250 years later, shots ring out at Battle Green again
On the British side, one casualty: a single, slightly wounded soldier. While the battle unfolded in front of them, an additonal 260 British reenactors waited on Massachusetts Avenue in the line of march. Civilian reenactors watched the drama, including women and children representing families of the militia.
The milestone reenactment launched a full day of commemorations, both the solemn and the festive, to mark the semiquincentennial. of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which ignited the bloody, eight-year American Revolution.
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'This is about people who risked everything, and it reminds us of the American story,' said Rosie Rios, a former US Treasury secretary who is chair of America250, a nonprofit effort to engage communities across the country in commemorating the Revolution's anniversaries.
In Lexington, throngs of onlookers began gathering in the dark, ringing the battleground behind temporary fencing but close enough to watch the fight. A narrator told the crowd what was transpiring, and Stephen Cole, who portrayed militia Captain John Parker, once again urged his men to stand their ground while the Redcoats advanced.
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Following the reenactment in Lexington, more drama was scheduled for Concord, where bells at the First Parish church would ring at 5:45 a.m. as a warning that the British were on the move. On April 18, 1775, British General Thomas Gage dispatched 700 troops from Boston on an overnight mission to seize Colonial military stores that he was told had been hidden there.
Two hundred and 50 years later, a reenactor portraying Dr. Samuel Prescott, who escaped from the British patrol that had arrested Paul Revere, was scheduled to ride to North Bridge with the alarm. On Saturday, the Concord Minute Men would fire salutes there, and the Concord Independent Battery would unleash several volleys.
Beginning at 9:30 a.m., a ceremony at North Bridge will commemorate the 'shot heard 'round the world,' as the 19th-century American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson described the conflict there. And in Lexington, a rededication of Battle Green was scheduled for 10:45 a.m., including a sky-diving performance by the US Army Golden Knights parachute team.
Both towns will stage parades with staggered times, beginning at 8:30 a.m. in Concord and 2 p.m. in Lexington.
In additon, Minute Man National Historical Park, a 5-mile trail along the bloody British retreat from Concord, will feature talks, living-history sites, and demonstrations of the fighting there at various times and locations from 9 a.m. to dusk.
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Brian MacQuarrie can be reached at
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