OP-ED Why April 19th is a Sacred Day

adgal

Veteran Member
Fair use cited:


Why April 19th is a Sacred Day
By Maurine Proctor · April 18, 2021


All photographs by Scot Facer Proctor
Not many months ago, President M. Russell Ballard said, “I invite you to join in a new movement. Invite your neighbors, your colleagues, your friends on social media to pray for this country. We must stand boldly for righteousness and truth, and must defend the cause of honor, decency, and personal freedom.”
This plea to be a part of a new movement to pray for our country was not driven by a particular moment—like the novel coronavirus pandemic. It seemed even more foundational. Prayers for a nation at a crossroads, for an America with all its strengths that is more fragile than we want to believe.
Prayer and God’s support have been crucial since the beginning of this nation and devotion to God has been the bulwark upon which this nation stands. Though many seem bent on writing it out of history, we wouldn’t have this nation without the deeply-held religious impulses of the American colonists who stood against one of earth’s formidable powers.
That’s why today, we take you to a sacred place and time.
Lexington and Concord
Sacred places speak to Latter-day Saints, and we have many of them. One that can’t be ignored, though it is sometimes forgotten, is the road from Lexington to Concord on April 19, 1775. The spirit of what happened that day still lingers.
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My husband, Scot and I, who lead a church history tour every year, have found that the Spirit is as strong along this road that links Lexington Green to the Old North Bridge in Concord as it is in any of the other sacred sites of the Restoration. It is because this first battle of the Revolutionary War that made America free has simply reverberated through our lives and became the setting from which the things we value most—including the gospel—have sprung.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said it this way, “The thunderbolt falls on an inch of ground, but the light of it fills the horizon.”
Those of us fed mostly a secular brand of American history may not know how deeply religion—an unshakeable belief in God and that this was His cause—motivated, inspired and shaped the Revolution.
Minutemen Called Out
Minutemen were called out suddenly when Paul Revere, William Dawes and others rode along moonlit roads to alert the countryside with the dreaded word, “The Regulars are out.”
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The situation between the British and the Americans had grown increasingly intense over many years as the colonists had watched one right after another stripped from them. As part of the Intolerable Acts, the port of Boston was closed, virtually shearing the colonists’ opportunity for commerce. It was a move designed to starve them and strip them of wealth, making them utterly submit to their British overloads.
Add to that tipping point the near dissolution of representative government in Massachusetts, so the appointees of the crown would select the officers, judges and council members in Massachusetts and their legislature was dissolved and the die was cast.
The crown was seeking to punish Massachusetts as a warning to other colonies.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized Paul Revere’s ride that has galloped right into history.
“Listen my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April of Seventy-Five
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.”
It is, of course, the eighteenth in this poem because Revere left the night before, urgently riding through the countryside with his alarms. The colonists had gotten word through their own spies that this night the British would be on the move and, with their arms, march into the countryside. They had two aims. They hoped to capture revolutionary leaders John Hancock and Sam Adams who were staying in Lexington and they hoped to destroy the munitions, gunpowder, and several cannons that were stored in Concord.
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The control of munitions was crucial for both sides—the Americans for making war and the British for avoiding it. The people of the countryside had to be warned that the British redcoats, called the regulars, were coming. Which direction the British would come, they weren’t sure, but Paul Revere would be given a sign, a lantern that was held aloft in the Old North Church. As Longfellow wrote,
“One if by land and two if by sea
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country-folk to be up and to arm.””
As it turns out, the British came by sea, crossing the Charles River, landing in Cambridge and following the road from there. This is the stuff of legend, but what speaks deeply to us is the humanity of the story. Though some of them had experience in the French and Indian War, and the British had highly underestimated them, these minutemen who came rushing to defend themselves that morning were many farmers and mechanics with families, and often their young sons, holding muskets they were still learning to shoot well.
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They didn’t know that their sacrifice that morning would bless generations to come and alter the entire course of the world. They couldn’t see into the future to give context for their suffering.
But there was a spirit of liberty that ran among them like wildfire, and the sense that to fight for liberty was to fight for God. Among other places, they had been learning this from their pulpits, ministers who taught them in fiery, passionate language. As one scholar said, “It was religion which told the colonists that the English government was not merely adopting unwise policy; rather, the King and Parliament were trampling the God-given rights of the Americans, and were in effect warring against God. It was religion which convinced the Americans that they had a sacred duty to start a revolution.”
Their sense of what it meant to be human came from God and that is why they were so sensitive to watching the British seek to reduce them to slaves. “Liberty,” as one said, was the “daughter of God, and excepting his Son, the first born of heaven.”
Rev. William Emerson preached to the Concord militia that “their victory against the larger British army was guaranteed, just as God had protected little Judah from a larger army. He challenged the British: ‘It will be your unspeakable Damage to meddle with us, for we have an unconquered Leader that carried his people to Victory and Triumph.’ The coming war would bring many tribulations, he acknowledged, but American victory had been ordained by God since the beginning of time.‘”
This spirit which fired the souls of the Middlesex folks who came rushing the morning of April 19 to fight the British, sounds very much like what Nephi said when he saw his grand vision that swept across the history of the promised land. He beheld what he called the “mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them. And I beheld that the power of God was with them” (1 Nephi 13: 17, 18).
Lexington Green
The 80-member militia in Lexington, headed by John Parker, assembled in the night on the green, but after waiting most of the night, they saw no British. Then at 4:15, a scout reported that not only were the British coming, but coming in force and they were close.
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The militia stood in ranks on the village common with between 40 and 100 spectators watching them. Who were these spectators? Certainly, among them were wives, watching their husbands and sons at the ready. Family members looking out of windows or standing at doors who hoped this would be like other expeditions the British had taken out into the countryside looking for munitions and, finding nothing, had returned to Boston without a skirmish.
The British had 700 troops with them thus, when they arrived in Lexington the colonials were badly outnumbered. John Parker had his group just stand back in parade-ground formation because they had no intention of engaging the British. War had not been declared and their numbers were so few. They weren’t hiding behind walls or making any effort to prevent the Regulars from marching on, but a shot rang out.
History has been unclear which side originated that shot, but chaos followed. There is some question if this is what John Parker actually said, but at the battle site engraved in stone are these words: “Stand your ground; don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.” Tensions were high.
The British, without any orders to do so, rushed upon the colonial militia, fired upon them and put them to flight. At the end of this skirmish, only one redcoat had been wounded, but 8 of the militia lay dead on their village green and 10 more were wounded.
When I have visited here, which is often, I cannot help but think about those spectators, weeping as they see their loved ones cut down before them. This is not just a battle in a history book that seems so abstract and far away, but real, beating hearts stopped, not ever knowing for sure for what they died and how it would all come out while their loved ones watched. Was it worth their giving their lives?
In a small village like Lexington, all the people would have known each other and the names of the dead reflect that: John Brown, Samuel Hadley, Caleb Harrington, Jonathan Harrington, Robert Munroe, Isaac Muzzey, Asahel Porter, and Jonas Parker. Jonas was John Parker’s cousin. It is suggested that John Parker was related to a third of the militia.
On to Concord
The British marched another 7 miles to Concord where a much bigger battle was fought. Here was the immortalized “shot heard round the world”. But again, to give some faces to our players, the first American killed at the Old North Bridge was Isaac Davis, the head of the minutemen from nearby Acton.
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He was a gunsmith by trade, known for his inner spiritual force. In fact, his spirituality was considered his cardinal trait. With his trade, his troops were fully equipped with guns, cartridge boxes and bayonets. He had no question of the righteousness of the cause.
At his church stood an hour glass that marked when the sermon should end, and the Rev. John Swift who preached there would not have had the confidence to let the hour glass run out. On one occasion, however, he gave such “a masterly discourse” on the state of the colonies and “Davis’s sensibilities had been so deeply stirred that he applauded and boldly requested that the pastor turn the glass and repeat the sermon.”
When his men were making jokes as they got ready for battle that morning he admonished them to stop, reminding them that that the day had brought “a most eventful crisis for the colonies. Blood would be split, that was certain; the crimson fountain would be opened; none could tell when it would close, now with whose blood it would overflow. Let every man gird himself for battle and be not afraid, for God is on our side.”
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What Davis carried with him into battle that April 19 was not just a sense that God would fight this fight with them, but also a strong premonition that he would not be coming home and would lose his life in the battle.
As he left for Concord that morning, when he reached the road, he halted his men, turned back toward his wife, who was watching from the doorway where their four children lay sick and said, “Take good care of the children.” Then he turned toward the Old North Bridge.
Belief that God was with Them
Historian Rod Gragg, who wrote By the Hand of Providence said that it was their understanding of God that was the motivation that propelled American patriots into the revolution and sustained them in its darkest days. Preached from American pulpits and reprinted in pamphlets and newspapers was the slogan “Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God.”
Gragg wrote, “George Washington hoped that Americans would never forget God’s role in the American Revolution, ‘I am sure there never was a people who had more reason to acknowledge a divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States,’ he stated during his first term as president, ‘and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.’ It was a theme that Washington stressed frequently during and after the Revolutionary War. Repeatedly, He believed that God had intervened to rescue the American cause–what he called ‘the sacred Cause of Freedom’ from disaster and defeat. American liberty and independence, he believed deeply and stated often, had been achieved ‘by the hand of Providence.’”
Gragg noted, “When the Continental Congress received the news of the British surrender at Yorktown, which signaled an end to the war, they responded by assembling in a Philadelphia church for a worship service. Soon afterward, Congress officially recommended that Americans everywhere observe a nationwide day of ‘public thanksgiving and prayer.”
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The resolution declared: “Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God, father of mercies, remarkably to assist and support the United States of America in their important struggle for liberty against the long continued efforts of a powerful nation; it is the duty of all ranks to observe and thankfully acknowledge the interpositions of his Providence in their behalf. Through the whole of this contest, from its first rise to this time, the influence of divine Providence may be clearly perceived in many signal instances…”
Gragg continued: “Congress expressed the same faith-centered heart when in an open letter to the American people it expressed the revolution in Biblical terms:
“’America, without arms, ammunition, discipline, revenue, government or ally, almost totally striped of commerce, and in the weakness of youth, as it were with a “staff and a sling” only dared “in the name of the Lord of Hosts,” to engage a gigantic adversary, prepared at all points, boasting of his strength, and of whom even mighty warriors were greatly afraid.’”
From these comments, so animated with the thread that God was with them, and they with Him, one would almost think they had read Nephi. Because we have, what we can be certain of is that they felt this overarching spirit that changed everything for them.
Thus, when President Ballard asked us to start a movement to pray for our country, he was speaking of a promised land that has been born out of prayers and the very real sacrifice of those whose vision was, that to stand for liberty was always to stand with God. It harks back to something we fought for and prayed for before this world was.
 

PghPanther

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Fire sacrifice is required on April 19.

April 19 is the first day of the 13-day Satanic ritual day relating to fire - the fire god, Baal, or Molech/Nimrod (the Sun God), also known as the Roman god, Saturn (Satan/Devil). This day is a major human sacrifice day, demanding fire sacrifice with an emphasis on children.

McVeigh anyone after Waco?
 

adgal

Veteran Member
Fire sacrifice is required on April 19.

April 19 is the first day of the 13-day Satanic ritual day relating to fire - the fire god, Baal, or Molech/Nimrod (the Sun God), also known as the Roman god, Saturn (Satan/Devil). This day is a major human sacrifice day, demanding fire sacrifice with an emphasis on children.

McVeigh anyone after Waco?
I prefer thinking of it as the day our forefathers sacrificed to start our country - and a day when we should remember what they deemed was important enough to give up their lives for.
 

school marm

Senior Member
Adgal, thank you so much for posting this.

I, too, have stood at Lexington Green and visiting the Old North Bridge, a little over 20 years ago. Those places are indeed very sacred ground. Even as the residents and tourists there go about their daily lives, you cannot help but feel how very sacred that area is.
 

Raggedyman

Res ipsa loquitur
Fire sacrifice is required on April 19.

April 19 is the first day of the 13-day Satanic ritual day relating to fire - the fire god, Baal, or Molech/Nimrod (the Sun God), also known as the Roman god, Saturn (Satan/Devil). This day is a major human sacrifice day, demanding fire sacrifice with an emphasis on children.

McVeigh anyone after Waco?

columbine HS
 

Jaybird

Veteran Member
The Revolutionary War Veterans Association - Liberty seed

The story of the start of the American War of Independence.
RT- 1:29:57
Well worth the watch.

 

PghPanther

Has No Life - Lives on TB
It's also the day before Adolf Hitler's birth. Tumultuous times indeed.

Wrong.............April 20th is Hitler's birthday.....

I should know as I turn 67 on that day...........

.....but to make things better as a fan of auto racing I'm happy to say I share that with one of my all time heroes of the sport..........America's first ever world champion in F1 driver Phil Hill who won the title in 1961 driving for Ferrari.

I actually met Phil at motorsports event (during my tenure in the industry) in the 1990s and had him sign the front cover of a 1961 Road & Track magazine that featured him on the front........he was surprised to see that magazine and we talked for a bit after he signed it.........then I told him we have something in common.

When he asked me what..........I said we share the same birthday.

He laughed and said......."Finally!!....I get to meet someone other than Hitler who shares that day with me......lol!"

He has since passed but was a special talent on the track and behind the microphone for wide world of sports when they covered race events like Lemans 24 hours in the 60s.

I also think Jessica Lang has her b-day on the 20th as well...............

Okay enough of that .............
 

sy32478

Veteran Member
A few points -

- I don't like the characterization of British vs. Americans. It was British military against British subjects.

- IIRC the troops and the militia spent some time eyeballing each other, getting lunch from local taverns etc. prior to the uncredited 1st shot

- It's my birthday. I am my parents 1st born the year following their marriage on Independence Day.

:wvflg:
 

naegling62

Veteran Member
Wrong.............April 20th is Hitler's birthday.....

I should know as I turn 67 on that day...........

.....but to make things better as a fan of auto racing I'm happy to say I share that with one of my all time heroes of the sport..........America's first ever world champion in F1 driver Phil Hill who won the title in 1961 driving for Ferrari.

I actually met Phil at motorsports event (during my tenure in the industry) in the 1990s and had him sign the front cover of a 1961 Road & Track magazine that featured him on the front........he was surprised to see that magazine and we talked for a bit after he signed it.........then I told him we have something in common.

When he asked me what..........I said we share the same birthday.

He laughed and said......."Finally!!....I get to meet someone other than Hitler who shares that day with me......lol!"

He has since passed but was a special talent on the track and behind the microphone for wide world of sports when they covered race events like Lemans 24 hours in the 60s.

I also think Jessica Lang has her b-day on the 20th as well...............

Okay enough of that .............
Guys I said the "day before Hitler's birthday" indicating that I know AH was born on the 20th.
 

naegling62

Veteran Member
A few points -

- I don't like the characterization of British vs. Americans. It was British military against British subjects.

- IIRC the troops and the militia spent some time eyeballing each other, getting lunch from local taverns etc. prior to the uncredited 1st shot

- It's my birthday. I am my parents 1st born the year following their marriage on Independence Day.

:wvflg:
That's a good point.
 

Plain Jane

Just Plain Jane

Patriots Day, April 19th – Mr. Paul Revere Explains The Battle of Lexington and Concord in His Own Words
April 19, 2021 | Sundance | 77 Comments
Patriots Day…
A friend asked me a few days ago: “How will you celebrate Patriots Day”? Which, perhaps, should spur me to share my own thoughts on this day of consequence.
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Many are familiar with the poem Paul Revere’s ride; however, far fewer know that Paul Revere actually memorialized the events of the April 18 and 19, 1775, in an eight page letter written several years later. Each Patriots Day I remind myself to read his letter from a copy handed down; and I think about how Paul Revere was really just a common man of otherwise undue significance…. yet capable to the task at hand.
To me everything about the heart of Revere, which you can identify within his own writing, is what defines an American ‘patriot’. There is no grand prose, there is no outlook of being a person of historical significance; there is just a simple recollection of his involvement, an ordinary man in extraordinary times.

Unsure if anyone else would enjoy I have tracked down an on-line source for sharing; and provide a transcript below (all misspelling is with the original).

Paul Revere personally recounts his famous ride. – In this undated letter Paul Revere summarizes the activities surrounding his famous ride on 18 April 1775. He recounts how Dr. Joseph Warren urged him to ride to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of British troop movements. He arranged to signal the direction of the troops with lanterns from Old North Church and then had friends row him across the Charles River, borrowing a horse for his ride.

Revere wrote this letter at the request of Jeremy Belknap, corresponding secretary of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Revere signed his name to the letter but then wrote above it “A Son of Liberty of the year 1775” and beside it “do not print my name.” Nonetheless, the MHS included Revere’s name when it printed the letter in 1798.

paul revere Paul revere letter 2
EXPLORE THE DOCUMENT – Or Read the incredible transcript below:

Dear Sir,
Having a little leisure, I wish to fullfill my promise, of giving you some facts, and Anecdotes, prior to the Battle of Lexington, which I do not remember to have seen in any history of the American Revolution.

In the year 1773 I was imployed by the Select men of the Town of Boston to carry the Account of the Destruction of the Tea to New-York; and afterwards, 1774, to Carry their dispatches to New-York and Philadelphia for Calling a Congress; and afterwards to Congress, several times.* [This asterisk points to a note in the left margin written by Jeremy Belknap: “Let the narrative begin here.” ]
Paul_Revere's_ride In the Fall of 1774 & Winter of 1775 I was one of upwards of thirty, cheifly mechanics, who formed our selves in to a Committee for the purpose of watching the Movements of the British Soldiers, and gaining every intelegence of the movements of the Tories.

We held our meetings at the Green-Dragon Tavern. We were so carefull that our meetings should be kept Secret; that every time we met, every person swore upon the Bible, that they would not discover any of our transactions, But to Messrs. Hancock, Adams, Doctors Warren, Church, & one or two more.

About November, when things began to grow Serious, a Gentleman who had Conections with the Tory party, but was a Whig at heart, aquainted me, that our meetings were discovered, & mentioned the identical words that were spoken among us the Night
before. We did not then distrust Dr. Church, but supposed it must be some one among us.
We removed to another place, which we thought was more secure: but here we found that all our transactions were communicated to Governor Gage. (This came to me through the then Secretary Flucker; He told it to the Gentleman mentioned above).

It was then a common opinion, that there was a Traytor in the provincial Congress, & that Gage was posessed of all their Secrets. (Church was a member of that Congress for Boston.) In the Winter, towards the Spring, we frequently took Turns, two and two, to Watch the Soldiers, By patroling the Streets all night.

The Saturday Night preceding the 19th of April, about 12 oClock at Night, the Boats belonging to the Transports were all launched, & carried under the Sterns of the Men of War. (They had been previously hauld up & repaired). We likewise found that the Grenadiers and light Infantry were all taken off duty.

[Page 2]
From these movements, we expected something serious was [to] be transacted. On Tuesday evening, the 18th, it was observed, that a number of Soldiers were marching towards the bottom of the Common.

About 10 o’Clock, Dr. Warren Sent in great haste for me, and beged that I would imediately Set off for Lexington, where Messrs. Hancock & Adams were, and acquaint them of the Movement, and that it was thought they were the objets. When I got to Dr. Warren’s house, I found he had sent an express by land to Lexington – a Mr. Wm. Daws.

The Sunday before, by desire of Dr. Warren, I had been to Lexington, to Mess. Hancock and Adams, who were at the Rev. Mr. Clark’s. I returned at Night thro Charlestown; there I agreed with a Col. Conant, & some other Gentlemen, in Charleston, that if the British went out by Water, we would shew two Lanthorns in the North Church Steeple; if by Land, one, as a Signal; for we were aprehensive it would be dificult to Cross the Charles River, or git over Boston neck.

I left Dr. Warrens, called upon a friend, and desired him to make the Signals. I then went Home, took my Boots and Surtout, and went to the North part of the Town, where I had kept a Boat; two friends rowed me across Charles River, a little to the eastward where the Somerset Man of War lay.

It was then young flood, the Ship was winding, & the moon was Rising. They landed me on Charlestown side. When I got into Town, I met Col. Conant, several others; they said they had seen our signals. I told them what was Acting, & went to git me a Horse; I got a Horse of Deacon Larkin.

While the Horse was preparing, Richard Devens, Esq. who was one of the Committee of Safty, came to me, & told me, that he came down the Road from Lexington, after Sundown, that evening; that He met ten British Officers, all well mounted, & armed, going up the Road. I set off upon a very good Horse; it was then about 11 o’Clock, very pleasant. After I had passed Charlestown Neck, got nearly opposite where Mark was hung in chains, I saw two men on Horse back, under a Tree.

When I got near them, I discovered they were British officer. One tryed to git a head of Me, & the other to take me. I turned my Horse very quick, & Galloped towards Charlestown neck, and then pushed for the Medford Road. The one who chased me, endeavoring to Cut me off, got into a Clay pond, near where the new Tavern is now built. I got clear of him,

[Page 3]
and went thro Medford, over the Bridge, & up to Menotomy. In Medford, I awaked the Captain of the Minute men; & after that, I alarmed almost every House, till I got to Lexington.
I found Mrs. Messrs. Hancock & Adams at the Rev. Mr. Clark’s; I told them my errand, and inquired for Mr. Daws; they said he had not been there; I related the story of the two officers, & supposed that He must have been stopped, as he ought to have been there before me.

After I had been there about half an Hour, Mr. Daws came; after we refreshid our selves, we and set off for Concord, to secure the Stores, & there. We were overtaken by a young Docter Prescot, whom we found to be a high Son of Liberty. I told them of the ten officers that Mr. Devens mett, and that it was probable we might be stoped before we got to Concord; for I supposed that after Night, they divided them selves, and that two of them had fixed themselves in such passages as were most likely to stop any intelegence going to Concord.

I likewise mentioned, that we had better allarm all the Inhabitents till we got to Concord; the young Doctor much approved of it, and said, he would stop with either of us, for the people between that & Concord knew him, & would give the more credit to what we said.

We had got nearly half way. Mr Daws & the Doctor stoped to allarm the people of a House: I was about one hundred Rod a head, when I saw two men, in nearly the same situation as those officer were, near Charlestown. I called for the Doctor & Daws to come up; were two & we would have them in an Instant I was surrounded by four; – they had placed themselves in a Straight Road, that inclined each way; they had taken down a pair of Barrs on the North side of the Road, & two of them were under a tree in the pasture. The Docter being foremost, he came up; and we tryed to git past them; but they being armed with pistols & swords, they forced us in to the pasture; -the Docter jumped his Horse over a low Stone wall, and got to Concord.

[Page 4]
I observed a Wood at a Small distance, & made for that. When I got there, out Started Six officers, on Horse back, and orderd me to dismount;-one of them, who appeared to have the command, examined me, where I came from, & what my Name Was? I told him. it was Revere, he asked if it was Paul? I told him yes He asked me if I was an express? I answered in the afirmative. He demanded what time I left Boston? I told him; and added, that their troops had catched aground in passing the River, and that There would be five hundred Americans there in a short time, for I had alarmed the Country all the way up.

He imediately rode towards those who stoppd us, when all five of them came down upon a full gallop; one of them, whom I afterwards found to be Major Mitchel, of the 5th Regiment, Clapped his pistol to my head, called me by name, & told me he was going to ask me some questions, & if I did not give him true answers, he would blow my brains out.

He then asked me similar questions to those above. He then orderd me to mount my Horse, after searching me for arms. He then orderd them to advance, & to lead me in front. When we got to the Road, they turned down towards Lexington. When we had got about one Mile, the Major Rode up to the officer that was leading me, & told him to give me to the Sergeant. As soon as he took me, the Major orderd him, if I attempted to run, or any body insulted them, to blow my brains out.

We rode till we got near Lexington Meeting-house, when the Militia fired a Voley of Guns, which appeared to alarm them very much. The Major inquired of me how far it was to Cambridge, and if there were any other Road? After some consultation, the Major

[Page 5]
Major Rode up to the Sargent, & asked if his Horse was tired? He told answered him, he was – (He was a Sargent of Grenadiers, and had a small Horse) – then, said He, take that man’s Horse. I dismounted, & the Sargent mounted my Horse, when they all rode towards Lexington Meeting-House.

I went across the Burying-ground, & some pastures, & came to the Revd. Mr. Clark’s House, where I found Messrs. Hancok & Adams. I told them of my treatment, & they concluded to go from that House to wards Woburn. I went with them, & a Mr. Lowell, who was a Clerk to Mr. Hancock.

When we got to the House where they intended to stop, Mr. Lowell & I my self returned to Mr. Clark’s, to find what was going on. When we got there, an elderly man came in; he said he had just come from the Tavern, that a Man had come from Boston, who said there were no British troops coming. Mr. Lowell & myself went towards the Tavern, when we met a Man on a full gallop, who told us the Troops were coming up the Rocks.

We afterwards met another, who said they were close by. Mr. Lowell asked me to go to the Tavern with him, to a git a Trunk of papers belonging to Mr. Hancock. We went up Chamber; & while we were giting the Trunk, we saw the British very near, upon a full March.

We hurried to wards Mr. Clark’s House. In our way, we passed through the Militia. There were about 50. When we had got about 100 Yards from the meeting-House the British Troops appeard on both Sides of the Meeting-House. In their

[Page 6]
In their Front was an Officer on Horse back. They made a Short Halt; when I saw, & heard, a Gun fired, which appeared to be a Pistol. Then I could distinguish two Guns, & then a Continual roar of Musquetry; When we made off with the Trunk.

As I have mentioned Dr. Church, perhaps it might not be disagreeable to mention some Matters of my own knowledge, respecting Him. He appeared to be a high son of Liberty. He frequented all the places where they met, Was incouraged by all the leaders of the Sons of Liberty, & it appeared he was respected by them, though I knew that Dr. Warren had not the greatest affection for him. He was esteemed a very capable writer, especially in verese; and as the Whig party needed every Strenght, they feared, as well as courted Him.

Though it was known, that some of the Liberty Songs, which We composed, were parodized by him, in favor of the British, yet none dare charge him with it. I was a constant & critical observer of him, and I must say, that I never thought Him a man of Principle; and I doubted much in my own mind, wether He was a real Whig. I knew that He kept company with a Capt. Price, a half-pay British officer, & that He frequently dined with him, & Robinson, one of the Commissioners. I know that one of his intimate aquaintances asked him why he was so often with Robinson and Price? His answer was, that He kept Company with them on purpose to find out their plans.

The day after the Battle of Lexington, I came across met him in Cambridge, when He shew me some blood on his stocking, which he said spirted on him from a Man who was killed near him, as he was urging the Militia on. I well remember, that I argued with my self, if a Man will risque his life in a Cause, he must be a Friend to that cause; & I never suspected him after, till He was charged with being a Traytor.

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The same day I met Dr. Warren. He was President of the Committee of Safety. He engaged me as a Messinger, to do the out of doors business for that committee; which gave me an opportunity of being frequently with them.

The Friday evening after, about sun set, I was sitting with some, or near all that Committee, in their room, which was at Mr. Hastings’s House at Cambridge. Dr. Church, all at once, started up – Dr. Warren, said He, I am determined to go into Boston tomorrow – (it set them all a stairing) – Dr. Warren replyed, Are you serious, Dr. Church? they will Hang you if they catch you in Boston. He replyed, I am serious, and am determined to go at all adventures.

After a considerable conversation, Dr. Warren said, If you are determined, let us make some business for you. They agreed that he should go to git medicine for their & our Wounded officers. He went the next morning; & I think he came back on Sunday
evening.

After He had told the Committee how things were, I took him a side, & inquired particularly how they treated him? he said, that as soon as he got to their lines on the Boston Neck, they made him a prisoner, & carried him to General Gage, where He
was examined, & then He was sent to Gould’s Barracks, & was not suffered to go home but once.

After He was taken up, for holding a Correspondence with the Brittish, I came a Cross Deacon Caleb Davis;-we entred into Conversation about Him;-He told me, that the morning Church went into Boston, He (Davis) received a Bilet for General Gage-(he then did not know that Church was in Town)-When he got to the General’s House, he was told, the General could not be spoke with, that He was in private with a Gentleman; that He waited near half an Hour,-When General Gage & Dr. Church came out of a Room, discoursing together, like
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like persons who had been long aquainted. He appeared to be quite surprized at seeing Deacon Davis there; that he (Church) went where he pleased, while in Boston, only a Major Caine, one of Gage’s Aids, went with him.

I was told by another person whom I could depend upon, that he saw Church go in to General Gage’s House, at the above time; that He got out of the Chaise and went up the steps more like a Man that was aquainted, than a prisoner.

Sometime after, perhaps a Year or two, I fell in company with a Gentleman who studied with Church -in discoursing about him, I related what I have mentioned above; He said, He did not doubt that He was in the Interest of the Brittish; & that it was He who informed Gen. Gage That he knew for Certain, that a Short time before the Battle of Lexington, (for He then lived with Him, & took Care of his Business & Books) He had no money by him, and was much drove for money; that all at once, He had several Hundred New Brittish Guineas; and that He thought at the time, where they came from.

Thus, Sir, I have endeavoured to give you a Short detail of some matters, of which perhaps no person but my self have have documents, or knowledge. I have mentioned some names which you are aquainted with: I wish you would Ask them, if they can remember the Circumstances I alude to.

I am, Sir, with every Sentment of esteem,
Your Humble Servant,
Paul Revere
Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society
“The Battle of Lexington, 19 April 1775,” Oil on canvas by William Barns Wollen, 1910.
 
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