Concord Monument Square, Concord

By the spring of 1775, Massachusetts revolutionaries were growing more and more convinced that force was required to settle the matter. But even so, they were reluctant to be the first to do so. The bonds of empire were still strong and most people still very much identified as British. “Let every single Step taken in this most intricate Affair, be upon the Defensive," cautioned Concord's minister, Rev. William Emerson on 13 March 1775. "God Forbid that we should give our Enemies the Opportunity of saying justly that we have brought a civil War upon ourselves, by the smallest offensive Action.”