Shot Heard Round the World-- Part 2

By the time Sudbury's citizens reached Concord, the fight at Lexington, "The Shot Heard Round the World" had already taken place. Eight colonists were dead. The British continued their march on Concord.

At North Bridge, they clashed with the Sudbury men and others, about 450 in all. Two Sudbury men died, but the British were forced to withdraw. On their way back to Boston, close to 4,000 patriots attacked and sniped at them.

Every year, on April 19th, men from Sudbury re-enact the march to Concord after first going to the cemetery where 15 slain townspeople are buried. Five hours later, they re-enact the shots fired at North Bridge.


LONGFELLOW'S WAYSIDE INN

Afterwards, they return to Sudbury and convene at Longfellow's Wayside Inn, the oldest operating inn in America and hoist brews in pewter mugs. The inn has been offering hospitality to travelers along the Boston Post Road since 1716.

Most likely, in 1775, it was called How's Tavern when innkeeper Ezekiel How was among the militia leaders who led the force to Concord. After visiting the place in 1862, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote Tales of a Wayside Inn.

Later, Henry Ford owned it and relocated on its property a one-room schoolhouse associated with the 18th-century nursery-rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Great History in Sudbury. --Cooter

Shot Heard Round the World...01776-- Part 1

Today marks the 236th anniversary of the "Shot Heard Round the World" as it has been called. It was the first time British forces and American colonists shot at each other in the field of battle.

This week's American Profile Magazine had an article "The Spirit of 01776," on the Massachusetts town of Sudbury, proud holder of Zip Code 01776. In 1963, the US Postal Service assigned the town the number 01776 under its Zoning Improvement Plan.

And they claim it is fitting because no village sent more volunteer militia, 348, to face the British at the battles of Lexington and Concord all those years ago. Each April 19th, the town honors their forebears with a 12-mile march to Concord.

Sufbury was one of the villages west of Boston, which, on the night of April 18-19, 1775, received word that British general Thomas Gage was going to march out of Boston to Concord to seize stockpiled munitions.

Paul Revere got all the publicity for the riders who warned the colonists, but Sudbury was alerted by rider Abel Prescott, Jr., of Concord.

A large group of Minutemen immediately assembled and marched to Concord. Some had rifles or pistols, but others only had pitchforks.

Sound the Alarm. Who Is Coming? --Cooter