The Minuteman statue in Lexington, Massachusetts is said to represent Captain John Parker, who died on this day.
Except Parker wasn’t a minuteman.
He also probably didn’t look like the man in the statue, given his age and what other small details we know about him.
But as usual, nobody lets the facts get in the way of a good story, so just roll with it, hm?
(We’re guessing he probably wasn’t green, either. )
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
The testimony of John Robins is what teachers like to call “primary sources”. It’s a document prepared by someone contemporary to an event, and even if the narrator is unreliable, we learn much more from it than from, say, something that was written long after the fact.
In the case of John Robins’ testimony regarding events at Lexington and Concord, the events were still fresh in his mind, having happened only a few days earlier. And because it derived from an official proceeding, that document was reasonably well-preserved and serves as a fascinating window into one of the most important events of our history.
And as for Robins himself, he was a relatively common man who happened to be part of the militia that day and might have been otherwise forgotten.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
In the aftermath of the battles at Lexington and Concord, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress held a series of hearings to determine who fired the first shot.
The purpose of the hearings was partially to find out exactly what had happened, but it had another purpose: if it turned out that the British had fired first, then the Assembly could turn to England and say “SEE? It wasn’t us!”
Even 250 years ago, Congressional hearings had a second agenda attached to them. (*sigh*) In the end, despite getting lots of testimony, the answer was still somewhat murky. But the Assembly still had enough information to give reconciliation one last shot.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
This is the big one, and it’s a date that many people don’t remember, but today is the day that the Revolutionary War officially began.
Oh sure, there were a few skirmishes here and there, which we’ve already discussed in earlier episodes. But this was the true tipping point from which nobody could recover or walk back.
Looking through social media the past couple of days, it’s heartwarming to see the number of events commemorating the 250th anniversary of things like Paul Revere’s ride, and the sheer number of people who are participating, even if they’re doing something relatively simple such as putting two lights in a high window of their homes.
We don’t recommend that you spend today shooting at British people wearing red, though.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
