Happy Patriots’ Day! APRIL 19TH 1775
Lexington Green & Concord “the shot heard round the world”
Happy Patriots’ Day!
by: Ms. Kiki F. 04/13/2023 for April 19th, 2023
Published by: K. L. Cobb Jr.
FEN Free Eagle Network, LLC ™®© / KLCJr77 Productions
Patriot's Day is a public holiday in Maine and Massachusetts, where it is a day off for the general population, and schools and most businesses are closed. On April 19, 1775, 248 years ago, the American Revolution began when “the shot heard round the world” was fired at the Battle of Lexington.
"The shot heard round the world" is a phrase that refers to the opening shot of the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, which began the American Revolutionary War and led to the creation of the United States of America. It’s only celebrated in: Massachusetts, Maine, Wisconsin, Connecticut (since 2018), North Dakota (since 2019), Encouraged in Florida. Why?
Ungrateful & un-American people, that’s why. People who are not thankful nor grateful for what the Patriots did for them in 1775. All the other states in the nation are a disgrace! It’s April 19, 1775, the sun is rising on the village of Lexington, and the first battles of the Revolutionary War are about to begin. 700 British soldiers march into Lexington at around 5:00 AM, daybreak. They’re on their way to Concord, with orders from British General Thomas Gage to confiscate hidden weapons.
Waiting in a tavern for the British are 77 colonial militiamen led by Captain John Parker soldiers. We’re talking about a bunch of farmers, very very part time soldiers, and they’re facing these impressive looking ranks of red coated British soldiers. The colonists aren’t surprised to see the British, in fact, they’ve been warned by spies like Paul Revere and other riders who spent the night before riding through the area on horseback giving out information on British troop movements.
They had gathered on the village green, and they’re all standing there, they’re all armed, and nobody knows exactly what’s going to happen. When the vanguard of the British force rushed forward upon the town green, Captain Parker immediately ordered his company to disperse. At some point a shot rang out, nobody knows to this day who fired first. But once the shooting started then everybody, all these armed men, leveled their weapons and began blasting away. Eight colonist fall dead or die, and 10 more wounded. While one redcoat was wounded. The victorious British regroup and begin marching towards Concord. Leaving the dead, wounded, and dying in their wake. Parker and his men would have revenge later that afternoon.
Arriving in Concord around 8:00 AM, British commanders Francis Smith and John Pitcairn ordered several companies, about 220 troops in all, to secure the north bridge across the Concord River and then continue on another mile to the Barrett Farm, where a suspected cache of arms and powder was presumably located. At the Barrett Farm the British discovered the weapons they were looking for, three massive cannons, and smashed them. By the time the British arrived at the North Bridge, a growing assembly of close to 400 militia from Concord and the surrounding towns had gathered on the high ground overlooking the north bridge. From their vantage point on the hill they could see smoke rising from Barrett Farm, the result of British burning some supplies that they uncovered.
Thinking the town was being put to the torch, Lieutenant Joseph Hosmer of Concord shouted to his fellow officers, “Will you let them burn the town down?” The decision was then made to take action. Col. James Barrett ordered his companies to march upon the bridge but not to fire upon the British soldiers unless first fired upon. The Acton Company, commanded by thirty-year old Captain Isaac Davis, was placed at the head of the column. When asked if they were prepared to confront the British troops Davis said, “I haven’t a man afraid to go.” The Minute Men formed up and marched down the hill. As they did so, the British soldiers, intimidated by the colonial numbers and orderly advance, retreated to the opposite shore and prepared to defend themselves. When Davis’ company came within range, British soldiers opened fire, killing Isaac Davis and also Abner Hosmer, another Acton Minute Man.
Major Buttrick of Concord shouted, “For God’s sake, fire!” and the Minuteman replied with their own volley, killing three British soldiers and wounding nine others. This volley is the volley considered “the shot heard round the world.” The rest of the British troops retreated back to town. Smith and Pitcairn soon ordered a return to Boston, which devolved into a rout as thousands of minute men patriots descended on the area. As the British were attacked from all sides by swarms of angry Minutemen along what is now known as Battle Road. When they reached Lexington, John Parker and his men had their revenge, firing on the British regulars from behind cover. For the next 12 miles, the British were continually ambushed by Minutemen shooting from behind trees, rock walls, and buildings. The emotions of this fight carried well beyond April 19, inspiring American warriors to "rise up and fight again" even in the face of staggering odds against them. The Revolutionary War had begun. The colonists can’t believe they won.
Having heard of the morning fighting at Lexington, General Gage ordered Lord Percy to march from Boston with a relief column. The column reached Smith and Pitcairn’s men on the eastern outskirts of Lexington, but Minutemen continued to pour in as word spread quickly throughout the area. Among these minute and militia companies were many African Americans, both free and enslaved, who took up arms and fought alongside their white neighbors.
The British conducted a running fight until they could get under the cover of British guns in ships anchored in the waterways surrounding Boston. By 8:00 PM, it was clear that the day had been a disaster for the British. They lost 73 killed and many more wounded compared to the patriot’s loss of 49 killed. Concord poet Ralph Waldo Emerson dubbed them the “embattled farmers.” They were not American citizens, yet. That would have to wait until 1776 and the Declaration of Independence. On April 19, 1775 they were simply British subjects who believed that they were standing up to defend and fight for their rights.
In doing so they changed the world forever. At the time nobody realized what the significance of this skirmish was. It was Americans against British on this one morning. But it turned out that this skirmish was the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. It was the first step towards American independence. Eight years of war followed, and those who stood their ground against Gage’s troops eventually earned independence from Britain and became citizens of the democratic United States of America. The incident at the North Bridge later was memorialized by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his 1837 poem “Concord Hymn,” whose opening stanza is: “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.”
” Emerson penned “Concord Hymn” for the dedication of a battle monument at the site of the North Bridge. At the dedication ceremony on July 4, 1837, a group of townspeople sang the poem’s 16 lines to the tune of a traditional hymn called “Old Hundredth.” Emerson, a Boston native born in 1803, spent portions of his childhood in Concord (where his grandfather, a minister, had witnessed the 1775 battle at the North Bridge from his nearby home) and moved there permanently in 1834. He went on to become one of the country’s leading intellectuals and lived in Concord until his death in 1882. What was the “shot heard round the world”? - HISTORY Lexington and Concord: The Shot Heard 'Round the World’