If they mean to have a war, let it begin here

adamg — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:44:09 -0400

Once again, the Regulars marched right through Lexington Green at dawn, killing a few colonists standing in their way as they headed toward Concord in search of militia munitions.

You learn a lot at the annual re-creation of the battle (which from start to finish, takes maybe five minutes, and most of that is the British soldiers assembling, locking bayonets and shouting "Huzzah!" before they shoot the first Minuteman and then stomp on him). To start, somebody from the Lexington Minutemen gives you an explanation of what you're about to see.

But you also learn that there are a couple thousand other insane people willing to get up before the crack of dawn to watch the battle. And because of that, and because Lexington Green is flat, you learn that if you ever make the trek again, you either need to make like the veteran battle-goers and bring a ladder to climb up on (or, at the minimum, a sturdy bucket) or you need to be nine years old and adept at worming your way through the crowd to the very edge of the battlefield.

It was puzzling at first to hear the victorious Redcoats march off the Green while their fifers played "Yankee Doodle Dandy," until I remembered that they were playing it to insult the Minutemen - who, by the end of the day, adopted the song as their own.

Father: So what'd you think?
Son: It's the same every year.

The dead, the dying and the incongruous:

Calm amid the chaos:

The best Minuteman statue

adamg — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:41:57 -0400

In a battle to the death, Jay Fitzgerald would give the nod to Concord's Minuteman:

... The hat does it for me. The Lexington statue makes the Minuteman look like a slimmed down version of Paul Bunyan. Besides, I like Concord center more than Lexington center. ... So there. Someone had to settle this simmering debate. ...

Remembering Massachusetts' war dead on April 19, 1775

adamg — Mon, 29 May 2006 19:05:34 -0400

J.L. Bell discusses the patriots who died on April 19, including Edward Barber, of Charlestown, age 14.