Day 18: Revolution!

Thursday, October 22

We breakfasted at Pavement Coffeehouse, which was bagel lox and cream cheese and ok (but not great) coffee. Then we retrieved the car from overnight parking in the Prudential Center (I was relived to be charged only $40) and we headed to Lexington. Sandra still wasn't feeling well after nearly two weeks, so our first stop was at an urgent care place to get antibiotics. While we waited for her to come out, I got David a burrito and then we drove to a piano store in the hopes that David could get some time on a keyboard (he was going through severe withdrawal), but unfortunately the store had gone out of business. We drove back to get Sandra and then went to the Lexington visitor center where we boarded a trolley for an hour and half tour of Lexington and Concord and a rather complete narrative of the events of April 19, 1775, the ride of Paul Revere and the first shots of the Revolutionary War. This is the story recounted to us by our tour guide as we visited the actual sites where these events occurred. It really brought the history to life to be driving through and walking through these places...we could almost see it unfold before us.

Our tour guide
(Photo: Sandra)

Tensions with the crown were at a boiling point by this date and the Colonists had cached arms at various locations. There was a standing militia, organized by the British with compulsory duty between the ages of 16 and 60, but with loyalty to the Colonial patriotic cause. There were also Minute Men, who were paid (unlike the Militia Men, who were not paid) to carry their muskets with them at all times so that they may be called into action on a minute's notice. The British governor of Massachusetts, General Gage, planned to send 700 "regulars" (red coats) to Concord to search for and destroy any arms cache they might find there. As there were spies (on both sides), word got out and Paul Revere and William Dawes were asked to ride to Concord to warn the Patriots. We all know Paul Revere's name, but most people don't recall Mr. Dawes. When I was 15, I played bass in a rock-n-roll band headed up by a very good guitarist named Jon Nelson. Jon's dad drove an El Camino (one of those sedan-like pickup trucks that swimming pool maintenance men liked to drive in the 70's) and the vanity license plate on the El Camino said simply, "Dawes." The reason, as Jon liked to proudly tell us, was that he and his father were directly descended from William Dawes.

Revere crossed the Charles river by boat, then mounted a waiting horse, while Dawes rode South through the "neck," the long way around the river. Dawes arrived in Lexington shortly after Revere, and both sought out Sam Adams and John Hancock to warn them, as both were wanted by the British for their roles in the Boston Tea Party. The two then rode on, when they came upon Dr. Samuel Prescott, who was riding back to his home in Concord from a courting date in Lexington. By now it was about 12:30 AM. Prescott joined them in their ride to Concord, but the three riders soon ran into a British patrol. Prescott was the only one who knew the area and escaped, continuing on to Concord to raise the alarm, while Dawes tried to escape but got lost in the bush and Revere was arrested (though later that night released in Lexington, without his horse). So really, it was Prescott who saved the day. The reason that Revere gets all the credit and it is his name we remember rather than Dawes or Prescott, is because Revere is the one featured in Longfellow's famous poem. And why was that? Because, according to our tour guide, at the time he wrote "Paul Revere's Ride," Longfellow was courting a descendant of the Revere family!

Meanwhile, the 700 British regulars slowly crossed the Charles River by boat (2 if by sea in the poem) and by the time they arrived in Lexington, it was about 4:30 AM. As they outnumbered the Patriots waiting for them 100 to 1, the Patriot commander gave the order to stand down. However, someone fired a shot. No one knows which side it came from, but the result was Patriot casualties. Later that morning, the regulars arrived in Concord. The Patriot troops were amassing there and their numbers growing steadily as they were joined by men from surrounding towns who had received the spreading word. The regulars had crossed the North bridge over the Concord river without meeting any resistance. The Patriots (mostly the women of the town) had succeeded in hiding the arms cache, but a few items were found and the regulars set them afire. The fire accidentally spread to a building and the regulars helped to put the fire out, which raised a column of white smoke. The Patriot troops on the hill above the North Bridge saw the smoke and thought the regulars had set fire to the town. So they decided to face down the regulars at the bridge. 

Approaching the North Bridge at Concord from the regular's side, our tour guide in costume on left

No one knows who fired the first shot, only that it came without orders. Both sides began to take casualties and so this is the true beginning of the war - the shot heard around the world. By now there were over 400 Patriots and the regulars began to flee. As their commanding officers were wounded or unhorsed, the regulars became undisciplined and in the chaos, began to retreat. Though they eventually met 1000 reinforcements coming up from Boston, by now the Patriots numbered 4000 and the regulars were chased all the way back to Boston. The war had begun and the Patriots had won the first battle.

On the Patriot's side of the North Bridge, where a statue commemorating
the Minute Men stands, with musket in hand aside his plow

The view from the bridge

After the trolley returned us to Lexington, we got some frozen yogurt, then got into our car and drove up towards Concord again to see some of the sights that we had heard about on the Trolley tour, but at which we had not stopped. We visited the spot where Paul Revere was arrested. We travelled the road on which the regulars marched and then retreated and we saw an excellent 25 minute movie describing these events at one of the several visitor centers between Lexington and Concord. We saw the house where a Concord resident had tried to grow grapes to produce wine because importing from France was so expensive. The resulting grapes were not good for wine, but they made good grape juice and were sold to a Mr. Welch, who marketed it as Welch's Concord Grape Juice! 

More fall colors on the road between Lexington and Concord

We ate dinner in Concord (Comella's) and then it was time to return the car to the airport. Since the Airbnb was between Concord and the airport, I dropped Sandra and David off, then drove to the airport myself. When the receiving agent gave me the receipt, it was (naturally) $300 more than the price Enterprise had agreed to on the phone the night before. He told me to see his manager in the booth. The manager pulled up the record, saw the note from the person Sandra had spoken to the night before, and for reasons not at all clear to me, charged $3 less than the expected price. I pointed out the error, but he wasn't inspired to correct it and after all the difficulty we had, I wasn't inclined to argue. I asked him how to get back to our apartment in the Back Bay, and he gave me detailed instructions for how to get on the T (Boston's subway). However, along the path to which he had directed me, I encountered an express bus from the airport to the Back Bay (which we had heard about from our host). It cost $5 and dropped me exactly 2 short blocks from the apartment. I decided it would be the perfect way to get back to the airport on Sunday.