Lexington Battle Green Tour
Revolutionary War Monument
Stop 6
Revolutionary War Monument
This is the oldest Revolutionary War monument in the United States commemorating rank and file soldiers. Erected in 1799 on School House Hill, it features a vivid inscription written by the Reverend Jonas Clarke.
Inscription on
Revolutionary War Memorial
Revolutionary War Memorial
In the summer of 1824, the Marquis De Lafayette, the French General who fought alongside George Washington, visited Lexington on his yearlong tour of the United States. Thousands gathered on the Common to meet him.
Marquis de Lafayette
He was greeted on this spot by fourteen surviving veterans of the battle who described that day forty-nine years earlier to Lafayette. After naming the men who died, one of the survivors cried out: “We weep still for our brothers, but we do not pity them; they have died for their country and for Liberty.” The crowd responded with a cheer of its own: “Long Live Lafayette.” The French general appeared profoundly moved by the occasion.
Some nine years later, in 1835, seven of the eight men who gave their lives on the Common were disinterred from the burying ground and re-interred at the base of this monument. Several thousand people attended the ceremony as famed statesman Daniel Webster and orator Edward Everett paid tribute to the dead.
Some nine years later, in 1835, seven of the eight men who gave their lives on the Common were disinterred from the burying ground and re-interred at the base of this monument. Several thousand people attended the ceremony as famed statesman Daniel Webster and orator Edward Everett paid tribute to the dead.
In Their Own Words:
“And you brave and patriotic men, whose ashes are gathered in this humble place of deposit, no time shall rob you of the well-deserved meed of praise. The summons came and found you waiting. And here in the center of your dwelling places, within sight of the homes you were to enter no more, between the village church where your fathers worshipped, and the graveyard where they lay at rest, you sealed the cause with your blood.”
-----Edward Everett, April 20th, 1835
Directions to the next stop:
The next stop is a tablet marking the site of the Belfry in 1775, stop #7 on your map. Walk down the sidewalk along Massachusetts Ave (road closest to the Rev War Monument) in the direction of Captain Parker’s statue. The tablet is on a stone about ¾ of the way there.
“And you brave and patriotic men, whose ashes are gathered in this humble place of deposit, no time shall rob you of the well-deserved meed of praise. The summons came and found you waiting. And here in the center of your dwelling places, within sight of the homes you were to enter no more, between the village church where your fathers worshipped, and the graveyard where they lay at rest, you sealed the cause with your blood.”
-----Edward Everett, April 20th, 1835
Directions to the next stop:
The next stop is a tablet marking the site of the Belfry in 1775, stop #7 on your map. Walk down the sidewalk along Massachusetts Ave (road closest to the Rev War Monument) in the direction of Captain Parker’s statue. The tablet is on a stone about ¾ of the way there.
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