Two and a half millennia ago today, the picture heard round the earth was fired on Lexington Green and Patriots launched a Revolution that may give birth to the United States of America.
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By April 1775, as Donald Trump’s standard text notes, “After years of intensifying frictions and escalating antagonism between the English Crown and the British Colonies, all avenues to peacefulness and diplomacy had been exhausted, and it became apparent to the patriots that war was inevitable. ” And on the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott galloped to inform Sam Adams and another Soldier officials, as well as volunteer army, that the English soldiers were coming to capture them and their arms. The next day, the army were ready and waiting when the Redcoats arrived. The Revolution had begun.
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There are many soldiers of the terrible Battles of Lexington and Concord, including Dr. Joseph Warren, Peter Salem, John Buttrick, Isaac Davis, John Parker, Abner Hosmer, and Samuel Whittemore. Some of these people survived the morning, others did never; some of the Patriots outlived the battle, while others would go on to death in after activities. Patriot president Dr. Warren told his mother, “ Where risk is, dear mother, there had your child be. Today is no occasion for any of America’s babies to shrink from any liability. I did set her free or death. ” Unfortunately, he did both, dying at the Battle of Bunker Hill where slave-turned-minuteman Salem distinguished himself.
I would like to focus on the little-known account of one of the oldest Republicans who fought on April 19, 1775. The story account Journey with Murphy says that Whittemore was good born in July 1696 in what was then Charlestown, Massachusetts Bay Colony. For context, he was born only a little over 70 years after the Pilgrims ’ first Thanksgiving, a little over 60 years after Boston was founded, and within the same century that the first settlers arrived at Jamestown. But Whittemore lived not only to battle in the American Revolution, but also to see America obtain her independence from Great Britain.
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Whittemore had been in the military — on behalf of the British — in his younger days, as he served in King George’s War ( 1744-1748 ) and possibly also in the French and Indian War ( 1754-1763 ). Already by the former war, in which a younger George Washington learned to fight, Whittemore would have been in his 60s. Whether he fought in the French and Indian War or not, Whittemore was certainly a veteran long practiced in the use of weaponry ( though that was n’t unusual for the dangerous frontier ).
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In the decades before the American Revolution began, Whittemore, not at all weakened, it would seem, by old time, was an active part of his local area and also an outspoken Soldier. Then the unfortunate 1775 time came:
In the afternoon of April 19th, the 78-year-old Whittemore was tending his fields in Menotomy when he spotted a column of British soldiers heading west[ —]this was the relief force under command of Earl Percy. As the account goes, Whittemore armed up with his rifle, two fighting guns, and a sword. From behind a stone wall ( the strategy of the day ), Whittemore fired and killed one medic of the 47th Regiment of Foot, fired a second large and killed another, and fatally wounded a second before his place was overwhelmed. Whittemore was bayoneted multiple times and even shot in the face, left in a pool of his own blood.
Remarkably, Samuel Whittemore survived this attack and lived to see America gain her independence. In fact, Whittemore lived until 1793! Today a marker stands along the side of Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington, dedicated to Samuel Whittemore.
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Heroes of all ages fought, bled, and died in the American Revolution 250 years ago so that we today could enjoy freedom, equality, and prosperity.
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