The Third Strike of the Match - and the spark ignites

After the events at the North Bridge Colonel Smith decided it was time to head back to Boston. The day had not gone off quite as planned, his men were tired and hungry, and death was all around. All the Redcoats had to do at this point was march through Lexington on the way march back to Boston.

Meriam's Corner - And the fire Ignites

meriams corner

About one mile outside of Concord the Third Stike of the Match sparks a blaze. The Revolutionary War begins here. Intense fighting commences and there is no turning back at this point. Even after the First and Second Strikes of the Match the War had not begun. If the colonist had simply went home after the skirmish at the North Bridge about the only thing that would have happened would have been reprimands to a few officers and maybe a few colonist would have met with a hanging, after a fair trial of course. The fate of America now hung in the balance, all the colonist from that day had only two things to look forward to - either death by hanging or a final victory.

 

Battle Road

Colonel Smith still had almost 20 miles to march back to Boston after Meriam's Corner. And a long 20 miles it was to be. The fighting was constant from Meriam's Corner all the way back to safety in Boston. There were more than a few intense engagements that almost destroyed the King's Men before reaching their sanctuary in Boston. As they neared Lexington the fight we call Parker's Revenge took place, the Regulars were panicked and near hysteria, and only one thing saved them at that point. What was it that saved them?

 

percy

Lord Hugh Percy

Lord Percy looked down on the Colonist as an incompetent rabble. Before the 19th of April he had made the statement that "The Colonist were suited to only carrying the pots and pans of the King's Army." He further claimed that with only a Company of the King's finest he could pacify America within a month.

However after the events of the 19th of April he changed his tune. He wrote afterwards:

Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob, will find himself very much mistaken. They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about.

Indeed.

And events that followed would prove Lord Percy right for the Colonist had the tenacity to follow the convictions of their hearts, The desire to live in Liberty as Free Men.

Behold - Self Evident Truths

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Samuel Adams

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace.

We seek not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.



Levi Preston

Young man, what we meant in going for those Redcoats was this: we always had governed ourselves and we always meant to. They didn't mean we should.

Captain Levi Preston of Danvers, Massachusetts, interviewed about his participation in the first battle of the American Revolution many years later, at the age of 91 (around 1843)



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