CHAPTER XIII 

 LEXINGTON AND CONCORD TREES 



Here once the embattled farmers stood, 

 And fired the shot heard round the world. 



Emerson 



AMONG that small band of patriots 

 who placed themselves across the 

 path of the advancing British army 

 at Lexington Common, on the iQth of April, 

 1775, was a lad of seventeen Jonathan 

 Harrington. He was the fifer of Capt. Par- 

 ker's company, and, with his brave com- 

 panions-in-arms, responded to the famous 

 command, "Stand your ground, don't fire 

 unless fired upon, but if they want to have 

 a war let it begin here!" 



In the fight which followed, the percentage 

 of killed and wounded, in relation to the 

 number of men engaged on the side of the 

 patriots, was greater than in almost any 

 other famous battle of our history; and 



