By MARK PRATT, Associated Press
BOSTON — Archeologists using 21st-century technology are mapping out the exact spots British soldiers and Colonial militiamen were standing as they fired at each other during a pivotal skirmish on the first day of the American Revolution.
Parker’s Revenge, as the fight is known, occurred on April 19, 1775, after the battles of Lexington and Concord as the redcoats retreated to Boston.
Capt. John Parker, commander of the 77-member Lexington militia, had met the 700-strong British column on the green at 5:30 a.m. Eight of his men were killed and 10 wounded.
Undaunted, Parker planned his revenge, positioning his remaining men on a rocky hillside on the border of Lexington and Lincoln and awaiting the return of the British early in the afternoon.
“Parker met a force approximately 10 times his size and took 20 percent casualties on the green, then made the choice to go after them,” said Bob Morris, president of the nonprofit Friends on Minute Man National Park. “It’s the kind of heroism that cries out to be researched and memorialized…..”
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