Captain John Parker, 46, was crippled by tuberculosis when he led 77 volunteers against 700 British regulars in the Battle of Lexington, igniting the American Revolution.
Captain John Parker and 77 armed Americans stood on Lexington Common on what revolutionary Samuel Adams proclaimed 'a glorious morning for America.' It was April 19, 1775. The 'shot heard ‘round the world,' as Ralph Waldo Emerson later called it, was about to ignite the American Revolution and change world history forever. Parker was 45 years old and riddled with tuberculosis.
The regulars are out!' Paul Revere himself warned the people of Lexington. Now, at dawn, Parker’s small volunteer militia faced a terrifying sight: A force of 700 British regulars, highly trained soldiers, professional killers, well-armed agents of the most powerful empire on Earth. The Redcoats were determined to squash a colonial rebellion that had been percolating in nearby Boston for nearly a decade.
The stand of Parker's 77, and the larger Battles of Lexington and Concord, are celebrated each year as Patriots' Day, statewide holidays in Massachusetts and Maine, on the Monday closest to April 19. The festivities begin at dawn with the reenactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord; and celebrations occur in other communities as well, especially those who sent minutemen to fight the British that morning. Lexington has reenacted the stand of its 77 men every year since 1791.
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