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 heroes dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Old North Bridge, site of “the shot heard ’round the world,” the original one.
British troops retreated 22 miles from here to Boston while getting shot at along what’s now known as Battle Road. Written on a monument:
HERE
On the 19 of April
1775
was made
the first forcible resistance
to British aggression
On the opposite Bank
stood the American Militia
Here stood the Invading Army
and on this spot
the first of the Enemy fell
in the War of that Revolution
which gave
Independence to these United States
In gratitude to GOD
and
In the love of Freedom
this Monument
was erected
AD 1836
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