Duncan here,
After leaving Lexington, like the British soldiers on April 19, 1775, we marched on to the village of Concord. Unlike 235 years ago, we went by car, my prefered method of travel. As the British marched out of Lexington, word spread quickly about what had happened and, like disturbing a hornet's nest, local American militia had quickly begun to gather from far and wide near Concord. When the British arrived in Concord, they split up, with some searching the village. Others marched out of town to search a local farm where arms and ammunition were thought to be stored. It was this group that met the militias at the North Bridge over the Concord River. It was here at the North Bridge that we stopped and grabbed a photo - but sadly, without us.
These two forces now confronted each other at the North Bridge. Before long a shot rang out, and this time there is certainty from depositions taken from men on both sides afterwards that it came from the British ranks. It was likely a warning shot fired by a panicked, exhausted British soldier from the 43rd Regiment of Foot, according to the British commander Capt Walter Laurie's letter to his commander after the fight. Two other regulars then fired immediately after that, shots splashing in the river, and then the narrow group up front, possibly thinking the order to fire had been given, fired a ragged volley before Laurie could stop them.
Two of the Minutemen, Private Abner Hosmer and Captain Isaac Davis, who were at the head of the line marching to the bridge, were hit and killed instantly. Four more men were wounded, but the militia only halted when Major Buttrick yelled "Fire, for God's sake, fellow soldiers, fire!" At this point the lines were separated by the Concord River and the bridge, and were only 50 yards apart. The few front rows of colonists, bound by the road, and blocked from forming a line of fire, managed to fire over each others' heads and shoulders at the regulars massed across the bridge. Four of the eight British officers and sergeants, who were leading from the front of their troops, were wounded by the volley of musket fire. At least three privates (Thomas Smith, Patrick Gray and James Hall, all from the 4th) were killed or mortally wounded, and nine were wounded. Today one of the British soldiers is buried in Concord and two are still buried here at the North Bridge.
This photo shows us playing the British soldiers and facing the American militia. The obelisk in the background is where the British actually stood all that time ago. Sydney was afraid someone was going to fire a musket again, so she was keeping an eye peeled just in case the British came back and fired another shot. Ruby kept looking off in the direction the American's marched from in 1775 and was screaming, "They're coming. They're coming." This just freaked Sydney out even more. As for me, I couldn't get the timer on the camera to work and could never get back and pose in time before the stupid thing went off. This is the best shot out of about 50 that I tried.
Of course, equal time for the American militia, so we turned around and faced the way the American's were looking, towards the bridge, during the battle. The statue behind us was erected in 1875 on the 100th anniversary of the battle and represents a farmer who leaves his plow and picks up his musket to defend his land and liberty.
The British quickly retreated and, in their long march back to Boston, had to battle the militias the entire way suffering significant casualties. So, the die was cast. What might have been was no more. The American Revolution had begun. A famous American poet made this battle famous 50 years later when he wrote a poem called the Concord Hymn. The most famous portion I'll recite here and which appears on the statue at the North Bridge:
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
From Concord, we made our way back to Virginia and one more trip was complete. We have lots more stories to tell and we still haven't shown you any pictures of Boston which we took while we were there. Maybe in a future post we will show you Boston from our perspective. Just a hint of what's to come. I've been working diligently in the basement to try and recover any photographic proof of our victory in the Iditarod Dog Sled Race and I think - - - I think I might have been successful. Stay tuned and I will let you know and hopefully show you. Right now I have to run. Hope you learned something today. I know I have.
Ruby, Sydney, and Duncan in Virginia