MA -- Minute Man NHP -- Paul Revere Capture Site:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- MMCAP_190809_04.JPG: Minute Man National Historical Park
Paul Revere Capture Site
Minute Man National Historical Park was the starting place of the American Revolution: here the resolve of citizens willing to risk their lives for the ideals of liberty and self-determination was instrumental in the formation of the American identity.
The park preserves sites where Colonial militia men and British soldiers clashed on April 19, 1775. A force of 700 British soldiers left Boston to seize military supplies stockpiled in Concord. Alarm riders alerted the countryside. In area towns, militia companies assembled, ready to defend their communities and their liberties if necessary.
After brief battles at Lexington Green (5:00 a.m.) and Concord's North Bridge (9:30 a.m.) fighting escalated along the "Battle Road." As the British troops marched back towards Boston, militia companies poured in. By afternoon, nearly 4,000 Colonists unleashed "an incessant fire" upon the British soldiers. At the end of the day, the Colonists surrounded and laid siege to Boston. The Revolutionary War had begun.
The Battle Road Trail
This five mile trail from Meriam's Corner to Fiske Hill provides pedestrian, bicycle and wheelchair access to many cultural and natural sites within the park. The trail visits battle sites, agricultural fields, colonial homes and taverns, forests, fragile wetlands, and historic landmarks. Portions of the trail are on the Battle Road where the British column marched; other sections follow stone walls and farm lanes traversed by the Colonists.
Many visitors begin their tour by viewing the exhibits and orientation program at the Minute Man Visitor Center.
Minute Man National Historical Park receives one million visitors a year. Each visitor becomes a caretaker of this special place. To protect the park and the visitor experience, please observe the following prohibitions
- MMCAP_190809_13.JPG: At this point,
on the Old Concord Road as it then was
ended the midnight ride of
Paul Revere
He had at about two o'clock on the morning of April 19, 1775, the night being clear and the moon in its third quarter, got this far on his way from Lexington to Concord, alarming the inhabitants as he went, when he and his companions, William Dawes, of Boston, and Dr. Samuel Prescott, of Concord, were suddenly halted by a British patrol, who had stationed themselves at this bend of the road. Dawes, turning back, made his escape. Prescott, clearing the stone wall, and following a path known to him through the low ground, regained the highway at a point further on, and gave the alarm at Concord. Revere tried to reach the neighboring wood, but was intercepted by a party of officers accompanying the patrol, detained and kept in arrest. Presently he was carried by the patrol back to Lexington. There released, and that morning joined Hancock and Adams. Three men of Lexington, Sanderson, Brown and Loring, stopped at an earlier hour of the night by the same patrol, were also taken back with Revere.
- MMCAP_190809_18.JPG: The Midnight Riders:
In September of 1774, Patriot leaders initiated a system of alarms and express riders to warn area towns whenever British troops marched out of Boston.
On April 18th, at about 10:00 in the evening two riders set out from Boston ahead of 700 British troops. William Dawes took the land route south of Boston. Paul Revere crossed the Charles River, obtained a horse, and began his ride. They stopped in Lexington to warn Patriot leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams, then headed on to Concord, where military supplies for the colony were stored.
As the two men alerted the countryside, other towns sent more riders out into the night. About 4,000 Massachusetts Militia and Minute Men took up arms and arrived in time to fight on April 19th. By day's end, about 20,000 were on the march.
"One if by land, and two, if by sea; and I on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm, For the country folk to be up and to arm."
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Paul Revere's Ride" (1861) has helped to make the alarm rider an American icon.
- MMCAP_190809_20.JPG: Paul Revere Captured!
- MMCAP_190809_29.JPG: Weapon of the Day
On April 19th, 1775, Colonists and British soldiers used the same type of gun – a flintlock musket that fired a one ounce solid lead ball. The effective range was one hundred yards (the length of a modern football field). These weapons were smooth bore – there were no groves in the barrel to put a spin on the ball to make it fly straight. Also, the ball was undersized to facilitate quick loading. Because muskets were not very accurate, they were most effective when fired by lines of soldiers, in volleys. The Colonists firing individually along the Battle Road did not hit their mark very often. However, they were effective at keeping up a steady, harassing gunfire.
Well-drilled soldiers using prepared cartridges could load and fire three or more times a minute. Soldiers tore open the paper cartridge with their teeth and sprinkled a small amount of gunpowder into the priming pan of the weapon. The remainder of the cartridge (powder, ball and paper wrapping) was placed into the muzzle and rammed down with the ramrod. When the trigger was pulled, the flint was forced forward, striking the steel frizzen and making sparks. The powder ignited, causing the gun to fire. However, flints often failed to spark, damp powder failed to ignite and powder fouling caused difficulties in loading. Colonists carried swords, axes or bayonets as back-up.
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