At about 9:00 A.M. on the morning of April 19th, 1775, approximately 450 men from Concord and the neighboring towns of Acton, Lincoln, Bedford, and Westford congregated on a rising pasture above the North Bridge. Capt. David Brown, one of the captains of Concord’s two minute companies, happened to own the pasture, which had a good view of the bridge. In the nearby town of Lexington, 700 British grenadiers and light infantry had arrived to look for large quantities of hidden military supplies and arms.

Guest blog post by David F. Wood, Curator, Concord Museum. The Shot Heard Round the World:  April 19, 1775 will be on view at the Concord Museum through September 21, 2014. 

Lantern, Boston, about 1775. Courtesy of the Concord Museum

“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”

When Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote this famous stanza, he was referring specifically to events that occurred at Concord’s North Bridge on April 19, 1775.… Read More

North Bridge, Concord, 1775. Painting by Don Troiani, Historical Art Prints. www.historicalartprints.com

On April 19, 1775, minutemen and militia faced off with British regulars at the North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. This day would turn out to be the “spark” that ignited the American Revolution.

Two hundred years later, I was a 9-year-old attending the Ripley School in Concord. During a bicentennial ceremony, I received a small block of wood, and so did all of the other students at the school.… Read More

Reproduction of a Royal Artillery Pouch by Joel Bohy

You never know what you will find while doing research. In November 2010, I was at the Arlington Historical Society, studying the events of April 19th, 1775 that sparked the Revolutionary war in America. The Museum Director asked me if I was interested in seeing a British belt which had purportedly been taken on April 19th during the British retreat through West Cambridge, MA (now the city of Arlington).… Read More

Paul Revere, Jr. (Boston, 1734-1818) Portrait of Major John Pitcairn on Horseback (Lot 76, Estimate $20,000-$30,000)

A few weeks ago, Stephen Fletcher, Director of American Furniture & Decorative Arts at Skinner, handed me a small watercolor sketch. The two names written along the bottom caught my attention immediately: “Major John Pitcairn” and “Paul Revere, Del.” [delineavit]. I couldn’t believe what I was holding in my hands!… Read More

Skinner will offer a historic Colt revolver at auction 150 years after Capt. Thomas James Eubanks’ death

I have spent many hours walking the grounds of the Gettysburg battlefield, tracing the events that took place there in July 1863. Just a few weeks ago, I was at the site again, this time with a beautifully engraved pistol that had been presented to a Confederate soldier who fought in the battle: Capt. Thomas James Eubanks of the 48th Alabama Regiment.… Read More