Remembering Lexington
and Concord
BACKGROUND
On July 4, 1837—62 years after the battles of Lexington and Concord—Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” was first read at the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. That’s where “the shot heard ‘round the world” was fired, when rebels first killed a British soldier. The skirmish had begun six miles away, in Lexington, a few hours before.
MATERIALS
“Concord Hymn” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
WHAT TO DO
Review what happened at the Battles of Lexington and Concord and read Emerson’s famous poem. Imagine that you are former minuteman listening to the 1837 reading. In your younger days you had taken part in the battles that this ceremony commemorates.
How do you feel about the ceremony? What memories does it bring back for you? In a letter or speech, imagine what you would want to tell the crowd about what had occurred that day.
DID YOU KNOW. . . ?
It was next to impossible to take careful aim with a colonial musket. Shooters had to turn their heads away so as not to be blinded by the flashback from their own guns! Because of this, experts estimate that, at the battles of Lexington and Concord, only one out of every 300 or so rebel bullets successfully found their mark!
Concord Hymn
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard ’round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set today a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raised to them and thee.
and Concord
BACKGROUND
On July 4, 1837—62 years after the battles of Lexington and Concord—Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” was first read at the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. That’s where “the shot heard ‘round the world” was fired, when rebels first killed a British soldier. The skirmish had begun six miles away, in Lexington, a few hours before.
MATERIALS
“Concord Hymn” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
WHAT TO DO
Review what happened at the Battles of Lexington and Concord and read Emerson’s famous poem. Imagine that you are former minuteman listening to the 1837 reading. In your younger days you had taken part in the battles that this ceremony commemorates.
How do you feel about the ceremony? What memories does it bring back for you? In a letter or speech, imagine what you would want to tell the crowd about what had occurred that day.
DID YOU KNOW. . . ?
It was next to impossible to take careful aim with a colonial musket. Shooters had to turn their heads away so as not to be blinded by the flashback from their own guns! Because of this, experts estimate that, at the battles of Lexington and Concord, only one out of every 300 or so rebel bullets successfully found their mark!
Concord Hymn
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard ’round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set today a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raised to them and thee.