Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1875 — Concord and Lexington. [ARTICLE]

Concord and Lexington.

“ The. first shot that is fired in America separates the two countries,” said Lord Chatham. * That shot was fired 100 years ago to-day. Concord and Lexington, in Massachusetts, claim the honor. It must properly be divided between them. The' first shot was fired on the Americans at Lexington; the Americans fired the first shot w hich killed an enemy at the British at Concord. Acton also claims a share of the pride and distinction which attaches to that first shot, since it was an Acton man who fired it. But, for the matter of that, the glory of that brave struggle of a century ago may lie shared by all the towns of that section of the State. The Americans who overcame and routed the British at Concord gathered at the render.- ! vous from Acton, Bedford, Brookline. Beverly, Concord, Carlisle, Cambridge, Charlestown, Danvers. Dorchester, Lexington. Lincoln, Lynn, Littleton, Medford, Newton, Roxbury, Reading. Salem. Watertown and the other villages round about.' And so Massachusetts may fairly celebrate all along the line from Boston to twenty miles beyond Concord, every town and village, with a just claim to haying rendered good service on the birthday of American liberty. The events that led up to this informal declaration of war were a series of oppressions running back over a oenturv. Within a year,of the fight at Concord British tyranny had become insufferable! and the pc*ople of the provinces had? begun their pre]»arations for resistance. The destruction of the tea in Boston harbor in 1774 had roused the people. There w ere formal and deliberate organizations looking to-

ward independence. The Continental ('•ongress which met at Philadelphia in September,'l774, was followed by a Provincial Congress in Con ord, which met in October of the same year. Its purpose was to encourage the’organization of the people into militia companies and provide arms anil munition for defense. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island were the districts in which tiie dissension hul spread, and Boston was the center of the revolutionary spirit. In the counry about, yimng and old were organized into military companies, and the minute men were stationed as sentinels wherever military stores were collected. Such voung men as Samuel Adams and John Hancock, then “rebels” and “villains,” were inciting the people to revolt. Minute men were appointed in the city of Boston, the headquarters of the British, to give the first warning of clanger. Among other places where arms, ammunition and provisions were stored was the town of Concord, admirably suited for this purpose by reason of its location in a valley between two hills, with a little mountain _ stream running through it. Hence it bad acquired a special importance, and the road between Concord and Boston was watched by men of tireless vigil anil undaunted heart. The British Government had long been conscious of this growing spirit of rebellion, but all organized effort to suppress it was postponed until the troops could be sufficiently reinforced to assure a prompt and summary crushing of this spirit and the punishment of the leaders. Early in 1775 eight of the crack regiments of the British army were sent to Boston under the command of Gen. Gage. It was now thought that the Government was strong enough to undertake the swift disper.sement of “rebels,” wherever found, and secure a return to the undisputed right of oppressing the colonists. It was expected that a mere demonstration of the power of the Government would be sufficient to accomplish this; and, with some such indefinite idea, a detachment of regulars, numbering 800 or 1,000 men, were started from East Cambridge on the night of April 18, 1775, on their march to Concord. They were preceded by some officers who went ahead to reconnoitre, and if possible to capture Hancock and Adams, who bad been proscribed. The British believed tlieir move-ments'to-have been faithfully kept secret from the rebels, and hoped to surprise Concord and capture the military stores , deposited there. The surprise proved to be on their part. The “Sons of Liberty” in Boston had sent out the alarm, and Paul. Revere earned immortal fame by ruling ahead of the troops, waking the farmers along the line and warning them of the approaching danger. Thus Adams and Hancock escaped, and before the dawn of the morning of the 19th the church bells of the villages between Boston and Concord, a distance of eighteen miles, were ringing the alarm and summoning the inhabitants to resistance. 1 At Lexington,-something more than half-way, from Boston to Concord, about 100 people had gathered on the Common when the British came in sight. Half of them were unarmed, and their leader ordered the others not to fire, hut to disperse. But the British were exasperated at the sight of the Americans under arms. “Ye villains, ye rebels, disperse! Lay down your arms!” cried Maj. Pitcairn, with an oath, and lie discharged his pistol at the crowd, which was already giving wav. Col. Smith, in command of the British troops, gave the order to fire immediately after, and the fire was kept up as long as any of the straggling villagers were within range. Eight Americans were killed and ten wounded; and it was, as Frederic Hudson calls it, “simply a coldblooded massacre.” This was the first Mood shed The British recommenced their march to Concord shortly after sunrise. Col. Smith, meanwhile, warned of the uprising by the sound of the village belts and alarm-guns, had sent hack ■to Boston for reinforcements. The’six- or seven miles they had .to march was gone over without further disturbance, and they reached Concord about seven o.'elock. There h.ad gathered already a small band of patriots, consisting of Concord, Acton and Lincoln men, who held a position on the hill near the liberty-pole; hut they were too weak to attack aud so fell hack. The British troops entered the village, took tip i their main position on the Common,' and then sent out detachments to scour the town and guard the bridge, which afforded the only entrance, to tiie village from the north. Meanwhile 1 the patriots were coming in from all sides to the rendezvous on the hill near the bridge They were organized in minute companies and militia companies and numbered 500 men by nine o'clock in the morning. They were raw, undrilled. Undisciplined farmers against twice tlieir number of the British army. The first attack was on the bridge, guarded by about 200 regulars, and the Acton minute men, under Davis, led it. The British, who fired the first volley, were driven from the bridge witji a loss of five ollicers and fifteen privates, before they could he reinforced by tlu* troops in the town, and the Americans followed in hot pursuit. From this time the patriots had the advantage. The British seemed to he astonished that the Americans should stand fire at all, and from that moment were demoralized. They retreated from Concord at noon, the Americans vigorously pursuing them. Among the pursuers were many old men, who set the young men an example of ardor and bravery. Among the whitehaired patriots was Deacon Josiali Haynes, eighty years of age. He was foremost in the attack on the regulars at the south bridge, and ardent in pursuit from Concord to Lexington, taking a shot at the retreating red-coats whenever he could draw a sight on them. At the latter place lie was killed by a musket-ball while blazing away at the enemy. The whole eighteen miles from Coueord to Boston was for the British troops one long and fiery ordeal. Unseen foes, lying beeind tree anil ridge and stone-wall and fence, hailed bullets upon them. The dead and wounded fell out of the ranks, the living hurried on. weary and blown, regardless of tlieir comrades’ late. The retreat was a rout. At Lexington reinforcements waited the British. As the story runs the 1,400 troops who had come out from Boston to cover the retreat formed a hollow square into which the beaten regulars ran like sheep. The minute men still hung on the flanks of the enemy's force. Late in the afternoon the latter reached Boston. The British loss in killed, wounded and missing was 273 men ; the American was ninetv men, of whom forty-nine were killed. Forty-nine homes left desolate but a new nation \bom. The,prize was worth its price. This is what happened a hundred years ago to-day. To-day, Lexington and'Concord make holiday. The first- unveils statues of Hancock and Adams in the presente of President Grant. Richard H. Dana, Jr., delivers an oration, and hymns by Julia Ward Howe and John G. Whittier are to he sung., This is in the morning. In the afternoon one of the finest

statues in the country, French’s “ Minute Man,’’ will lie unveiled at the Concord end of the bridge. Emerson, of course, delivers the oration. All New England will be at the two places. And a month and a day thereafter, May ,20, North Carolina will celebrate with’ public jubilee the centennial of the Mecklenburg Declaration'of Independence. So North and South rejoice together over the birth of our common country. May we not hope that the centennial era will bring with it a new patriotism, a new devotion, and a' new morality, so that the public virtue of the days we celebrate may live again in the days that are.—- Chicago Tribune , April 19.