Minuteman National Historical park celebrates the activities on events which took place april 19, 1775. Behind me is northbridge. This is what is considered to be the beginning of the american revolution. Militiare that colonial and the british regulars will fire shots, and lives will be lost on both sides. It is where colonial militia was ordered to fire upon the kings troops, creating an act of treason. Massachusetts was a royal colony. There had been tensions with the mother country since the 1770s. Because all of all of the tension, the boyle military governor was overseeing this. As the decade were on, you had decent series of events that would take place, including the boston tea party. It was the destruction of private property. Punishuthority had to Massachusetts Bay colony. Again, you brought in the royal governor, who was now a british and you also have the massachusetts government that was basically shut down. Any town in the colony were not allowed to meet, which was an affront to how people have been governed for at least 100 years. You have a series of responses , amongst those are the reactivation of the militia system. That meant that men were required to come out of training and practice area and then you had the minute companies, younger men who were better equipped and expected to turn up in an minutes notice, hence the name. You have these companies training and preparing for something. Chargetish officer in was aware of the growing tensions in the colonies. He was also aware of armaments being collected around the colony as well. Some armaments were stolen out of boston. A particular interest in proclaiming fort bragg. A brass canyon of a particular incident which made its way out here to concord, the home of colonel James Barrett where most of this was stored we will get to that. Because of tension rising, thomas gage wanted in april to seize these arms and armaments that were being collected. He wanted to do it in a very secretive fashion, but when he gathered seven hundred some british soldiers to come on out to concord to collect these arms, it was not exactly the best kept secret. There was a system of alarm riders from boston to the colonies who spread the word of the british army who were now on the march. As the british army marches down from boston in the Early Morning of april 19, they encountered 77 militiamen on lexington green. No one knows who did it, but shots were fired that morning. We would eventually have seven or eight colonials would die on lexington common. The british would continue then to march towards concord. As as they start to get closer to lincoln,teh concord, and bedford militias gathered in the morning, and when they saw the number of the british troops, they decided to pull back. The colonials would come into concord, and then they would enter into the northbridge area and across the river. They would gather in an area around the health which is , behind me to the left. The main column of the british army enters concord, and approximately 120 soldiers are dispatched to go towards the farm. Another additional 90 soldiers are sent to guard the bridge and the roadway. We are leaving northbridge parking lot right now, and we are on our way to the farm. It is just under two miles. It was not in the center of town, certainly out a little bit. Of april 19,g colonel barret was not in the farm. He was already out gathering the concord militia. This area would have been devoid of a lot of trees. Some of the houses you see are modern, but some are closer to the period. Most of the people if they had farms outside the town, they would have an out building supporting the farm. So, the building coming up on my right is the barret farmhouse. So, we have gotten out of the car, and we are underway to where general thomas gage had ordered his soldiers to look for the canon that was stored presumably in , the basement of the house. Barrett had security the arms away before he got there. The British Forces came to search, and they received permission to search the house and property. And during found, this time, some of the british soldiers asked for food and drink, as they had been up since the day before. The household allowed fact. When they offered to pay her, she refused to accept any payment. Some soldiers did throw shillings upon her feet. After a thorough search of the property, the army gathered back up and began their march back towards concord. At about 11 30, they encountered northbridge and saw that something had taken place there. Back in concord, a lot of wooden implements used to carry cannons and collected in the center of town. The british were ordered to stop the fire, but over on the hill about 400 gathering colonials see smoke rising from the assume of concord, and and gather up, and move on down with muskets loaded. Having just seen the colonials descending, the colonel starts to panic. He panics and pulls the soldiers over to the side of the bridge. As they move over to the side of the bridge, some confusion occurs and a few shots are fired. The fire upon the colonials, and they do kill to soldiers. When is a captain and the other is a private. The americans and colonials are given the order to fire back upon the british soldiers. Lieutenant Francis Smith in concord starts to come up, and he encounters the british retreat back into concorde. It is at this point that the colonials are not sure what to do, because some break ranks and others back up. At this point, there is a quiet. This takes place at around 11 30 when the british return from the , farm. They see that something had happened. They see that two british soldiers are dead. They get concerned. One british soldier was mangled fairly badly. A rumor begins to spread that colonials are scalping british soldiers. The army starts to gather backup, and they will prepare for the long, arduous march back. It will make for a very long day. This would have also been part of the british going into concord and coming back out of concord. On your left hand side, there is a ridge that runs along this road. There is some houses and trees, but behind it there is this range that served as cover coverge that served as for soldiers when the british marched into concord. Along the way, you have the minute Militia Companies gaining straight. Gaining strength. By the time they are on the other side, there are about 1000. Now, the british are outnumbered. They were shocked by how well organized they were. Gage had a sense this could happen. I do not think a lot of the british soldiers realized the sheer number of soldiers who would turn out. They kept coming. We are coming up on marions corner where we had a running battle right by the home of the marion family. We have arrived at the house. What the militia does, along with the other companies, they will gather over here as the british army starts arriving later in the afternoon. This is this is something that concerns Lieutenant Colonel smith, but he knew he had to go through the area. On one side of the road it is very swampy, so they would have to march three abreast across a bridge a funnel point. Thing they encounter the army that was gathered here. They begin firing upon each other. So from here to charlestown, a have a moving battle which takes place. There are some very panicky soldiers at this location, and at the same time, the colonial forces keep building in size and strength. By the end of the day, approximately 4000 colonial soldiers are starting to descend upon the kings forces, who are now retreating back to boston. The battle that will take place from this point all the way back to boston will claim the lives of nearly 300 british soldiers. That is killed, wounded, and missing. The colonial forces only had about 93 killed, wounded, or missing. This is the beginning of the siege of boston, the beginning of the american revolution. Because of the bloodshed that took place on both sides and because the americans and colonials were ordered to fire on the british, and because the
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