"On the morning of April Nineteenth, 1775, while the British held this
bridge, the minutemen and militia of Concord and neighboring towns
gathered on the hill across the river. There the Concord Adjutant,
Joseph Hosmer, demanded, 'Will you let them burn the town down?' There
the Lincoln captain, William Smith, offered to dislodge the British,
the Acton captain, Isaac Davis, said, 'I haven't a man that's afraid
to go!' and the Concord colonel, James Barrett, ordered the attack
upon the regulars.
The column was led by Major John Buttrick, marching from his own farm.
His aide was Lt. Colonel John Robinson of Westford. The minutemen of
Acton, Concord, Lincoln and Bedford followed, after them came the
militia. At the British volley, Isaac Davis fell. Buttrick cried,
'Fire, fellow-soldiers, for God's sake Fire!' and himself fired first.
The British fled; and here began the separation of two kindred
nations, now happily long united in peace."]
[Illustration: THE "MINUTEMAN" IN A SPRINGTIME SETTING]
[Illustration: NORTH BRIDGE, CONCORD]