AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
This weekend marks the 250th anniversary of the Massachusetts battles that sparked the Revolutionary War.
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RASCOE: In the towns of Lexington and Concord, there were parades, historical reenactments and, as you'll hear, the echoes of the revolutionary gunfire of April 19, 1775. Member station WBUR's Steph Brown was there.
STEPH BROWN, BYLINE: It's a crisp, early morning. The sun hasn't peeked out just yet, and the air is filled with anticipation.
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SAMUEL PRESCOTT: (As character) The Regulars arrive the road.
BROWN: Dr. Samuel Prescott (ph) races over Concord's North Bridge on horseback, screaming a warning to the crowd that the British soldiers, the Regulars, are coming.
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PRESCOTT: (As character) The Regulars arrive the road.
BROWN: A troop of Minutemen, New England's militia, march closely behind. Like the man playing Prescott, they're all reenactors. They gather at the top of the hill and fire a salute.
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BROWN: The reenactors and thousands of onlookers came to Concord to honor a bit of history - 250 years ago, on April 19, 1775, the British marched to this site to seize weapons and squash the possibility of rebellion. But colonial militias, the Minutemen, descended on the regulars, forcing them to retreat to Boston and attacking them as they fled. The events here and at nearby Lexington proved that the militias could stand up to the British as the American War of Independence began.
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BROWN: Brush Bradley (ph) marched in the parade in Concord as a militia man. He's holding an 18th century musket and looks every bit the part.
BRUSH BRADLEY: This is an outfit that my wife made that represents the militia from the 1776 time frame.
BROWN: For Bradley, this day is about commemorating and honoring his ancestors who supported the American Revolution.
BRADLEY: People came to the colonies for religious freedom. They came for new opportunities. And America represented an opportunity for them to make their way and make their fortune.
BROWN: Families traveled from across the country to celebrate. Some came for the parades, some came for the politics and some came for the love of history, like young Tyler Boyle (ph) from Martha's Vineyard, who is here during school vacation week.
TYLER BOYLE: I like history in the American Revolution.
BROWN: Can you tell me what happened on this day...
TYLER: Yeah.
BROWN: ...In 1775?
TYLER: Well, the Red Coats marched into Lexington and battled the Lexington Minutemen. And then they marched to Concord.
BROWN: Xander Kessler (ph) lives in Colorado but grew up in Concord. He's in town to run the Boston Marathon Monday, and he woke up early to get here because, for him, the battles here have urgent parallels to today's political struggles.
XANDER KESSLER: You know, sort of the whole idea that the Concord militia was out here in 1775 is that we didn't want a king then, and, you know, the people who live in Concord in 2025 still don't want one.
BROWN: The day ended with speeches from politicians, real ones, not reenactors. Massachusetts Congresswoman Lori Trahan is among them. She said that those who fought here left a long legacy.
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LORI TRAHAN: Every generation inherits the promise made here in Concord, and every generation must choose what echoes we will send forward.
BROWN: And it was that spirit that got Andrew Johnson (ph) to come from Maine to watch and to consider what he called the American experiment.
ANDREW JOHNSON: This is not the first moment of tumult that I would say that the country has faced, and I would say that's part of the experiment. And so, from that standpoint, you can always have a lot of hope.
BROWN: Andrew said he's looking forward to seeing what comes next.
For NPR News, I'm Steph Brown in Concord. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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