|
Massachusetts Quarters Honor Minutemen of 1775The Massachusetts quarters focus attention on the Minutemen, “embattled farmers” whose actions of April 19th, 1775 “fired the shot heard round the world”.Minutemen were so-called for their willingness and demonstrated ability to be ready for battle within one minute of their alert. British officers referred to these as “country people”, and indeed they were, to a large extent, tillers of the soil. Theirs was a volunteer force – a motivational blessing and an organizational curse to traditionally trained military men. But in Concord Massachusetts on that April day the Minutemen were the first to return fire on British troops in what would henceforth be known as the American Revolution. The Minuteman emblazoned on the Massachusetts State Quarter is derived from a statue by Daniel Chester French, installed near Concord’s North Bridge on the centennial of this first engagement of the war.
|
