Remembering Patriot's Day

By Elaine Marie Cooper


Since I grew up near Boston, Massachusetts, I can never think about the week of April 19th without pausing to reflect on its meaning for our country. It was the day in 1775 when the first battles took place at the onset of the American Revolution.

As children, we all loved Patriot's Day. Parades were held in the city and the suburbs commemorating the event. A rider dressed like Paul Revere would carry the news that "The Regulars are coming!" Of course, we weren't too concerned in the 20th century about British soldiers coming down Mass Ave. If they did, we'd have likely cheered them on instead of fleeing. :)

But it was both a celebration and a memorial to the brave men—simple farmers—who made a stand against the greatest army in the world of that time. The outcome shocked the world and birthed the great country of the United States of America.

When I was young, it didn't occur to me that the very road down which the bands played and the floats sailed upon, was the very route that the British Army actually trod. It was a journey that began an eight year war.

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Beginning in Boston the night of April 18, 1775, over 1,000 British soldiers marched their way to Concord where supplies of Colonial gunpowder were hidden. On the way, they were confronted by the brave men of Lexington. The first shots were fired and the first fatalities occurred.

Buckman Tavern, Gathering Place of the Lexington Militia

The soldiers continued their march to Concord and were surprised by the increasing numbers of Colonial militia who were bent on stopping the King's Army. Two British soldiers were killed and then buried near Concord Bridge.

The aggressive Minute Men intimidated the British forces the entire way back to Boston. Fighting Indian-style, the American militia hid behind stone walls and trees and killed numerous enemy soldiers along the way. The King's Army became more enraged by the moment. By the time they reached Menotomy Village (now Arlington, MA), reinforcements for the Brits had arrived. The worst Battle of the day occurred at the home of farmer Jason Russell.

Jason Russell House, Arlington, MA

More deaths occurred at this site than any other battlefield that day, April 19, 1775.

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When I was a child celebrating Patriot's Day every year, I never knew that the house on the corner just one block away from my home, held the story of the worst battle that occurred that first day of the Revolution.

I often thought about that house after I grew up and decided to discover the secrets that lay within its walls. The story that I uncovered was an amazing and heartbreaking tale of love, loyalty and demise. It was an incident hidden from the history books, just waiting to be revealed. I decided to be the storyteller of the Russell family and the community that took a stand for freedom from tyranny.

And thus was birthed Fields of the Fatherless, Winner of the the 2014 Selah Award for YA Fiction; Winner of the 2014 Next Generation Book Award, Religious Fiction; and Winner of the 2014 Moonbeam Children's Book Award, Best YA Religious Fiction.

To celebrate Patriot's Day, I am giving away two gifts—a signed copy of Fields of the Fatherless and a box of eight cards of the Doolittle prints that depict the battles of April 19, 1775—to a reader who leaves a comment on this blog. I will do a drawing for those who leave their email address and announce the winner on Friday, April 22.

A Visit to Menotomy Village (Arlington, Massachusetts)

By Elaine Marie Cooper

Last May was a rare pleasure for this author: I was the guest speaker at the Jason Russell House (Smith Museum) in Arlington, Massachusetts, to discuss my latest release, Fields of the Fatherless.  This novel, based on a true story, is set in the very home in which I spoke. It is difficult to describe the many emotions that pulsed through my heart as I visited my hometown and relived the story in front of an audience. What a joy!

Not only was I able to revisit my hometown but I spent the day after the event visiting the landmarks of the story. Let me share some of the sites through the photos I took, along with quotes taken from Fields of the Fatherless.

“Always remember—this land you’re standin’ on was settled by my great-grandfather. Russells have sweat over this soil for many a year. A musket can ensure it remains our home. No matter the intentions of any other.”

Several British soldiers ran off through a field toward Spy Pond but were shot at by several of the elderly local men who had been exempted from joining the Minutemen.

“David Lamson.” Betsy said the old man’s name in disbelief as she watched him and the other veterans regroup and stare at the carnage.

Several of the men hauled the carcasses of the dead horses away from the road and others pulled the supply-laden British wagons down into a hollow just off the road.

Workers at the burying ground dug one huge grave for all twelve men. There was little time to prepare hand-sewn shrouds or wooden boxes in which to lay the bodies. There was a war to prepare for.

Betsy determined to bring flowers once a week to the graves of the buried British soldiers who had died in Menotomy. There were at least 40 of them.

Elizabeth Russell died in 1786 at the age of sixty-five. She is buried next to her husband, Jason, in the old burying ground.

More soldiers—both American and British— died in Menotomy Village (now called Arlington) on that day than all the other towns between Concord and Boston.

Thank you for touring the town of Arlington, Massachusetts, known during the American Revolution as Menotomy Village.

Elaine Marie Cooper is the author of the award-winning, Fields of the Fatherless. For more information, you can visit her website here.