A Remembrance of Patriot’s Day and the Shot that Sparked the War for Independence

The United States of America was born when decent, common people were willing to lay down their lives for the freedom of their children and the future generations. Good, common people were willing to lay down their lives for the freedom of people whom they would never know. It is this truth that lies at the core of the deep and bloodstained reality of the birth of the Land of the Free. The sentiments of self-sacrifice for the sake of one’s children was perhaps prevalent to a greater degree in colonial times as opposed to the current period in America’s history. Patriots in such a time were willing to lay down their lives for the sake of Freedom across the colonies.

Patrick Henry’s impassioned ultimatum in Virginia, reverberated throughout those colonies, and many patriots took his sincere sentiments to heart. Patrick Henry simply voiced what men in Massachusetts ultimately put into action…

Boys and men in Massachusetts were willing to stand against British tyranny at the risk of their lives on April 19, 1775

It is in vain sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun… 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!

Boys and men in Massachusetts were willing to stand against British tyranny at the risk of their lives on April 19, 1775. In Lexington and Concord, brave men and boys willingly gave their lives for the sake of Freedom. It was the long festering of frustration that led to the firing of the “shot heard ‘round the world.” Yet, it was not some random emotional trigger that ignited the battles on that fateful day. Although the single shot that sparked a war may have initially been a bit premature, or even viewed as insane, it was not simply an emotional outburst.

The Americans had foreseen the proverbial “handwriting on the wall,” and the unique American response to the British military’s harassment of the people had been organized. The Americans had implemented contingency plans that had been implemented and fulfilled. Much of what happened in the evening of April 18 and the next day, came from primary plans and directives from the primitive Continental Congress to prepare local militias to meet the British threat. On the weekend prior to the 18th, Paul Revere had organized a plan to use lighted lanterns hung in the tower of the Old North Church as signals to other riders that the British troops would be on the march and taking a land route or one by water.

As the British marched in the darkness, the cries of danger swept through the Massachusetts countryside

American spies had already learned of the “secret plan” of their British overlords. The British had previously seized 250 half barrels of gunpowder. And on April 18th, after dark around 9pm, British Colonial Governor, General Thomas Gage, sent a contingent of around 700 regular troops to arrest two men: Sam Adams and John Hancock in Lexington, and to seize a cache of gunpowder, ammunition, and weapons reportedly stored near Concord. Both Adams and Hancock were wanted by the British government for their rebellious activities in and around the Boston area. Adams was known to have organized the Boston Tea Party. So, under the cover of night, Gage dispatched his contingent of troops.

That night Paul Revere was not certain he would be able to leave Boston with a British curfew in effect. However, he was determined and was able to slip away in the night. He had arranged for compatriots to row him across the Charles River to get a head start to warn the two leaders in Lexington. And, it was more than just Revere that had been organized into a cadre of riders with the purpose of warning the colonists that British troops were marching. On that April evening, Revere and William Dawes had been dispatched by Dr. Joseph Warren to warn Adams and Hancock they had been targeted.

As the British marched in the darkness, the cries of danger swept through the Massachusetts countryside, as the British were burning homes and farms. Revere, Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott, as well as other riders, alerted their fellow citizens that the British regulars were on the march, several individual efforts initiated a unique American response to the British military’s harassment of the people. As the cries of alarm spread “through every Middlesex village and farm, for the country folk to be up in arms,” as the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow reminded Americans in 1860, ordinary folk in that region rose from their sleep, left their beds, and braced themselves to face a formidable foe.

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Showdown at Lexington Common

A little after midnight, in the wee hours of April 19, Revere reached the home of Rev. Jonas Clarke in Lexington where Hancock and Adams had been meeting with the famous patriot pastor. Dawes arrived at the home around 1am. They both left rather quickly to set off to Concord to extend the warning to the patriot leaders there. By that time, however, colonists had already moved most of the small arms and their ammunition to another area. And, though Revere and Dawes successfully made it to Lexington, neither of them made it to Concord. They met young Dr. Samuel Prescott who was to guide them to Concord not long after they left the Clarke home. However, within approximately 15 minutes of riding, all three were captured by a British patrol along the road. Dawes and Prescott got away, but Dawes was thrown by his horse, and eventually only Prescott made it to Concord. The contingency plans proved valuable.

This was all the prelude to the showdown at Lexington Common. It had been a race to alarm the people that their government had taken up arms against them. In Lexington, the rag-tag band of men and boys gathered their powder horns and musket and shot and made their way to Lexington Green to wait for the dreaded British troops marching methodically toward their objective. They got to Lexington Green and waited in the dark of a cool April morning. They would have been uncertain of what would happen next because it had never happened before. Certainly, these brave souls had not read a British military manual instructing them that it was futile to resist. They stood their ground, waiting. Some may have been wondering if they would get back home that day. Approximately, 38 – 77 citizens (accounts vary) stood their ground — against the 700 feared Redcoats.

The Concord Hymn

The British would prevail in the skirmish at Lexington, but as the day wore on, it became dreadful for agents of tyranny. Although the history of “the shot heard round the world” has been skewered a bit—in part by Longfellow, who took liberties in bypassing some important details. Unfortunately, poets tend to get away with historical inaccuracies if their words stir passion or will, and Longfellow had a gift. Nevertheless, the ride of Paul Revere was more than he made of it, yet he made it memorable.

To be historically correct, the “first shot” Emerson referred to in his famous poem, “The Concord Hymn,” was fired at Lexington and not at Concord, where a larger skirmish occurred later on the 19th. But his poem immortalized the ‘Spirit’ of the moment nevertheless:

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….

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.

May the ‘Spirit’ of those who held freedom so dear be forever remembered.

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