My first experience of war was in April 1775. Revolutionaries had just taken control of each of the British North American colonies and set up the Second Continental Congress. Royalists, upon hearing a Continental Army had been formed, were not happy. They made preparations to send regiments to Concord to capture inventory supplies and squash the rebel movement. Dr. Joseph Warren received word of the impending invasion and alerted colonists.

As quickly as possible all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60 were being mobilized to fight, some of these men were Minutemen, who promised to be ready within two minutes when called. I was to become one of these Minutemen and fight in many of the Revolutionary battles, but this is not where my story begins. My story begins with the very first battle that marks the beginning of the American Civil War, the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Little did we know at the time that our little hut, along with many others between Charlestown and Lexington, would become the first militia fortresses.