Friendly Fire

Witness the battle that started a country.

lways wanted to see the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington, but don’t feel like getting out of bed at 5:30 a.m. on Patriots' Day? No problem. Go to the rehearsal instead two weeks beforehand and experience the history and drama in the middle of the afternoon. And while you have to fight the crowds and can’t get near the action at the actual event, you’ll be up close and personal at the little-known rehearsal. So study up, hang out—and then sleep in. Rain date: the weekend before Patriot's Day weekend. Jacobson

Shhhh! The British soldiers confiscated the
colonials’ ammunition and were told to scatter it on the road on their way back to Boston. The Minutemen simply followed them and picked it back up.

Shhhh! “Don’t fire unless fired upon,” the commander in Lexington, Captain John Parker said. “But if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!”

Shhhh! Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous
poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” is largely inaccurate. In fact, two other riders in addition to Revere warned the Minutemen that the British were coming, and Revere was caught and detained.

Shhh who knew

The remains of the colonists killed in the Battle of Lexington are buried under the Lexington Green at the Revolutionary Monument, America's oldest war memorial, which was dedicated on July 4, 1799.