April 19 – John Parker Day

nPostednon April 19, 2016

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nOnnthe morning of April 19, 1775, John Parker was already dying ofnconsumption.

nAtnage 46, he only had months to live.

nStill,nhe had been elected as militia captain by the men of his town,nLexington, Massachusetts. He had had experience as a soldier in thenFrench and Indian War – when he wasn’t busy being a farmer andnmechanic – and the had Massachusetts Militia needed farmers whonwere experienced in battle to lead what was basically a group ofnfarmers with muskets.

nThenBritish troops, on the other hand, were trained soldiers calledn“regulars.” And on this date in 1775, a group of about 700nBritish regulars under Colonel Francis Smith moved to Concord,nMassachusetts, to search for supplies and weapons that were rumorednto be hiding there. n

nLexingtonnjust happened to be on the road to Concord.

nCaptainnParker heard that British soldiers were approaching – but of coursenhe didn’t know why they were coming his way. The Revolutionary Warnhadn’t started yet…British troops had been marching through thencountryside without battles for months now…Parker had no goodnreason to order an attack on the better-equipped, better-trainednBrits.

nActually,nfrom all accounts, Parker didn’t order such an attack. But it isnuncertain exactly what did happen. British Colonel Smith had orderednan advance guard to see if there was going to be any confrontation;nwhen the advance guard approached the colonists gathered on thenCommon in Lexington, Parker ordered his men to avoid a confrontation.nOne soldier – much later – remembered the order this way:

n“Standnyour ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have anwar, let it begin here.”

nAnothernsoldier, a fellow you may have heard of named Paul Revere, rememberednthe order to be slightly different: n

n“Letnthe soldiers pass by. Do not molest them without they begin first.”

nIt’snreported that the British soldiers, too, had orders not to shoot.nBut….there was shooting!

nNobodynis certain who shot first, but after the “Battle of Lexington”neight militia were killed, ten were wounded, and zero Britishnregulars were killed and only one was wounded.

nNotnall that auspicious a beginning for the often-romanticized AmericannRevolution!

nLaternthat day Parker led his men to ambush the British soldiers as theynreturned to Boston from Concord, and later still he led his men asnthey resisted the British Siege of Boston…but in less than fivenmonths, Parker died from consumption. n

nBynthe way…

nConsumptionn is the old name for tuberculosis.

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nThisn statue, which stands in Lexington Battle Green, represents minutemenn in general. Actually, Parker’s Lexington company were not reallyn minutemen (who were only one-quarter of the militia). The statue hasn come to represent John Parker, even though the statue depicts an young, healthy soldier, and Parker was a middle-aged, quite illn captain. n

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