The Men of Freedom: Jonathan Harrington

The "Battle" of Lexington leaves eight men dead and ten wounded, most whose names and stories have faded. From the Lexington Common I tell you why so few minutes made all the difference.

This installment picks up on the early morning of April 19th, 1775, where the Lexington Militia, led by Captain James Parker, has spent the night waiting to see if the British regular soldiers would actually arrive. What those regulars had planned to do is still a subject of debate today and how the skirmish actually started will never be known. But we do know this: A single shot rang out at about five o’clock that morning in a moment of confusion, followed by multiple shots from tired and anxious British soldiers. These few minutes of gunfire left eight militiamen dead and ten wounded, all on the colonial side.

From the grounds of the Lexington Common, I describe how it all unfolded with the intention of honoring the eight men who died, despite how little we know about them. Here I'll introduce you to the second of four "Men of Freedom," I'm focusing on in this review of the original Patriot's Day. Jonathan Harrington Jr., a man whose story is dramatically reenacted each year in Lexington but the truth of whose story is obscured by the lore surrounding him. In many ways Harrington is the perfect example of a good, common man who tried to do what’s right in a difficult and uncertain time. He lost his life because of it, but how he lost his life catalyzed the events of the day and ushered in the American Revolution War of Independence.

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