Minute Man

It’s April 19th, the real Patriot’s Day, the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Concord and Lexington, the act that really kicked off the Revolutionary War.

In 1837 a monument was being completed to that battle, and for it, Ralph Waldo Emerson composed a poem: 

Concord Hymn, sung at the completion of the monument, July 4th, 1837

CONCORD HYMN

by

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 today a votive stone;

That memory may their deed redeem,

   When, like our sires, our 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.

The battle was not large by most standards. On the Colonial’s side (that would be us, the Revolutionaries) were perhaps 500 at the start - less than 100 at Concord, perhaps 400 at Lexington. But more were running to join and nearly 4,000 farmers took part in the harassing and sniping at the British troops as they made their way back to Boston.

As for the British, they marched out of Boston with 700 troops, though more followed and by the time the British were back in Boston more than 1,500 had taken part in the action.

We took 88 casualties: 49 killed in action (KIA) and 39 wounded (WIA). British losses were 74 KIA and 174 WIA.

There were any number of noted figures who took part, one in particular being Isaac Davis, 30 years old, gunsmith and company commander of the town of Acton’s Minute Man Company, which had been organized in 1774. Acton is immediately west of Concord and had been part of Concord until it split off in 1735.

Davis had taken great pains to put together a small unit of men with high quality weapons, common gear, and higher levels of training - in 1774 his 40 man unit met at least twice very week to drill and engage in target practice.

When they were roused in the dark, Davis had gathered his company at his house. He was reported to have said to his men something to the extent:  ‘a most eventful crisis for the colonies. Blood will be spilt, that is certain; the crimson fountain will be opened; none can tell when it would close, nor with whose blood it would overflow. Let every man gird himself for battle and be not afraid, for God is on our side.’

Col. Barrett, in overall command, placed Davis’s company at the bridge over the Concord River (“Old North Bridge”), in part, reportedly because they all had bayonets.

Davis placed his men (between 30 and 40 men were actually present) along the shore and stood in front at the bridge, the British were on the opposite bank. As his men set up near the bridge there were several scattered shots from the British Regulars, and two men were wounded. The British then fired a volley, which did no damage, then fired a second volley. Davis’s company then returned a volley; but one round from the second British volley had struck Davis in the chest and he reportedly “died instantly.”

The British, recognizing that more Colonials were moving toward them, and recognizing that they would have great difficulty crossing the bridge, withdrew (the British account), or scattered and ran (the Colonial account). The skirmish had lasted 3 minutes. The battle now shifted to Lexington.

In 1875 Davis Daniel French, who would later make the statue of Lincoln that sits in the Lincoln Memorial, made a statue of Davis based on photographs of Davis’s family (Davis had 4 children). That statue is the iconic “Minute Man” statue, of a man holding his rifle in his right hand, while his left rests on his a plow. It was later adopted by the National Guard.

As for casualties, this isn't Memorial Day, but casualties deserve to be mentioned; we too easily forget the price we paid for our Independence. Some 70,000 “Colonials” were killed in the war (every year the number seems to ratchet up as more historians dig through more diaries…) And while the official records list casualties as “more than 8,500” that is a function of record=keeping. The other wars at the time - if records were well kept, showed wounded usually numbered anywhere from roughly the same as those killed to as many as twice the number wounded as killed. 

What was the population of the 13 Colonies in 1775? About 2.5 million. 70,000 KIA works out to just short of 3%. (3% of today’s population would be 10 million.) If we assume an equal number of wounded as killed, that would be another 3%. You can also add into that mix of casualties the far too common tactic of raping and pillaging engaged in by the British army, which though officially condemned at times by the generals in command, was often endorsed by junior and field grade officers. It was, in short, a bloody and savage war, but one that needed to be fought. And it began this day, 250 years ago.