Battle of Lexington and Concord

“ In him perished more personal and local anecdote of Concord and its vicinity than is possessed by any survivor, and in his constitutional leaning to their religion he was one of the rear-guard of the great camp and army of the Puritans.” He gave the land in 1836 upon which the monument is built to commemorate the battle of Concord, 19 April, 1775. From the Revolution for fifty years there was a controversy between Concord and Lexington for the honor of “making the first forcible resistance to British aggression.” Dr. ”

“ There have been many histories of the Battle of Lexington and of the Battle of Concord, some of them excellent to the extent of that part of the contest to which they were devoted. From time to time gifted orators have gone to the one town or to the other, and eloquently portrayed the heroic deeds of men within that town on the opening day of the American Revolution. No fault should be found with any of those, designed as a healthy stimulus to local pride, and to foster sentiments of national patriotism. ”

“ Lexington's highway to Arlington ran between pillaged and burning homes, and his soldiers staggered along under heavy burdens of property stolen from those whose King was his King. Concord and Lincoln have none of Percy's deeds related in their chronicles, but Lexington, and Arlington, and Cambridge, and Somerville, and Charlestown have good reason to remember his terrible conception of warfare.
Gen. William Heath, as the commanding officer of the Americans, endeavored to organize his forces into something like an army. ”

“ His order was followed by a volley of musketry right into the faces of the Lexington soldiers, killing four and wounding several others. The minute-men dispersed, and the British troops hurried on to Concord. Here they met with an unexpectedly hot reception by several hundred minute-men, who had come through the darkness to defend their supplies and the town. Every hour their number increased by the accession of heroes, who came from even twenty miles away to meet the foe.
The British commander was forced to order a retreat, in which his army suffered even more than it did in the battle. ”

“ Beginning in the neighborhood of East Lexington and the Munroe Tavern, on the eastern outskirts of Lexington, they progress to the Battle Green and the Hancock-Clarke house in Lexington, then along the Battle Road through Lincoln, and finally down Concord’s legendary streets, ending at Concord Bridge where the British fired the “shot heard round the world.”
Visitors who have had the enriching experience of following a similar path come away with an inspired picture of this epic moment in American history. ”

“ On the hill not far from the village stood the Liberty Pole, from the summit of which some kind of a flag was flying. The British cut it down. [164]
It was between seven and eight o'clock, when the enemy reached Concord village. [165] The march from Lexington must have been a steady one, without interruption. The distance is about six and a quarter miles and the elapsed time about two hours. The entire distance from Lechmere Point is about seventeen miles, sufficiently long, even thus far, to weary many of the soldiers. ”

“ The immediate cause of the battle, or, more properly, rencontre at Lexington, was an attempt of a detachment of British troops to execute an order of General Gage to destroy certain military stores, which the provincials had collected at Concord, a town situated some eighteen miles from Boston. In anticipation of an approaching contest, the provincial assembly of Massachusetts had passed a resolution for the purchase of all the gunpowder that could be found, and of every sort of arms and ammunition requisite for an army of fifteen thousand men. ”

“ With others he hurried to Lexington, but could not reach the Common in time to participate in the opening struggle. They saw the stains of blood on the ground, hurried on to Lincoln, and at Tanner's Brook commenced to harass the British on their return. [62]
In Reading, twelve miles from Boston, alarm guns were fired, just at sunrise. Edmund Foster in a letter to Col. Daniel Shattuck, of Concord, dated March 10, 1825, speaks at length of his personal experiences. Following the guns came [34] a post, bringing the information that the Regulars had gone to Concord. ”

“ I die willingly for my country." [243] And so Concord and Lexington, too, reverently treasure the memory of brave Acton men, whose life blood stained the soil of each.
[109]
Up the westerly slope of Concord Hill, an elevation named after her sister town, marched the British. Their ranks were broken and disordered. Many had been wounded, many had been killed, and many had fallen exhausted by the wayside. It was then about half past one o'clock, and they had marched rather more than twenty-three miles. At that time their ammunition began to give out, which added to their discomfiture. ”

“ In Danvers, sixteen miles away, news of the British advance was given at about 9 o'clock, and was communicated to the citizens by bells and drums, who responded by thronging to the rendezvous near the Old South Church at the bend of the Boston Road. Women were there, not with entreaty, but to fasten on the belt, and gird on the sword. [63]
At Andover, twenty-five miles away, the alarm was given at about sunrise, and minute-men were ready to march for Concord at about 10 o'clock. On their way through Tewksbury they learned that eight Americans had been killed at Lexington ”

“ Others affirmed that every man had turned out with his musket, and that not a single soldier would ever get back to Boston.
"It was after sunset," continued Grandfather, "when the troops, who had marched forth so proudly, were seen entering Charlestown. They were covered with dust, and so hot and weary that their tongues hung out of their mouths. Many of them were faint with wounds. They had not all returned. Nearly three hundred were strewn, dead or dying, along the road from Concord. The yeomanry had risen upon the invaders, and driven them back."
"Was this the battle of Lexington?" ”

“ Sergeant Munroe and eight men were sent to guard the parsonage where the patriot statesmen were stopping, and Solomon Brown, Jonathan Loring, and Elijah Sanderson, all members of Captain Parker's Company of Minute Men, were despatched to watch the officers after they had passed through Lexington toward Concord. They followed them on horseback into Lincoln, about two [19] and a half miles from Lexington village, where they were ambushed by the ones they were following, and taken prisoners. It was then about 10 o'clock in the evening of April 18th. ”

“ We can go with them through the day, as they join the men of Acton; of Concord;—men from all over Middlesex, and Essex, and Norfolk Counties, who also stood so ready to defend the common cause, yea, even with life itself!
The dead on or near Lexington Common were Jonas Parker, Jonathan Harrington, Jr., Ensign Robert Munroe, Isaac Muzzy, John Brown, Samuel Hadley, Caleb Harrington, and Asahel Porter. The wounded were John Robbins, so that he could not write his name or even make his mark; [148] Solomon Pierce; John Tidd, sabre cut on his head by a British officer; [149] Joseph Comee, on his arm ”

“ Half an hour later Dawes rode up from his longer ride from Boston. [54] They partook of refreshments and together set out for Concord. Not far beyond Lexington Common they were overtaken by a young man, Dr. Samuel Prescott, whose home was in Concord. That evening he had been visiting the young lady to whom he was engaged to be married, Miss [26] Mulliken of Lexington. Revere spoke of the ten officers that Devens had met, and of the probability that they would attempt to stop them before they should reach Concord. It was planned to alarm every house on the way. Dr. ”

“ Such was the opening contest of the American Revolution. Those shots were the signal of a tempest of war which was destined to end in the establishment of one of the greatest nations known to human history. As for the men who lay dead upon Lexington green, the first victims of a great cause, they would be amply revenged before their assailants set foot again on Boston streets.
The troops, elated with their temporary success, now pushed on briskly towards Concord, hoping to be in time to seize the stores. ”

“ In the meantime a party of
our men (one hundred and fifty) took the back way through20
the great fields into the East Quarter and had placed themselves
to advantage, lying in ambush behind walls, fences,
and buildings, ready to fire upon the enemy on their retreat.
—Journal.
1. This entry in Mr. Emerson's journal was made on the day of the Lexington-Concord battle. Give the date of it.
2. What poem did the Reverend Mr. Emerson's grandson write about the battle of Concord? Bring it to class and read it.
3. What famous ride is connected with this battle?
4. Describe the fight. Was Mr. ”

“ Veer'd round for Boston back again,
And found so well their prospects thrive,
That every soul got back alive.'
"It was some two months after this that the battles of Lexington and Concord took place. On April 18, the patriots learned that the next [Pg 162] day British troops were to visit Concord for the purpose of destroying some military stores there, and passing through Lexington seize the persons of John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were both in that town at the house of the Rev. Jonas Clark. ”

“ Yet he felt uneasy concerning the gathering of ammunition and stores by the patriots at Concord, sixteen miles from Boston; and on the night of (p. 050) the 18th of April, 1775, he sent a detachment of soldiers to seize them. They proceeded by the way of Lexington, where they arrived at dawn of the 19th. The expedition became known, and the country was aroused. When the British approached Lexington, they were confronted by about seventy minute-men. A skirmish ensued: eight patriots were killed, and several were wounded. That was the first bloodshed of the Revolution. ”

“ Now they are gone through the night with never a thought of fame,
Gone to the field of a fight that shall win them a deathless name;
Some shall never again behold the set of the sun,
But lie like the Concord slain, and the slain of Lexington,
Martyrs to Freedom's cause. Ah, how at their deeds we thrill,
The men whose might made strong the height on the eve of Bunker Hill! ”

“ In the mean time, the party under Captain Parsons returned from Colonel Barrett's, and were allowed by the provincials to cross the river at the North Bridge, where the skirmish had just occurred, unmolested. It may be asked why the militia did not cut them off, which they might easily have done. It must be remembered that war had not been declared, and that the people had been enjoined to make Great Britain the aggressor, they acting only on the defensive. The militia at Concord had not yet heard of the deaths at Lexington ”

“ And fired the shot heard round the world,” the popular education in the art of war proceeded rapidly; though even then one of our men who was unsuspiciously firing from behind a stone wall at the British column in the road, had the surprise and mortification to be himself shot in the back by a flanking party. Before noon the retreat from Concord had become a rout, that was not arrested till Earl Percy arrived at Lexington with twelve hundred men and two pieces of cannon. ”

“ Thus the terrible war, which was almost a civil war, began. The British now marched on to Concord. They had failed to arrest the men they had been sent to arrest at Lexington. So there was all the more reason to hurry on to Concord, and seize the war stores before there was time to spirit them away. But when about seven o'clock in the morning the troops arrived at Concord the stores for the most part had been already safely hidden. A gun or two they found, and a few barrels of flour. The guns were spiked, the barrels staved in, the court house set on fire. ”

“ See also in Lippincotts Maga-rine, May, 1889, my paper embodying the correspondence of Washington and Boucher.
But on April 19th came the "massacre at Lexington," as it was commonly called. How great a matter is kindled by a small fire! A man whose name remains unknown, forgetful of Captain Parker's order to his minute-men not to fire until fired on, drew his trigger on the English force advancing to Concord; the gun missed fire, but the little flash was answered by a volley; seven men lay dead. In the blood of those patriots at Lexington the Declaration of Independence was really written. ”

“ The patriots collected in considerable numbers to oppose the British troops, and drove them back, with a heavy loss, into the city. This engagement, though little more than a skirmish, was called the Battle of Lexington. If its results were to be taken into consideration, few battles have been of more importance. Brethren had shed each other’s blood. Both parties were exasperated beyond control. The patriots felt their power; the royalists burned to wipe out the disgrace their arms had received. General Gage now regularly fortified Boston, which was in its turn besieged by the rebels. ”

“ On the morning of April Nineteenth, 1775, while the British held this bridge, the minutemen and militia of Concord and neighboring towns gathered on the hill across the river. There the Concord Adjutant, Joseph Hosmer, demanded, ‘Will you let them burn the town down?’ There the Lincoln captain, William Smith, offered to dislodge the British, the Acton captain, Isaac Davis, said, ‘I haven’t a man that’s afraid to go!’ and the Concord colonel, James Barrett, ordered the attack upon the regulars. ”