THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

A Midnight Ride to Lexington

The events of this week in 1775, especially of April 18-19, are some of the most famous in the story of America's fight for the very liberty we enjoy today.

On April 18, 1775 Paul Revere and William Dawes set out to warn militias across Massachusetts of approaching British troops. The troops were heading to Concord to confiscate weapons and to "bring back the bodies of Mess. Hancock and Adams."

Revere and Dawes arrived in Lexington around midnight. The alert was given at the home of the Rev. Jonas Clark where John Hancock and Samuel Adams were staying. Then, joined by Samuel Prescott, they continued towards Concord. Revere and Dawes were captured by the British on the way but Prescott escaped and alerted Concord.

In Lexington the local militia gathered on the morning of April 19, 1775. There, some 77 Americans faced about 800 British troops. Gunshots were exchanged and the American War for Independence began. As the smoke cleared, 18 Americans lay wounded or dead, including both black and white patriots such as Prince Estabrook and John Robbins.

(One amazing item we have in WallBuilders' Collection is a sermon by Jonas Clark on the one-year anniversary of the Battle of Lexington.)

The much larger British force, having prevailed in that Lexington skirmish, continued their march towards Concord, where they would be met by the Rev. William Emerson and 400 American patriots. Also involved in that Concord group was black patriot Peter Salem, who a few weeks later went on to become the hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill.

As we remember the events of this week that occurred 249 years ago and the liberties they eventually produced, let's also remember the responsibility those events place upon us. As John Adams reminded us:

Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.

Presenting America’s forgotten history and heroes

with an emphasis on our moral, religious and constitutional heritage.