Patriots Day

The Battle of Lexington re-enacted on 19 April 2000.
The re-enactment always takes place in the gloom of dawn, just like in 1775

Patriot’s Day was traditionally celebrated in Massachusetts and Maine on April 19^th, the anniversary day of the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775.  Nowadays it is celebrated on the nearest Monday to the 19^th, and unfortunately most people now call it “Marathon Monday”.  However, in the towns of Lexington and Concord, it is still commemorated with much fanfare, including re-enactments of the battles and skirmishes, gatherings of militia, historical lectures, music, and memorial services.

Over the years I have blogged about Patriot’s Day and the Battle of Lexington many times, because my Munroe ancestors and kin were present at this conflict.  You can find a list of these links below. 

My most poignant memory of Patriots Day is the time we attended the 225^th anniversary re-enactment of the Battle of Lexington.  I cried as I watched my 5^th great uncles Robert Munroe (1712 – 1775) and Jonas Parker (1722 – 1775) (married to Lucy Munroe) be bayonetted and killed by the British Regulars on Lexington Green. I wept as I watched the women and children re-enact recovering their bodies and carrying them away.

To my family this was an act of horror and terror as much as the Boston Marathon bombing which took place on Patriots Day in 2013.  I can imagine how my 4^th great grandfather, little Andrew Munroe (1764 – 1836), who had just turned eleven years old, felt as he witnessed the Battle. By the end of the Revolutionary War he was an officer (he was made a Major) and received a bounty land grant in New Grafton, New Hampshire. Eyewitness accounts of the battle read just like eyewitness accounts of modern terrorist events, or scenes of war anywhere in the world.

In a few years there will be a 250th commemoration of the Battles of Lexington and Concord (in the year 225).  Just like the recent 300^th anniversary of Nutfield, New Hampshire, or next year’s 400^th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower in Plymouth, Massachusetts, this will be a large celebration with actors, re-enactors, politicians, parades, ceremonies, memorials and parties.  But for some people it is a commemoration of the day their loved ones died, or suffered great hardship as a war began in the American Colonies.

This is how many American of native descent feel about the upcoming 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower.  I'm glad that the Wampanoag nation is participating in the 2020 anniversary, and it is because of their cooperation with the events that we are calling this a commemoration, not a celebration.  Although I'm looking forward to the Plymouth 400th, and the Lexington Battle 250th, I'm feeling just like I did when Salem remembered the 300th anniversary of the events of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.  I had three ancestors hanged that year, several others imprisoned and accused, and many others suffered.  1992 was a time of remembrance, not celebration. Just like Patriots Day every year. 

After the battle

Women and children tend to the dead and wounded

My daughter and I react to the first shots of the "battle"

The British Regulars as they left Lexington for Concord

When we visit Lexington we leave flowers
at this grave site for the men who died at the 1775 battle.

Some of the many Nutfield Genealogy posts about Patriots Day and the Battle of Lexington:

Eyewitness to the Battle of Lexington-

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/04/eyewitness-to-battle-of-lexington-19.html  

Cousins at the Battle of Lexington-

  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/04/cousins-at-battle-of-lexington.html 

The 225^th Anniversary of the Battle of Lexington Green- https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/04/patriots-day-225th-anniversary-of.html 

The 225^th Anniversary of the Battle of Concord Bridge-  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/04/patriots-day-19-april-2000-225th.html  

18 April 2000, the day before the 225^th anniversary – https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/04/patriots-day-18-april-2000-day-before.html  

Answering the Alarm from Hudson, New Hampshire-  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/04/patriots-day-answering-lexington-alarm.html 

Munroe Tavern becomes a Public Museum-

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/03/munroe-tavern-becomes-public-museum.html 

Rebranding History- https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/09/rebranding-history.html 

Tombstone Tuesday – Battle of Lexington-  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/04/tombstone-tuesday-battle-of-lexington.html 

Surname Saturday – Munroe of Lexington, Massachusetts-  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/06/surname-saturday-munroe-of-lexington.html 

How a Family History Fib Spread in 1889, and is still spreading today!  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/read-how-family-history-fib-spread-in.html 

Hezekiah Wyman and the Legend of the White Horseman- https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/04/hezekiah-wyman-and-legend-of-white.html 

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Patriots Day”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 19, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/patriots-day.html: accessed [access date]).