page_title: Old North Bridge
section_title: "The Minute Man" statue
hierarchical_section_title: Old North Bridge / Monuments placed at the site / "The Minute Man" statue
caption_attribution_description: English: The Minute Man Statue is located in the Minute Man National Historical Park. It is situated near the North Bridge, were "the shot heard around the world" was fired. Daniel Chester French constructed the statue for the centennial of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Part of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord Hymn is inscribed on the base for the statue. The statue is meant to convey the true Minute Man to the visitors who come and see it. It shows a farmer next to his plow, equipped with his weaponry in order to serve at a moments notice.
context_page_description: The North Bridge, often colloquially called the Old North Bridge, is a historic site in Concord, Massachusetts spanning the Concord River. On April 19, 1775, the first day of the American Revolutionary War, provincial minutemen and militia companies numbering approximately 400 engaged roughly 90 British Army troops at this location. The battle was the first instance in which American forces advanced in formation on the British regulars, inflicted casualties, and routed their opponents. It was a pivotal moment in the Battles of Lexington and Concord and in American history. The significance of the historic events at the North Bridge inspired Ralph Waldo Emerson to refer to the moment as the "shot heard round the world."
  There were at least eight iterations of the North Bridge constructed over four centuries. The current wooden pedestrian bridge, an approximate replica of the bridge that stood at the time of the battle, was built in 1956 and extensively restored in 2005. The bridge and the surrounding 114 acres of land make up what is known as the North Bridge unit of the Minute Man National Historical Park and is managed by the National Park Service.
context_section_description: The location of the 1836 Battle Monument did not sit well with some in Concord. Because there was no longer a bridge, the obelisk had been placed on the eastern bank where the British had stood during the Concord Fight. A Concord farmer named Ebenezer Hubbard was particularly annoyed that the spot where the first Americans had lost their lives during the Concord Fight remained unmarked. Upon his death in 1870, he left the Town of Concord $1,000 to place a monument on the west side of the Concord River and to reconstruct the Old North Bridge to provide access to it. The residents of Concord pressed to finish both the new bridge and monument in time for the centennial celebration in 1875.
  Daniel Chester French, then 21 years old, was engaged by the Monument Committee to sculpt a statue representing a minuteman. Although commissioned to sculpt a generic provincial soldier, French was inspired by the story of Capt. Isaac Davis of Acton, Massachusetts. Davis commanded the company which led the advance on the Old North Bridge. He was among the first killed and the first American officer killed in action during the Revolution. French attempted to model the facial features of his statue after photographs of Isaac Davis's descendants.
  The statue was cast from melted down Civil War cannons at the Ames Foundry. It was French's first public work and was well received. French is best known for his 1920 statue, "Abraham Lincoln", in the Lincoln Memorial. "The Minute Man" has been used as the symbol of the United States National Guard and on coins such as the Massachusetts state quarter.
caption: "The Minute Man" by French
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