My brother lived in Boston for many years. He used to take visitors out to Concord and give them the story of Emerson's "rude bridge" in his own way. Though it's written for Patriot's Day, April 19th, a State Holiday in Massachusetts, it is about the event that led roughly 15 months later, to the Declaration of Independence we celebrate today.
But I should let him tell his story, which I would like to dedicate today to our friend and former Senator Harrison Schmitt and his fellow astronauts of the US space program, past and present.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
I've a habit of taking out-of-town relatives and friends, and especially their kids, out to Concord, and walking them to the medium-sized obelisk with the "rude bridge" line from Emerson's "Concord Hymn" on it.
This is supposed to be exactly where, legend says, the first redcoat fell, beginning the British retreat back to Boston down the now-famous battle road, through a bloody gauntlet of private colonial small-arms fire.
Then, when I get everyone standing there in one place, Here's what I say.
Okay, guys. This is what I brought you out here from Boston for.
You're standing, right now, on the very first bit of the United States. This is where Americans first fought back against an army which was the strongest in the world at the time, and made it retreat. This is where they, and the rest of us here today, first became free. If, of course, to paraphrase Ben Franklin, we can keep that freedom.
Over there, on the other side of the bridge, were the colonial militia. They were armed, mostly with weapons of their own. They had gathered here to prevent the British confiscation of a bigger cache of older arms that they had in an armory near here, originally built for defense against Indian attack many decades before.
The militiamen knew that if their armory was seized, the next thing to follow was the confiscation of their own *personal* weapons, and then the British could do anything they wanted to the colonists' property, lives, and family.
So, the local militia mustered, and retreated ahead of the British across this bridge, setting up positions on that field over there across the river. The British formed up right where we're standing. One thing led to another, the British fired and killed some colonists, and the colonists fired and killed some British. And then, the colonists came over the bridge
and attacked the British in force, and, right here, the British backed up.
Eventually, the British troops were pushed back the way they came, all the way to Charlestown on Boston Harbor, where they were finally safe under the cannon on the ships anchored there.
Now, you can go learn more details up there on the hill at the visitor's center, and also at the one back down the battle road in Lexington. When you're at either place, try not to kid the park rangers too much. Don't wonder aloud, for instance, why the US government's muskets-under-glass, evidently in perfect working order, don't have trigger locks on them in violation of newly-enacted Massachusetts State Law. Harassing government employees is always fun, of course, but it isn't why I brought you here today, under this obelisk with Emerson's famous "rude bridge" quote on it.
I want you to look down at the ground here, and imagine something for me. Imagine that, at the very moment the British turned tail, the ground on this spot changes color to red, white, and blue. Like I said before, it is on this very spot where America was born. It could even be said that every freedom-loving constitutional republic and democracy on this planet was born on this spot, right then.
Now imagine a local map of this place, and see the size of that red, white, and blue spot grow. First, it stretches out from this spot to the colonist militia crossing the bridge, now beginning their push of the British back to Boston. Then, the red-white-and-blue spreads behind and around the militia to every house around here with an armed American in it, each one ready -- and able -- to defend his family's life, property, honor, and,most important, his freedom, against British tyranny.
Now, imagine as the day wore on, the British are marching back to Boston, being ambushed by Americans all of the way, each one of those Americans shooting their own, personal, firearms. Women actually leaning out of their farmhouse windows, taking aim, and shooting. Old men, even children, hiding behind those famous New England stone fences and shooting the redcoat formations marching down the road. And, as the British retreated farther and farther from this spot, the red, white, and blue on the map keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Okay, now imagine a bigger map. A map of the thirteen original colonies on it, and, in various places on it, bits of red, white, and blue popping up, going out, coming back again. And, eventually, moving in organized waves, back and forth, across the countryside. Until, finally, the British surrender at Yorktown.
Now step back in your mind's eye, and see a map of the continental United States, and see Americans moving west, spreading freedom wherever they go: Jefferson's Louisiana purchase, Texas independence and admission, various Mexican-American wars, the acquisition of California and Oregon, and, at every point, the red, white, and blue area gets bigger. Then the civil war, with half the country blinking off, and then back on again.
Finally, imagine a whole globe. Hawaii turns red, white, and blue. Various whaling islands in the Pacific. Then Alaska. Then what's left of the Spanish empire, including Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Phillipines. Then, the Panama Canal purchase, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to protect its approaches.
In fact, imagine World War I, where American troops win the war with their sheer numbers, effectively blinking on those red, white, and blue colors "over there", and then turning the territory back over to its rightful owners after the shooting stops. The same thing happens in World War II, in both Germany and Japan, but also with the independence, if they wanted it, of most of the former Spanish possessions. And then Korea. And, of course, Vietnam, losing the battle there, but winning the cold war in the end.
Now, finally, lean back, and look at the moon, way up there.
It, too, was red, white, and blue, once.
>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
A Happy Fourth of July to you all.
