Two hundred thirty one years ago, shortly after noon on April 19, 1775, what may well be the single most important military engagement in our nation’s history occurred. At Meriam’s Corner, a small crossroads east of Concord, Massachusetts militia deliberately attacked the British column returning from the raid on Concord.

The two small engagements that had already occurred that day could both have been resolved through negotiations and compromise. The massacre on Lexington Green at dawn had been caused by British soldiers firing and breaking ranks without orders, and the punishment of a few Regulars could have resolved the incident. Likewise, the fight at North Bridge had been caused by a simple misunderstanding, when Concord Militia believed that the British were burning the town. In fact, the British were simply destroying military supplies that they had been able to locate. Neither of these fights constituted an irrevocable break between Americans and Britons.

However, at Miriam’s Corner something considerably different occurred. The Massachusetts militia launched a deliberate attack with the express purpose of inflicting serious casualties on the British column, and preventing the return of that raiding party to Boston. There had been incidents before, but this marked the first time that American patriots had taken up arms in large numbers and directly assailed British regulars. From Miriam’s Corners through the rest of that day, back all the long way to Boston, Massachusetts men would launch furious assaults upon the Redcoats. Only the dispatch of a strong relief column under a superb English commander, Earl Percy, would enable the British raiding column to escape. When the decision to attack the British was made at Meriam’s Corner, the American Revolution began in earnest.

All of us would be well advised to reflect upon what occurred at Miriam’s Corner, to this day a quiet New England farm field lined by timber and stone walls. Less than thirty years before the British had ruthlessly suppressed the Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland. Rebel leaders had been publicly executed, their property seized, their families driven into the countryside, and their very names disgraced. The Highlands had been brutally ravaged in revenge. The militiamen from Massachusetts were more than aware of the treatment that the English Empire meted out to rebels, and knew full well that they were risking their lives, liberty and property by taking this irrevocable step.

4/19/2006 4:36:24 PM

AMERICA! FUCK YEA!

4/19/2006 4:38:35 PM

no shit...

this is a nice day to remember

4/19/2006 4:53:42 PM

my dad sends out a different reminder about this every year.
he also rereads April Morning every April 19th. its a good habit in my opinion.

4/19/2006 4:56:13 PM