April 19, 1775

In honor of the battle at Concord Bridge that began the War of Independence, here is the first verse of Emerson’s Concord Hymn, sung at the completion of the Battle Monument, April 19, 1836:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

I quote this beautiful poem not for America as she now is, which in so many ways has become the opposite of what she once was and is all but deliberately committing suicide, but for that remnant of Americans who still believe in America. In particular, I quote it for the new Minutemen on our southern border, whom the current president of the United States, to his eternal disgrace, derided as “vigilantes,” even as he stood next to the president of Mexico who is officially supporting the invasion and destruction of the United States that those Minutemen are trying to stop.

Anyone who has not visited Concord Bridge, the birthplace of the American Revolution, and seen Daniel Chester French’s statue of the Concord Minuteman should do so. Reproductions and photographs do not convey the quality and meaning of this magnificent statue.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 19, 2005 11:46 AM | Send