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{shortcode-dd08abb0bb2b02bf4881baaa9fb305566107f8d4}he Redcoats march past a Verizon store, and the engine of a Kia Soul thrums beneath us as we watch them. They hold their rifles upright, silhouetted against illuminated ads for unlimited data and new iPhones. In the neon glow, the car’s dashboard stares back into our bleary eyes: 4:16 a.m.
On April 19, 2025, 250 years after the “shot heard round the world,” crowds lined the streets of Lexington, Massachusetts, to watch a reenactment of the 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord.
The sun rises over a crowd of spectators, some of whom arrived as early as 2 a.m., as Paul Revere shouts from horseback, “The Redcoats are coming!” Out-of-sync loudspeakers narrate the scene as it plays out. A few minutes later, a group of children perched in a tree above our heads alert us to the imminent arrival of the British regiment. The force, with bright red jackets, muskets in hand, and feathers in their hats, marches into the town common to the jaunty sound of drums and pipes. The first shot of the battle rings out, as it did a quarter of a millennium ago, just after dawn.
For the next ten minutes, gunfire and shouts fill the air; horses trot inches away from the motionless bodies of fallen soldiers. As the musket smoke lifts and the sun rises higher in the sky, the crowds begin to clear.
Though John Duchesneau did not fight in the morning’s battle, he stands out in Peet’s Coffee dressed head-to-toe in his replica 1770s Continental Congress uniform.
A member of the Artillery Company of Newport, Rhode Island, a ceremonial unit of the Rhode Island Militia initially chartered by King George II, Duchesneau is no stranger to historical reenactment.
Though Duchesneau has eagerly attended this event for decades, he says the 250th anniversary reenactment is unique. While he admires the authenticity of the battle’s early start, the sheer number of attendees exceeded his expectations.
“I’m old enough to remember the Bicentennial back in 1976 and that was a big thing going on then,” he says. “I don’t think I’ll be around 50 years from now, so I better make the most of this one.”
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While longtime enthusiasts like Duchesneau are thrilled by the historic milestone, the event also attracted newcomers. Rosario Drayton, who has lived in Lexington for 11 years, says this was her first time at the reenactment. Prompted by her son Isaac’s interest after learning about the battle at school, they had made the trek to Lexington Battle Green at 3:00 that morning.
“It was fun seeing them act,” says Isaac, a middle school student. “It really made me feel like I was there. And lots of fun just watching what things were like back then.”
After the fallen soldiers are resurrected at the call of the faulty loudspeakers, we talk with one of the redcoats, Captain Leonard A. Torto, “captain of grenadiers for His Majesty’s 10th Regiment of Foot.”
Like Duchesneau, Torto initially enlisted in the historic military unit because he “wanted to do something for the Bicentennial.”
When asked why he had chosen to join the oppressive British forces instead of the New England patriots, he gestured to his outfit. “Come on, look at these uniforms!” he said.
Aside from his uniform and interest in being part of “a real group that wants to accurately portray what soldiers looked like at that time,” he argues for the importance of a multifaceted history.
“There’s two sides to every story,” he says. The reenactment, for Torto, encourages people to ask how tyranny and oppression were overcome in an earlier era.
While the official event only engaged with the past, some attendees attempted to bring revolutionary ideas into the present. As Boy Scouts toted signs advertising their pancake breakfast at a local church, some members of Lexington Alarm! walk along the parade route holding red, white, and blue signs declaring “No King! No Tyranny! — Support the Rule of Law,” and “In America the Law is King! – Thomas Paine 1776.”
Vice Chair of the Select Board of Lexington Jill I. Hai, who was not involved with the protest, believes the battles are not just important for Lexington, but for the world at large.
“We started, here, a revolution to break away from tyranny,” she says. “We still hold those same values today, that we are in support of democratic and constitutional rights.”
“It’s wonderful to be able to share our history,” she says. The Battles of Lexington and Concord, she adds, “not just started a revolution, but really changed the world.”
