It was an uneasy wait. Soldiers used the time to exchange their worn musket flints for new ones. In Concord, the Regulars burnt the town’s liberty pole and the fire spread. The Regulars helped to put out the fire, but the black smoke was visible from this spot, causing alarm. It was about 10:30 a.m.
To the assembled militia and minute battalions, now numbering over 500 men, it appeared that the Regulars were burning Concord. Debate stopped. Many men agreed it was now time to march. The momentous decision of the first offensive action taken by the Revolutionaries in open conflict now lay with Col. Barrett.
"I have often heard it said that the British have boasted that they could march through our country, laying waste to our hamlets and villages and we would not oppose them. And I begin to think it is true. Will you let them burn the town down?"
Lt. Joseph Hosmer, Adjutant, Concord Minute Regiment, to Col. James Barrett, 19 April 1775Gross, The Minutemen and their World, 125
Gift of Mr. Benjamin L. Smith (1938); Concord Museum