Readers’ Forum

You awake to the scattered hollers of men in the neighboring houses, and from the many you collect that Isaac Davis, your captain and trusted leader, has called upon his minutemen. It’s dawn; you can barely see as you rush out the door, equipped with your musket and gunpowder, bare of any official uniform. As you sprint to his abode, you are accompanied by more than 30 other young lads who are willing to risk their lives for the state they love and occupy, Massachusetts.

The day is April 19, 1775. It’s nearly 5 o’clock in the morning, and shortly, Isaac Davis, each of his men outfitted with a musket and bayonet (of his own manufacture), will be marching to the town of Concord, starting from his home in Acton. In minutes, after receiving one day’s rations of food and ammunition, the soldiers head off to the North Bridge, aware only that British soldiers are approaching the town to capture hidden stores of weapons.

It had been nearly 150 years since Massachusetts had originally sprouted its roots as a colony, and now it was apparent that the crown, represented locally by Gen. Thomas Gage, wanted to reclaim control over their people. Henceforth, on the fateful morning of the 19th, as smoke filled the air and musket and rifle shot stifled the first-light silence, the preliminary council of war would be enacted.

Isaac Davis, bravely leading several companies of men, was killed first, along with another single comrade in a battle which would be immortalized in a poem; he had stepped up to face the offender when others had declined to do so. This battle would harbor what would be known later as “the shot heard ‘round the world”: The battle in which the first shot would be fired in the light of freedom for Americans and American culture.

Boy Scout Troop 330 walked this trail on Sunday, April 17, similar to the time the original minutemen would have been as well. After quickly packing their gear, they headed off to the home of Capt. Isaac Davis himself, the first point in the trail of the famed leader and his soldiers.

Seven miles were walked by more than 200 people, troops from the scattered New England states, as well as non-scout groups. The significance of this trail could never be overlooked by the scouts, and as a part of their respect for the service of those before them and to qualify themselves for a unique recognition, they also contributed to making the trail (which passes through established roads in addition to forest trails) cleaner, picking up trash they found along the way and storing it in trash bags they kept close at hand.

Although the scouts weren’t holding muskets to fight off a common enemy, they performed service that was greatly appreciated. In doing so, they fully qualified themselves for the Historic Trails Award, and by proving their knowledge after the trek, all of Troop 330’s scouts were awarded the prestigious Isaac Davis Trail award.

Each step brought them closer to the end, where they would be able to view the North Bridge, where militia and minutemen had bolstered the American dream for individual independence from Great Britain. Each step taken would not only allow them to visualize the pride that was so strongly imbued in others before them, it would allow them to feel that same pride.

One scout distinctly noted that they felt “privileged to have walked the path that quite literally led to the country they were raised in,” and that they were “filled with pride” to have done so.

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