1775.

The Story of Lexington and Concord.

217

name.

Late one April night eight hundred soldiers set out on this errand. They hoped their coming would be unexpected, as care had been taken to prevent the tidings from being carried out of Boston. But as they marched, the clang of bells and the firing of guns gave warning far and near of their approach. In the early morning they reached Lexington.

THE STORY OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD.

A day or two before the eventful 19th of April, 1775, General Gage began preparations for a military expedition. Boats from a ship-of-war were launched to carry the troops across the Charles River. The movement was observed by the patriots. Companies of soldiers were massed on Boston Common, under pretence of learning a new military exercise.

Doctor, afterwards General, Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill, at once sent Paul Revere, an energetic patriot of Boston, to arouse the country. He was to notify Hancock and Adams, who were at Lexington, and to warn the people of Concord that the troops were coming to destroy the military stores collected there. Warren had been informed of the object of the expedition.

Revere only waited to ask a friend to hang out two lanterns in the steeple of the North Meeting-house, as a signal to notify watchers on the other side of the river when the troops were in motion, and then rowed across the stream to Charlestown. He was not a moment too soon. General Gage heard that his plans were discovered. Orders were at once given that no person should be allowed to leave Boston. Had these orders been given five minutes sooner, the whole course of the Revolution might have been changed. As it was, Revere reached the other side in safety. He galloped on horsebaek through the towns,

calling up the people in every house. He reached Lexington. Hancock and Adams were warned. Still pressing on, he was captured by a party of British officers, but not

1775.

The Battle of Lexington.

221

ton Common, which is now solid ground, - crossed the Charles, and landed in Cambridge. By marching all night, they reached Lexington just as day was breaking. The militia of that town had been called out at one o'clock in the morning by the ringing of the church bell, and had been dismissed until they should be called together again by the beat of the drum on the appearance of the British troops.

At length a messenger who had been sent out to watch for the coming of the troops galloped back with news of their arrival. The drum was quickly beaten. Sixty or seventy farmers took their places in the ranks, to meet a force of more than ten times as many regular soldiers.

It was a chilly spring morning, just before sunrise, when the British force marched upon Lexington Common. The act and attitude of the little band of farmers opposed to this force made them as grand a type of patriotism and bravery as the world has ever witnessed.

On two points the patriots were determined. They were ready to die for their country. Their captain, John Parker, had given the strictest orders that they should not be the first to fire. Yet the orders were hardly necessary. Major Pitcairn rode upon the Common, and shouting with an oath to the "villains" and "rebels," as he called them, to disperse, almost instantly ordered his soldiers to fire, and he set the example.

It was murder. The captain of the Lexington company had determined to disperse his men, and when the firing began they retreated quickly. But they left eleven of their comrades dead, and nine were wounded, - fully onequarter of all who had rallied at the sound of the drum. The British fire was returned by only a few of the wounded Americans. No English blood was shed. But the hostilities had begun. It was no battle, and yet Samuel Adams,