Patriots’ Day, the Massachusetts state holiday on which Bay Staters acknowledge the Commonwealth’s leading role in the start of the American Revolution, began as a rivalry between Lexington and Concord. Both towns were at the center of key conflicts on April 19, 1775. The events of that fateful morning are often collectively referred to as the “Battles of Lexington and Concord”; however, in the decades following the revolution, each town began vying for the title of “first.” Where one town would lay claim to the first battle of the revolution, the other would counter with the first shots fired. The historical truth is not so cut and dry, but the eventual compromise led to the holiday known as Patriots' Day.
It’s unclear when the rivalry between Lexington and Concord began, but some historians trace the feud back to Marquis de Lafayette’s 1824-1825 farewell tour of the United States. As the last surviving major general of the American Revolution, Lafayette was met with much pomp and circumstance: parades, artillery salutes, commemorative gifts, and monuments. Every town on the twenty-four-state tour wanted to impress Lafayette. So, in August 1824, when Lafayette was scheduled to visit both Lexington and Concord, each town tried to stand out.
Residents of Concord told Lafayette that their town had formed the “first forcible resistance” of the war; however, several Lexington residents insisted that shots had been fired in Lexington first. The Lexington Town Meeting even appointed a committee to validate this claim in a written report. So began a prolonged war of pamphlets, op-eds, and letters to the editor.
Then came Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson penned his famous Concord Hymn for the dedication of the 1836 Battle Monument at the North Bridge. In it, Emerson centers Concord at the start of the American Revolution. The last line of the first stanza coined the now ubiquitous phrase “the shot heard round the world.”
With the popularity of Emerson’s poem, national recognition of Concord’s role in the revolution grew. This only increased Lexington’s agitation. The feud did not go unnoticed. When President Ulysses S. Grant embarked on a visit to commemorate the centennial of the first battles, he nearly skipped Lexington and Concord altogether to evade the issue. In the end, Grant had lunch in each town to assuage any accusations that he endorsed one side of the argument over the other.
In 1894, the Town of Lexington petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature to officially recognize April 19th as a holiday called “Lexington Day.” Concord countered with their own petition to mark the holiday “Concord Day.” Even the Town of Menotomy (present-day Arlington), which had thus far remained neutral in the feud, put in a petition to be recognized. After all, Menotomy had experienced the bloodiest skirmish of all on April 19, 1775.
Eventually, Massachusetts Governor Frederic T. Greenhalge came to a diplomatic decision: as of 1895, April 19th would henceforth be known as Patriots' Day, in recognition of all Patriots who participated in the revolution’s first day. As if to distract from the ongoing animosity between Lexington and Concord, Greenhalge noted the day would also observe the first bloodshed of the American Civil War in the Baltimore riot of 1861 during which four members of the Massachusetts militia were killed and thirty-six injured. The dual commemoration, Greenhalge explained, celebrated “the anniversary of the birth of liberty and union”.
Today, six U.S. states celebrate Patriots' Day. Since 1969, the third Monday of April has become a significant rite of spring in Massachusetts, marked by a Red Sox home game and the running of the Boston Marathon. The symbolic marathon likens the American struggle for independence to the ancient Greek Battle of Marathon, in which the outnumbered Athenians defended their country against the invasion of Persia.
Both Lexington and Concord commemorate the day with a chock-full schedule of reenactments, historical tours, and activities. Visitors who come to enjoy the events tend to flow through the two towns interchangeably—wherever they go in Massachusetts, Patriots' Day is still Patriots' Day.