{"id":994,"date":"2024-10-31T20:24:52","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T20:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/s2.designcostaging.com\/clients\/mmm\/?post_type=monuments&p=994"},"modified":"2024-11-13T15:15:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T15:15:50","slug":"lexington-revolutionary-war-monument","status":"publish","type":"monuments","link":"https:\/\/s2.designcostaging.com\/clients\/mmm\/monuments\/lexington-revolutionary-war-monument\/","title":{"rendered":"Lexington Revolutionary War Monument"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erected on July 4, 1799, Lexington\u2018s<\/span> Revolutionary <\/span><\/span>War Monument is the oldest war memorial in the United States. Featuring <\/span>a granite obelisk set on a simple pedestal, it marks the approximate location of the line of the Lexington militia that stretched across the town common to confront the British Regulars on April 19, 1775.<\/p>\n

Funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, following a 1797 petition to the General Court by Joseph Simonds to, “preserve to posterity a record of the first effort made by the people of America for the establishment of their freedom and independence,\u201d it was designed by Thomas Park, a highly skilled stone cutter at a cost of $400.00.<\/p>\n

Jonas Clarke, minister to Lexington<\/a> from 1752 to 1805, composed the monument\u2019s inscription honoring the eight men who died on Lexington Green. On April 20, 1835, the 60th anniversary of the Battles of Concord and Lexington, seven of the eight men honored on the monument were exhumed from Lexington\u2019s Old Burying Ground<\/a> and reinterred in a tomb beneath the monument in an elaborate ceremony with full military honors.<\/p>\n

As reported in the Boston Daily Advertiser<\/em> that same day, the ceremony began at 3:00 AM, the time when British troops fired on the Lexington militia, with an eight-gun salute honoring the eight men who \u201cfirst fell as martyrs in the cause of civil liberty.\u201d At sunrise a thirteen-gun salute honored the Thirteen Colonies (later States) followed at 11:00 AM with a procession, accompanied with military escort to the burying ground to receive the remains of those killed on April 19th.<\/p>\n

A service took place at the meeting house, then another procession made its way to the monument. In what the Boston Daily <\/em>Advertiser<\/em> described as an “interesting circumstance” connected with the rededication service, ten of the eleven survivors of the Battle of Lexington were in attendance. Despite inclement weather, the ceremony attracted a crowd of nearly one thousand people who listened to a two-hour address by the Honorable Edward Everett in \u201cbreathless silence.\u201d At the time a new marble tablet was installed in the face of the monument, as well as an iron fence which surrounds it to this day.<\/p>\n

The inscription reads:<\/p>\n

Sacred to Liberty & the Rights of mankind!!!
\nThe Freedom & Independence of America,
\nSealed & defended with the blood of her sons.<\/p>\n

This Monument is erected
\nBy the inhabitants of Lexington,
\nUnder the patronage, & at the expence, of
\nThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
\nTo the memory of their Fellow Citizens,
\nEnsign Robert Munroe<\/em>, Messrs. Jonas Parker<\/em>,
\nSamuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington Junr.<\/em>
\nIsaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington<\/em> and John Brown<\/em>
\nOf Lexington, & Asahel Porter <\/em>of Woburn,
\nWho fell on this field, the first Victims to the
\nSword of British Tyranny & Oppression,
\nOn the morning of the ever memorable
\nNineteenth of April, An. Dom. 1775.
\nThe Die was east!!!
\nThe Blood of these Martyrs,
\nIn the cause of God & their Country,
\nWas the Cement of the Union of these States, then
\nColonies; & gave the spring to the spirit. Firmness
\nAnd resolution of their Fellow Citizens.
\nThey rose as one man, to revenge their brethren\u2019s
\nBlood and at the point of the sword to assert &
\nDefend their native Rights.
\nThey nobly dar\u2019d to be free!!
\nThe contest was long, blood & affecting
\nRighteous Heaven approved the solemn appeal;
\nVictory crowned their arms; and
\nThe Peace, Liberty & Independence of the United
\nStates of America, was their glorious Reward.
\nBuilt in the year 1799.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first war monument in the United States pays homage to the memory of those \u2018fellow citizens\u2019 who were \u201cthe first Victims to the Sword of British Tyranny & Oppression, On the morning of the ever memorable Nineteenth of April. Dom. 1775.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-994","monuments","type-monuments","status-publish","hentry","city_town-lexington-ma"],"acf":{"banner_image":1532,"listing_thumbnail":1967,"listing_thumbnail_caption":"","year":"1799","location":"Battle Green, Lexington, MA","address":"Battle Green","time_period":"1775 - 1824","town":"Lexington, MA","state":"MA","gallery":[{"image":1914,"caption":"","image_layout":"Landscape","content":"Abdalian, Leon H. \"First revolutionary monument at Lexington Battle Field.\" Photograph. October 19, 1929. Digital Commonwealth<\/a>.<\/em>"},{"image":1915,"caption":"","image_layout":"Portrait","content":""},{"image":1919,"caption":"","image_layout":"Landscape","content":"\"Revolutionary Soldiers' Monument, Lexington Common, Massachusetts.\" Photograph. Malden, Mass.: E. M. Perry, (c) 1898. Digital Commonwealth<\/a>.<\/em>"},{"image":1918,"caption":"","image_layout":"Portrait","content":""},{"image":1917,"caption":"","image_layout":"Portrait","content":""},{"image":1920,"caption":"","image_layout":"Landscape","content":"Jones, Leslie. \"Lexington monument.\" Photograph. May 10, 1925. Digital Commonwealth<\/a>.<\/em>"}],"one_sentence_description":"","display_on_story_page":"Yes","status":"Active","latitude":"42.44960291155876","longitude":"-71.23132824899663","map_url":""},"yoast_head":"\nLexington Revolutionary War Monument - Monuments Memorials & Markers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lexington Revolutionary War Monument - Monuments Memorials & Markers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The first war monument in the United States pays homage to the memory of those \u2018fellow citizens\u2019 who were \u201cthe first Victims to the Sword of British Tyranny & Oppression, On the morning of the ever memorable Nineteenth of April. 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