I happened to be awake early in the morning this weekend. I caught the reenactment on a Boston news channel. I think I paid more attention to the “what was happening 250 years ago NOW” stuff on social media than I had in previous years.
The time of day; the exhaustion of the British Troops; and the deep anger of the “people” made more of an impression this time. I had read about this day since grammar school more than 50 years ago. For some reason, this year I paid more attention to the “people” involved way back then.
While the first shots in Lexington are recalled for their importance, the utter brutality of the rest of day was lost on me. The number of militia who streamed into the area throughout the morning was staggering. The followup fights from Concord, back to Lexington, and then through Arlington were just brutal.
The British soldiers had been marching since the night before—totalling about 40 miles in 24 hours. And for the entire walk back to Boston, they were harassed by the Minutemen. The action in Menotomy was huge compared to Lexington.
Today, we look around at the emotions of people in the country. Social media would have you think that the people are pissed off more than at any time since the Civil War. But, are they so pissed off they are picking up firearms and walking 10-15 miles overnight to pick a fight with the largest, most powerful army on Earth? It’s not even close.
A sense of history is critical to keep things in perspective.
Years ago, I attended the gathering with Acton men dressed as minutemen. I noted that a grocer, a stockbroker, a computer specialist, and a dozen or more citizens by wearing the rough clothing and bearing the long rifle, of a sudden, became more than just week-end warriors. They were generations removed from the shot heard round the world, but they were proud Americans taking part in the remembrance of an event that we should never forget. I was proud of them.
I still am.]
In the Minuteman Museum, they have a wall with a map of the entire Boston-Concord area, and it has colored lights that light up to show the various parties on that day, the red lights showing the British coming out of Boston, and as they advanced past Lexington and the first shots on the Lexington Common, columns of white lights from every surrounding town began converging on the British column as it began its retreat from Concord.
There is a moving timeline at the bottom showing the time of day.
Eventually, as I watched, it made me think of the American troops in Somalia trying to fight their way out of the heart of the city. Armed people streaming from every point of the compass (as described in the book “Blackhawk Down”)
As for the people pissed off-it is well to keep in mind Ernest Hemingway’s book “The Sun Also Rises” when one of the characters is asked how he went bankrupt, and he replied he said:
“Gradually and then suddenly.”
Revolutions and wars often share that same dynamic.