Our prayers when all were buried, Were vows to Heaven o’erhead, From hearts that hail’d the glory Of joining there their dead. Then, too, we held our weapons; Had foil’d the British aims; And held our homes:—our women[29] Had quench’d the court-house flames. Our men had met the army, And fought, and from that hour They all had grown to soldiers, Who knew and felt their power. And so, despite the anguish That fill’d the morrow’s morn, The voice that wept betoken’d A nation, newly born. “And I,” said Samuel Adams,[30] “Thank God this day to see!” “And I,” came back from Hancock[30]; “It makes the new world free!” FOOTNOTES [1] “There, at about two in the morning, a peal from the belfry of the meeting-house” called the inhabitants.—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 27, p. 290. “There, in the morning hours, men ... were hiding what was left of cannon and military stores.”—_Idem_, ch. 28, p. 297. [2] “The attempt had for several weeks been expected; ... in consequence, the committee of safety removed a part of the public stores and secreted the cannon.”—_Idem_, ch. 27, p. 288. [3] “Red-coats,” a nickname given to the British soldiers, who wore red coats. [4] “About seven o’clock the British marched ... under the brilliant sunshine into Concord.... The Americans ... therefore retreated ... till ... they gained high ground about a mile from ... the town.... There they waited for aid.... Between nine and ten the number had increased to more than four hundred ... from Bedford, ... Westford, ... from Littleton, from Carlisle, and from Chelmsford.”—_Idem_, ch. 28, pp. 298, 299. [5] “The Americans had as yet received only uncertain rumors of the morning’s events at Lexington.”—_Idem_, p. 300. [6] “The Americans saw before them ... British troops ... occupying their town.”—_Idem._ [7] “Sixty barrels of flour were broken in pieces; ... five hundred pounds of ball were thrown into a mill-pond. The liberty-pole and several carriages for artillery were burned; and the court-house took fire.”—_Idem._ [8] “At the sight of fire in the village, the impulse seized them ‘to march into the town for its defence.’”—_Idem._ [9] This is literally true. See description of the circumstances.—_Idem._ [10] “James Hosmer urged to dislodge the enemy at the North Bridge.... Capt. Isaac Davis, of Acton, said: ‘I have not a man that is afraid to go.’”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. i., pp. 526, 527. [11] “Barrett, the colonel, ... then gave the order to advance, but ‘not to fire’ unless attacked.... Davis, looking at the men of Acton, ... cried: ‘March.’ His company ... led the way towards the bridge, he himself at their head, and by his side Major John Buttrick, of Concord, with John Robinson, ... lieutenant-colonel, ... but on this day a volunteer without command.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 28, p. 302.