Yesterday I wrote a post about Louisa May Alcott, so have been thinking about Concord, Massachusetts.

I remembered seeing a clipping in one of my Grandma’s Scrapbooks about Concord, so decided to find it and share it with you.

The clipping talks about the dedication of a monument in Concord that was raised in memory of the Battle of Concord.

The dedication of the Obelisk took place on April 19, 1837.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem called Concord Hymn that was sung at the dedication. The first stanza is also inscribed beneath the Minuteman statue that was dedicated in Concord in 1875.

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 to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those spirits dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The end of the first stanza is the origin of the phrase “The shot heard round the world.”

The article also talks about Paul Revere and his role in spreading the news about the march of the British toward Concord and also his role as a courier for different patriot groups.  I will keep this post centered on the Concord Hymn, but if you want to learn a little bit more about Paul Revere you can visit my post: Mr. Revere and I

Steven