In this episode of Fun with Maps host Dan Hanson showcases Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts in honor of America 250. On April 19, 1775 the “shot heard around the world” was fired in Lexington which launched the Revolutionary War and led to America’s independence. Later in the day the famous Battle of Concord took place at the Old North Bridge over the river in the town of Concord.
We touch on the history leading up to these events like the Boston Massacre in 1770, Boston Tea Party (1773), the British Parliament passing the Intolerable Acts (early 1774) and in February 1775, the British government declaring Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion and targeting Adams, Hancock and others. We look at the path that Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott rode to warn (The British are coming!) area militias of the British plans and the approaching British Army expedition from Boston.
We look at the route that General Thomas Gage, the military governor of Massachusetts, ordered to capture Hancock and Adams and destroy the supplies in Concord. We look at the lady who was a secret ally of the Patriots. And we look at the shot heard around the world and the Battles of Lexington and then Concord. We discuss the fabled Minutemen, an elite force of young men.
We also look at the amazing literary figures who all lived in Concord – Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne (Scarlett Letter and House of the Seven Gables), Louisa May Alcott’s (Little Women) father, Henry David Thoreau (Walden) and others. And we look at the reactions from leaders such as John Adams, Thomas Paine and George Washington who, after hearing of the Battle of Lexington, realized that this was war. There’s also a fun fact covering a special Concord food that you are probably familiar with.
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