400 Watched and Waited

On the morning of April 19, 1775, 400 minute men and militia from Concord and surrounding communities gathered on the high ground above the North Bridge. These companies were made up of farmers, tradesmen, shopkeepers, and a few enslaved men accompanying their owners. They watched and waited while British troops searched the town center, with ninety-six British regulars holding the bridge between the center of town and the hillside. When smoke rose from the town center, Lieutenant Joseph Hosmer cried, “Will you let them burn the town down?” Captain Isaac Davis of the Acton company declared his readiness for action, saying, “I haven't a man who's afraid to go.” Under strict orders from Colonel James Barrett of Concord not to fire until fired upon first, the colonial officers advanced the troops down the hill in a “very military manner” toward the British regulars at North Bridge to save the town. The advance from this ground and the firing ordered at North Bridge opened the American Revolution.

Concord, Massachusetts · United States