“The time for negotiation is past. The actions of the British army at Lexington and Concord speak plainly enough. If we wish to regain our natural-born rights as Englishmen then we must fight for them.” – John Adams
The FBI arrested my algebra teacher when I was in high school as he was teaching us about graphing. They said they were sure she was plotting something.
Boston, Massachusetts: 122 killed, 211 wounded in a daybreak raid by troops sent to confiscate privately owned weapons and ammunition. “Patriots” claim government troops fired first.
It has been reported that at dawn a group of self-styled “Patriots” engaged a heavily armed troops sent to confiscate guns and ammunition. These “Patriots” though initially outnumbered, stood by the side of the road, fully armed with modern assault weapons at the ready. The “Patriot” leader at the site, John Parker, claims to have been only standing there with the other “Patriots”. It has reported that Parker said, “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon. But if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”
According to Parker, the soldiers ordered the “Patriots” to leave, and he ordered his men to “disburse and go home,” but “the soldiers were yelling,” and there was confusion. There was a shot, fired, but both the “Patriots” and the spokesman for the troops claim the other side fired the first shot. Badly outnumbered at first, the “Patriots” were reinforced by the local members of their radical libertarian movement as the firefight wore on. House-to-house fighting was reported.
Sources to this blog have indicated that the “Patriots” had been tipped off to the troop movements and were aware the gun confiscation was coming. The troops were forced to withdraw under fire, although rescue from a larger detachment of troops from Boston was required for their safe evacuation.
Why did Paul Revere ride a horse on his midnight ride? Well, have you ever tried carrying one?
Although no weapons were found at either Lexington or Concord, authorities have indicated that persons of interest in this case are: Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock. His Royal Majesty King George III had no comment, but Brigadier General Lord Percy, had this to say:
During the whole affair the Rebels attacked us in a very scattered, irregular manner, but with perseverance & resolution, nor did they ever dare to form into any regular body. Indeed, they knew too well what was proper, to do so. Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob, will find himself much mistaken. They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about, having been employed as Rangers against the Indians & Canadians, & this country being much covered with wood, and hilly, is very advantageous for their method of fighting.
This is a statue of Captain John Parker, Patriot leader who led the Militia at the battle of Lexington. He died five months after the battle, of tuberculosis. Since you don’t know what I look like, you can assume I look exactly like a bald version of this.
A local lawyer, John Adams, viewed the battlefield the next day, “The die was cast. The Rubicon crossed.” Pressed by this blog for an explanation of these cryptic comments, he referred us to our previous post (American Caesar: Coming Soon To A Country Near You?).
The events listed above happened 245 years ago, except John Adams being snarky to me, yet somehow the concepts behind them are fresh in American life in 2020. The battles of Lexington and Concord, though small by today’s standards, produced the “shot heard ‘round the world” as the American Dream and American Identity were formed.
Lifted straight from Wikipedia, here’s a story from the battle that made me chuckle:
Against the advice of his Master of Ordnance, Percy had left Boston without spare ammunition for his men or for the two artillery pieces they brought with them, thinking the extra wagons would slow him down. Each man in Percy’s brigade had only 36 rounds, and each artillery piece was supplied with only a few rounds carried in side-boxes. After Percy had left the city, Gage directed two ammunition wagons guarded by one officer and thirteen men to follow. This convoy was intercepted by a small party of older, veteran militiamen still on the “alarm list,” who could not join their militia companies because they were well over 60 years of age. These men rose up in ambush and demanded the surrender of the wagons, but the regulars ignored them and drove their horses on. The old men opened fire, shot the lead horses, killed two sergeants, and wounded the officer. The British survivors ran, and six of them threw their weapons into a pond before they surrendered.
This soldier was old enough to experience both mustard gas and pepper spray. He’s well seasoned.
I’ve long thought that our new, modern form of Civil War will feature far more old folks than the past ones. Unlike the Civil War 1.0, Civil War 2.0 will be fought more like the Revolutionary War, with armed Militia on both sides. The little story above is (for me) confirmation that in America, being over 60 doesn’t mean “out of the fight.”
But this is about the Revolution, and I’ll write more about Civil War for Monday. The Battle of Lexington and Concord took place on April 19, 1775, and it wasn’t until over a year of fighting skirmishes that the Declaration of Independence was drafted.
Saying and doing are different. Sure, in 1776 we said we were independent and gave a list of reasons, but it took years of war to make it so. The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first steps in making it so, and setting the pattern for a nation that has spread more freedom and prosperity than any nation in the history of the world except for Great Britain.
What will be required to keep it free?
Time will tell.
Very nice! I will have to trade jokes with you … I have some wonderful socialism jokes from the old USSR.
As for what is coming to America … there is a lot of fantasy generated among some people, who have learned most of what they know about the world from watching Rambo. If there is some sort of armed clash, the attitude of our professional military will be critical. No local “militia” unit is going to survice an encounter with the 82nd Airborne.
But …. as in most such conflicts, the military may not remain uniformly loyal to the authorities. In which case, the pro-libertry forces have a chance. And they can increase their chances if those who are under 36, and have not yet done their military service, will enlist in the National Guard.
There will definitely be an age difference in the “sides”. A lot of young White kids have been weaponized by decades of guilt and retconning of American history. The people with the guns and even more importantly a memory of how things used to be and how bad they are will be more my age, over 40. I think even some older blacks must be looking at what is going on with some horror after living for most of their lives in neighborhoods where murders are as common as barbecues in the summer.
What is going to be really different is that it won’t be the Colonial rebels versus the British. It will quickly turn into multiple smaller conflicts. The goals are also different. It isn’t as simple as “We want independence from the Crown”. The motivations are murkier and varied. What do I want? I want to be left alone to raise my family and work. I know I can’t get that on the path we are on. Others have different visions. Some think they are Albert Speer reincarnated, some think we can have a small libertarian society, others want a theocracy. The Left thinks they know what they want but how do they think they can reconcile a new worker’s paradise with trannies and Muslims living side by side peacefully? Without their shared hatred of Whites, what is going to hold them together?
Thinking about the future is both fascinating and horrifying at the same time but we are not going to have the option of sitting on the sidelines.
No, every one of us will be impacted. Period.
Not even Wall Street will be able to sit this one out.
Always remember that the People started fighting more than a year before the Politicians could make up their minds whether to offer any resistance or not.
Very true. Thank God for Sam Adams!
My goodness, sir. Your skin is an interesting shade of greenish-blue. I assume that officially makes you “a person of color”.
Indeed! Now, can I start a movement?
Like the last couple lines in this post, I believe this Independence Day 2020 (for me) will be less about celebrating and more about looking forward with uncertainty, looking backward in sadness, and looking at the present with a full bucket of cold, bitter rage.
Be safe out there. Be prepared and watch your backs.
But enjoy every moment you can. Most of them are good, so savor them.
John – –
It is a small point, but what is known as our American Revolution is actually America’s Civil War 1.0. It was one in which British subjects fought other British subjects on British territory for control of that territory….classic definition of a Civil War.
Thus the War Between The States, would be Civil War 2.0.
Which makes the current spicy times and dust-up properly identified as Civil War 3.0.
This interesting comment got me to thinking. The scale and scope of civil war in the 1770s was across oceans. The scale and scope of the civil war in the 1860s was across state lines. The scale and scope of the civil war in the 2020s is across the street.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_globally,_act_locally
Maybe the slogan should be changed to “http globally, fight locally”?
I quoted this to my daughter the other day. Well said.
I’m with you. It really was. But are we facing a Civil War, or a Revolution in 2020?
Seems pretty clear to me, the Left wants to establish a Communist state, something like the USSA.
The enforcement mechanism will be social media flash mobs, doxxing with quick subsequent loss of employment by the obsequious sniveling management of the major enterprises.
And there will be no Republican presidents after 45 because of the well-known demographic trick.
I guess we’ll all be forced to learn the history of the American Revolution and how our situation rhymes even if we just want to mind our own business and be left alone.
We will never, ever be left alone. That is something the Left cannot abide.
Captain John Parker […] died five months after the battle of tuberculosis.
Where was The Battle of Tuberculosis fought?
What will be required to keep it free?
Never pay “taxes” again. Soldiers don’t produce food or food, and in residential areas there isn’t a concentration of food or food to loot. Soldiers can’t live off modern land, so any gang of thugs larger than a street gang must be funded by taxes. No taxpaying means no organized crime.
Comma added! Thanks for the note. “Eats, shoots, and leaves.”
Thanks again. Hmm.
Volunteers?
What? No mention of Colonel Samuel Whittemore?!?
https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/samuel-whittemore-the-oldest-bravest-and-maybe-craziest-american-revolutionary/
He’s a great role model for all of us older Americans.
Opie Odd
Ha! Great story! See, if only high school history teachers taught stories like that.
Tomorrow. we celebrate the country we love. It is probably toast. It probably deserves to be, but for one more day, it’s here, and so are we.
God bless us all, and confusion to the Enemy!
Indeed! It’s been better to us than we deserve.
We are all we have and if God be willing we will be enough. God speed to all stay locked and loaded. If you’re going take a dozen with you.
And? It’s not over until we say it’s over.
GOD BLESS AMERICA! Happppppy Independence day to all you! Enjoy it now before it goes the way of Columbus.
R
And to you!
Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom… The subjection of individuals will increase among democratic nations, not only in the same proportion as their equality, but in the same proportions as their ignorance.
Alexis de Tocqueville
Good quote. Hadn’t heard that one.
Speer extended the war by decentralizing production. Even with day and night bombing the production numbers went up.
Parts of a plane would be assembled in a local workshop then trucked or trained to a plant for the final assembly.
This was hard to disrupt but the British did stop the manufacture of the plywood frame German Mosquito TA-154 designed by the Focke Wulf 190 Würger (Butcher Bird) creator Kurt Tank.
He ignored Hitler’s scorched earth command and any other official would have been executed but Hitler always wanted to be an architect and actually considered Speer a friend.
I love to confuse things, so we have to consider that Britain had its own civil war in 1640, so the American Revolution becomes civil war 2/1, the war between the states becomes civil war 3/2 and anything that happens in the future becomes civil war 4/3. There is precedence for this in King James I of England who was also King James VI of Scotland.
I love confusing things! Yeah, The Boy and I watched the Cromwell movie from the ’60’s the other night. Good times.