You’ve probably heard about Paul Revere’s ride and the ‘shot heard round the world’. April 19th, Patriot’s Day, marks the actual beginning of the American Revolution, well over a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed.

The night before Paul Revere and Samuel Prescott, members of a fledgling continental intelligence service rode west from Boston to warn of the impending arrival of British troops intent to siege arms and black powder from the local townships. When Lt Col Francis Smith’s Redcoats arrived the next day, the militia was ready for them.

Each Patriot’s Day, I remember those men at Concord and consider what it must have been for them to stand there in the face of the world’s greatest army and take up arms in the defense of their colony from oppression. It’s a heroic act. The local militia came together on that morning to protect their arms from seizure by an oppressive government. That is fact.

“Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”
-John Parker
Captain of Militia

A new nation would ultimately spring forth from those words and the actions of the men under Captain Parker’s charge. As the initial volleys of fire were exchanged near daybreak on Lexington Green, colonial volunteers fell back in the face of over 500 occupying British troops. But as the battle moved on to Concord the tide turned, and the redcoats were routed as more and more colonists joined the fray.

As the British troops withdrew through Concord they were reinforced. Now boasting a strength of 1700 men, they remained no match for the determined colonists who forced them to retreat to the safety of Charlestown in Boston. The militiamen continued their pursuit which transformed into the Siege of Boston.

Today, join me in remembering those American warriors who pledged their lives to give us our hard fought freedoms and this great land.

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