Newswise — DURHAM, N.H.—(March 26, 2025)—This April people from all over the United States will travel to Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the “shot heard round the world” when the colony’s militia, known as minutemen, faced off against British troops at Concord’s North Bridge. Eliga Gould, a professor of history at the University of New Hampshire and an expert on the American Revolution, can offer insight into events leading up to the start of the Revolutionary War, the importance of the first battle, the iconic minuteman statue that stands at the site and other little-known historical facts.
“Although most Americans think of the fourth of July as the anniversary of the American Revolution, the most important date in New England is April 19, 1775,” said Gould. “The battles of Lexington and Concord were a turning point because until then, compromise was still a possibility. Even though it took more than a year to make a final break with George III, America’s last British king, the battles started the colonies on the road to independence.”
Gould can be contacted at [email protected].
Gould, who has authored several books about the American Revolution, says the battles of Lexington and Concord were significant because they showed the British just how prepared the colonists were—stockpiling weapons and setting up an intricate alarm system that triggered the famous midnight ride of Paul Revere and alerted local militia the British were coming. The minutemen were trained in military tactics and could be ready in a minute’s notice, hence their name. The minuteman has since become a symbol of vigilance, readiness and the determination to defend freedom. During the two world wars, the bronze figure appeared in recruiting posters and advertisements for war bonds and to this day is the symbol of the National Guard.
“The spirit of the minutemen was embodied in the famous bronze statue that was unveiled at the 100th anniversary in 1875 and sits near the site where the Massachusetts militia encountered the British soldiers on the North Bridge,” said Gould. “The statue was carved by Concord sculptor, Daniel Chester French, and cast from old Civil War cannons. French’s art teacher was Abigail May Alcott, the younger sister of Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women. French gained acclaim for the minuteman statue. Nearly fifty years later he sculpted the iconic statue of Abraham Lincoln seated at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.”
Gould is author of Among the Powers of the Earth: The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire, which was named a Library Journal Best Book of the Year, received the SHEAR Book Prize from the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic and was a finalist for the George Washington Book Prize. His current book project, the Peace and Independence, examines the Treaty of 1783 that ended the American Revolutionary War. Gould has held fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Fulbright-Hays Program, the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Charles Warren Center at Harvard. During the 2025-2026 academic year, he will be the Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford.
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