Over the winter of 1774-1775,
Massachusetts protectors formed a militia, calling themselves MINUTEMEN because they would be ready to fight on a moment’s
notice. The minutemen, seriously committed to colonial self-defense, did not have long to wait for a hostile
move by the British.
As winter turned to spring, General Thomas Gage, commander of the British forces in Boston, received orders to
round up the leaders of the colonial resistance. At first he hesitated to provoke open conflict, but the
news that the colonists had an arsenal of weapons and powder at Concord prompted him to act. On April 18,
Gage sent 1,000 soldiers under Major John Pitcairn to seize the arsenal. Pitcairn believed that resistance
could be smothered easily with a small action and the burning of a few towns,
British forces set out from Boston at night,
hoping to surprise the colonists at daybreak. But as they tramped over the countryside, William Dawes and
Paul Revere galloped to villages and farms to warn the minutemen. At sunrise, when the British reached
Lexington, 70 minutemen commanded by Captain John Parker waited on the village green. Pitcairn ordered the minutemen to disperse,
and being greatly outnumbered, Parker gave the order to withdraw. Then someone – no one knows who
– fired a shot. After a brief skirmish, eight Americans were dead and ten more lay wounded on the
new spring grass.
Delaying no more than 15 minutes, Pitcairn pushed on to Concord. He entered the village without resistance
at eight o’clock but found few of the military supplies he sought. To protect his main body of troops
while they searched, he ordered a covering force to North Bridge, just outside the village. There the British
met 300 minutemen, and a British trooper fired “the shot heard ‘round the world.”
, After a five-minute exchange of fire, the British began their retreat. By
then , over 3,000 minutemen lined the woods, fields, and stone fences along the road
to Boston. Pitcairn’s troops barely made it back to Lexington, where 1200
British reinforcements rescued them. By the time the British ran the entire “bloody
chute” back to Boston, 73 of their men had been killed with another 200
wounded or missing. The Americans had only 93 casualties.
Thus, A Government of the people, by the people, and for the people, was being defended by
military force.
What were the thoughts of these first American Patriots as they rose from their beds to make a stand for freedom
over 230 years ago? They were probably somewhat like these:
I BELIEVE IN THIS CAUSE.
IT IS IMPORTANT FOR ME TO BE THERE.
MY FRIENDS ARE EXPECTING
ME TO BE THERE.
YES, I CAN HELP THERE MY COUNTRY NEEDS ME
I NEED TO GO HELP OUT THE BEST I CAN
THERE IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT FOR ME TO DO THERE
And finally, YES, I AM NEEDED THERE….
SEND ME.
