April 19, 1775, Lexington Massachusetts

Quoted liberally from the Patriot Post, to honor Patriot's Day, April 19.

The Gunslinger
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"What a glorious morning this is!" ---Samuel Adams to John Hancock at the
Battle of Lexington, Massachusetts, 19 April 1775

PATRIOTS DAY INSIGHT

"Don't fire unless fired upon. But if they want a war let it begin here." ---Captain John Parker at the Battle of Lexington

"The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth." ---Thomas Paine

"We know the Race is not to the swift nor the Battle to the Strong. Do you not think an Angel rides in the Whirlwind and directs this Storm?" ---John Page

"Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!" ---George Washington

"The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in
the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments,
of their duties and obligations... This radical change in the principles,
opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American
Revolution." ---John Adams

"Patriotism itself is a necessary link in the golden chains of our affections and virtue." ---Stephen Decatur

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." ---Thomas Jefferson

"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" ---Patrick Henry


PATRIOTS DAY 2007

"Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, 'What
should be the reward of such sacrifices?' Bid us and our posterity bow the
knee, supplicate the friendship, and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the
avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our
blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than
liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom,
go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick
the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may
posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!" ---Samuel Adams

In honor of those brave Patriots who, on 19 April 1775, at Lexington
and Concord, fired the opening volley for American liberty---and
those Patriots who continue in that tradition today, shouldering the
burden of American liberty, particularly those on the warfront with
Jihadistan.

By the Spring of 1775, the Massachusetts Colony was preparing for conflict
with the Royal authority over taxation without representation. The colonial
authorities had become oppressive, and American Patriots were prepared to
cast off their masters.

On the eve of 18 April 1775, General Thomas Gage, military governor of
Massachusetts, dispatched a force from Boston to confiscate weapons stored in
the village of Concord, and to capture Patriot rebels Samuel Adams and John
Hancock, reported to be in Lexington. But Patriots had anticipated this raid.

Paul Revere had arranged for advance warning, and though he was captured,
Patriot allies William Dawes and Samuel Prescott continued their midnight
ride for 22 miles from Boston's Old North Church to Concord and warned
militiamen along the way.

As dawn arrived on 19 April, between 50 and 70 militiamen came to the town
green at Lexington to confront the British column. When a few links away
from the militia column, the British officer swung his sword, and said, "Lay
down your arms, you damned rebels, or you are all dead men. Fire!" Several
Patriots were killed and wounded, but none had been ordered to return fire.

However, when the British arrived at Concord's Old North Bridge, American
"Minutemen" fired the "shot heard round the world" as Emerson notes above.

That was the beginning of an eight-year struggle for American independence,
a beginning we honor as Patriots Day.

* * *

Concord Hymn
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, are sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.