A Dixie Carpetbagger

Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.
– Capt. John Parker, 19 April 1775

Many people know a little about Patriots’ Day, and a little about what happened that day at Lexington and Concord.  The full story is both sad and inspiring.

He [Capt. Parker] was in poor health from consumption (tuberculosis) on the morning of April 19. [...] He witnessed his cousin Jonas Parker killed by a British bayonet. Later that day he rallied his men to attack the regulars returning to Boston in an ambush known as “Parker’s Revenge.”   This was his only military action in the American Revolutionary War. He was unable to serve in the Battle of Bunker Hill in June, and died of tuberculosis in September. — Wikipedia, “John Parker”

In the end, I can’t add that much to these events, or their telling.  I’ll close by quoting two poets, one telling this story, one telling a much older tale.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Concord Hymn”

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods?
– Thomas Babington Macaulay,
“The Lays of Ancient Rome”

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ