the Minute men

Yesterday (Thursday, May 10, 2013) we went to where the first battle of the Revolution had taken place. The British had taken Boston and had heard roomers that the colonists were stockpiling weapons, food and ammunition in Concord. So the British decided to take the weapons. But Paul Revere overheard the plans and decided to warn the colonists. So he made a warning system. If the Solders were traveling by land than they were hang one lantern in a church. But if they traveled by sea, than they would hang two lanterns. That night, two lanterns were hung. Paul Revere traveled by boat to the other side where a horse was waiting. He and Willian Dawes rode town-to-town warning and waking the colonists to arms. Paul Revere met another rider along the road. His name was Joseph Warren. Paul Revere, Joseph Warren and Willian Dawes rode on to other settlements. He also rode to where Samuel Adams and John Hancock were seeping. He knocked on the door. Someone came out and told him to hush because they were sleeping. But when he told him that the redcoats were coming, he dashed up the stairs to wake them up. He rode on with his friends but they met a British patrol. Paul Revere was captured but his friends rode on to alert the others. Soon, men from everywhere came to help. The first battle didn’t go that well. The colonist or redcoat shot the first shot but it didn’t matter. The redcoats shot at the colonists. The colonists retreated. Soon, the redcoats made it to Concord and started to scan for any hidden weapons but thanks to Paul Revere’s friends, the colonists had enough time to hide them. Then the redcoats came to the south bridge and it didn’t go as planed. As redcoats approached the bridge, they noticed that there were colonists with guns on were the other side. The colonists had seen smoke coming from the village and had thought that the redcoats were burning the village but instead, they were burning the supplies that they had found. One of the colonists said, “Do we just sit here as the village gets burned?”  They had decided to defend the bridge but they could only fire after the enemy had. The redcoats lined up, took aim, and fired. The colonial officer gave the order that all of them had dreaded would come, “FIRE! For god’s sake, fire.” The colonists fired at the redcoats and were surprised to see the redcoats running away. The red coats had lost a lot of there commanders. The redcoats started to march back to Boston but colonists followed them. They would find a spot, fire at the men, and run. The canonists kept up this attack the whole way and they were always being reinforced with more men from the surrounding villages along the way. Battered and leader less, the redcoats fell back to Boston. The weapon stashes were safe and the redcoats defeated. The Revolutionary War had begun. 

Zoe and I got to walk part of the road (from Concord to Lexington) that the British retreated on.  It was pouring rain, but we had fun being colorful turtles with umbrellas….not exactly re-inactors!



Hi this is Zoe quick fact the guy who did the statue also did the Lincon mremorial!