Patriot's Day

Patriot’s Day, 19 April 1775

The Lexington Minute Man Statue
Photographed on 19 April 2000 - The 225th Anniversary of the Battle

“On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;

Hardly a man is now alive

Who remembers that famous day and year”

                                From The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The year 1975 is one I always remember because it was the year I decided to trace my family tree.  I was only thirteen years old, and I lived in Massachusetts.  It was the prelude to the nation’s Bicentennial celebration, and in 1975 Lexington and Concord celebrated the 200^th anniversary.  There were re-enactments going on all around me that year, including the Knox Trail, Evacuation Day, Bunker Hill, etc.  One of the first discoveries I made while tracing my family tree was to find my MUNROE ancestors who were at the Battle of Lexington.

On 19 April 2000 we took our daughter to see the 225^th Anniversary of the Battle of Lexington re-enactment, which involved getting to the Lexington Green at o’dark hundred to get a good spot right by the ropes which marked off the battlefield.  The battle begins every year at dawn.  It was a very odd feeling to watch your family members being shot and killed at a battle re-enactment.  You can read about that experience at this link… 

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/04/battle-of-lexington-re-enacted.html

Did you know that 2025 will mark the 250th anniversary of this famous battle?  Plans are already underway to commemorate this event.  The website Revolution 250 has been set up for this anniversary https://revolution250.org/  

Here are some old images from our family slides that I digitized, showing our visit to the 225th anniversary re-enactment in Lexington.  The quality is poor, but it brings back memories of that event…

Originally the eight men who were killed at the Battle of Lexington were secretly buried,
later they were re-interred on the Battle Green under this obelisk.
I always bring flowers for this spot, because two 5th great grand uncles are buried here,
Robert Munroe (1712 - 1775) and Jonas Parker (1722 - 1775) (married to Lucy Munroe).
 These two uncles were also the first two men to fall at the Battle of Lexington,
also veterans of the French and Indian War. 

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Patriot's Day", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 19, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/04/patriots-day.html: accessed [access date]).