ilitia and
other soldiers were drilled and organized, some of whom under the name
of Minute-men were ordered to be ready to parade at a moment's notice.
Cannon and other munitions of war were procured, which with flour and
provisions were secreted in various places.

Tidings of these preparations was carried to the British in Boston by
the spies and tories who abounded in the town, and on the evening of the
eighteenth of April, an expedition consisting of about eight hundred men
was sent out to counteract them. Paul Revere having been stopped at
Lexington, was able to spread the news of the attack by means of Dr.
Prescott who had been sitting up late with the lady whom he afterwards
married. Love overleaps all obstacles, and with cut bridle-rein the
Doctor leaped his gallant steed over walls and fences and reached
Concord very early in the morning. At the ringing of the bell the
Minute-men flocked to their standard on the crest of Burying Hill where
they were joined by Rev. William Emerson, whose marble tomb stands near
the very spot, and also marks the place where Pitcairn and Smith
controlled the operations of the British during the forenoon.

The Liberty-pole occupied the next eminence, a few rods farther east.
Here the little band of patriots awaited the coming of the
well-disciplined foe, ignorant that their country-men had fallen on
Lexington Common before the very muskets that now glittered in the
morning sun. Some proposed to go and meet the British, and some to die
holding their ground; but their wiser commanders led them to
Ponkawtassett Hill a mile away, where the worn and weary troops were
cheered by food and rest, and were reinforced by new arrivals from Acton
and other towns, until they numbered nearly three hundred men. After
destroying many stores in the village, and sending three companies to
Colonel Barrett's in vain search for the cannon, which were buried in
the furrows of a ploughed field, a detachment of British soldiers took
possession of the South Bridge, and three companies were left to guard
the old North Bridge under command of Captain Lawrie.

[Illustration: Henry D. Thoreau.]

Seeing this manoeuvre the Americans slowly advanced and took up their
position on the hill at the west of the bridge which the British now
began to destroy. Colonel Isaac Davis of Acton now offered to lead the
attack, saying, "I have not a man who is afraid to go," and he was given
the place in front of the advanci