Thomas F. (hardtack) -
Most of us know something about the Minute Men who responded to the call to arms when the British marched to Lexington and Concord to seize military supplies the American colonists had stored there. And most of us believe these Minute Men were first organized in the early 1770s. Well, that's wrong. The Minute Man concept was first organized n the 1600s when the early colonists had to deal with Native American Indian raids.
The Minute Man concept was so greatly defined by 1775 that entire regiments were organized, armed, drilled and trained by the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. And while the occasional lone "Minute Man, as so popularly depicted in our history books, left his family to go to the assistance of the men at Concord and Lexington, it was actually companies and entire regiments of upward of 1,000 men who marched to fight, harass and almost destroy the two columns of British troops sent out from Boston.
The early part of this book is somewhat slow, as the author covers the early 1600s-1760s history of the Minute Man and Militia organization. But by the time when the first "Lobsterbacks" were climbing into the boats to travel to the next shore---i.e. the famous "One if by land, two if by sea."---the pages just flow by as you read about the confrontations on Lexington Green and Concord's bridge and the desperate fighting for miles---including house to house--as the Americans forced the British back to Boston.
If it hadn't been for the second British column sent out as reinforcements, the first column would have been destroyed and captured. Even the second column almost suffered defeat until it was finally sheltered under the guns of the British fleet in Boston harbor.
And the surprise is how so few on both sides were killed or wounded. This due to the inaccuracy of the muskets used at that time. Still, enough officers and NCOs in the first British column became casualties to allow the column to lose is organization and become almost a mob seeking to escape.
The Minute Man concept was so greatly defined by 1775 that entire regiments were organized, armed, drilled and trained by the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. And while the occasional lone "Minute Man, as so popularly depicted in our history books, left his family to go to the assistance of the men at Concord and Lexington, it was actually companies and entire regiments of upward of 1,000 men who marched to fight, harass and almost destroy the two columns of British troops sent out from Boston.
The early part of this book is somewhat slow, as the author covers the early 1600s-1760s history of the Minute Man and Militia organization. But by the time when the first "Lobsterbacks" were climbing into the boats to travel to the next shore---i.e. the famous "One if by land, two if by sea."---the pages just flow by as you read about the confrontations on Lexington Green and Concord's bridge and the desperate fighting for miles---including house to house--as the Americans forced the British back to Boston.
If it hadn't been for the second British column sent out as reinforcements, the first column would have been destroyed and captured. Even the second column almost suffered defeat until it was finally sheltered under the guns of the British fleet in Boston harbor.
And the surprise is how so few on both sides were killed or wounded. This due to the inaccuracy of the muskets used at that time. Still, enough officers and NCOs in the first British column became casualties to allow the column to lose is organization and become almost a mob seeking to escape.
