Early in the morning in 1775, about 70 armed men gathered together on Lexington Green in Lexington, MA. They knew from Revere the night before that at least 700 Redcoats were marching from Boston to Concord to seize weapons and powder stores allegedly held there. Now as then the government thinks it wise to compel by force the surrender of weapons and munitions. Now as then, I know that some men will go to the green.
Before I left for work this morning, I posted the colors. Back in September 2009, I traveled to Lexington to pay my respects to the dead, whose names I know, and recognize the others who were wounded or enrolled. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for farmers and frontiersmen to stand across a field from the Irish conscripts that marched against them. Even if the Irish were green troops, when they marshalled it must have been a terrifying sight, particularly as the column of 700 men split to round the building on both sides that stood at the crossroads at that time.
There was no need for any of those men to die. The Redcoats were headed to Concord. The Minutemen stood on the green as an indication only that their town was not to be harassed. In total, seven men died of gunshot wounds, at least one of which was in the back on his own front porch, and one man was run through with a bayonet. The only Redcoat injured to my knowledge was the company commander who rode in front of his men to stop their volley of fire and was hit in the hand (by whom it is not known).
Oddly enough, lines from Cyrano de Bergerac come to mind.
I offer one universal challenge to you all. Will all those who wish to die please raise your hands. Approach young heroes and I will take your names. To the first I will build a monument.
The men of Lexington were dispersing, or at least they were ordered to. However, those eight men who died spurred to action one of the most famous American armed exchanges. By the time the day was over, the Redcoats who returned home wished they'd never heard of America.
Former Senator Paul Laxalt has said that "Every day Congress is in session, you lose a little more of your liberty". They are always passing new laws, partially because some of you talk about how "there ought to be a law..." all the time. We do not need more laws; we need more people who respect the law. This was supposed to be a nation of laws and not of men, and yet we have become obsessed with the cult of personality that allows the Obamas to talk of themselves not only as paragons but also messianically. Even as they talk one way they live another. That was what Lexington was all about. Let us live according to the dictates of conscience, not of whim, but of virtued conscience. Later in his famous speech Patrick Henry would talk of how "Two millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."
Lexington day asks us to consider for what we are willing to stand on the Green of Freedom. It asks us what price we are willing to pay. Is life so sweet or peace so dear so as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? I cannot speak for you, but I do know that Patriots go to the green.
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