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How We Began Fighting Tyranny: The Midnight Ride, April Morning, and the Old North Bridge. [1]
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Date: 2025-04-18
250 years ago tonight, Paul Revere had been warned of British plans to capture the Sons of Liberty in Lexington and take their ammunition in Concord. Revere was a member of that secret group that protested against King George and his policies. And he knew he must warn his friends quickly.
Everyone knew how bad the economy was since the King imposed tariffs forcing colonists to buy everything from England and at higher prices. The tariffs were illegal, since the law was clear that taxes could not be imposed without representation. That’s why they had dumped $1.5 million worth of tea into the harbor just over a year earlier.
But that wasn’t the only problem. British troops could enter private homes, search and seize property and even stay overnight without any justification. At a tax protest a few years earlier, an 11 year old boy had been shot and killed, resulting in large protests in Boston. British troops then fired on the crowd, killing 5, and Revere himself engraved a print to share the story of the Boston Massacre.
The King had taken too much power. Revere had talked about it with John Hancock and Sam Adams over beer many times. The King was a tyrant, supported by a hereditary aristocracy, who just wanted to extract wealth from the colonists. They had no right to do it, but they did it anyway. The colonists would be better off setting up a system of laws to protect the rights of the people.
Anyway, there was no time to think about that. It was Paul’s job to warn them, so he grabbed his coat and ran to his horse. He would have to cross the Charles River and avoid patrols. If he got caught, the message would not get through in time. As a backup, he told a friend to raise a signal lanterns in Christ Church, “one if by land and two if by sea”. Revere crossed the river, and the British troops followed by sea.
All the way from Boston to Lexington Paul rode, warning everyone about the British soldiers marching their way. Many people already knew to be ready to assemble within a minute, so all the small towns and villages began waking up, grabbing their muskets and assembling on their town greens. The Patriots marched towards Concord, ahead of the Redcoats.
Revere arrived first in Lexington to warn Sam Adams and John Hancock. Then Dawes arrived, having taken the longer route by land. They were joined by Dr Prescott from Concord, and the three set off to see about the stores of gunpowder and weapons hidden there. The three were caught by a patrol, and Revere was held for hours. The other two escaped and rode on to Concord.
When Revere returned to Lexington, the British had already arrived to find Minute Men assembled on the green. A gun was fired and the Lexingtonians dispersed. The British marched towards Concord, but now there were Patriots in the woods taking shelter behind stone walls. There was scattered gunfire.
The situation was tense as the local town militias gathered in Concord at the bottom of the hill under Major Buttrick’s house, where gunpowder and cannon were stored. The British would have to cross the Concord River on Old North Bridge there, so the Patriots made their stand.
Perhaps thinking that the locals would flee like they had earlier that morning in Lexington, the British fired some warning shots. But the Minute Men stood their ground. Then the British fired a full volley into the Patriots, killing several from neighboring Acton.
“Fire, fellow soldiers, for God's sake fire!”—Major John Buttrick, April 19th, 1775.
Thus began the Revolutionary War, our Independence War, against a tyrant who surrounded himself with gold and believed himself above the law. 100 years later, a stanza of a poem written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who lived right next to the bridge, was etched into a statue commemorating the beginning of our nation’s fight against tyranny and for our freedom and independence.
“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.”
My Mom still lives in Concord, where Patriots Day is marked with a parade as every year, and the nearby towns still send their Minute Men to march with us. I marched with my school band every year, playing patriotic songs to flag waving crowds. President Ford visited my school and the bridge on the Bicentennial, perhaps because he was a big supporter of our national parks, having worked as a park ranger. My father, who loved history, taught us at a young age about the Midnight Ride, April morning and the Old North Bridge.
Today, I can’t help but shed a tear or two that our country is once again beset by tyranny. That one man would set himself above the law, impose taxes on the people without a vote, would bully the press, and arrest people off the street without due process. I am sad that so many of my fellow Americans foolishly elected this tyrant, despite the terrible consequences for our country.
But I hope, that just like 250 years ago, that regular people, angered by tyranny, will march to help us, stand together to face the danger, and will fight back. Thank you.
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