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.
These words by Ralph Waldo Emerson were part of a hymn sung July 4, 1837, at completion of the “Battle Monument” at Concord, Mass.
They have significance today because April 19 is the 207th anniversary of the 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord. opening engagements of the American Revolution.
Patriot’s Day, observed as a holiday in Massachusetts and Maine, commemorates those battles.
British actions to which the colonists objected led to the fighting. These included Navigations Acts, the Stamp Act, the Boston massacre, the Tea Act (which prompted the “Boston Tea Party”) and what colonists called the “Intolerable Acts.”
British Gen. Thomas Gage, military governor of Massachusetts, had received orders from England to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, accused of stirring up rebellion.
On the night of April 18, Gage sent a detachment of troops to Lexington where the “traitors” were staying. They were to arrest the two men. then push on to Concord to destroy military supplies stored by the colonists. according to source books.
News of the expedition leaked out and Paul Revere and William Dawes of the colonial militia (called minutemen) rode through the countryside warning people that the British regulars were coming.
At Lexington, the troops found about 50 minutemen at the town square. The rebels refused to dis perse and shots were exchanged. A number of minutemen were killed or wounded.
The British went on toward Concord, Hancock and Adams already having fled. They reached the town at 7 a.m. During the night the colonists had hidden most of their stores and ammunition.
What they hadn’t been able to hide, the British set about destroying. A battle took place at the old North Bridge over the Concord River and the war was under way with “shots heard round the world.”
British troops decided to withdraw to Boston. The farmers – from behind rocks, fences and buildings picked off retreating Redcoats. Overall, the British suffered more than 200 casualties.
Lexington and Concord are about 12 and 17 miles, respectively, from Boston. The Minuteman National Historical Park and the memorial highway between the two cities preserve memories of the battles. The Minuteman statue at Concord and the statue of Minuteman Capt. John Parker at Lexington are special points of interest.
Today in History
Today is Monday, April 19, the 109th day of 1982. There are 256 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
On April 19, 1775. the American Revolutionary War opened with British defeats at Lexington and Concord, Mass.
On this dale: in 1587, the British fleet under Sir Francis Drake sacked Cadiz, Spain.
In 1824, the English poet, Lord Byron, died in Greece during the fight for Greek independence.
In 1951, General Douglas MacArthur, recently relieved as commander of U.N. forces in Korea, appeared before Congress and attacked the administration of President Harry S. Truman.
And in 1976, Black Nationalist guerrillas in Rhodesia blew up a section of that country’s only direct rail line to South Africa.
Ten years ago: North Vietnamese gunboats and MiG fighters attacked American destroyers off that nation’s coast.
Five years ago: South Korean police carried out a nationwide roundup of political dissidents, fearing disorders on the 17th anniversary of the student revolt that toppled the Syngman Rhee government.