The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1875-04-27

SO
one Hundred years Ago. e..
[From the Springfield (Mass.) Republican,
Every body knows how Paul Revere
rode ont from Charlestoxn on the night
of April 1Sth,a1775, to warn the Middle
sex towns Of the approaching enemy. He
had left Boston on a ferry-boat about IL
O'Clock, while the British troops were
crossing to Cambridge, and, by the time
they had fairly left that town, Revere,
a little after midnight, was az Lexinz ton,
where he gave the alarm to Sam Adams
and John Hancock, as we'll as to Captain
John Parker and his minute-men. Revere
was joined in Lexington by William Dawes
who had ridden out from Roxbury, alarm
ing the country in that direction, and by
DIR. Samuel Prescott, of Concord. They
rode on, halfway from Lexington to Con
cord. where they were intercepted by
British scouts, and only Prescott succeed
ed in making his way through to Concord,
where, before 2 o'clock in the morning of
the 10th, he set the bell ringing in the
parish belfry, and called out the people,
who rallied as they had rallied in Lexlng-
ton. but in larger numbers At the, head
of the Lexington men was Capt. John
Parker, grandfather of Theodore Parker.
and among the foremost in Concord was
Rev. William Emerson, the parish Minis
ter, grandfather Of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The minister came. says Bancroft, with
gun in hand, his powder horn and pouch
for balls, slung over his shoulder. lis
Pensioners, says his grandson, "snatch-
down their rusty frelocks from the kitch'
en- walls, to make good the resolute words
of their town debates. Those poor farm
ers who came up, that day, to defend their
native soil, acted from the simplest in.
stincts. They did not know it was deed
Of fame they were doing. These men did
not babble Of glory; they never dreamed
their children would contend who had
done the most. And as they had no fear
Of man, they yet did have fear of God.
Capt. Charles Miles, who was wounded in
the pursuit Of the enemy, told my vener-
able friend (Dr. Ripley that he went to
the services of that DAY. with the same
seriousness and acknowledgment of God
which he carried to church, 1t was the
same with the people of Lexington. Theo-
dore Parker has thus described what took
place there:
The war of the Revolution began at L. xingtOn.
to end at Yorktown; its first battle was Oh the
18th OF April That raw morning, little after
daybreak, tall man with large forehead I'M
der three-cornered hat John Parker) drew
up his company of 70 men on the Lexington
green,- tarmers and mechanics like himself,
only one is left now Qs52), the boy who
"played'' the men to the spot. They were led
into line to wait for the Regulars, The captain
ordered every man to load his piece with
words, "unless fired upon; but # they ,oent a
,0ar, let 1t begin kere:'' The Regulars came
on. Some Americans offered to run away from
their posts. Their captain said, II will order
the first man shot dead that leaves his place. "
The English commander cried out, "Disperse
you rebels; lay down your arms and dispersed
1ebels shouted e he AGAIN. Mt s1 man stirred.
He ordered the vanguard to fire; they, did so,
but over the heads OF our fathers. Then the
whole main body levelled their pieces, and
there was need OF ten graves III Lexington. A
few Americans returned the shot; British
blood stained the early grass, which "waved
with the wind" "Disperse, and take care OF
yourselves p was the captains last command.
And after the British fired their third round
there lay the dead, and there stood the SOL
diers; there was battlefield between Eng
land and America, never to be forgot, never
to be covered over. The smother country
Of the morning was the "enemy" at sunrise
''Oh, what glorious morning is this!" said
Samuel Adams.
=. In his interview with the fifer boy
Johnathan Harrington) in l845, Theo.
d0re Parker had asked him chow he felt
IS he marched on to the spot' with the
Lexington men in ITS. Harrington said
he felt we'll enough then; but when they
saw the regiments march up he felt kind
O queer. Some offered to run away, but
Capt. Parker drew his sword and said he
would run through the first man that
offered to run. Capt P. looked as if he
could face anything, and so he could .
This is the general testimony about John
Parker. His brother Jonas was one OIL
the killed. AS Bancroft tells the story
Jonas Parker, the strongest and best wres
tier in Lexington, had promised never to ru1
from the British, and he kept his VOW.
wound brought him on his knees. Having
it again, when as sound heart as ever bea
for freedom was stilled by bayonet, and III
lay on the post which he took on tn
mornings drum-beat. So fell 1saa'
Muzzey, and so fell the aged Robert Monroe
the same who, in 175S, had been an en-
sign at Louisburg Johnathan Harrington, Sr.
was struck in front of his own house, on tn
north of the common. His wife was at tn
window as he fell. With the blood gushin!
from his breast, he rose in her sight, tottered
tell again, then crawled on hands and knee
toward his dwelling; she ran to meet him, bu
only reached him as he expired on thei
threshold. Seven Of the men of Lexington
were killed; nine wounded; quarter part Q
those who stood in arms Oh the green. In tn