On
Sunday evening, April 14, I finished Paul
Revere’s Ride by David Hackett Fischer. I can’t remember when I relished a book
more. I even devoured all the appendices and notes, and was sorry to see the
book end. Mr. Fischer’s 1995 riveting history is about Paul Revere, but also the disastrous
British attack on Concord and Lexington, Massachusetts, about twenty-four road miles
from Boston.
Twenty-four
miles, and the British army covered that distance in about
six hours as they
retreated from the American militia. The men who defeated professional British
soldiers and marines may have been farmers, lawyers, and tradesmen, but they knew how to
fight. All able bodied men between sixteen and sixty were required to train
with the militia, and New England's militias had been fighting Indians and
French for generations. They were well-prepared to turn out against the British
that day.
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| Battle of Lexington April 19, 1775 |
Now,
I could spiral off into saying “that’s why we need guns.” All I’m going to say
is I don’t have one. I don’t say that the law-abiding and capable shouldn’t
have one. But I don’t think that all of the armaments available now should be
on the market.
My
thoughts turn more to those twenty-four miles. Runners traveled twenty-six for
the Boston Marathon yesterday. I’m tempted to search out some cosmic conjunction
in those distances. However, I’ll focus on why those miles were traveled.
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| Boston Tea Party Dec. 16, 1773 |
The
British went to Lexington because they heard that John Hancock and Samuel Adams
were there. They would arrest those Sons of Liberty for raising opposition to Parliamentary
acts and taxes. The Boston Tea Party was the most famous of many acts of resistance.
Then
the 700-man army would hasten to a few miles down the road to Concord to seize
gunpowder the colonials were storing there. They didn’t expect much resistance,
but some 250 colonials drove them out of Concord. Alerted by word of mouth and messengers
on horseback – Paul Revere wasn’t the only one – militias streamed in from as
far as Connecticut (though the Nutmeggers didn’t arrive until the battle was
long over). A British brigade reinforced the embattled army by another thousand
men. Nearly two thousand militiamen harried the British to the outskirts of Boston.
I won’t discuss how many casualties there were, but there were
hundreds, and they were horrific.
The
British were defeated. They wanted to nab Hancock and Adams, but they failed,
and they didn’t get that colonial gunpowder.
We
all know what happened yesterday. One or more cruel, destructive people created
bombs, and while I’m not speculating on their motives, they wreaked death,
destruction, and fear at the Boston Marathon - a race where people challenge themselves to triumph over fatigue and pain.
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| Minuteman statue at Lexington |
Yesterday
was Patriot’s Day, celebrating the April 19 anniversary of Concord and
Lexington. The bomber(s) chose that day.
The bomber chose a race dedicated to the dead at Newtown, Connecticut. And
that twenty-six mile race is a distance honoring a runner who died bringing
news of a Greek victory at Marathon. The day and the month are rich with
symbolism.
There
will be all sorts of calls for more security, and there may be proposals which put
our hard-won liberties to the test. I don’t think I’ll change how I look at the
world, any more than I did after 9/11. But I do have to remember a couple of
things.
I’ve
had a lot to say about Puritans in my two historical novels and in blogposts,
especially the Puritans who settled in Massachusetts. However, Mary Dyer and
Anne Hutchinson were Puritans before they were cast out by their own for
radical views. Even Herodias Long, whom I revere, may once have been a Puritan.
The Minutemen and other militia members who defeated the finest army in the
world were only a generation or two removed from Puritans.
I
am proud to say that I’m a descendant of Puritans, even though I deplore some
of their acts. The Puritans who crossed the Atlantic to build homes in the American
wilderness were tough people. They risked everything for their beliefs and they
were stalwart, even when they thought they faced Satan during the witchcraft
trials.
The 17th century
Puritans were doing their best in a new world. They believed in hard
work, but they shared it. They loved their families (though they didn’t spare the rod to
prevent spoiling the child). The Puritans believed they were a 'city upon a hill' with the world's eyes upon it, and they strove to provide the world with an example of a Godly society.
Now Boston is once more the ‘city upon a hill,’ and they will triumph over those who would make us all despair. Yesterday Bostonians ran to help the wounded and opened their homes and hearts. Humanity is capable of harsh acts, but I must remember that it is also capable of greatness.
Now Boston is once more the ‘city upon a hill,’ and they will triumph over those who would make us all despair. Yesterday Bostonians ran to help the wounded and opened their homes and hearts. Humanity is capable of harsh acts, but I must remember that it is also capable of greatness.
Images:
Wikipedia
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/15/help-boston-marathon-victims_n_3087183.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
