Beware the 19th of April...

[eyer]

Beware the 19th of April

DESIGN ASSESSMENT
Describe the design features of the object and evaluate in terms of other similar types of objects within the community.

The Revolutionary War Monument consists of a granite obelisk set on a simple pedestal consisting of die and plinth. Mounted on one face of the die is a marble tablet bearing an inscription honoring the eight men who died on the Green on April 19, 1775.

On the front of the monument base are the words “Executed by Tho. Park”.

The monument is surrounded by a simple iron fence.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Explain the history of the object and how it relates to the development of the community.

Erected on July 4, 1799 this was the first Revolutionary monument in the country. The cost of the monument was $400 and was funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its position marks the approximate location of the west end of the line formed by the Minute Men on April 19, 1775. The inscription on the monument was composed by Jonas Clarke, minister to Lexington from 1752 to 1805.

Seven of the eight Americans killed that day are interred in the tomb beneath the monument. The bodies were moved here with great ceremony on April 20, 1835 from the Old Burying Ground behind the First Parish Church. Edward Everett was the orator. The iron fence was erected at that time. In 1835 it was also voted to place a new marble tablet in the face of the monument – a copy of the original one which was made of slate.

http://historicsurvey.lexingtonma.gov/objects-structures/revwarmon906.pdf

Sacred to Liberty & the Rights of mankind!!!
The Freedom & Independence of America,
Sealed & defended with the blood of her sons.

This Monument is erected
By the inhabitants of Lexington
Under the patronage and at the expense of
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
To the memory of their Fellow Citizens,
Ensign ROBERT MUNROE, and Messrs. JONAS PARKER,
SAMUEL HADLEY, JONATHAN HARRINGTON, JR.,
ISAAC MUZZY, CALEB HARRINGTON AND JOHN BROWN,
Of Lexington and ASAHEL PORTER of Woburn,
Who fell on this field, the first victims to the
Sword of British Tyranny and Oppression
On the morning of the ever memorable
Nineteenth of April, An. Dom. 1775,
The Die was cast !!!
The Blood of these Martyrs
In the cause of their God and their Country
Was the Cement of the Union of these States, then
Colonies, and gave the spring to the Spirit, Firmness
And Resolution of their Fellow Citizens,
They rose as one man to Revenge their Brethren’s
Blood, and at the Point of the Sword, to Assert
And defend their Native Rights,
They Nobly dar’d to be Free!!
The contest was long, Bloody and Affecting.
Righteous Heaven Approved the Solemn Appeal
Victory crowned their Arms; and
The Peace, Liberty, and Independence of the United
States of America was their Glorious Reward.
Built in the year 1799.​

 

[eyer]

And then on to Concord...

38 or so Lexington militia - minutemen - had waited for the advance of approximately 700 government troops who were looking to apprehend Samuel Adams and John Hancock and then to go on to Concord to confiscate those citizens' arms and munitions...

...those 38 patriots in Lexington were no threat to the hundreds of King's troops, and they quickly retreated after the British fired on them - that is, except for the 8 Americans who were killed.

But, as the government's military reached the North Bridge in Concord, 500 or so militia were ready to greet them and their attack was powerful enough to make the British retreat - all the way back to Lexington where British reinforcements were waiting. But even that combined force - somewhere around 1,700 - was no match for the minutemen, and the British were driven all the way back to the safety of Charlestown. But, it was too late for "safety": the rebels were in it for the long run and the Siege of Boston began and the Revolutionary War was loosed.

[Feel free now to take a moment to comprehend the 2nd Amendment by the light of its original contextual intent:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Yw.]

The Ides of March brought the death of Caesar and the downfall of the Roman Republic into Empire...

...the 19th of April hastened the downfall of the British Empire and birthed the rise of the greatest republican experiment in individual liberty the world has ever known.

All Hail the Sons of Liberty!​

Concord Hymn
(original title - Hymn: Sung at the Completion of the Concord Monument, April 19, 1836)

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 to-day 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.

 

[Colonel Hogan]

Sacred to Liberty & the Rights of mankind!!!
The Freedom & Independence of America,
Sealed & defended with the blood of her sons.

This Monument is erected
By the inhabitants of Lexington
Under the patronage and at the expense of
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
To the memory of their Fellow Citizens,
Ensign ROBERT MUNROE, and Messrs. JONAS PARKER,
SAMUEL HADLEY, JONATHAN HARRINGTON, JR.,
ISAAC MUZZY, CALEB HARRINGTON AND JOHN BROWN,
Of Lexington and ASAHEL PORTER of Woburn,
Who fell on this field, the first victims to the
Sword of British Tyranny and Oppression
On the morning of the ever memorable
Nineteenth of April, An. Dom. 1775,
The Die was cast !!!
The Blood of these Martyrs
In the cause of their God and their Country
Was the Cement of the Union of these States, then
Colonies, and gave the spring to the Spirit, Firmness
And Resolution of their Fellow Citizens,
They rose as one man to Revenge their Brethren’s
Blood, and at the Point of the Sword, to Assert
And defend their Native Rights,
They Nobly dar’d to be Free!!
The contest was long, Bloody and Affecting.
Righteous Heaven Approved the Solemn Appeal
Victory crowned their Arms; and
The Peace, Liberty, and Independence of the United
States of America was their Glorious Reward.
Built in the year 1799.​

Several years ago I had the honor of visiting Lexington and Concord. As I stood on Lexington Green reading the names of these eight I wondered why they had not endured in our memory to the same extent as Franklin, Washington, Adams and others.

They were our first war dead. They died for a nation yet to be secured, but in so doing they deserve a far more exalted place in our history than they've received.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

Interesting lesson - thank you.


It's also the anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising in '43, Waco in '93, and the Oklahoma City bombing in '95.