Show I 0 l' l i The shot heard round the world Listen my children and you shall hear r r Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere Generations of Americans have thrilled to the story of the first skirmish of the Revolutionary War when stalwart Minutemen responded to thell the theall fall all ll to arms sounded by Paul Revere William Dawes and Dr Samuel Prescott Prescot L One if by land and two if by sea jj i And I on the opposite shore will be 7 Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and farm ti Forewarned that General Gage Manned planned to seize gunpowder stored in Concord Massachusetts and to capture capre cap cap- Lure ture re pa patriots John Hancock and Samuel Adams dams in Lexington Dr Joseph Warren who headed the Committee of Safety alerted Revere to sound the alarm Today sniveling hate America critics seldom miss an opportunity opportunity opportunity op op- op- op to point to technical errors in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's immortal immortal immortal im im- im- im mortal poem but the undisputed fact is that Revere accomplished his mission and nd did it well A hurry of hoofs in a village street v A shape in the moonlight a bulk in inthe inthe inthe the dark And beneath from the pebbles in passing a spark i Struck out by a steed flying fearless t at 1 and fleet That was all And yet through the gloom and the light The fate of a nation was riding that night When the Redcoats arrived in Lexington at dawn the Minutemen were already assembled and waiting Hancock and Adams had successfully escaped In Concord the prized cache of powder and arms was spirited out of sight By the time the British had arrived at the North Bridge crossing the Concord River over Minutemen were ready and waiting Outnumbered by more than two to one they courageously stood their ground and it was there as everyone knows that they fired the first volley marking the Revolutionary War literally The shot heard around the world The British fled back to Boston where they were kept under constant siege nine Forty Americans died for freedom on April 19 1775 46 more were counted as wounded or missing Little did the surviving patriots realize that it was to be many hard years before the American Revolutionary War would end in victory at Yorktown on October 19 1781 But But because of the courage shown by that small band of Minutemen at Lexington and Concord Americans throughout all of the Colonies were inspired to stand fast for forthe forthe forthe the cause of libert liberty l 4 |