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We recently visited the Concord (which though named for a peaceable agreement, is pronounced like the word “conquered”) and Lexington region of Massachusetts. The area was the birthplace of two revolutions: the first was the physical fight that led to America’s Independence, and the latter was a revolution of thought. Let’s start with the oldest one first.

By 1775 the years of unrest and anger in the colonies against the Crown coupled with the King’s recent attempts to control the colonies by force exploded in Lexington and Concord on April 19th. During our time in Boston we learned about the messengers who carried the warning of the planned march by British regulars (soldiers) to the area but what we didn’t discover, until now, was the full story of why the soldiers were coming.

Dr. Joseph Warren, chairman of the Boston “Committee of Correspondence,” was the first to learn of the British Army’s intent to march. He also discovered that the regulars weren’t on a mission to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were in hiding in Lexington.

The British were actually destined for Concord to find and destroy caches of ammunition and weaponry that the rebels had stockpiled and to recover two small cannons that had been stolen from the armory in Boston. How did the good doctor acquire all this top secret information? From none other than his close friend, Margaret Gage, the British General Gage’s American-born wife.

It was Dr. Warren who sent the messengers Paul Revere and William Dawes, by different routes, to Lexington and Concord on the night of April 18th. The lantern signal Revere instructed young Robert Newman to flash from the bell tower of the Old North Church was, unlike popularized in Longfellow’s poem, a back-up signal to those across the Charles River in case Revere was not able to make the crossing. Dawes and Revere alerted all the towns along the way and word rapidly spread among the militia.

The town militia was a long standing practice that the colonies established for defense and protection in times of need. Every male over sixteen years was provided with a musket and trained twice a year. A select few members formed the elite “Minute Men”, these men were paid to train harder, more often, and to be ready at a moment’s notice.

The entire countryside was on alert by the time the Redcoats arrived in Lexington on the 19th. It was 5 am when the first line of the 700 troops were halted by 77 local Minute Men. The militia did not attempt to stop the British Army, and they even began to lay down their weapons and disperse when a shot rang out. No one knows who fired that first shot but it agitated the redcoats who, without orders, opened fire on the colonists. By the time the smoke had cleared eight colonists were dead. The news of the “unprovoked” attack spread like wildfire and strengthened the patriots’ resolve.

The Redcoats regrouped and continued marching to Concord. The Concord militia, assembled on a hilltop overlooking town, watched the Redcoats as they searched through buildings and houses for the stores of weapons. The Army’s efforts were mostly futile since the colonists had ample time to relocate the majority of the stash overnight. All the while militia men from other towns and villages came streaming in. By 9 am there were over 400 Minute Men on the hillside. Determined not to watch the town burn, the militia marched down the hill to the North Bridge. The Redcoats on the other side of the bridge were disturbed by the determined and organized way in which the militia approached.

This time history clearly notes that the British Army fired first, killing two colonists. The militia then aimed and returned fire, killing two regulars, wounding several officers and becoming traitors to the King. The Redcoats hastily retreated in a state of confusion that would last for several more hours. The “Battle at North Bridge” lasted all of three minutes yet it set in motion events that would take eight years to resolve.

As the British army marched, ran and fought their way back the 16 miles to Boston they were under constant attack from Minute Men in the fields, houses, behind walls and trees. Militia from all over the countryside were still streaming in to fight. By the end of the day, there were over 4,000 militia members involved in the chase. By the end of the week over 20,000 militia members had surrounded Boston and the long siege began.

The courage of the colonists is commemorated on Patriots Day, which in Massachusetts is the third Monday of April. Thankfully, much of the Battle Road is preserved as part of the 970 acre Minute Man National Historical Park. The Park has two Visitor Centers that tell the story of that fateful day; one at North Bridge and one near the end of the path that follows the route the British Army used.

We were lucky to have a beautiful day for our bike ride along the five mile interpretive trail, from Meriam’s Corner in Concord to just outside downtown Lexington. We took our time, stopping often to read the numerous signs and once to admire a red-tailed hawk. He was on the ground for some reason and he did not seem to notice us because he was being terrorized by a mad, squawking, dive-bombing mockingbird.

Intermingled with sites of the MMNHP are the homes of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau and Amos Bronson Alcott. The revolution of thought I referred to earlier emerged in the mid-1800s in the Concord area through the voices of these and other amazing authors.

Emerson, in his Concord Hymn, immortalized the patriots’ struggle of 1775 which he described as the “shot heard ‘round the world.” Hawthorne’s friend, William Wadsworth Longfellow, made the midnight ride of Paul Revere famous (although the poem is historically inaccurate). Nonetheless, their biggest contribution was in voicing their beliefs that there was much work to do since not all the American people were free or equal and they had lost touch with their surroundings.

Emerson, Alcott, and Thoreau were part of a wide ranging group of abolitionists, suffragists, philosophers and transcendentalists in the Concord area who not only influenced each other but the entire nation. While Emerson and Alcott frequently traveled and lectured on their radical (for the time) ideas of freedom and equality it was Thoreau who took his countrymen to task for their lack of understanding of and respect for the natural world.

In an attempt to write more Thoreau lived for a couple years on Emerson’s land in the woods near a pond. While only a mile and a half out of town and never alone for long, Thoreau compiled an extensive journal of his thoughts. The synthesis of his notes was published in 1854 as his seminal book, Walden. Thoreau is now hailed as one of the forefathers of both the environmental and simple living movements.

I just have to share this with you. Thoreau’s friend, Nathaniel Hawthorne, described him as “ugly as sin…with uncouth and rustic [manners]. But his ugliness is of an honest and agreeable fashion, and becomes him much better than beauty.”

While perhaps not as much of an activist in her most famous works (but she was in her heart), Alcott’s daughter was an author whose books I devoured when I was young, Louisa May Alcott. Louisa helped her family through some lean years with her writing; her first story which earned $100 was a passionate fiction piece published anonymously. While the sensational stories sold, her family and Emerson urged her to write something with more substance and Little Women was the result. The house where Louisa was born, Wayside (which Hawthorne purchased in 1852) is open for tours as part of the MMNHP.

Life can be so strange. A week after learning about Louisa’s tales of intrigue and broken hearts, I came across a collection of them at a used book store. Needless to say I snapped it up. While certainly not of the same caliber as her later pieces her style was already developed.

As we watched the sun set over Walden Pond (open to the public as a state park), we were humbled by the early sacrifices of those in the Concord/Lexington area, and we were inspired by the work of the later residents. Truly an amazing place—we were delighted to experience it.

Photos: View our photographs from Concord and Lexington.

Notes: Find out more about the stolen cannons on the “Revolutionary War Cannon” episode of History Detectives.
We visited Concord and Lexington on 07/20/07.