Plucking the Eagle's Wings

The American Revolution and the Children of Israel

"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" (Source: Portion of the Concord Hymn, Ralph Waldo Emerson). Around 10:30 p.m. on April 18, 1775, the British detachment of about 700 men boarded their boats. About the same time that the British left their barracks, Paul Revere and William Dawes were apprised of the British movements and were sent to spread the news to outlying areas. Dawes took the land route, while Revere crossed the river to Charleston. There was a full moon in the sky that night, and when Revere passed the British ship, the HMS Somerset, his boat should have been easy to spot. However, on this night, the moon didn't rise to the east as it normally did; instead, it moved to the south and hung very low on the horizon. This enabled Revere's boat to be miraculously obscured in the shadow of the moon, thus allowing him to escape the blockaded city of Boston. Revere and Dawes were eventually caught, but not before they were able to successfully announce the British advance. After midnight, word spread among the colonists in Lexington about the British. The first person to answer the call was Reverend William Emerson, the great-grandson of Edward Bulkely. He was the man in Concord that the Indians feared during King Phillip's War one hundred years earlier. They believed the Great Spirit would punish them if they attacked Concord because of Bulkely's relationship with God. Now, one hundred years later, his descendant rushed to defend his community. The first armed colonial force to arrive at Concord was the Lincoln militia. As the British advanced, the militia crossed the North Bridge to Puckatasset Hill. A small British force pursued them across the river. The rest of the British remained in town and burned several buildings. When they saw the smoke, the 400-man militia advanced toward town. At approximately 9:30 a.m., they squared off, separated only by the North Bridge. The British fired first and killed two militiamen. The militia fired back, killing three British soldiers and wounding others. The rest of the British ran all the way back to Boston. Many of the people who fought in the war were Puritan descendants. Their forefathers were strong-willed people who loved and trusted God, and lived in a committed covenant relationship with Him. They recognized that it was God who had provided for them since they

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