ng column, and fell at the first volley
from the British, who were posted on the other bank of the river. Major
Buttrick then ordered his troops to fire, and dashed on to the bridge,
driving the enemy back to the main road, down which they soon retreated
to the Common, to join the Grenadiers and Marines who there awaited
them. The Minute-men crossed over the hills and fields to Merriam's
corner when they again attacked the British, who were marching back to
Boston, and killed and wounded several of the enemy without injury to
themselves. Meanwhile the three companies had returned from Colonel
Barrett's and marched safely over the bridge which had been abandoned by
both sides, and joined the main force of the British who had waited for
them on the Common.

After the skirmish at Merriam's corner, the fighting was continued in
true Indian fashion from behind walls and buildings with such effect
that the British would have been captured had they not been re-enforced
at Lexington by a large force with field pieces.

In 1836, the spot on which the British stood was marked by a plain
monument, and in 1875 the place near which Captain Isaac Davis and his
companions fell was made forever memorable by the noble bronze statue of
the Minute-man by Daniel Chester French in which the artist has
carefully copied every detail of dress and implement, from the ancient
firelock, to the old plough on which he leans.

[Illustration: THE OLD BATTLE GROUND.]

In order to prove her claim to the peaceful name of Concord, this
village seems to have taken an active part in every warlike enterprise
which followed. Several of her men fought at Bunker Hill and one was
killed there. In Shay's Rebellion Job Shattuck of Groton attempted to
prevent the court, which assembled in Concord, from transacting its
business, by an armed force. In the war of 1812, Concord men served
well, and in the old anti-slavery days many a fierce battle of tongue
and pen was waged by the early supporters of the then unpopular cause.
John Brown spent his fifty-eighth birthday in the town the week before
he left for Harper's Ferry, and the gallows from which his "soul went
marching on." The United States officials who came to arrest Mr. Sanborn
for his knowledge of Brown's movements were advised by the women and men
of Concord to retreat down the old Boston road _a la_ British; and
when the call came for troops to put down the late Rebellion, Concord
was among the first t