Remember this wonderful story from the home page of Revivie 1775?
In 1843, 91-year-old Capt. Levi Preston was asked by a young historian why he had fought in the American Revolution. Was it the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, perhaps the treatises of John Locke? “No, sirree,” the captain countered. He had not seen any stamps, sipped any tea, or read anything other than the Bible, the catechism, and Watts’s Psalms. “What we meant in going for those Redcoats was this: we always had been free, and we meant to be always free. They didn’t mean we should.”
I thought you might enjoy hearing more about Watt's Psalms.
Isaac Watts was born in England in 1674 and died in 1748. He was a popular hymn writer, considering hymns a tool for evangelization. He was a nonconformist and thus, was not allowed to attend Anglican universities Oxford or Cambridge.
He was extremely prolific not just in hymn writing but other writings as well.
But it's his hymns that the people of New England knew him for most.
Not only did they use Watts Psalms in their meeting house, but also in their homes.
Next time you open a hymnal in church – if you go to a church that still uses hymnals, watch for Isaac Watts.
And when you sing "When I survey the wondrous cross," know that through the ages, you'll be touching Revolutionary times.
The Green Mountain Boys, under the command of Ethan Allen marched under this flag. This militia group was from the New Hampshire Grants that later became Vermont. This militia formed to protect their land grants which were granted by New Hampshire. The British government officially gave them to New York. So, when New York attempted to take control of their lands, the Green Mountain Boys militia was born. On several occasions, Ethan Allen and his boys repelled attempts to take their land.
Nathaniel Mulliken. Clockmaker. Lexington, MA.
"Grandfather Brown," she says, "told me this story :
Specifically, I have been seeking the names of the Acton Minutemen that marched early on the morning of April 19th to join their brothers-in-arms on Punkatassett Hill in Concord. 
But. . . just before conference began I realized that it’s been over a year since I had a finished product to show to the world. A WHOLE YEAR???? That is not acceptable for the journeyman writer (hat tip
Before I go further though, throughout this silly series, we see the same characters just moving from place to place as the day progresses. Here, on the Green, we see this MAN OF LEXINGTON who is the focus of the scene. In the series, he’s one of Sam Adam’s buds named Kelly. He leads the Lexington men, gives them their order not to shoot first, then becomes a martyr to Pitcairn’s torture. Balderdash!!!
For this post, I’ll mutter a bit about the Sons of Liberty portrayal of the night of April 18th and the early parts of April 19th – up through the “Battle” of Lexington Green.
In the series, there’s a fight scene between Revere and a Redcoat patrol that tries to stop him from alerting the countryside. Revere did run into a patrol on the road to Lexington but he was able to evade them with Brown Beauty’s speed. But I did like this scene – which could have been inserted later and been more accurate. When Revere is asked who he is, he answers “I’m a colonial scout for an armed resistance against the tyranny of General Gage and the British Crown.” The Redcoat says “Really” – totally unconvinced. But it was a great line and made me smile. And, frankly, I really liked their version of Revere. He was a real fighter. I like that in a Revolutionary War Hero. More about the “Paul Revere Show” in another post.