Today is the Day.......April 19, 1775.

**Dog Face Gremlin** · 04-19-2024, 08:01 AM

5:00 a.m. April 19, 1775 - THE FIRST SHOTS!

"I, John Parker, of lawful age, and commander of the Militia in Lexington, do testify and declare, that on the 19th instant, in the morning, about one of the clock, being informed that there were a number of Regular officers riding up and down the road, stopping and insulting people as they passed the road, and also was informed that a number of Regular Troops were on their march from Boston, in order to take the Province Stores at Concord, ordered our Militia to meet on the common in said Lexington, to consult what to do, and concluded not to be discovered, nor meddle or make with said Regular Troops (if they should approach) unless they should insult us; and upon their sudden approach, I immediately ordered our Militia to disperse and not to fire. Immediately said Troops made their appearance, and rushed furiously, fired upon and killed eight of our party, without receiving any provocation therefore from us."
Name: lexington.1.jpg
Views: 165
Size: 73.1 KB

Name: lexington.1.jpg
Views: 165
Size: 73.1 KB

**JohnO** · 04-19-2024, 10:17 AM

Later that same day in what is now Arlington, MA. when the Lobsterbacks were headed home to lick their wounds.

Samuel Whittemore Marker
WHITTEMORE PARK, ARLINGTON, MA
A decorated officer from the French and Indian War, Samuel Whittemore was an 80-year-old farmer living in Menotomy (present day Arlington) when the British retreated from Concord. On April 19, 1775 as the British troops arrived, he fired upon them first with his musket and then his pistols, killing two soldiers and mortally wounding another. Whittemore then pulled out his sword, slashing at other British soldiers, continuing even after being shot at point-blank range and receiving multiple bayonet wounds. Surviving the attack, Whittemore lived for another eighteen years to the age of 98.

The Samuel Whittemore Marker has been relocated several times since it was erected in the late 1800s. It commemorates an event that took place in this general vicinity, rather than mark the precise point where Whittemore was wounded.