4 1 As we marched toward Boston on that warm morning of June 17 1775 I could hear the thundering of cannons and the whistling of the cannonballs flying through the air Yet our commander Colonel John Stark marched us four miles at a steady pace I wanted to run toward Bunker Hill and begin firing at the redcoats I was a minuteman and ready to lead the Samuel Chase Minuteman
5 What Was a Minuteman The term minuteman was a carryover from the French and Indian War It referred to the fact that the citizens who joined the colonial militia had pledged to be armed and prepared to fight in battle with just a minute’s notice Minutemen were the most elite of the militia charge But Colonel Stark told us one fresh man in action is worth ten fatigued men and refused to increase our pace Most of us 1,200 in all had never before left the peaceful fields and woods of New Hampshire But as soon as we heard the news of the first battle with the British at Lexington Massachusetts we rushed to the seacoast of New Hampshire We formed a regiment
6 The Battles of Lexington and Concord marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War under Colonel Stark Now we were going to drive the British out of Boston The British might have more soldiers but we were fighting for our own country That made us stronger Before the battles at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts two months ago it seemed most of us
living in the colonies were still trying to find ways to remain loyal British subjects After all we were English and proud of it But recent events had strained our loyalties Parliament kept adding taxes that we were expected to pay With the Stamp Act the British taxed all official documents Many protested this The situation grew tense especially in Boston as patriots no longer do I think of them as just radicals clashed with British soldiers in March 1770 British soldiers killed five of our colonists on King Street during a skirmish I now hear referred to as the Boston Massacre Then the British passed the Tea Act in 1773 which taxed one of our favorite beverages Samuel Adams of Boston brought together a small group of patriots to protest what they called taxation without representation It meant British Parliament should not tax us if we had no say in how we are governed I was glad to hear of the Boston Tea Party when a 7
