WEBVTT NOTE 69. 'The Shot Heard Round the World': The Final Conflict Begins 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.360 Volume 3, Chapter 69. The Shot Heard Round the World. The Final Conflict Begins. 2 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:14.480 Despite the mounting tension in the South, the main focus of potential revolutionary conflict was 3 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:21.680 still Massachusetts. The British authorities ever more attracted to a hard line were becoming 4 00:00:21.680 --> 00:00:28.160 increasingly disenchanted with the timorousness and caution of General Gage, who had actually 5 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:35.120 asked for heavy reinforcements when everyone knew that the scurvy Americans could be routed by a 6 00:00:35.120 --> 00:00:42.640 mere show of force from the superb British army. 400 Royal Marines and several new regiments were 7 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:49.920 sent to gauge, but the King, one of the leaders of coercion sentiment, seriously considered removing 8 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:56.000 gauge from command. There were a few voices of reason in the British government, but they were 9 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:18.000 The Wiggish Secretary of War, Lord Barrington, urged reliance on the cheap and efficient method of naval blockade, rather than on a land war in the large expanse and forests of America, and General Edward Harvey warned of any attempt to conquer America by land army. 10 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:25.200 But the cabinet was convinced that 10,000 British regulars, assisted by American tories, 11 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:32.400 could crush any conceivable American resistance. Underlined this conviction and consequent 12 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:39.360 British eagerness to wield armed force was a chauvinist and quasi-racist contempt for the 13 00:01:39.360 --> 00:01:47.120 Americans. Thus, General James Grant sneered at the skulking peasants who dared to resist the crown. 14 00:01:48.000 --> 00:02:02.000 Major John Pitcairn, stationed at Boston, was sure that, if he drew his sword but half out of the scabbard, the whole bandit of Massachusetts Bay would flee before him. 15 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:12.000 Particularly important was the speech in Parliament of the powerful Bedfordite, the Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty, who sneeringly asked, 16 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:38.000 Suppose the colonies do abound in men. What does that signify? They are raw, undisciplined, cowardly men. I wish instead of 50,000 of these brave fellows they would produce in the field at least 200,000, the more the better. The easier would be the conquest. The very sound of a cannon would carry them off, as fast as their feet could carry them. 17 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:58.000 There was another reason it should be noted. For Sandwich's reluctance to use the fleet, rather than the army against the enemy, while the army was to dispatch the Americans, Sandwich wished to use the fleet against France, with which he hoped and expected to be soon at war. 18 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:05.540 Accordingly, the Crown sent secret orders to Gage, reaching him on April 14. 19 00:03:05.540 --> 00:03:09.520 The Earl of Dartmouth rebuked Gage for being too moderate. 20 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:11.280 The decision had been made. 21 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:16.220 Since the people of New England were clearly committed to open rebellion and independence 22 00:03:16.220 --> 00:03:25.980 of Britain, maximum and decisive force must be slammed down hard upon the Americans, immediately. 23 00:03:25.980 --> 00:03:30.340 While reinforcements were underway, it was important for the British troops to launch 24 00:03:30.340 --> 00:03:36.340 a preventive strike by moving hard before an American Revolution could be organized. 25 00:03:36.340 --> 00:03:42.620 Therefore, Gage decided to arrest the leaders of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, 26 00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:45.940 especially Hancock and Sam Adams. 27 00:03:45.940 --> 00:03:51.900 As in so many other preventive first strikes in history, Great Britain itself precipitated 28 00:03:51.900 --> 00:04:00.520 the one thing it wished most to avoid, a successful revolution. Interestingly enough, the Massachusetts 29 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:07.340 radicals were at the time rejecting hot-headed plans for first strike by rebel forces who 30 00:04:07.340 --> 00:04:14.540 would thus be throwing away the hard-forged unity of the American colonists. Adams and 31 00:04:14.540 --> 00:04:21.080 Hancock were out of town and out of reach near Concord. So Gage decided to kill two 32 00:04:21.080 --> 00:04:27.800 Two birds with one stone by sending a military expedition to Concord to seize the large stores 33 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:33.520 of rebel military supplies and to arrest the radical leaders. 34 00:04:33.520 --> 00:04:39.400 Gage determined to send out the force secretly to catch the Americans by surprise. 35 00:04:39.400 --> 00:04:45.140 That way, if armed conflict broke out, the onus for initiating the fray could be laid 36 00:04:45.140 --> 00:04:47.600 on the Americans. 37 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:54.840 Gage also used a trader high up in radical ranks. Dr. Benjamin Church, of Boston, whom 38 00:04:54.840 --> 00:05:01.200 the British supplied with funds to maintain an expensive mistress, informed on the location 39 00:05:01.200 --> 00:05:07.960 of the supplies and the rebel leaders. Church's perfidy remained undetected for many more 40 00:05:07.960 --> 00:05:14.440 months. Gage learned from Church, furthermore, that the provincial congress, under the prodding 41 00:05:14.440 --> 00:05:20.460 of the Frightened Joseph Hawley had resolved on March 30 not to fight any armed British 42 00:05:20.460 --> 00:05:28.420 expedition, unless it should also bring artillery. By not sending out artillery, Gage figured 43 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:35.260 that the Americans would not resist the expedition. Gage, however, immediately encountered what 44 00:05:35.260 --> 00:05:41.640 would prove a major difficulty in fighting a counterinsurgency war by a minority ruling 45 00:05:41.640 --> 00:05:56.640 He found that surrounded by a sullen and hostile people, he could not keep any of his troop or fleet movements hidden. 46 00:05:56.640 --> 00:06:00.640 The rebels would quickly discover these movements and spread the news. 47 00:06:00.640 --> 00:06:08.640 On April 15, the day after receiving his orders, Gage relieved his best troops of duty, gathered his boats, 48 00:06:08.640 --> 00:06:15.640 Boats, and on the night of April 18 shipped 700 under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith 49 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:22.800 to the mainland from which they began to march northwest to Lexington and Concord. But the 50 00:06:23.160 --> 00:06:29.760 Americans quickly discovered what was happening. Someone, perhaps Dr. Joseph Warren, sent Paul 51 00:06:29.760 --> 00:06:36.760 Revere to Lexington to warn Adams and Hancock. Hancock, emotional, wanted to join the Minutemen 52 00:06:36.760 --> 00:06:44.220 and Spring to Arms, but the sober intelligence of Sam Adams reminded Hancock of his revolutionary 53 00:06:44.220 --> 00:06:50.160 duty as a top leader of the American forces, and they both fled to safety. 54 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:56.280 Revere was soon captured, but Dr. Samuel Prescott was able to speed to Concord and bring the 55 00:06:56.280 --> 00:06:58.960 news that the British were coming. 56 00:06:58.960 --> 00:07:04.840 As news of the British march reached the Americans, the Lexington Minutemen gathered under the 57 00:07:04.840 --> 00:07:11.040 the Command of Captain John Parker. Rather absurdly, Parker drew up his handful of seventy 58 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:18.040 men in open formation across the British path. When Major Pitcairn, in charge of six companies 59 00:07:18.640 --> 00:07:24.820 of the British advance guard, came up to confront the militia, Pitcairn brusquely ordered the 60 00:07:24.820 --> 00:07:31.820 Americans to lay down their arms and disperse. Parker, seeing his error, was more than willing 61 00:07:31.820 --> 00:07:44.780 In the midst of this tense confrontation, shots rang out. No one knows who fired first. 62 00:07:44.780 --> 00:07:52.340 The important thing is that the British, despite Pitcairn's orders to stop, fired far longer 63 00:07:52.340 --> 00:07:58.640 and more heavily than necessary, mercilessly shooting at the fleeing Americans so long 64 00:07:58.640 --> 00:08:07.600 8 Americans were killed in the massacre, including the brave but foolish Parker, who refused to 65 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:14.960 flee, and 8 wounded, whereas only one British soldier was slightly wounded. 66 00:08:14.960 --> 00:08:20.160 The exuberant and trigger-happy British troops cheered their victory, but the victory at 67 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:23.680 Lexington would prove pyrrhic indeed. 68 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:30.720 The blood shed at Lexington made the restraining resolution of Joseph Holly obsolete. The Revolutionary 69 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:37.760 War had begun. Sam Adams, upon hearing the shooting from some distance away, at once realized 70 00:08:37.760 --> 00:08:44.840 that the fact of the open clash was more significant than who would win the skirmish. Aware that 71 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:51.840 the showdown had at last arrived, Adams exclaimed, Oh, what a glorious morning is this! The British 72 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:58.400 British troops marched happily on to Concord. This time the Americans did not try any foolhardy, 73 00:08:58.400 --> 00:09:06.400 open confrontation with the British forces. Instead an infinitely wiser strategy was employed. 74 00:09:06.400 --> 00:09:11.980 In the first place, part of the military stores were carried off by the Americans. Second, 75 00:09:11.980 --> 00:09:17.840 no resistance was offered to the British entry into Concord, thus lulling the troops into 76 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:23.640 to a further sense of security. While the British were destroying the remaining stores, 77 00:09:23.640 --> 00:09:30.140 three to four hundred militia men gathered at the bridge into Concord and advanced upon 78 00:09:30.140 --> 00:09:37.000 the British rear guard. The British shot first, but were forced to retreat across the bridge, 79 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:43.000 having suffered three killed and nine wounded. The despised Americans were beginning to make 80 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:45.000 for the Massacre at Lexington. 81 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.000 Heedless of the ominous signs of the gathering storm, 82 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:52.000 Colonel Smith, commanding the expedition, 83 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:55.000 kept his men around Concord for hours 84 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.000 before beginning to march back to Boston. 85 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:02.000 That march was to become one of the most famous 86 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:04.000 in the annals of America. 87 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:08.000 Along the way, beginning a mile out of Concord 88 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:12.000 at Miriam's Corner, the embattled and neighboring farmers 89 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:19.000 The farmers and militiamen employed the tactics of guerrilla warfare to devastating effect. 90 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:36.000 Knowing their home terrain intimately, these undisciplined and individualistic Americans subjected the proud British troops to a continuous, withering and overpowering fire from behind trees, walls and houses. 91 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:41.000 The march back soon became a nightmare of destruction for the buoyant British. 92 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:48.000 The British were saved from decimation only by a relief brigade of twelve hundred men under Earl Percy that reached them at Lexington. 93 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:55.000 Still, Americans continued to join the fray and fire at the troops, despite heavy losses imposed by British flanking parties. 94 00:10:55.000 --> 00:11:02.000 Despite the British reinforcements, the Americans might have been forced to leave the country. 95 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:14.000 A. Despite heavy losses imposed by British flanking parties. B. Despite the British reinforcements, the Americans might have slaughtered and conquered the British force if 96 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:18.000 A. They had not suffered from shortages of ammunition. 97 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:26.000 B. The British had not swerved into Charlestown and embarked for Boston under the protecting guns of the British fleet. 98 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:35.000 And C. Excessive caution had not held the Americans back from a final blow at the troops on the road to Charlestown. 99 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:43.000 Even so, the deadly march back to Boston was a glorious victory, physically and psychologically, for the Americans. 100 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:49.880 Of some fifteen to eighteen hundred redcoats, ninety-nine were killed and missing, and one hundred 101 00:11:49.880 --> 00:11:55.920 seventy-four wounded. The exultant Americans, who numbered about four thousand irregular 102 00:11:55.920 --> 00:12:02.880 individuals that day, suffered ninety-three casualties. Insofar as these individuals were 103 00:12:02.880 --> 00:12:08.880 led that day, it was by Dr. Joseph Warren and William Heath, appointed a general by 104 00:12:08.880 --> 00:12:12.060 by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. 105 00:12:12.060 --> 00:12:15.680 Events could not have gone better for the American cause. 106 00:12:15.680 --> 00:12:19.360 Initial aggression and massacre by the arrogant redcoats, 107 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:21.800 then turned to utter rout by the roused 108 00:12:21.800 --> 00:12:24.540 and angry people of Massachusetts. 109 00:12:24.540 --> 00:12:27.600 It was truly a tale for song and story. 110 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:29.460 As Willard Wallace writes, 111 00:12:29.460 --> 00:12:33.160 even now the significance of Lexington and Concord 112 00:12:33.160 --> 00:12:35.600 awakens a response in Americans 113 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:38.240 that goes far beyond the details of the day 114 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:46.040 For the Identity of the Foe, an un-military people, at first overrun by trained might, 115 00:12:46.040 --> 00:12:52.740 had eventually risen in their wrath and won a hard but splendid triumph. 116 00:12:52.740 --> 00:13:01.080 Above all, as Sam Adams was quick to realize, the stirring events of April 19, 1775 touched 117 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:06.500 off a general armed conflict, the American Revolution. 118 00:13:06.500 --> 00:13:12.780 In the Immortal Lines of Emerson, penned for the fiftieth anniversary of that day, 119 00:13:12.780 --> 00:13:19.300 By the rude bridge that arched the flood, their flag to April's breeze unfurled, 120 00:13:19.300 --> 00:13:25.300 Here once the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world.