but determined to protect their cause and their friends. The Captain's
words have passed into history. They took the form of an order to the
men:

"Don't fire unless you are fired on; but, if they want a war, let it
begin here."

History tells us of few such unequal contests as this. The troops fired
on the gallant little band, and seven of their number were killed. The
fight at Concord followed, when 450 Americans met the British troops at
the North Bridge, where

"Once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard around the world."

The British detachment was beaten back in disorder, but the main body
was too strong to be attacked. The minute men, however, made a most
magnificent fight, and at the close of the day they had killed 273
British soldiers, only 93 of their own number being among the killed or
missing.

Thus commenced the War of Independence, the event being described by Dr.
Joseph Warren in a document of sufficient interest to warrant its
reproduction in full.

"The barbarous murders committed on our innocent brethren," wrote the
doctor, "have made it absolutely necessary that we immediately raise an
army to defend our wives and our children from the butchering hands of
an inhuman soldiery, who, incensed at the obstacles they met with in
their bloody progress, and enraged at being repulsed from the field of