On this day in 1775, the British moved toward the villages of Lexington and Concord, They were trying to trying to capture military stores, ie; muskets, powder, balls, or cannon. We cal it a battle, but it was really only a skirmish, or a brushing engagement.
The colonists had been forewarned by Paul Revere and other riders.Captain John Parker put his militia company on the town square. His move was calculated for maximum advantage. He neither blocked the road to Concord, nor tried to stop the British advance. He was a "show of foce", to let the British know that colonial militia was present, and watching. He told his men, "Stand your ground; don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." In the resulting engagement, eight colonists were killed.
The British continued to Concord to continue to search for military supplies. On the return trip, they were harassed by hundreds of militia who had gathered, hearing of the engagement in Lexington.
This was, of course, the year before the Declaration of Independence. The road to war was long, and the outrages ran deep. We didn't simply decide one day to be independent. It came at a cost, and a price, and it is one of the reasons that the Founders included the 2nd Amendment in the Bill of Rights. So that free men could stand against tyranny. It was the bulwark of our freedom then, and still is today.
Too many Americans today have forgotten why the "colonists" revolted against the "occupiers". It wasn't just the taxes, and it wasn't just the oversight by Absent Rulers who had no understanding of the new culture arising in the Americas.
ReplyDeleteIt was that the pioneers had got a taste of freedom, and it was a heady brew.
both addictive and satisfying, it was the Opiate of the 18th Century. Men who had been indentured slaves, serfs and other "low lifes" joined Landed Gentry in the New World to declare themselves independent of their now-foreign masters.
And the key to that rebellion was The Gun! Free men are not free, if they lack the means to combat those who would enthrall them.
And it's much the same again in America, where the ruling party is the new oppressor, working the system to impose their will on free men who just want to be let alone to determine their own way of life, their own values, and defend their own freedoms.