FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2014
Contact: Dave Gilliard
(916) 626-6804
AUBURN, CA — The public is invited to join the Gold Country Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution as they celebrate Patriots’ Day on Saturday, April 19th from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Central Square in downtown Auburn (corner of High Street and Lincoln Way). Members will be wearing Revolutionary War uniforms and dress and will be handing out materials about this historic day.
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in and near the towns of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of North America.
The British Army was ordered to capture and arrest patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock and seize or destroy ammunition stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. Paul Revere and his fellow riders warned Adams and Hancock and alerted local militia in the area that the “redcoats were coming.”
The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising at Lexington. No one knows who fired the first shot. The local militia was outnumbered and several died on the Lexington Green. Other colonists, known as Minutemen, joined the fight at the North Bridge in Concord and defeated three companies of the King’s troops as they retreated to Boston.
Ralph Waldo Emerson described the first shot fired that day as the “shot heard ’round the world'”. It was the birth of America, the event that would lead to the Declaration of Independence and the creation of the United States.
SAR members are patriotic Americans who have traced their family tree back to a point of having an ancestor who fought for or actively supported the cause of American Independence during the years 1774-1783. They are a non-profit, educational group dedicated to keeping America’s history alive for future generations. If you are interested in joining, but don’t know if you have a Revolutionary War ancestor, we want to help. Visit GoldCountrySAR.com to fill out an on-line form that will get you started.
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