tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post115983299717692994..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Where Was the "Shot Heard Round the World"?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-67066521335228030312009-07-11T20:23:55.463-05:002009-07-11T20:23:55.463-05:00" the British officers' own complaints ab..." the British officers' own complaints about their soldiers after the firing began indicates lack of absolute discipline, so the possibility of the first shot coming from the redcoat ranks remains a possibility. "<br /><br />From accounts,my impression was British LI were a bit too lacking in discipline at Lexington green.<br />Also it was a peace time army not a veteran groupAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-19415027741042170312009-07-11T20:17:35.586-05:002009-07-11T20:17:35.586-05:00DeWitt said...
" Lt. Sunderland of the Britis...DeWitt said...<br />" Lt. Sunderland of the British noted that on their march to Lexington a few colonist leveled their rifles and fired at them,"<br /><br />Was it in Menotomy? I remember previously seeing a vague reference to Menotomy colonists firing on British going to Lexington.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-27396175935759447012008-06-12T23:18:00.000-05:002008-06-12T23:18:00.000-05:00Yeah, I'm with you in that my thesis for a while h...Yeah, I'm with you in that my thesis for a while has been that the Boston campaigns of 1774-76 were just that, culminating in, as I call it, the Great Siege of Boston, won thanks to General Knox' cannon in March 1776Chris McNultyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06644558789481418169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-80808808616570112152008-06-08T15:10:00.000-05:002008-06-08T15:10:00.000-05:00My position on Leslie’s raid on Salem? About 35 mi...My position on Leslie’s raid on Salem? About 35 miles and over 225 years away. <BR/><BR/>As for its importance, I think it was a crucial stepping-stone toward Lexington and Concord. Like the Portsmouth confrontation and other events going back to early September 1774, the raid on Salem was part of an “arms race” between New England militia units and the Crown military. Both were trying to secure all the artillery and other military supplies they could locate. <BR/><BR/>Gen. Thomas Gage received word of field guns in Salem, and sent Lt. Col. Leslie after them. Later he had an intelligence report of such guns being moved from Salem to Concord, and started planning a march to the latter town. So the Salem and Concord expeditions probably had the same objectives.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-12687160034577377862008-06-08T14:36:00.000-05:002008-06-08T14:36:00.000-05:00Sam Adams was only away from Lexington after repea...Sam Adams was only away from Lexington after repeated warnings from the underground network in and around Boston...<BR/><BR/>So, what's your position on the Salem Alarm/Leslie's Retreat?Chris McNultyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06644558789481418169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-6431422535466967042008-01-09T12:40:00.000-05:002008-01-09T12:40:00.000-05:00The problem with that hypothesis is that Samuel Ad...The problem with that hypothesis is that Samuel Adams was miles away from Lexington when the shooting began.<BR/><BR/>Also, I don’t think Adams was nearly the provocateur that some twentieth-century historians painted him as. His strategy was not to give an inch and let the royal government overplay its hand. <BR/><BR/>There was a Patriot leader in Lexington that day who wanted to confront the British column. Adams talked him out of it. Someday I’ll write about that man’s actions.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-74549159319470950682008-01-09T11:29:00.000-05:002008-01-09T11:29:00.000-05:00The legend I learned as a Wellesley boy, was that ...The legend I learned as a Wellesley boy, was that Sam Adams fired the shot from behind the Buckman's tavern. Sam had been trying to start a conflict since the "Boston Massacre". He saw this as a perfect chance to start the revolution he had been working toward for so many years.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-14182316211261618172007-07-10T13:30:00.000-05:002007-07-10T13:30:00.000-05:00Yes, the British troops were very jumpy. The march...Yes, the British troops were very jumpy. The march out to Concord was supposed to have been a secret, yet they were seeing armed men hurrying along the hills beside them. That could not have been enjoyable. Plus there had been brawls and insults between soldiers and locals since the army was ordered back into central Boston in May 1774. <BR/><BR/>I think the provincial militiamen were jumpy as well. In the previous twelve months, they had seen their capital occupied by troops, their legislature shut down, their main port closed, and some of their militia supplies seized. In the political disputes between local government and Crown since 1765, soldiers or royal appointees had killed six Bostonians. (In contrast, one British naval officer was killed at sea while trying to impress Massachusetts sailors.)<BR/><BR/>Some of the men waiting at Lexington Green had, like Paul Revere, been taken prisoner by British officers earlier in the evening, then released with the loss of their horses. I wonder if for those men the war had already started. Like the soldiers who had heard shots fired, they might have seen whatever they did as a response to aggression, not as initiating aggression.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-40467370701359573532007-07-10T07:05:00.000-05:002007-07-10T07:05:00.000-05:00I believe the British responded with fatal force o...I believe the British responded with fatal force only because that lone shot was the 'straw that broke the camels back.'<BR/><BR/>These troops were highly trained but did not have much battle field experience and after a months of being taunted by the colonist and Sam Adams and a march that had them hearing town bells and musket fire going off, only made these troops VERY jumpy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-50842179489561165452007-07-09T14:59:00.000-05:002007-07-09T14:59:00.000-05:00I think the first shot in Lexington more likely ca...I think the first shot in Lexington more likely came from a local than from a soldier. However, the British officers' own complaints about their soldiers after the firing began indicates lack of absolute discipline, so the possibility of the first shot coming from the redcoat ranks remains a possibility. <BR/><BR/>I doubt the first shot came from the militiamen lined up on the Green. However, an equal or larger number of armed locals were standing near Buckman's tavern, in the woods on the way to the parsonage, and elsewhere. The shot seems more likely to have come from one of those men. (I have my own theory about which man we know about was most likely.)<BR/><BR/>Finally, the first shot need not have been intentional or aimed for it to have convinced the soldiers on the Green that their lives were in danger, prompting them to respond with fatal force.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-71007847806394834672007-07-09T12:57:00.000-05:002007-07-09T12:57:00.000-05:00My personal belief is that a colonist fired the fi...My personal belief is that a colonist fired the first shot. The British army at this time in history was a proud and well trained army. I don't believe a field of colonist dispersing would encourage any of them to fire. Lt. Sunderland of the British noted that on their march to Lexington a few colonist leveled their rifles and fired at them, but the muskets only misfired. My belief is once the Minuteman got behind a stonewall a few of them took aim and fired, which (with tensions so high) the British responded in kind then gave a full volley. Thoughts?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com