Lexington and Concord

The Minute Man, Concord, Massachusetts, copyright 1900.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

On April 19, 1775, British and American soldiers exchanged fire in the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord. On the night of April 18, the royal governor of Massachusetts, General Thomas Gage, commanded by King George III to suppress the rebellious Americans, had ordered 700 British soldiers, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith and Marine Major John Pitcairn, to seize the colonists' military stores in Concord, some 20 miles west of Boston.

A system of signals and word-of-mouth communication set up by the colonists was effective in forewarning American volunteer militia men of the approach of the British troops. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Paul Revere's Ride" tells how a lantern was displayed in the steeple of Christ Church on the night of April 18, 1775 as a signal to Paul Revere and others.

Christ Church, Boston, Massachusetts, copyright circa 1909.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex, village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.

At Lexington Green, the British were met by 77 American Minute Men led by John Parker. At the North Bridge in Concord, the British were confronted again, this time by 300 to 400 armed colonists, and were forced to march back to Boston with the Americans firing on them all the way. By the end of the day, the colonists were singing "Yankee Doodle" and the American Revolution had begun. Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789 includes a Time Line of the events that followed.

• Search on the terms Lexington, Concord, Minute Man in Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920 to find more photographs of these historic towns.
• To find maps of the Boston area at the outset of the Revolution, browse the Subject Index of the Military Battles and Campaigns section of Map Collections (1500-Present).
• Search through the George Washington Papers, 1741-1799 on Thomas Gage for a correspondence between the two men which pre-dates the Revolution by nearly 20 years, when both were British officers. There is also an interesting exchange on the treatment of prisoners of war in their correspondence during the year 1775.
• Visit the Web site for Minute Man National Historic Park, which winds along the original battle grounds of April 19, 1775.
• Works of American art and literature were inspired by events at Lexington and Concord. Among those noted in Today in History are the poem "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the statue The Minute Man by sculptor Daniel Chester French.

The Old Bridge, Concord, Massachusetts, copyright 1900.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

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"

Yankee Doodle

Old Van Rensselaer House, Where Yankee Doodle Was Written,
Albany, New York, copyright 1907.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

The exact origin of the word "yankee" is shrouded but by the mid-1700s it referred to the English colonists, particularly New Englanders. A "doodle" was a silly person or country bumpkin. And, the word "macaroni" referred to a group of young Britishers given to dressing in an affected manner (colonists might infer the British uniform); it also meant a kind of burlesque poetry.

On April 19, 1775, troops under the command of Brigadier General Hugh Percy, played "Yankee Doodle" as they marched from Boston to reinforce British soldiers already fighting the Americans at Lexington and Concord. Whether sung or played on that occasion, the tune was martial and intended to deride the colonials:

Yankee Doodle came to town,
For to buy a firelock;
We will tar and feather him
And so we will John Hancock.

(CHORUS)
Yankee Doodle, keep it up,
Yankee Doodle Dandy,
Mind the Music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.

There are numerous conflicting accounts of the origin of "Yankee Doodle." Some credit its melody to an English air, others to Irish, Dutch, Hessian, Hungarian and Pyrenean tunes or a New England jig. Its first American verses are attributed to British military surgeon, Dr. Richard Schackburg. Tradition holds that Schackburg invented his lyrics in 1755 while at the home of the Van Rensselaer family attending a wounded prisoner of the French and Indian War.

"Yankee Doodle's" catchy tune has allowed for seemingly endless adaptation and expansion. This early verse, probably Schackburg's, comments on the difference between the commissioned officers of the British military and those of the motley dressed Americans who then fought with them against the French:

There is a man in our town,
I pity his condition,
He sold his oxen and his sheep
To buy him a commission.

"Yankee Doodle" was well known in the New England colonies before Lexington and Concord but only after the skirmishes there did the American militia appropriate it. Tradition holds that the colonials began to sing it as they forced the British back to Boston on April 19, 1775, after the battles of Lexington and Concord. It is documented that the American's sang the following verse at Bunker Hill:

Father and I went down to camp,
along with Captain Good'in,
And there we see the men and boys
as thick as hasty puddin'.

As George Washington received his commission and took command of the nascent Continental Army on Cambridge Common, additional verses evolved and were incorporated:

The Washington Elm, Cambridge, Massachusetts, copyright 1899.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

And there was Captain Washington,
And gentlefolks about him,
They say he's grown so tarnal proud,
He will not ride without them.

and

And there was Captain Washington
upon a slapping stallion,
A giving orders to his men;
I guess there was a million.

By the end of the summer of 1775, the colonists had confined the British army to Boston and destroyed the royal governor's power. An 18th century copy of "Yankee Doodle," published in London, reflected this triumph. The following verse was included under the published title "Yankee Doodle; or, (as now christened by the Saints of New England) The Lexington March."

Sheep's Head and Vinegar,
ButterMilk and Tansy,
Boston is a Yankee town,
Sing Hey Doodle Dandy.

By 1777, "Yankee Doodle" had certainly become an unofficial American anthem. Following General Burgoyne's surrender of British troops to the Continental Army on October 17, 1777, British officer Thomas Anburey wrote:

…the name [of Yankee] has been more prevalent since the commencement of hostilities…The soldiers at Boston used it as a term of reproach, but after the affair at Bunker's Hill, the Americans gloried in it. Yankee Doodle is now their paean, a favorite of favorites, played in their army, esteemed as warlike as the Genadier's March — it is the lover's spell, the nurse's lullaby…it was not a little mortifying to hear them play this tune, when their army marched down to our surrender.¹

Burgoyne's Surrender at Saratoga [detail],
photomechanical print, copyright 1911.
George Washington Papers, 1741-1799

Fittingly, "Yankee Doodle" is also said to have been played at Yorktown, along with "The World Turned Upside Down," when Lord Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington at the end of the war.

After the Revolutionary War, "Yankee Doodle" surfaced in stage plays, classical music, and opera. An 1887 theater piece jokingly referred to the song having 199 verses.

The writer, producer, and composer George M. Cohan adapted "Yankee Doodle" for his Broadway play Little Johnny Jones, the story of an American jockey who goes to England to win a derby. A portion of Cohan's 1904 play was incorporated into the biographical 1942 film Yankee Doodle Dandy staring James Cagney as Cohan, and again into the 1955 movie The Seven Little Foys starring Bob Hope and Cagney. [Eddie Foy (1854-1928) was a vaudevillian who performed with his seven children.]

• "Yankee Doodle" remains immensely popular. Music for the Nation, 1870-1885 boasts seven sheet music versions. Search on Yankee Doodle to find them.
• The George Washington Papers, 1741-1799 is an online collection of Washington's papers. Search the collection by keyword or browse the various series by date. The Time Line and Essays provide context for the papers and point out many of the most significant documents.
• Browse through the documents of the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789 for a wide variety of material related to the beginnings of the nation's government. This collection also contains a Time Line of events related to the Republic's birth.
• The Learning Page is designed to help teachers, students, and life-long learners use American Memory. From its Collection Connections section, select, for example, Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention 1774-1789 for a wide variety of suggestions on how to incorporate materials from that collection into a curriculum.
• For more information on individuals and events related to the era search the Today in History Archive on names of key figures such as Crispus Attucks, John Hancock, Isaiah Thomas, Nathanael Greene, Richard Montgomery, the Green Mountain Boys, John Paul Jones, and George Rogers Clark.

  "Yankee Doodle," Joe Bedrosian, performer,
  Fresno, California, April 24, 1939.
  California Gold: Folk Music from the Thirties, 1938-1940
  
  Listen to this recording (Real Audio format)
  
  Listen to this recording (wav format, 4117 Kb)

Yankee Doodle went to town,
A riding on a pony;
Stuck a feather in his hat
and called it macaroni.

(CHORUS)
Yankee Doodle, keep it up,
Yankee Doodle Dandy,
Mind the Music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.

¹ Thomas Anburey, "Travels," (1st ed., vol. 2, p. 50) quoted in Oscar Sonneck, Report on "Star Spangled Banner" "Hail Columbia" "America" "Yankee Doodle" (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1909), 109.