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Shots Heard Round the World

• Michele McAloon • Season 3 • Episode 131

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The Battle of Lexington marked the beginning of the American Revolution, with ordinary farmers standing against British troops in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance despite overwhelming odds.

• Solomon Brown, an 18-year-old dairy farmer, first spotted British officers with concealed weapons on April 18, 1775
• Lexington was a struggling dairy community of 700 people in economic depression, yet deeply committed to revolutionary ideals
• Reverend Jonas Clark had been preparing his congregation for resistance since 1768, making Lexington more radical than surrounding towns
• The militia companies were well-organized with proper equipment made through cottage industries throughout Massachusetts
• The famous "shot heard round the world" likely came from either Lieutenant Sutherland or Solomon Brown
• The entire Battle of Lexington lasted less than three minutes but ignited eight years of revolution
• The 250th anniversary commemoration begins April 19, 2023, with reenactments broadcast nationally
• Historical reenactors have meticulously researched period accounts to create an accurate portrayal of events

If you like the show, please subscribe, like, and check out my YouTube channel at Crossword Author Interviews and website at bookclues.com to follow more conversations about America's founding history throughout this 250th anniversary year.


Michele McAloon:

You're listening to Crossword, where cultural clues lead to the truth of the word, and my name is Michele McAloon and I am publishing two podcasts at once. The first podcast will be with Alexander Cain. He has written We Stood Our Ground. It is about the Battle of Lexington. It is a self-published book and you can find it on Amazon. The second interview will be with Steve Delightey, who is aka Daniel Harrington and he is a reenactor during the Battle of Lexington.

Michele McAloon:

And the Battle of Lexington is on Patriots Day, which is on April 19th, so it's this coming Saturday. I will put in the show notes a list of where you could possibly see the reenactment and the nation's 250th anniversary or birthday will really begin this weekend with the 250th celebration of the Battle of Lexington. Paul Revere's ride, the shots heard around the world. It's all there and will conclude really in July 4th, 2026, which will be the 250th year anniversary. The next probably about 14-month period I will be looking at books on American history Founding Fathers, battle of Lexington, battle of Concord, saratoga, all of that.

Michele McAloon:

Again, I thank you for listening. If you like the show, please subscribe and like and go check out my YouTube channel at Crossword Author Interviews. Also my website at bookcluescom. Thank you very much. Happy Easter, alex Kane. Welcome to Crossword. We have a real treat for you listeners. We are going to speak with a man who is knowledgeable about the Battle of Lexington and Concord. And just if you're wondering why now this interview is, april 19th is Patriots Day. It will be the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and it is the kickoff for the 250th celebration, which will happen in July 4th, 2026. Correct, alex.

Alexander Cain:

That is correct. That will be the 250th anniversary of the founding of this nation.

Michele McAloon:

It's a great day. All right, let's talk a little bit about who Alexander Kane is. He graduated from Merrimack College in 1993 with a degree in economics and the New England School of Law in 1996 with a law degree. He's a well-respected and highly sought-after speaker who frequently lectures on the military and social influences of April 19, 1975. He advises local production companies and major production companies as a consultant to ensure historical accuracy. He's published multiple research articles and today we are here to talk about his book. We Stood Our Ground Lexington in the First Year of the American Revolution, and it is a self-published book, but it's actually coming out in the fourth edition and it will be on Amazon within the next couple months, alex. We are so happy to have you, alex, thank you.

Alexander Cain:

I'm real excited to be here.

Michele McAloon:

Okay, so open this conversation, let's talk about one of the key characters in this whole historical adventure, and that is Solomon Brown. How was he key to the Battle of Lexington? And then what I would like for you to do is kind of tell us about the world that Solomon Brown came from, because you do an excellent, excellent job of etching what the world of Lexington was, what Lexington, massachusetts, was at the cusp of the American Revolution.

Alexander Cain:

This is an amazing story. I've always been told that if there was ever going to be a movie about the Battle of Lexington, solomon Brown had to be the opening character in it. Solomon Brown is about 18 or 19 years old on April 18th 1775. And he is part of a dairy farming community and he had gone to Boston to sell some excess dairy products. He is riding back from the market roughly about six o'clock at night along what is called the Bay Road, which modern day today is Massachusetts Avenue. He's riding up and suddenly he sees about half a dozen British officers mounted on horseback and he thought this was odd for two reasons. The first is they were all wearing what are called greatcoats, which are basically heavy 18th century winter coats, and as he's passing them he's noticing bulges on their hips. And then suddenly there's well, maybe through the grace of God or something, there's a gust of wind, one of the coats is blown open and he sees what's called a brace of pistols, which is a pair of pistols on this officer's hips. He's a little alarmed by that because in April 18, 1775, massachusetts is on the verge of war. Massachusetts has fallen to minute companies, although Lexington did not. They are drilling in preparation for any British excursions out of Boston into the countryside. And to see British officers at six o'clock at night on the Bay Road this far from Boston is a little concerning for him. He rides past the officers and as soon as he takes a bend in the road he then pretty much spurs his horses and gallops as quickly as possible back to Lexington.

Alexander Cain:

He stops first at a gentleman's house named William Monroe. William Monroe is the orderly or first sergeant of the Lexington militia. He reports that there are British officers on the road and Solomon Brown is a little concerned because at this time the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, which is the rebel government that was formed in the aftermath of the Intolerable Acts of 1774, they're meeting in Concord, but John Hancock and Samuel Adams, the two leaders of the Provinable Acts of 1774. They're meeting in Concord, but John Hancock and Samuel Adams, the two leaders of the Provincial Congress, are staying in Lexington over those period of nights, staying with the Reverend Jonas Clark, who's Lexington's minister. He was somewhat alarmed by what he had seen and believed that these six or seven officers were out on the road to arrest Hancock and Adams. In response, this sets a chain of events into motion where Sergeant Monroe dispatches a guard detail to the Reverend Clark's house to start guarding Hancock and Adams and the Lexington militia starts mobilizing in anticipation that they thought there's going to be an attempt to arrest these two leaders. Now, of course, what they didn't realize at the time before I jump into the background of Lexington what they didn't realize was these half dozen or so officers were actually part of an advanced guard where they were going to be riding the Bay Road to intercept any alarm riders that were going to Concord because there was a military expedition forming that night to march out to Concord.

Alexander Cain:

Lexington's an interesting town at this time. If you visit Lexington today, it's probably one of the wealthiest communities in Massachusetts. There are probably more giant mansions than I can count, but back in April of 1775, lexington is a very poor dairy community. The overall population of Lexington is roughly 700 people, which is composed into, dispersed through about 100 families. You have probably about three to four major clusters along the Bay Road where the community resided. You had East Lexington, which was on the Monotony District line, which Monotony is modern-day Arlington. You then had a cluster that was near William Monroe's house. Then you have clusters close into the town common, the town common.

Alexander Cain:

Where the Battle of Lexington took place is the epicenter of the town of Lexington.

Alexander Cain:

They had a meeting house which served basically three purposes it was a church.

Alexander Cain:

In 18th century New England meeting houses had a dual role.

Alexander Cain:

They were a governmental building and they were a religious centerpiece. A Lexington meeting house was the same thing. So it served as a church, it served as a place for town meetings and it was was dairy produce. They had roughly about, you know, roughly 700 families. There's almost as many cows, although, keep in mind, although they are producing dairy, they are having trouble producing enough to bring to market, to sell. They did have goats, pigs, chickens, sheep and so forth, but again, they're barely above substance level. So Lexington is struggling economically. On the eve of the Battle of Lexington, most of the families, as they're struggling to get by, roughly about a quarter of the families are on the verge of bankruptcy. We're in the middle of an economic depression because of the Boston Port Bill, as well as everything that is going on with disputes with England bill, as well as everything that is going on with disputes with England. Pregnancy on the eve of marriages was quite common. Roughly about one in every four Lexington girls was pregnant on their wedding night.

Michele McAloon:

That was interesting. Yeah, that's an interesting detail.

Alexander Cain:

It's funny Lexington teenagers were a bit out of control. The Reverend Jonas Clark, who was the town minister, is constantly preaching from the pulpit about teens who are like teens today, who are going out into the woods partying, they're doing the same thing and they're canoodling and nightwalking and some of other the Reverend Clark's complaints. So we're dealing with teenagers who probably would rather deal with romantic issues of the opposite sex rather than hearing about the British tyranny that is coming down. We do see the interesting thing throughout this entire rise, lexington is a very radical town in comparison to other communities around the area. When it came to resistance against the crown, for example Concord or Andover, massachusetts sort of took a middle-of-the-road, cautious approach. Lexington, by 1768, is feet first into resistance. This is because of the Reverend Jonas Clark.

Alexander Cain:

The Reverend Jonas Clark is the pinnacle of Lexington society. He is the town minister, he is the one who is influencing town government, influencing the families on political, social, moral positions as early as 1769, he is preaching from the Lexington Pulpit talking about hey, we need to prepare for war, and he basically preaches continuously about how the British government is attempting to enslave the people of Massachusetts through their policies, through the presence of British troops etc. So by 1774, where Concord and Andover and other communities are sort of just starting to warm up to the revolutionary spirit, lexington is all in. So you see, actually, where there's a call in October of 1774 by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress to start preparing for war with England, lexington was actually preparing for war. A month earlier they were already out drilling and gathering arms and equipment. Lexington also had several enslaved people within the community. You know the most famous one is Prince Estabrook, who was wounded at the Battle of Lexington.

Alexander Cain:

But there was also the Perdue family, which is a family they are two cousins who are freedmen and they have actually managed to establish for themselves that they're considered middle class during the 18th century as freedmen. The unfortunate thing is they did not enjoy the same rights and benefits as their white counterparts, but they were able to successfully etch in a successful life for themselves. So that's pretty much the overview of Lexington during this time. They are politically I would put them radically in position. Economically they are struggling to get by.

Alexander Cain:

One thing I did fail to mention farming had a system of mixed husbandry where they would constantly be rotating through their farmlands. They tended to focus, in addition to dairy with apple orchards Cider was another product that was coming out of Lexington. But the problem is studies have been done of 18th century farms and by the time of the revolution the soil in Middlesex County, massachusetts, is starting to fail. So there's now families that are considering leaving Lexington to move to western Massachusetts, perhaps go up to the Hampshire Grants, which is modern-day Vermont. So there's definitely Lexington, interesting community, struggling community, but at the same time they are all in for fighting against the crown.

Michele McAloon:

You bring up some really interesting details which you said that in, or you write that a family typically burned an acre a year of wood. That's a lot of wood to go through. It's a lot of wood.

Alexander Cain:

What they did was every farm had X number of acres usually, and they constantly had to rotate again, so they would have what we'll call woodlots. Woodlots could vary in size, for as little as five acres all the way up to 30, 40 acres, where basically those were stands of tree that were not cut down, and basically you would go in, cut up firewood and bring it back to the home for purposes. Keep in mind, in 18th century New England, particularly Massachusetts, most of the landscape was deforested at the time because of farming, so it's not uncommon you could stand on a hill in Andover, massachusetts, which is roughly 40 miles away from Boston, and you could see into Boston because of the deforestation. However, every farm did have segments of woodlots which would be used for producing firewood, and they actually became tactical positions during the battles of Lexington and Concord. As they were retreating, captain John Parker of the Lexington militia utilized the woodlock when he reentered the fight in the afternoon of April 19th 75.

Michele McAloon:

Alex, two things. One of the things that your book brought out is that they were contrary to kind of popular belief. And the one thing about your book it does it actually does take away a lot of the myths of the British.

Alexander Cain:

Yeah it does.

Michele McAloon:

It does. It shakes the fairy dust off of that fifth grade understanding of American history. So, but you said that the militia were actually, they were well-uniformed, they were well-provisioned, they had the arms that they needed. And also, could you tell us a little bit how the name Minuteman came up? Because that is, that's a very interesting story and piece of history there that maybe sprung up in the fall of 1774.

Alexander Cain:

And when you look at many 19th century historical writings you see that they seem to imply that the concept of Minutemen. Everyone just said, okay, I'm a Minutemen and just responded that way. The concept of Minutemen it was outlined by an author called General John Galvin who wrote the Minutemen. He's a former NATO commander. He wrote a book I think it was about 1980, on the Minutemen. He's a former NATO commander. He wrote a book, I think it was about 1980, on the Minutemen. He was the first one to crack the Minutemen code, if you want to call it. He went back as far as King Philip's War in the 17th century and discovered that the concept of Minutemen is almost as old as Massachusetts Bay Colony. The concept was initially it was in response to French and Native American raids coming out of Canada where they would create these rapid response units, where these individuals during King Philip's War would be required to mobilize within an hour's notice. As we start looking towards the subsequent French wars up through King George's War, we see the time period starting to bring down more and more. We start seeing perhaps responding within 30 minutes and then suddenly, at a moment's warning, by the time of the French and Indian War, where there really wasn't much of a French threat anymore towards New England, the concept of Minutemen was still presented. So what happened was is Massachusetts Provincial Congress in October of 1774, when they realized, hey, we have to prepare for war with England, how are we going to organize a Massachusetts Grand Army and that's what they called it how are we going to organize this army into a fighting unit that can rapidly respond to any British military incursions? They looked back at that Minuteman concept. So in late October of 1774, they passed a resolution saying hey, every militia unit in the colony, you need to take at least a quarter of your men and set them aside as this rapid response unit.

Alexander Cain:

The way the militia system worked in Massachusetts is different than Pennsylvania. Well, pennsylvania really didn't have a militia, so it's different than Virginia or perhaps the Carolinas or stuff. Militias it was generally men who were between 16 and 70 years old. Every town was required to have at least one militia unit and as the towns grew and they divided into districts, you would then see more militia units created and every county was supposed to have at least one militia regiment that was made up of those town units and of course, as the county grew they divided that up into districts as well.

Alexander Cain:

The Minutemen that I've seen so far and I'm actually going to go back and I'm researching this for future editions of my book but it seems to imply that the Minutemen, which was a volunteer force, so each militia commander that went to his men and said provincial Congress wants us to create this minute companies from a quarter of our men who's interested in becoming minute men? They ended up creating a volunteer unit and what I'm seeing, at least initially for the documentation, it seems to be that it was your younger militia men who were forming up as minute men, so usually between like, say, 18 to 24, 18 to 25. And it makes sense. The analogy I use is I'm 54 years old, my son is 24 years old. If we've got to run a mile to the town common, my son's going to get there well ahead of me. I'm going to stop at dunks. I'm going to stop and talk to my neighbor. I got to catch my breath. Keep going. My son, who runs five or six miles a day, is going to be there in 30 seconds. This seems to be the Minuteman movement.

Alexander Cain:

Not every town created Minuteman because there was a concern for cost, just as in today, with true New England Yankee fashion, some communities were slow in responding and creating Minutemans, others didn't. Unfortunately we don't know about Lexington because of and the town records from Lexington from about January of 1775 to about May of 1775 were stolen about 100 years ago. So anything we've created for Lexington in my research I've had to go through other sources. So I do not know if Lexington ever created a Minuteman company. I don't think they did yet because that district of the militia companies, none of them moved towards Minuteman companies. So the Minuteman concept.

Alexander Cain:

You now have two different types of military units that are ready to fight the British. You have the Minut companies and then you have militia companies. You also had alarm list companies. Alarm list companies are your reserve lists. They were usually made up of men who were 60 years of age or older. They're generally your last reserve rapid response, your last reserve unit when the poo is about to hit the fan and you need to throw everybody in the field. This is a unit. Along the fighting for April 19, 1775, the alarm lists of Concord, lincoln, lexington, mononomy and Cambridge all did mobilize as a result of this situation. I have seen evidence of alarmists, decided that they were going to start focusing on artillery. Many towns are starting to purchase cannons in preparation for war with England and turning them over to the alarmist men who would mobilize with the cannons. Lexington was one of them. They did purchase two cannons, however they were not mounted or they lacked ammunition, so they were not pulled out for April 19th.

Alexander Cain:

The other interesting thing, before I get into the arms and equipment that I see a rise of, is you usually saw this during the American Civil War this creation of what are called independent companies or paramilitary units, form of militia that they would usually form up for ceremonial events and they formed usually the officer corps for the Union Army. Well, I discovered that there were creation of independent companies I've identified almost a dozen of them in Massachusetts Bay Colony on the eve of the American Revolution. And what these independent companies were is they were made up of ship builders, merchants, wealthy individuals that got together and formed their own paramilitary units that were attached to the community they resided in. The most fascinating I have is a seaport community called Newburyport, which is up on the New Hampshire border. Newburyport had three independent companies. They had an independent artillery company where I have evidence that they were fully uniformed, so they were wearing military uniforms on the eve of the American Revolution.

Alexander Cain:

And then I have two other infantry units that were created as well. Haverhill is something similar. Haverhill created their own paramilitary unit as well, and they wanted to get a super fancy uniform, but unfortunately the battles of Lexington started so they weren't able to order it. And then Scituate is another one that I've been able to find evidence of independent paramilitary unit. The question I often get from people is where'd they get all their equipment?

Michele McAloon:

Where'd they get all their yeah, sure, like their cannons and stuff like that when did they get this equipment?

Alexander Cain:

So it's interesting because you know the cannons think about the French and Indian Wars, where we are sending out privateers to raid Canadian seaports. Well, the French were doing the same thing. So as a result, most of your coastal communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire had old iron coastal guns just sitting there for the taking. And what happens is some of these communities start. They basically start selling them, saying hey, like Newburyport said hey, who wants a cannon? And so they would sell them to various other communities. And that's what Lexington did. They negotiated with the town of Watertown, which had sort of an inlet, you know, towards the ocean, that they had a couple of coastal guns. They purchased cannons from a coastal community, had them shipped to Lexington and then they hired woodworkers from Lexington to start making the carriages to mount them on. And so it was fascinating seeing that.

Alexander Cain:

But then you start getting into well, where'd they get their cartridge boxes, where'd they get their knapsacks, where did they get their canteens and what you know, there was a historian named Joel Bowie. Joel Bowie who wrote a book, bullet Strikes from the First Day of the American Revolution, which just came out. He and I share research all the time and he's been a wonderful consultant for me on various activities leading up to April 19th. We have found that just about every community in Massachusetts started up their own cottage industries of wartime preparation. So, for example, what they would do is the town selectmen would go to those who work in leather, for example saddlers, and say, hey, we would need you to make cartridge boxes and belting for the bayonet, and then the saddler would go ahead and make them and then turn around. Within the next year he'd submit a bill to the town. We have individuals who are making powder horns. John Parker, captain of the Lexington Militia, is a perfect example of that. We have blacksmiths who are basically making bayonets as well as assembling guns for their town militia. And the real neat thing is most of the militiamen carried what were called fowling pieces, which are 18th century hunting guns. They're smoothbore muskets with a wood stock that holds the barrel goes all the way up to the end of the muzzle, so it's very difficult to slide a bayonet over that barrel. We have woodworkers who are cutting back the wood stock and reshaping the wood stock so the barrel is exposed and bayonets can be slid over the weapon. We have other individuals who are making knapsacks and we actually start seeing the rise of supply depots as well, because the Massachusetts Provincial Congress is also hiring contractors to start putting together supply depots.

Alexander Cain:

The one that was closest to Boston that garnered the least interest was in Brookline. Brookline was storing canteens, cheese box canteens. They had roughly about 10,000 canteens built and didn't attract the attention of the British authorities. But Concord was one of the two major depots, the other one being in Worcester. Worcester was just too far away for the British expedition. It would take them about two days to go out and back.

Alexander Cain:

Concord caught their attention because there was a large supply of gunpowder, a large supply of ammunition, tents, siege tools and there were reports of brass cannons. The brass cannons were the real goal of the British authorities. There were four cannons actually in total that were stolen out of Boston. Brass cannons are different than the iron coastal cannons. Brass cannons are very light, they're very maneuverable, they're very durable in the field and they're very accurate. So brass cannons are considered weapons of mass destruction in 18th century Massachusetts. Engage wanted those. So you see this big movement within the communities of making this equipment. So you have, at least when it comes to our equipment and supplies. There's almost this uniformity of appearance in accoutrements and it caught the attention of the British authorities when they marched onto the Lexington Green. They specifically included it in one of their reports that Parker's company was assembled and military ordered, all armed and accoutred. So it did definitely catch their attention.

Michele McAloon:

Interesting, very interesting. Okay, so let's talk about the man of the hour, and that is Paul Revere. But you know what? Let me back up with one question first. What were John Hancock and Samuel Adams doing in Lexington that night on April 18th? That was unclear to me.

Alexander Cain:

So what it is. It's interesting they are both two political leaders of the Massachusetts Rebellion Movement. John Hancock is the president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and Sam Adams is. He doesn't hold a leadership role within the Provincial Congress but he's a significant leader of the rebel movement. The Provincial Congress had met in Concord that day and then voted to adjourn and they were going to move towards Watertown the next day.

Alexander Cain:

However, john Hancock has family relations with the Reverend Clark. His fiancée, dorothea Quincy, is visiting the Hancock, the Clark House and so basically because the Reverend Jonas Clark is considered, he's considered a very important political leader, a very influential leader, not just in Lexington. The Reverend Clark was constantly preaching to the provincial Congress. He was constantly preaching to neighboring communities. He was constantly, before the American Revolution, going into Boston and preaching to various Boston militia units. So he's a very influential person.

Alexander Cain:

So for these two individuals to be in Lexington, they're stopping visit to probably one of the leading religious figures of the Massachusetts Revolutionary Movement. They have family ties to that particular residence as well. John Hancock's cousin was the minister before the Reverend Clark, so he has family ties to Lexington and it is said Dorothea Quincy was also staying in Lexington as well waiting for her fiance to finish up his business for the day with the town meetings. So that's why they were staying there. Had the British not marched out that night, they probably would have stayed for the night, woken up the next morning and just simply rid into Watertown to continue with their business in the provincial Congress meetings.

Michele McAloon:

But Paul Revere comes knocking on the door.

Alexander Cain:

Yes, so picking up where you know, solomon Brown had set everything in motion. And so what happens is Paul Revere arrives in Lexington roughly about quarter of 12 to 1215, quarter 12 at night to 1215 in the morning. So it's right on the cusp of April 18th, april 19th basically left Boston. There was a signal on the cusp of April 18th, april 19th, basically left Boston. There was a signal that was sent from the Old North Church that the two lanterns that they had received intelligence that the British were crossing by water and that signal was not, you know, to announce people. Hey, paul Revere is coming. It was a signal to go to Charlestown.

Alexander Cain:

The event Paul Revere was captured and could not continue on with the mission. He was warned before he left. He said listen, we're getting, we've seen British officers on the road. You have to be careful. As he was riding up the Bay Road he did observe some riders off in a shadowy distance. So he sort of cut off a side road, swung wide through Medford, popped back out in monotony and kept riding up into Lexington. His instructions were twofold. His instructions were one that he had to notify Hancock and Clark because everyone knew that they were staying in Lexington, because you've got the president of the provincial congress they want to know where he is and this major leader, samuel Adams. So his first order of business was he was going to stop by Lexington to alert them that there was a military operation and movement towards Concord. And then, secondly, he was supposed to ride on to Concord to announce you know, listen, the regulars are out, you need to move these supplies, you need to hide these supplies because they're coming here to Concord as a coordinated attack.

Alexander Cain:

Well, what happens is he rides into Lexington, he passes the Monroe Tavern Everything's pretty quiet in Lexington. He gets up to the Buckman Tavern, which is directly across the street from the Lexington Common. He sees elements of the Lexington militia because Solomon Brown had reported to First Sergeant William Monroe what he had observed. A guard detail was sent to protect Hancock and Adams, as I had mentioned. But a good size of the militia also was now on alert because they weren't sure if there was going to be this move to try and arrest these two figures and they wanted to help protect them. So Revere encounters elements of the militia at Buckman Tavern and I believe it might have been Captain Parker himself who then directed him down towards the Hancock-Clark house where they were staying. He arrives and sort of basically pushes his way past the guard and starts banging on the door, trying to get the attention of Hancock and Adams, at which point Sergeant William Monroe, who's in charge of the guard detail, tells him to be quiet Everyone's sleeping. And at which point, according to 19th century deposition from Sergeant Monroe, he says Revere just turned around and lashed at me. And he lashed out at me and said noise, you're going to have enough noise soon enough. The regulars are out. And so at that point now it spreads very quickly throughout town. But roughly about a half hour later, about 1230, william Dawes, who is the lesser known, unfortunately alarm rider, and he took a more circular route over land to Roxbury and arrived. He confirmed Revere's instructions that you know there is a military operation going towards Concord.

Alexander Cain:

Everyone suddenly realizes that at best Hancock and Clark are secondary for the British mission. If the British stumble across him, the two of these men, during their mission, great, it's a bonus arrest, but their main and sole priority is the Concord stores. As a result, there is this impromptu meeting between Revere Dawes, reverend Clark, captain John Parker and Hancock and Adams about what is to be done. The first order of business is they realize they have to get Hancock and Clark out of the area. The area and what we just recently discovered, literally over the last month, is that Edmund Monroe, who is a very, very experienced veteran from the French wars, he is charged with the task of escorting Hancock and Adams to what is present day Burlington, massachusetts, to get them to safety. In response to this, captain Parker starts following military protocol. Immediately what he does is he sends alarm riders his own alarm riders out to Bedford to notify them, which is a town slightly to the northwest but Bedford is sort of the back door into Concord and he notifies them saying listen, there's a military operation coming towards Concord. You need to mobilize your minute companies and alert Concord. Coming towards Concord. You need to mobilize your minute companies and alert Concord.

Alexander Cain:

Revere and Dawes continued on. Just basically, their mission was to go towards Concord. Well, the interesting thing about this is this is where it gets a little crazy, because let's go back to Solomon Brown. Solomon Brown and two other teenagers were recruited about an hour earlier by an older militiaman who said don't think about those officers that you know, we saw, you saw early in the night. Well, they rode through Lexington very quietly, very suspiciously. They kept riding towards Concord. Why don't you get two of your buddies? Get on some horses and follow them out? And that's what they did. And Solomon and his two buddies were captured by these officers. They were quickly unhorsed, they were removed of their equipment and they pretty much were put into like a pen, you know, surrounded by the British officers.

Alexander Cain:

Well, revere and Dawes start riding out towards Concord and they encounter an individual called Samuel Prescott. Samuel Prescott is a physician from Concord, a very young physician. He was visiting his fiancee, also in Lexington and he was riding along and he encountered Revere and Dawes on their ride to Concord and he agreed to join them, you know, on their return to Concord and he was going to help guide them to Concord. Well, when they crossed into the Lincoln line, the British officers are waiting for them and there's an ambush. Revere is caught immediately.

Alexander Cain:

Dawes rides through a backyard of some of our back farm. He starts yelling out, creating a false impression that there's militia nearby. The officers who were chasing him disengage. Unfortunately, dawes is unhorsed during the time and his horse takes off and he's forced to flee on foot. Samuel Prescott, however, who's familiar with the back countryside is able to basically drive his horse into the woods, go through a swamp, come back onto the road and rides the Concord to alert Concord that there's a military operation coming out to hit them.

Alexander Cain:

This is where it gets really kind of neat, where basically they start questioning Revere and they're not too nice to him. According to Revere, one of the British officers clapped the pistol against his head and he said I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions. You better be truthful or I'm going to blow your brains out. Nice, yeah, it was really. And this goes along the lines with just the disdain and distrust that Massachusetts provincials had for the British military authority during this time. They're throwing out of the window all their English liberties and civil rights.

Alexander Cain:

At this point he grilled them hard. However, revere is pretty clever. He's hitting them with disinformation left and right. He's talking about how there's thousands of militia converging on Concord, there's mobilization taking place and, of course, the officers are hearing alarm bells ring. They're hearing warning gunshots going off. This is all part of the signal system that Massachusetts have established. And Revere turns to him and says listen, the entire countryside is now alarmed, you're all dead men.

Alexander Cain:

The officers panic and they start riding back towards Lexington and say we've got to get out of this countryside. As they approach Lexington they hear more gunshots going off. And the gunshots really spoke them, because at this point Revere is really pushing disinformation, saying listen, you probably have about 500 militiamen waiting for you in Lexington. They take Revere's horse, they take Solomon Brown's horse, they take the other two gentlemen's horse, they dismount them and basically the British officers bolt back towards Boston where they'll eventually encounter the expedition and join up with the expedition and they'll alert everything they encountered. Revere, solomon Brown and the other two gentlemen required to walk back to the Buckman Tavern, which they do, and they tell Captain John Parker of the Lexington militia what they saw at that time.

Michele McAloon:

Okay, here is the million dollar question who fired the first shot? That shot hurt around the world.

Alexander Cain:

Yes. So this is a great question and I'll give my disclaimer. I said this to an interviewer on WBZ earlier this week. I have the luxury where I don't live in either Concord or Lexington. There we go. I can give my opinion. It won't come back to bite me. There won't be angry mobs.

Alexander Cain:

The original controversy goes back to 1824 when Lafayette visited the Lexington Common and while giving a speech on the Lexington Common he alluded this is where the American Revolution began. That set off a huge controversy. A lot of Concordians were very upset with that and you start seeing competing 19th century books, period depositions from surviving veterans, where they're all saying the fight took place here in Concord, the fight took place here in Lexington, and it's still a debate to this day. But it comes down to it depends on who you ask. Who did the first shot Common theme that I'm here you know I saw from the depositions is and let me back up before I even get to that shot the British were approaching the Lexington Common. You know Parker had sent out scouts to see if the british were on the road and he sent out three. The first two came back and said nothing out there. Suddenly, about five o'clock in the morning thaddeus bowman, who's the last scout, comes riding back up and says listen, they're about a half mile behind me, they're coming up the road. Meanwhile the british are coming up the road. We suspect that it's thaddeus bowman.

Alexander Cain:

There's a British account who says an unknown horseman encountered the column just short of the Lexington Common which would put it within a mile where he says you better turn around. There's militiamen up the road. And then he turns around, skedaddles up. We now believe that may be Thaddeus Bowman who did that. He comes back and says listen, the British are on the road.

Alexander Cain:

Parker quickly mobilizes his militia company and puts them on the green. He did that. You know. People always ask me why did he do that? Why did he put them on the Lexington Green? And I say it's because of precedent. There are multiple accounts throughout the fall and winter the fall of 74 into the winter of 75, where British officers are reporting hey, I took my regiment out just to exercise them march into the countryside to stretch their legs and suddenly a militia company would appear up on a hill. He says oh, to disengage, we turn around and go back. And I think that's what his motivation was for doing that. Plus, I think he just wanted to make sure the British weren't going to pillage his homes around the Common.

Alexander Cain:

Well, as the British are approaching the Common, they see Parker's company drawn out and they have a choice. They can ignore them, but if they ignore the company, they're going to be exposing their flank as they march by to Parker's company and, in theory, parker could have open, fired and hit their flank. On the other hand, they're armed and equipped, which means they're out in open defiance. The thing is, neither Major Picard, who's near the head of the column, or Lieutenant Colonel Smith, who's in charge of the operation, who is much, much further back, gave an order to do either, you know, ignore them or go on to the green. It appears that perhaps Lieutenant Jesse Adair of the 4th Regiment of Foot is the one who made the decision and directed the 4th Regiment of Foot light company onto the green. The 10th Foot followed. So now you have two companies stepping onto the green. The 5th Foot, that was third in line, started going up Bedford Road, which means they were going up on Parker's left flank, and then you have Picard realize what's going on, directs the rest of his column onto Massachusetts Ave. So now they're on Parker's right flank. The two light companies immediately they were in column deploy into a battle line and they start rushing.

Alexander Cain:

Parker's company, pitcairn is basically. He rides in front of the militia and he you know there's disputes on what he says, but he's basically telling them lay down your arms and get out of the way. Well, the shot goes off. And the description of the shot? For most accounts it seems to be either a pistol shot or a tight caliber shot. That would give a distinctive ring. The British insisted the shot came from the Massachusetts to Lexington Provincials and there's actually a description by one of the officers who said I saw one of the villains jump over a stone wall near Buckman Tavern, level his filing piece and fire at me and then run. Well, we've been able to determine that based upon other accounts. That was Solomon Brown. So we're back to our original character here. He rushes back.

Alexander Cain:

According to Major Pitcairn he was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill in his dying breath, as he died in his son's arms. The account was he swore it was the provincials, the Lexington men, who opened fire first. There's accounts from the Massachusetts side. Some say there was Pitcairn that was firing a pistol into the air that set everything off. There is also accounts that describe Lieutenant Sutherland of the 38th Regiment of Foot, who perhaps may have set the shot off.

Alexander Cain:

Sutherland's an interesting character. He was not supposed to be on part of this mission to Concord but he volunteered himself and said, hey, I want to come along for the ride. And he sort of put himself in the wrong place at the wrong time far too many times during the mission and when you take a look at his report to General Gage in the aftermath of Lexington and Concord, one of the reasons I suspect he's one of my two suspects in firing the shots is the old saying he who does protest too much may be. You know, he goes really above and beyond to explain himself on the green and how he couldn't have been involved in the shooting. If I had to guess, I have it down to Sutherland or Solomon Brown.

Alexander Cain:

Realistically, what probably happened is a gun went off by accident. If I had to point sight, it was high, high, high tensions. It could have been one of the spectators on the side who was let it go off. It could have been one of the spectators on the side who was let it go off. It could have been an accidental discharge, the shot happened and instantly keep in mind these two light infantry companies. So you have roughly about 100 light infantry soldiers. They're basically the equivalent of your ranger infantry or airborne infantry of modern times. Fire point blank, range into Parker's company and it has devastating effects.

Michele McAloon:

How is this reenacted? Is it going to be kind of the precise timing? Are they going to? Is the company going to come up? They're going to go on to conquer. How are they doing this?

Alexander Cain:

The funny thing is, you know, people think of the reenactment, they think of a modern reenactment. The very first reenactment took place in 1825, where they actually rounded up some of the veterans and they brought in, I think, a national guard or something to play the British and they did a reenactment of it. I believe they did a big pageant version of the battle during the centennial in 1875. And then they did another reenactment of it in 1925. And 1925 sort of set the stage for how they're going to do it.

Alexander Cain:

What you see for the battle reenactment, it's not a pageant, it's not a fully accurate depiction of the battle, because the battle was over in three minutes. I mean, it was pretty much. This was a point blank range firing into the company, probably a second volley, then charred, and this was all done very quickly and Lexington was swept from the field, and again under three minutes. So what the current organization, the Lexington Minutemen, does, which is perfectly understandable, they slowed everything down. So what you're seeing is a slow-motion confrontation of what happened, where the British will come onto the Greenville, gradually deploy into a battle line. There's much interaction taking place, a little bit of drama and buildup of heightened tension, and then there is an attempt to sort of drive the militia off the Greenia off the green. You know, disarm them, surround, disarm them and you know, go get them, at which point then the shot goes off and then everything speeds up very quickly for the reenactment. It's a very well-rehearsed reenactment. It's challenging because these are muskets that are being fired at very close range. There's safety considerations they have to take in place and both His Majesty's 10th Regiment of Foot, which is the British reenactment group that spearheads the British side, and the Lexington Minutemen do it very, very well.

Alexander Cain:

And what I'm really excited about, this year as part of the committee they went back and they looked at every deposition from 1775 on the Battle of Lexington. They looked at every period drawing every newspaper account from 1775, and then they looked at the 1824 to 1826 depositions from Lexington and they've got it right. This was something they really took a deep dive into. And the other neat thing is they've expanded the reenactment as well. They are going to be incorporating what is called the civilian evacuation, which is a phenomenon that after Paul Revere arrived, but before the Battle of Lexington, the civilian population pretty much fled Lexington to get out of the way. So they're incorporating that into the reenactment and then they're also going to reenact as well Pockers rallying the men in the aftermath of the Battle of Lexington. Going back to the fight, it's not a pageant, it's not an accurate description, but I will say that you've got to see it at least one lifetime. It's definitely worth visiting and I'm very proud of what the Lexington Minutemen have done, particularly this year for the 250th.

Michele McAloon:

That's very cool. Do you know if it'll be on YouTube or televised?

Alexander Cain:

It is. It's going to be on national television. I think it's NBC. It's either NBC or CBS is going to be live streaming it on national TV, so it is going to be available. I believe Lex Media, which is your local media outlet, is going to have it on YouTube as well, so it's definitely worth checking out.

Michele McAloon:

Okay, alex, I can't thank you enough for this interview. I tell you, the chapters that you sent me are absolutely fascinating. It does it does it really does. It puts you in the mindset of what was happening at this period of time and how you know what you take ordinary people, it's just ordinary lives that had to come up to the moment. That's as valuable lesson now as it was 250 years ago that ordinary people can do extraordinary things and make extraordinary change when they come together. And it is, it's just a fascinating story. I hope to be able to check in with you again during this 250th year celebration and, listeners, we will stay with this theme for the next year. I've got some books. I've got a Paul Revere book coming up. I've got some to kind of really focus on our 250th year celebration. You have a podcast called.

Alexander Cain:

Historical Nerdery. So I have a blog and a podcast and you know this goes back into theme with my book. The blog was originally created back in 2015 in response to the History Channel's miniseries called Sons of Liberty, which was probably one of the worst productions I've ever seen. They picked it the Battle of Lexington as basically a mafia execution and I was like I got to do so. So I started this blog and it took off, and then I have been doing limited series, podcasts.

Alexander Cain:

The third season is hopefully coming out this summer. I encourage you know your listeners to check it out if they want to hear the soothing sounds of a Massachusetts accent as I explore Lexington and Concord. And the other neat thing I'll talk about is I'm also present on social media, on Facebook and Instagram and for the 250th, I am doing a social media campaign of real-time postings, which means there will be social media postings when the Battle of Lexington takes place, when the Battle of Concord takes place, when the Monotony fight takes place. I have approximately 300 postings programmed ready to go for this upcoming weekend.

Michele McAloon:

Oh, that's neat. I think I followed one for World War I, so that is a really cool. That's a really cool thing, and I will make sure to put up that link up on our website. Okay, that's great. Well, alex, again, thank you very, very much, and I wish you the best of luck during this reenactment All right.

Alexander Cain:

I look forward to it.

Michele McAloon:

Thank you so much. ¶¶, ¶¶. ©. Transcript Emily Beynon.