Minuteman Statue
Standing on the Lexington Battle Green, the Minuteman statue captures a single, defining moment in American history: The morning of April 19, 1775.
This figure represents Captain John Parker, commander of the Lexington militia, not a professional soldier, but a farmer, husband, and father. Before dawn, he gathered 77 local militiamen on the town common as British regulars marched toward Concord to seize colonial military supplies. Parker, who was ill with tuberculosis at the time, is remembered for words that have echoed through generations:
“Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon. But if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”
As the British troops advanced onto the Green, a shot rang out and the brief confrontation left eight colonists dead and ten wounded. The British column then continued toward Concord, but the events in Lexington marked the opening engagement of the American Revolutionary War.
Dedicated in 1900 and sculpted by Henry Hudson Kitson, the monument stands just off the Green. Here stands the minuteman, a citizen soldier prepared to defend home and principle.
In Lexington, history is not distant. It stands in the open air, asking us to remember the ordinary men who stepped forward at an extraordinary hour.
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