Friday, April 19, 2024

Concord Hymn: The Shot Heard Around The World





"If it had not been the Lord Who was on our side when men rose up
against us, Then they would have quickly swallowed us up alive
when their wrath was kindled against us...Blessed be the Lord,
Who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We are like a bird
escaped from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken,
and we have escaped!  Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth."
(Psalm 124: 2, 3, 6, 7, 8)



"The man must be bad indeed who can look upon the events of the
American Revolution without feeling the warmest gratitude towards
the Author of the Universe whose divine interposition was so
frequently manifested in our behalf."
-George Washington 
An excerpt  from a letter to Samuel Langdon
September 28, 1789



The Minute Man
Concord, Massachusetts
(1874)
Daniel Chester French
(1850-1931)
American sculptor




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.


The foe long since in silence slept;

Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;

And Time the ruined bridge has swept

Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.


On this green bank, by this soft stream,

We set today a votive stone;

That memory may their deed redeem,

When, like our sires, our sons are gone.


Spirit, that made those heroes dare

To die, and leave their children free,

Bid Time and Nature gently spare

The shaft we raise to them and thee.


"Concord Hymn"
(1837)
Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882)
American poet

"Concord Hymn" was written for the 1837 dedication of an obelisk
monument in Concord, Massachusetts commemorating the battles of
Lexington and Concord which took place on April 19, 1775 
marking the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.




The Memorial of the Battle of Concord
Concord Massachusetts 
Image courtesy/Wikipedia



Inscription on the base of the Memorial 
Concord, Massachusetts
Photograph courtesy/Bill Coughlin
(April 17, 2009)







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