Patriots' Day

From Jack Fowler, National review Morning Jolt:

Today, Saturday, is the 18th of April, that date esteemed in patriotic poetry, surely a good time to remember those aged, seminal events that sparked our distinct lives of liberty, as free men and women — the rides of Revere and Dawes through the villages and Middlesex countryside, sounding the alarm of the approaching Redcoats, the shot heard round the world (albeit likely from a British pistol), the battles on the 19th at the Green at Lexington (bloody hell for the colonials) and Concord’s North Bridge (our turn to inflict damage), embattled farmers standing under the unfurled flag . . .

The initial fights (the tubercular Captain John Parker to his vastly outmanned compatriots: “But if they want to have a war let it begin here!”) over the essence of our national being — the consent of the governed — began these days, 245 years ago. The toll: 49 Minutemen were killed (some via the bayonet), 41 were wounded, 5 proved missing. A shame their names are largely unknown. (Our Remedy: You shall find them listed below, by their towns). Even more perished in the actions during the bloodied Redcoats’ retreat to Charlestown. Oremus.

It is good to remember why they died. And remember that the consent of the governed remains America’s vital truth. It is not a fancy that goes into abeyance by bureaucratic whim or that can be commandeered by fiat because a pathogen appears.

The Colonial American Dead, Wounded, and Missing at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, as Described in Frank Warren Coburn’s 1912 Book, The Battles of April 19, 1775

Acton. Killed: Capt. Isaac Davis, James Hayward, Abner Hosmer. Wounded: Luther Blanchard and Ezekiel Davis.

Arlington. Killed: Jason Russell, Jason Winship, Jabez Wyman. Wounded: Samuel Whittemore.

Bedford. Killed: Captain Jonathan Willson. Wounded: Job Lane.

Beverly. Killed: Reuben Kennison. Wounded: Nathaniel Cleaves, William Dodge, 3rd, Samuel Woodbury.

Billerica. Wounded: Timothy Blanchard, John Nichols.

Brookline. Killed: Major Isaac Gardner.

Cambridge. Killed: John Hicks, William Marcy, Moses Richardson. Missing: Samuel Frost, Seth Russell.

Concord. Wounded: Capt. Nathan Barrett, Jonas Brown, Capt. Charles Miles, Capt. George Minot, Abel Prescott, Jr.

Charlestown. Killed: Edward Barber.

Chelmsford. Wounded: Oliver Barron, Aaron Chamberlain.

Danvers. Killed: Samuel Cook, Benjamin Daland, Ebenezer Goldthwait, Henry Jacobs, Perley Putnam, George Southwick, Jotham Webb. Wounded: Nathan Putnam, Dennison Wallis. Missing: Joseph Bell.

Dedham. Killed: Elias Haven. Wounded: Israel Everett.

Framingham. Wounded: Daniel Hemenway.

Lexington. Killed: John Brown, Samuel Hadley, Caleb Harrington, Jonathan Harrington, Jr., Jedediah Munroe, Robert Munroe, Isaac Muzzy, Jonas Parker, John Raymond, Nathaniel Wyman. Wounded: Francis Brown, Joseph Comee, Prince Estabrook, Nathaniel Farmer, Ebenezer Munroe, Jr., Jedediah Munroe (killed later), Solomon Pierce, John Robbins, John Tidd, Thomas Winship.

Lincoln. Wounded: Joshua Brooks.

Lynn. Killed: William Flint, Thomas Hadley, Abednego Ramsdell, Daniel Townsend. Wounded: Joshua Felt, Timothy Monroe. Missing: Josiah Breed.

Medford. Killed: William Polly, Henry Putnam.

Needham. Killed: Lieut. John Bacon, Nathaniel Chamberlain, Amos Mills, Sergt. Elisha Mills, Jonathan Parker. Wounded: Eleazer Kingsbury, —— Tolman (son of Dr. Tolman).

Newton. Wounded: Noah Wiswell.

Roxbury. Missing: Elijah Seaver.

Salem. Killed: Benjamin Pierce.

Somerville. Killed: James Miller.

Sudbury. Killed: Josiah Haynes, Asahel Reed. Wounded: Joshua Haynes, Jr.

Stow. Wounded: Daniel Conant.

Watertown. Killed: Joseph Coolidge.

Woburn. Killed: Asahel Porter, Daniel Thompson. Wounded: Jacob Bacon, —— Johnson, George Reed.