Minute Man National Historical Park

Minute Man National Historical Park was the starting place of the American Revolution: here the resolve of citizens willing to risk their lives for the ideals of liberty and self-determination was instrumental in the formation of the American identity.

The park preserves sites where Colonial militia men and British soldiers clashed on April 19, 1775. A force of 700 British soldiers left Boston to seize military supplies stockpiled in Concord. Alarm riders alerted the countryside. In area towns, militia companies assembled, ready to defend their communities and their liberties if necessary.

After brief battles at Lexington Green (5:00 a.m.) and Concord's North Bridge (9:30 a.m.) fighting escalated along the "Battle Road." As the British troops marched back towards Boston, militia companies poured in. By afternoon, nearly 4,000 Colonists unleashed "an incessant fire" upon the British soldiers. At the end of the day, the Colonists surrounded and laid siege to Boston. The Revolutionary War had begun.

The North Bridge
Three companies of British Regulars (about 96 men) guarding the North Bridge opened fire upon 400 Colonists advancing from the opposite side. Major John Buttrick of Concord then issued the fateful command, "Fire fellow soldiers, for God's sake fire!" For the first time, Colonists were ordered to fire upon the army of their King, and, for the first time, they killed British soldiers. Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his 1837 poem The Concord Hymn, immortalized this event as "the shot heard round the world."

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Show me all markers in:  Concord, MA  |  Middlesex County  |  01742  |  Massachusetts  |  United States of America

The Muster Field
Major John Buttrick
Acton Minutemen
Major John Buttrick House
Two Revolutions
An Evolving Legacy
Reflections of the Revolution
The Road to Colonel Barrett's
The Minuteman of Concord 1775
Captain Isaac Davis

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