2
episodes · 1992–2003
Captain Jonas Parker
Jonas Parker was the captain of the Lexington militia at the opening of the American Revolution. As British regulars approached Lexington Green, he called roughly seventy Minutemen into formation against a force many times their size. Parker did not order an attack. He told his men to hold their ground, keep their weapons, and fire only if fired upon. His measured command could not prevent the mysterious first shot or the violence that followed. Eight colonists were killed and others wounded as the British marched on. Parker's place at Lexington shows the discipline and resolve of ordinary townspeople standing together at the uncertain beginning of a war.