The First Strike by Three'oEight- revised and edited

[308LIBERTY]

I finally had a chance to present this for the first time this weekend. After taking some suggestions from fellow instructors I made it a little more linear and streamlined than it was. I also added the TPI at the beginning with my own spin. I suppose it could be simplified even more but not without losing some of the perspective I'm trying to build. Here it is:

I'm about to tell you the story of April 19, 1775, what we refer to as the 3 strikes of the match. Why 3 strikes? Because sometimes the match fizzles, sometimes you need more kindling, and sometimes you just need to breathe a little air on it to get a fire going. I hope this story breathes a little fire in each one of you, the way it has me.

But before we get started, who here for the first time can tell me when and where the American Revolution began and when was it won? (Well, if you were thinking April 19th at Merriam's Corner, you might be half right, because that is where the War for Independence began, but the revolution itself began much earlier.)

Here's what John Adams had to say about it. "The American Revolution was fought and won before the first shot was fired. It was won in the hearts and minds of Americans." You see, John Adams knew that the American Revolution was never meant to be a footnote in history. It was meant to live on in you and me.

How many of you remember the story of Lexington and Concord from school? Surely you remember Paul Revere? What about John Hancock and Sam Adams? Wasn't John Hancock the guy with the big signature? And Sam Adams made beer right? What about Isaac Davis and John Parker? Anyone?

Well I'm sure you all know who Luke Skywalker's father is right? And that's the sad part. The average American knows more about the history of characters from a galaxy far far away than our own history and the men and women who sacrificed everything to give us Liberty. We take so much for granted today because we've come to expect more and appreciate less. We want to play more and work less, watch TV more and LIVE less. Well I'm glad we could get all of you off the couch today to join us here. It shows that maybe there's still hope for America after all.

Listen my children and you will hear the midnight ride of Paul Revere! That sounds like the beginning of a good fairytale. And unfortunately, the tale most of us has heard is simply that, good fiction, but not much fact. Hopefully we can begin to separate the two here today.

Way back in 1774, General Thomas Gage, commander of British forces in America was made governor of Massachusetts. The colonists living under his charge had begun to develop this radical new concept called Liberty. There had been a few riots and there was even rumor of a possible insurrection. It was Gen. Gage's job to try and quell some of these notions. The King had implemented something called the Coercive Acts, meant to bring the colonists back under his control. Some say Gage was a bit too lenient in those duties, but I think you will find out that was not the case. He was simply between a rock and a hard place, surrounded on all sides by an ever growing spirit of Liberty that could not be diminished by a few pieces of paper and a meager handful of troops.

One of the first steps Gage took in this effort was to bring supplies, mostly gunpowder, back into Boston to keep it out of the hands of the rebels. Some of the powder did belong to the King after all, but if he could seize any powder being stored by the colonists, all the better. He sent some of his troops into Cambridge in the middle of the night to get whatever was being stored there. The mission went almost as planned and they managed to made it back with 125 barrels of powder without incident. But it didn't take long for the colonists to find out and as the word spread, rumors started to fly that people had been killed in Cambridge and the city of Boston was being bombarded by the King's ships! Soon, as many as 20,000 of the colonists were converging on Boston ready to attack the city in their outrage. It was only through careful  persuasion they were sent home after discovering most of the rumors had been false.

But let's stop right there for a minute and think about that number. 20,000 colonists ready to fight? Gage himself had maybe 3,000 regular soldiers at his disposal. How did the colonists manage to summon 20,000 men in a short amount of time?

You see there was no TV or internet, no cell phones or other means by which to spread a message, yet somehow they were able to alert tens of thousands in a matter of hours. How many people could YOU get to come to your aid in a time of crisis? 100? Maybe 10? The fact that the colonists could summon so many for a common cause is pretty impressive for the 18th century.

Because of this incident, the colonists knew they needed a plan of action, so they created something called a powder alarm. This was an entire network of people who, at a moment's notice, would ride out, ring the bells and light the fires any time the King's redcoats were on the march. No, there was no single lone rider, galloping through the countryside, yelling "The British are coming!" first of all because we were ALL British. It took a community effort, the likes of which should put our own modern communities to shame to spread the word.

After the first raid, General Gauge cancelled plans for any further action, pulled back all of his troops to Boston and sent a hasty request to London, calling for reinforcements. His words were "if you think ten thousand men sufficient, send twenty; if one million is thought enough, give two; you save both blood and treasure in the end." You see, General Gauge had no illusions about what he was facing  and he knew there weren't nearly enough troops in all of England to meet his request. Despite the fact his men were soldiers facing what was considered a loose faction of farmers and shopkeepers, the simple numbers were not in his favor. When London received his request they thought him mad and only sent 400 marines back to Boston. General Gauge was hemmed in on all sides with few options.

By April, 1775 Gen. Gage had orders to siege a large supply of powder and provisions the colonists were storing up in Concord. He knew this would be no easy feat and he tried to keep his plans secret. Some say his wife alerted her Doctor, Joseph Warren of the plans in advance, but that may not have been necessary. A well known silversmith and courier of the time named Paul Revere had seen a large number boats being lowered into the river near the redcoat's camp. This could only signal one thing. The redcoats were about to make a move. He rode into Lexington to warn two other High Sons of Liberty, John Hancock and Samuel Adams who had recently been at a meeting of patriots in Concord. They were essentially hiding out, being well known in support of the rebel cause and had already ordered some of the arms and cannon at Concord to be hidden away.

2 days later, Dr. Warren summoned Paul Revere and William Dawes to let them know a raid was eminent. He then ordered them to ride out in different directions, once again, to warn Lexington, Concord and other villages. Revere loved to ride so he never got tired of all this going back and forth. Dawes traveled south, through the narrow neck of Boston and managed to get past the guards shortly before they closed the gate. Revere alerted a fella named John Pulling Jr to have two lanterns hung above the Old North Church to signal those across the river in Charlestown the redcoats would be coming by boats. This is where the phrase "One if by land, two if by sea" originated. Another rider struck out from Charlestown before Revere and Dawes even made it out of Boston.

As Dawes is beginning his ride, Revere has 2 friends gather to row him across the river to Charlestown right under the watch of the HMS Somerset. They were lucky that the moon was casting long shadows across the river this night but the oars and hardware were still noisy. They needed a way to muffle the oars so they could quietly pass by. Revere goes to a nearby balcony where he sees a lady standing, taking in the fresh evening air, and pleads with her to drop down her petticoat so that Revere could embark on a "secret mission." I guess Revere must have been a handsome fellow, because the lady complied although I can only imagine her surprise as he ran away into the night, the petticoat "yet warm from the body of a fair daughter of Liberty."

His gamble pays off and he quietly makes it across to Charlestown where he borrows the fastest horse he can find from a man named Deacon Larcon. In retrospect, this horse was the equivalent of borrowing someone's sports car and I imagine there may have been the slightest bit of a thrill as Paul Revere finally embarks on his famous midnight ride. Some believe this horse's name was Brown Beauty and unfortunately, it may have been one of the first actual casualties of the War for Independence.

As Dawes begins the longer southern route from Boston, Revere heads north through Charlestown Neck. He barely makes it out of town when suddenly he sees two sentries under a tree on horses. He spins Brown Beauty around, doubles back and instead takes the road north to Medford where he alerts their own minutemen along with every house he sees along the way. He continues on through Menotomy and finally arrives at the house of Jonas Clarke where Hancock and Adams are still hiding out. When he gets to the doorstep, a minuteman standing guard tells him to be quiet as not to disturb the family inside. Revere, impatient as always yells, "Noise! You'll have noise enough before long. The regulars are coming out!"

Before long the town bell is ringing. Captain John Parker and about 130 men begin to assemble on the green as they have in practice many times before. William Dawes joins back up with Revere and the two of them head out on the road to Concord. Along the way they come upon a lone rider by the name of Samuel Prescott who had been out courting his fiancé Miss Mulliken. They quickly realize that Prescott is also a High Son of Liberty, often a courier between Lexington and Concord.

They stop at another house on the way and wake up a man named Nathaniel Baker who immediately sets off to warn the town of Lincoln. Further back on the road to Lexington, yet another alarm rider by name of Josiah Nelson is awoken to the sound of hoofbeats and foot soldiers. He quickly dresses and sets off to warn Bedford. He gets roughed up a little by redcoats on the way, but eventually manages to spread the alarm.

You see, the midnight ride of Paul Revere is carried out by many sons and daughters of Liberty who, without hesitation, drop everything, join the fight, ride off to warn their neighbors or otherwise start making preparations for whatever might come. The few men who's names are remembered only play their small parts. It will be the common people like you and me who's actions make a difference.

But before long, Revere, Dawes and Prescott find themselves in a bit of trouble. Revere sees 2 regulars on the road ahead and quickly warn Dawes and Prescott who break off in different directions. However there are more soldiers hiding in the trees. Prescott jumps his horse over a stone wall and heads out into a swamp, 2 men hot on his heels. Fortunately for Prescott, he knows the swamp better than they and he makes well his escape while the 2 men wind up getting lost. I've heard they didn't find their way back out for days. Dawes rides towards a farmhouse also being chased. As he nears the house he calls out ahead as if summoning men to his aid. The ruse pays off and those giving chase turn back to the road. Unfortunately, Dawes horse stumbles and throws him head over heels so he comes crashing down, knocking the wind out of him. He ends up having to walk back to Lexington on foot.

Revere tries to escape himself but is soon captured by other men waiting in the shadows. They quickly grab him from his horse, hold a musket to his head and march him into a pasture where they are holding 3 other prisoner's taken earlier. During interrogation, Revere tells them honestly that he is out to warn the countryside of the troops moving towards Concord to seize the powder. This is actually news to them because the plan was supposed to be kept secret. Revere goes on to explain that men for 50 miles are being warned of the march this very minute and there should be at least 500 men waiting for them on Lexington Green (bending the truth just a bit). At first they don't take him seriously but then they hear a volley of musket fire coming from that direction.

You see, back in Lexington, the men were getting tired of waiting for something that might not even happen, so Parker told them not to go far just in case. Many of them simply went across the street to the Tavern and being bad etiquette to take a loaded musket inside, they unloaded in the only manner possible with a musket, by firing into the ground. Shortly after hearing the volley of fire, the soldiers let Revere go, thinking tonight they would have much bigger fish to fry than he. And soon they would have more than they bargained for.

When Revere finally makes it back to the Hancock-Clarke house he finds Samuel Adams and John Hancock upstairs. Speaking of "bigger fish to fry" he finds them arguing about whether to eat a "fine salmon" that had been brought in or take it with them to eat later. Revere warns them that time is of the essence. The redcoats are on the way and it's time for action, not triviality. Hancock, who's a bit of a hot-head, grabs his musket and prepares to go down and face them single-handedly if he must. Adams has to calm him down and remind him that their duty was to the congress and it was time to go before they risked getting captured.

As for Revere, he simply shakes his head realizing they are overlooking one important detail. There is a trunk full of incriminating papers which surely stands to get a lot of good men hanged if they fall into the wrong hands. Revere takes it upon himself to carry the trunk off to safety, drags it downstairs and is just starting to get off into the woods as the redcoats come around the bend. (History remembers men like the signers of the Declaration of Independence as heroes, and many were, but even then they often spent more time bickering about how to fix a problem while true men of action like Revere were needed to get things done.)

Earlier, back in Boston, General Thomas Gage had summoned a few of his most trusted officers. He had nowhere near the number of men he had requested, but could no longer afford delay in taking the powder and supplies at Concord. In command of this mission, he placed Lt. Col. Francis Smith, a senior officer among his commanders. Under him, Maj. John Pitcairn would keep the marines in line and was popular and well liked among the men. The two of them were to quietly wake up the troops and have them ferried across the river to a place called Lechemere Point where they would wait for supplies and advance on through Lexington to Concord.

They didn't have enough boats for all the troops so it took them 2 trips to get everyone across the river. By the time they arrived, it was cold and the tide was low, causing them to forge through muck up to their knees just to get to solid ground. Then they had to wait 2-3 hours for the supplies to be brought up and divided. They were given a days rations and 36 rounds of ammunition each. However, the rations ended up being rancid and had to be thrown out. So, you can imagine they were not in the best of spirits after being cold, muddy and hungry when they finally began marching down the road to Lexington.

Now Gage was starting to worry about the mission so he summoned Lord Percy to take reinforcements down the land route that Dawe's had traveled previously. Unfortunately for Smith and Pitcairn, the reinforcements were delayed 5 hours before they would even begin the march. Whatever happened along the way, Smith and Pitcairn would have to handle it themselves.

Daylight is barely breaking when the redcoats finally make it to Lexington, Major Pitcairn in the lead. It's already been a hard night with no sleep, little food and the troops have barely begun to dry out from the trek across the river. Within a half mile, he begins to hear young William Diamond sounding his muster drum to gather the minutemen. Only about 70 of Captain Parker's men remain nearby, but they quickly fall into ranks, well away from the road to Concord and with no intention of interfering. When Captain Parker sees the first redcoats approaching, he orders his men "Stand your ground! Don't fire unless fired upon! But if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!"

Now imagine just for a moment, you are standing in the middle of the town green in this tiny little village. Looking around, you see a meetinghouse, a tavern, a church and a few houses. One of those houses belongs to a friend you've known all your life who now lives there with his wife and 9 year old son. The house is still new, having been built by members of the community, wood cut from the surrounding forests and even the nails forged across the street at the local blacksmith. In fact, all the surrounding buildings were built by the townsfolk, not some distant contractor or housing authority. This was when community really meant something and the people were self reliant, something we've started to lose in this modern era of fast food and having our most basic needs met by people we can't even name.

In fact you know everyone intimately in this little town. You've shared meals with them, gone to church together, planted crops, and raised children. This land isn't rented or mortgaged nor does it belong to any noble or overseer. The very ground you are standing on was purchased by your grandfather and other members of the community for everyone's benefit. It was is by definition "common ground."

On any normal day there would be people having picnics, children playing games, dogs napping under shade trees and old men telling heroic stories of the recent French and Indian wars. But today there are no games, no picnics and no stories other than the one unfolding at this very moment. This is no ordinary day. This is April 19, 1775 and your name is John Parker, Captain of the Lexington Minutemen and right now there are over 750 redcoats marching up the road.

These men standing next to you? They are not commissioned soldiers, but simple farmers and tradesmen. These are your friends, neighbors and family. But, in front of you are professional soldiers. This is not some invading army, but your own countrymen. They and their muskets are supposed to be here to defend you and this new land your grandparents worked so hard to secure. But today, those muskets are being leveled at you and your neighbors who so foolishly believed in this radical idea called Liberty. No, it wasn't the coercive acts that lead you to stand here today. They were more of a nuisance than anything. And that "Boston Massacre?" You heard it was actually little more than a street brawl and everyone knew them city-folk were a bunch of troublemakers to begin with.

So, just what was it then? The colonists actually enjoyed a decent way of life in the America's and most had it better than those living back in London. In Britain, only 1 in 10 people were land owners and most of them were nobles, while in the colonies, 9 of 10 owned and worked their own lands and had for generations. Back in Britain, nobility was had by birth, but in the colonies, you could be thought noble by hard work and good deeds. They actually lived in a state of wealth and freedom unprecedented in the known world. So what could possibly have provoked ordinary citizens to stand up against the mightiest army in the world?

A man named Levi Preston summed it up thusly: "What we meant in going for those red-coats was this: We had always governed ourselves, and we always meant to. They didn't mean we should!" I'm sure Captain John Parker and the other citizens of Lexington would agree. You see, the Spirit of the Revolution had been growing in the new world all along. But it was not until the redcoats came for the powder and ball, something the colonists needed to protect themselves from the French and raiding indians, something they relied on for their very survival that a war would begin.

When Pitcairn arrives and sees the small band of colonists standing on the green, he immediately heads in their direction, ordering them to "Lay down your arms, you damned rebels and disperse!" Outnumbered 10 to 1, Captain Parker realizes the futility of his situation and begins to order his men to move out, not to disarm, but to leave the Green. About half begin to do so although a few either don't hear the order or they are too stubborn to move. The Captain's cousin Jonas Parker places his hat on the ground, puts his powder and ball inside and prepares for the worst.

From somewhere, a shot rings out! Nobody knows who fired first and the details are still hotly debated, but the impact of that shot changes history. The redcoats immediately start firing on the colonists, even those who've turned away to leave. A few brave souls return fire. The ever tenacious Jonas Parker, shot and wounded, is killed by a bayonet while trying to reload his musket, still in his place on the green. In a matter of minutes, 8 colonists lay dead and at least 10 more are wounded. Jonathan Harrington drags himself bleeding across the road and dies on his doorstep in the arms of his wailing wife and young son looking on. Within a few short minutes the scene has erupted into chaos as the eager redcoats began charging after the colonists, killing or maiming anyone caught in their path.

When Lt. Col. Francis Smith finally arrives on scene, he is aghast at the lack of discipline being shown and orders his drummer to muster the troops back into formation. Despite the fact they have just slaughtered a group of their OWN countrymen, the troops are then ordered to fire a victory volley and cheer Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah! As sons, brothers, fathers and even grandfathers lay dead or dying, they celebrate as if a great victory has been achieved. Shortly after, some of Captain Smiths' men suggest they should turn around and head back to Boston before things go from bad to worse. Smith proudly orders them to move on towards Concord, despite their concerns. Before long the piper and the drum begin playing a merry tune as if nothing significant even happened and they march on down the road.

The first AMERICANS to fall in a battle that will rage on for 8 long years are as follows:

John Brown
Samuel Hadley
Caleb Harrington
Jonathan Harrington
Robert Monroe
Isaac Muzzy
Jonas Parker
Asahel Porter

These are names most of you have probably never heard, yet they deserve our honor and respect. They died not only defending Liberty for themselves, but for you and me. Only 1 British soldier was even wounded on Lexington Green, barely grazed in the thigh. So who do YOU think fired first? This is what we refer to as the first strike of the match, because sometimes it takes a bit more effort to get a fire going. It will now be up to Concord to determine the next step a fledging nation will take on it's path to independence. But, before the day is through, the redcoats will have to march back through Lexington to face Captain John Parker and his men one more time. How do you imagine that will turn out?


This concludes the first strike but I hope you keep it in your thoughts throughout to day as we continue to practice Liberty. Huzzah!