By the rude bridge

It was a great morning for a battle - even if the outcome has been preordained for the past 231 years: The colonists advanced. The British fired. The colonists fired back. And the British beat a hasty, disorderly retreat toward Concord Center.

Some photos from the annual Patriots Day re-creation of the Battle of Old North Bridge - and the parade after that, but first a couple of bonus fun facts:

The commander of the Concord Minutemen was delayed in part because he had to rush home to use the privy. The "battle" actually only took two to three minutes. And the outcome might have been different had a troop of 150 or so British soldiers not stopped at a nearby tavern so their commanders could quench their thirst.

Lobsterbacks nervously await advancing colonists on the west side of the bridge (near the Minuteman statue):

The colonists advance across the fields toward the bridge:

Redcoats pull up some planks on the bridge to try to slow the colonists:

The tactic doesn't work:

The commemorations attracted all types, including Abe Lincoln (who, proving he was truly a man ahead of his time, took pictures with a small digital camera) and Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Massing on the bridge for some memorial volleys in honor of the three patriots who died at the bridge:

Profiles on parade:

Old and new: