendment is re-interpreted to be a collective right, arming the militia with a grudging nod towards Isaac Davis’ preparation regimin? Would that disarm Mother Batherick? Hezikiah Wyman? The others who captured Percy’s supply wagons? Would the Founding Fathers throw that all away or did they rightly consider the individual contributions of the citizen Patriots that day, young and old, spry and slow-moving, male and female?
Interesting stuff that I hope to explore further.
Thank you for adding the graphics to the thread. Pharmboy too for the Concord Bridge on the ping out.
I'm doing this off the top of my head but I think it is safe to say that the Acton Minutemen were ready to accept and give the first deliberate volley. They were chosen to take the bridge due to their training and equipment, being the only ones with bayonets to face the similarly equipped British regulars. I don't think it was an issue of the Concord men sleeping in :)
I'm not sure we can accept Wood's statement at face value and it is, of course, impossible to find out for sure.
thanks again ; good stuff.
On March 23 Patrick Henry, speaking in Virginia’s Convention (a revolutionary body), had said “The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!”. He was right.
thanks for the link!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.