John Buttrick Bas-Relief Monument

Found near North Bridge Visitor Center in Minute Man National Historical Park, a detailed bas-relief sculpture of Major John Buttrick stands flanked by a pair of granite benches. The six-foot-two-inch-high by twenty-five-inch-wide sculpture was crafted by Edmond Thomas Quinn under the supervision of Daniel Chester French. The sculpture was cast by the Jno. Williams Foundry in New York City and erected in 1915.

Beneath the bas-relief depiction of Major Buttrick’s likeness, engraved words commemorate his contributions at the famous Concord fight:

MAJOR JOHN BUTTRICK
FROM THIS HIS FARM LED
THE PROVINCIAL MINUTE
MEN AND MILITIA DOWN
TO WIN THE BRIDGE HELD
BY THE BRITISH FORCES
APRIL 19, 1775

GEORGE EDWARD MESSER
BY HIS WILL PROVIDED
THIS MEMORIAL
ERECTED BY THE TOWN

Major Buttrick’s words and deeds during the events of April 19, 1775 had an enduring legacy. That day, four hundred colonial soldiers had gathered on a ridge overlooking Concord to prepare a defense against the British invaders. Patriot forces were marching to meet their enemy at the North Bridge when a sudden volley of musket fire felled the soldiers at their helm, killing Acton Minute Men Captain Isaac Davis and Private Abner Hosmer instantly.

In the wake of the thunderous din, Major Buttrick responded with the words “Fire, fellow soldiers! For God’s sake, fire!” marking the first time in the Revolution that Patriot forces were explicitly ordered by an officer to fire on the British.