{"id":1722,"date":"2014-04-19T15:35:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-19T15:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/2014\/04\/19\/april-19-1775\/"},"modified":"2019-08-16T18:24:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T18:24:00","slug":"april-19-1775","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/?p=1722","title":{"rendered":"April 19, 1775"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:11956,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/pastispresent.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/lexington.jpg&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20231120041434\\\/https:\\\/\\\/pastispresent.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/lexington.jpg&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-19 07:51:19&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-24 07:23:46&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-24 07:23:46&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:11957,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.findagrave.com\\\/cgi-bin\\\/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=23130655&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.findagrave.com\\\/memorial&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:11958,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.eyewitnesstohistory.com\\\/lexington.htm&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/pastispresent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/lexington.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/pastispresent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/lexington.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>\nTwo hundred thirty-nine years ago today, an effort at gun confiscation by General Thomas Gage was the spark that started a revolution.<\/p>\n<p>Sylvanus Wood was a Minuteman from Woburn, Massachusetts who responded to the call of the Lexington bell. Later in that fateful day, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.findagrave.com\/cgi-bin\/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=23130655\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he is credited with being the first man to capture<\/a> a British Regular during the American Revolution. Below is his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eyewitnesstohistory.com\/lexington.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sworn recollection<\/a> of the battle on Lexington Green.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"tr_bq\"><p>\n<i>&#8220;I, Sylvanus Wood, of Woburn, in the county of Middlesex, and commonwealth of Massachusetts, aged seventy-four years, do testify and say that on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, I was an inhabitant of Woburn, living with Deacon Obadiah Kendall; that about an hour before the break of day on said morning, I heard the Lexington bell ring, and fearing there was difficulty there, I immediately arose, took my gun and, with Robert Douglass, went in haste to Lexington, which was about three miles distant.<\/p>\n<p>When I arrived there, I inquired of Captain Parker, the commander of the Lexington company, what was the news. Parker told me he did not know what to believe, for a man had come up about half an hour before and informed him that the British troops were not on the road. But while we were talking, a messenger came up and told the captain that the British troops were within half a mile. Parker immediately turned to his drummer, William Diman, and ordered him to beat to arms, which was done. Captain Parker then asked me if I would parade with his company. I told him I would. Parker then asked me if the young man with me would parade. I spoke to Douglass, and he said he would follow the captain and me.<\/p>\n<p>By this time many of the company had gathered around the captain at the hearing of the drum, where we stood, which was about half way between the meetinghouse and Buckman&#8217;s tavern. Parker says to his men, &#8216;Every man of you, who is equipped, follow me; and those of you who are not equipped, go into the meeting-house and furnish yourselves from the magazine, and immediately join the company.&#8217; Parker led those of us who were equipped to the north end of Lexington Common, near the Bedford Road, and formed us in single file. I was stationed about in the centre of the company. While we were standing, I left my place and went from one end of the company to the other and counted every man who was paraded, and the whole number was thirty-eight, and no more.<\/p>\n<p>Just as I had finished and got back to my place, I perceived the British troops had arrived on the spot between the meeting-house and Bucknian&#8217;s, near where Captain Parker stood when he first led off his men. The British troops immediately wheeled so as to cut off those who had gone into the meeting-house. The British troops approached us rapidly in platoons, with a general officer on horseback at their head. The officer came up to within about two rods of the centre of the company, where I stood, the first platoon being about three rods distant. They there halted. The officer then swung his sword, and said, &#8216;Lay down your arms, you damned rebels, or you are all dead men. Fire!&#8217; Some guns were fired by the British at us from the first platoon, but no person was killed or hurt, being probably charged only with powder.<\/p>\n<p>Just at this time, Captain Parker ordered every man to take care of himself. The company immediately dispersed; and while the company was dispersing and leaping over the wall, the second platoon of the British fired and killed some of our men. There was not a gun fired by any of Captain Parker&#8217;s company, within my knowledge. I was so situated that I must have known it, had any thing of the kind taken place before a total dispersion of our company. I have been intimately acquainted with the inhabitants of Lexington, and particularly with those of Captain Parker&#8217;s company, and, with one exception, I have never heard any of them say or pretend that there was any firing at the British from Parker&#8217;s company, or any individual in it until within a year or two. One member of the company told me, many years since, that, after Parker&#8217;s company had dispersed, and he was at some distance, he gave them &#8216;the guts of his gun.'&#8221;<\/i> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two hundred thirty-nine years ago today, an effort at gun confiscation by General Thomas Gage was the spark that&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2644,306],"class_list":["post-1722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-american-revolution","tag-battle-of-lexington-and-concord"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1722"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9839,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1722\/revisions\/9839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlygunsandmoney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}