Essay 4-B: Captain John Parker and the Battles Of Lexington & Concord and Bunker Hill

Essay Read by Constituting America Founder, Actress Janine Turner

The morning of April 19, 1775, dawned clear and cool on Lexington Common, but by the end of the day, the sun would set over a scene of violence and death. That violence would prove to be the spark that ignited the American struggle for Independence.

The Common was a fitting place to start a revolution for self-government. The Common was, in part, where the militia trained. The militia system in New England was over a century old by 1775. Towns formed local militia companies to defend their communities. These were armed citizens, organized into companies who would set aside the tools of their daily lives to arm themselves and protect their neighbors in emergencies. Increasing tensions with British authorities in the 1760s and 1770s seemed to constitute just such a threat. 

Britain had increased its military forces in Boston in response to altercations with the colonists. In February of 1775, Parliament declared that a state of rebellion existed in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. They demanded that George III respond and enforce their authority over the colonists. 

On April 14, General Thomas Gage received instructions to disarm the rebels and imprison their leaders. They stated in part that “force must be repelled by force.” Preparations immediately began for a march on Concord, where reports indicated that military supplies were being stored.

British regulars set out from Boston, crossing Back Bay by boat and then marching down dark, tree-covered roads towards Lexington and Concord. The network, organized by the colonists, immediately began to act. 

Dr. Joseph Warren, a physician by trade, warned Paul Revere and William Dawes, one a silversmith, the other a tanner of the British movements. They set out at once on horseback to alert the countryside. The alarm spread quickly as the British Regulars made their way towards Concord. In Lexington, a town of 750 souls, the militia assembled under the eye of their commander, John Parker.

Parker, a farmer and father of seven, was suffering from tuberculosis and only had months left to live. He stood on the Common as 130 sleepy men assembled. Seeing no signs of the Regulars, they were temporarily dismissed and told to reassemble on the sound of the drum.

A few hours later, as the first streaks of dawn welcomed that cool spring day, the drum sounded, and 80 militiamen again assembled on the Common. The Regulars, under Major John Pitcairn, marched onto the Common, guns loaded and primed.

In moments, it was over. A shot fired by an individual lost to history sounded around the world. Musket fire rang out along the British line as they aimed at the colonists and tore into the militia’s ranks. Retreating, they left 8 dead and 10 wounded in their wake. One of those injured was Prince Eastbrook, an enslaved man who was shot in the shoulder. Eastbrook would soon recover from his wound and serve throughout the Revolutionary War.

Leaving the bloody field behind, the British continued their march towards Concord. There they were met by more militia under a miller, Colonel James Barrett. His forces, comprised of shoemakers, farmers, smiths, and innkeepers would exact a heavy toll.

After moving towards Barrett’s farm and receiving a lashing from Barrett’s militia at the North Bridge, the British expedition turned back towards Boston. They were harried the entire way by other militia companies from throughout the countryside, finally slinking back into the city as darkness fell.

The sun set on the first day of what would become an eight-year struggle for Independence. The bloodshed in Massachusetts continued. Two months later, on June 17, 1775, to secure Boston Harbor, British regulars would march up the slopes of Breed’s Hill and then Bunker Hill. There they were met by more militia. While eventually victorious, the British would suffer 1,054 casualties.

The actions of the Patriot network and the Colonial Militia embodied the spirit of self-government and individual liberty that animated the Revolutionary sentiment in New England. In defense of their sacred liberties, they set aside their daily affairs to take a stand in defense of their natural rights. Their sentiments would be beautifully encapsulated in July of 1775 by the Continental Congress in The Causes and Necessities of Taking up Arms. Its penultimate paragraph emphatically declared,

“In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birth-right, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it; for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our forefathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before.”

Kirk Higgins serves as the Vice President of Content at the Bill of Rights Institute. There, he has led several major curricula and content projects, including the Institute’s comprehensive U.S. history resource, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, and comprehensive Government and Politics resource. In addition to BRI’s curriculum development, Kirk manages the Institute’s video content and scholar network.

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