Front:
Inscription on the Old Monument on Lexington Common
SACRED TO LIBERTY & THE RIGHTS OF MANKIND!!!
THE FREEDOM & INDEPENDENCE OF AMERICA
SEALED & DEFENDED WITH THE BLOOD OF HER SONS.
THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED
BY THE INHABITANTS OF LEXINGTON,
UNDER THE PATRONAGE & AT THE EXPENCE, OF
THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,
TO THE MEMORY OF THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS,
ENSIGN Robert Munroe, MESSS. Jonas Parker,
Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, Jun.,
Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington AND John Brown
OF LEXINGTON, & Asabel Porter OF WOBURN,
WHO FELL ON THIS FIELD, THE FIRST VICTIMS TO THE
SWORD OF BRITISH TYRANNY & OPPRESSION,
ON THE MORNING OF THE EVER MEMORABLE
NINETEENTH OF APRIL, AN. DOM. 1775.
THE DIE WAS CAST!!!
THE BLOOD OF THESE MARTYRS,
IN THE CAUSE OF GOD & THEIR COUNTRY,
WAS THE CEMENT OF THE UNION OF THESE STATES, THEN
COLONIES; & GAVE THE SPRING TO THE SPIRIT, FIRMNESS
AND RESOLUTION OF THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS.
THEY ROSE AS ONE MAN, TO REVENGE THEIR BRETHREN'S
BLOOD, AND AT THE POINT OF THE SWORD, TO ASSERT &
DEFEND THEIR NATIVE RIGHTS.
THEY NOBLY DAR'D TO BE FREE!!
THE CONTEST WAS LONG, BLOODY & AFFECTING.
RIGHTEOUS HEAVEN APPROVED THE SOLEMN APPEAL;
VICTORY CROWNED THEIR ARMS; AND
THE PEACE, LIBERTY, & INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA, WAS THEIR GLORIOUS REWARD.
Built in the year 1799.
Inscription written by Rev. Jonas Clark, pastor of the Lexington Church
1755 to 1805
Back:
For a Message from
LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS
THE BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICAN LIBERTY
FOR THE ADDRESS ONLY
