250 years ago to the day, the simmering anger between the American colonists and the British crown spilled into a shooting war. We don’t know whether the first shots that day were fired on the Lexington green or at the Old North Bridge. Wherever it was, that day marked a key moment on the path to independence.

As a child, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s father watched the events at the Old North Bridge from his nearby home. In that same home, Emerson would later write:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

− Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Concord Hymn”

My eighth great-grandfather Peter Crapo was one of those American farmers, living in nearby Freetown, MA. He was too far away to have been at the Old North Bridge, but records from that day document that he marched with Captain Levi Rounsevell’s Company on “the alarm of April 19, 1775”.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts commemorates these events as Patriots’ Day. I mark the day with gratitude for the sacrifices of my ancestors to secure the blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I likewise honor all who have served, and who serve today for the same noble cause.