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THE most important event in American history!

Dang! Today is Patriot’s Day. It’s too bad little Jimmy Gollum Carwreck is still breathing our oxygen. The treasonous biatch. Semper Fi my arse.

So that is what the left is LARPing.

Thanks for the thread!

Lexington and Concord are a Fascinating
Battle.
.

Ditto.

Paul Revere’s Ride

https://poets.org/poem/paul-reveres-ride

School House Rock - The Shot Heard Round the World

That 1760 - 1783 era in North America is one of the most fascinating periods in all history. It's important to remember why Lexington & Concord happened.

In the tense months following the passage of the Intolerable Acts (also known as the Coercive Acts) in 1774, which punished Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party by closing Boston Harbor, altering the colonial government, and restricting local rights, colonists across the province grew deeply concerned that British authorities under General Thomas Gage might seize their military supplies. Many towns quietly and discreetly began moving or hiding their town-owned gunpowder and arms from central storage facilities, particularly the large provincial powder house in Charlestown (now Powder House Square in Somerville).

By late August 1774, William Brattle, the provincial militia leader, informed Gage in a letter dated August 27 that the towns had already removed all of their own supplies from the Charlestown magazine, leaving only the provincial ("King's") powder behind. This widespread precautionary action involved numerous towns, primarily in the greater Boston area and Middlesex County. No exhaustive central list of all the towns that undertook to secure their gunpowder survives due to the decentralized and often secretive nature of the efforts.

These moves accelerated after the events of early September 1774. On September 1, Gage ordered approximately 260 British regulars to secretly remove the remaining provincial gunpowder from the Charlestown powder house and two field pieces from Cambridge, transporting them to Castle William in Boston Harbor for safekeeping. The operation itself was bloodless and limited in scope, but false rumors spread rapidly that the British had attacked Boston, shed blood (with some claims of six killed), or even bombarded the city. This sparked what became known as the Powder Alarm: on September 2, thousands of New England militiamen (with estimates reaching tens of thousands regionally) mobilized and marched toward Cambridge and Boston. Loyalists fled to the city for protection, but once the rumors proved false and the facts emerged, the militia dispersed without firing a shot. The incident served as a major "dress rehearsal" for the revolution, highlighting how quickly colonial forces could assemble in response to perceived threats and significantly heightening tensions in the lead-up to open conflict.

Following the Powder Alarm, local militias became even more vigilant. Supplies were frequently relocated further inland, away from British-controlled areas near the coast. This grassroots effort contributed directly to the establishment of major provincial magazines in Concord and Worcester, which served as key collection points for military stores gathered or moved from various towns. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress later directed such centralization as part of broader preparations, including militia reorganization under the Suffolk Resolves.

While a complete roster of every town that participated in moving or hiding gunpowder remains elusive—many actions were handled locally by committees of safety or militia companies without centralized documentation—historical accounts confirm that dozens of towns, especially those with access to the Charlestown facility, took part starting in the summer of 1774. Specific towns or places prominently associated with these or related efforts include:

Surrounding towns in Middlesex County and the greater Boston area (collectively referenced as having removed their gunpowder shares by late August 1774)
Concord (emerged as a primary inland magazine for relocated and collected supplies)
Worcester (served as another major inland depot, distant from British forces)
Salem (where locals secured stores, leading to the British attempt in February 1775 known as Leslie's Retreat)

Broader measures, such as purchasing additional powder or hiding arms, occurred in many other communities across eastern and central Massachusetts. Related incidents, like the February 1775 standoff in Salem or the later British expedition to Concord on April 19, 1775, built upon this atmosphere of suspicion and preparation. In essence, the decentralized movement of gunpowder after the Intolerable Acts, culminating in the Powder Alarm, represented a critical escalation: colonists shifted from passive resistance to active, organized defense of their resources, setting the stage for the armed confrontations that began seven months later on the road to Lexington and Concord.

Two of my favorite and highly recommended books:

The Minute Men: The First Fight: Myths and Realities of the American Revolution, 1989, by John R. Galvin, a U.S. Army General (four-star general who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe and as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army). Provides a military-focused history of the minutemen, the opening battles at Lexington and Concord, and the myths versus realities of that first day of fighting.

Paul Revere’s Ride, 1994, by David Hackett Fischer. It goes well beyond Revere's ride and covers the British retreat to Boston after the fighting at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775—often called the “Battle Road” phase of the engagement. It provides a detailed, hour-by-hour account of the full day’s events, including:

The initial clashes at Lexington Green and the North Bridge in Concord.
The turning point when the British column, after failing to destroy significant stores and facing growing numbers of militia, began its withdrawal.
The long, running fight (sometimes described as a “harried retreat” or “bloody aftermath”) as colonial militia from many towns ambushed the regulars along the road back through Lexington, Menotomy (now Arlington), and Cambridge toward Boston.

The British regulars—low on ammunition, exhausted, and under constant fire from behind walls, fences, and buildings—suffered heavy casualties while the militia employed irregular tactics effectively. The book portrays the retreat as a major military engagement rather than a minor skirmish, with the road from Concord to Boston becoming a deadly gauntlet.

In 1774, people "grew deeply concerned that British authorities under General Thomas Gage might seize their military supplies". Just like today with regard to personal arms and ammunition.

I think Cornwallis said something like ‘They’re farmers with pitchforks’.

One of my fifth great grandfathers joined the army because of that Boston event. His father, brothers, and father-in-law were already solidly behind the American cause, and when his cousins led an expedition north from New York to invade Montreal and Quebec, he joined his cousin’s unit in August 1775, taking up his post as Major in the 3rd New York Regiment. He left the day after his first child was born, writing back to his wife:

“You seem to think a little hard of my hurrying away from you too soon when I took my leave of you. Upon my life, my beloved, ...I knew that we must part, & I also knew your weakness ...you were in a wreck.”

No matter the personal cost, people at that time made hard choices to protect their country. The history of the time and the people and the reasons have been too low in our education these past decades. I’m really hoping the new material that will come out this year will spread the information to new generations to teach their children what our ancestors went through to create this country that today protects them.

“The North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts is often referred to as the location of the “shot heard ‘round the world,” and the beginning of the American War for Independence. On the morning of April 19, 1775 , Colonial Militia from Concord and surrounding towns exchanged gunfire with British regulars guarding the critical river crossing. Although the fighting at the North Bridge lasted only a few seconds, it marked the beginning of a massive battle that raged over 16 miles along the Bay Road from Boston to Concord, and included some 1,700 British regulars and over 4,000 Colonial militia.”

It is amazing to be able to cross that bridge, walk where they walked, stand where they stood as they fired “the shot heard round the world”. It has been my honor to do so.

Imagine the world without the United States.
We had WW1 & WW2 just last century caused by the British and europe. Over 100 million killed.

Imagine the wars if our country did not exist. None of the freedom brought to billions of people. None of the innovation we created.