A Shot Heard Around The World
On the night of Tuesday April 18, 1775, the light on the Old North Church in Boston warned a silversmith named Paul Revere, a member of the Sons of Liberty, that British soldiers were going to advance on the colonial militia up the river to Lexington where rebels had stashed some arms and munitions. Paul Revere rode his horse on the trail the twelve miles to Lexington where the militia had hidden their arms. On the morning of Wednesday April 19, those British soldiers engaged the militia on Lexington green.
Some members of the Lexington militia fell in this skirmish as well as some British troops. The colonials retreated from the green, but those who fell were the first Americans to die fighting what began as the War for Independence. In his epic poem, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized this as the “midnight ride of Paul Revere” and used the term “the shot heard around the world” as the colonials fought against the British troops on the morning of Wednesday April 19, 1775.
The British troops continued to march on to Concord where a larger force of colonial militia were waiting for them. The arms that were in Lexington were in Concord and the battle on the Concord bridge caused the British troops to retreat back to Boston. Along the way, the colonials followed the British troops as they began to suffer casualties. By the time that the British reached Boston, their ranks were reduced with some officers being among the casualties.
The colonials were using tactics learned from the native Americans. Rather than engaging the British on a battlefield in formation as battles were fought in Europe; they hid behind trees and in the bushes and targeted specific soldiers, picking off the officers first. The red coats of the British that were designed to hide blood if the soldier was hit proved to make them easy targets for snipers in the woods. This was a different kind of warfare for the British that was unlike what had been learned in Europe.
It had been 168 years since the first British settlement in Jamestown Virginia in 1607 and almost 155 years since the first British settlement in Massachusetts in 1620. In that span of roughly seven to eight generations, the English settlers in North America were different than their countrymen in England. They were larger in size and generally healthier than their European counterparts.
This is largely because the settlers in the new world were not living in crowded disease-ridden cities, and many had settled in scattered smaller settlements throughout the colonies. They were also more independent and self-sufficient than their European cousins. They had learned survival tricks from the native Americans, and many copied their mannerisms and clothing of buckskin and fringes. Most important, they learned to live on the land, taking advantage of what nature had provided. By 1775, the British settlers had become Americans.
What began on Lexington green in Massachusetts on that April day in 1775 was the beginning of a bloody six-year war for Independence that ended in October 1781 with British General Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown in Virginia.
We might have won a war for independence; but we had no government. That had to literally be invented. That was accomplished in a convention held in Philadelphia in 1787 that gave us the constitution, a framework of a government that still stands to this day as the law of the land. It was a radical step in the later 18th century.
In the first national census, mandated by the constitution, to be done every ten years so legislative districts could be adjusted for population, there were a little over three million people living in the thirteen states. In the 2020 census; the population of the United States, a nation of fifty states and seven territories was roughly 331.4 million people.
Seven years ago this summer, I had the opportunity to visit Lexington and Concord and the trail that traces the ride of Paul Revere on that April night 250 years ago when I spent some time in Boston over an extended weekend visit. This is a photo of the Concord bridge in Massachusetts where the British troops met and engaged the colonials in battle.
Lee Kamps
Lee has been working with Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance since he began working at the Erie County Welfare Department in January 1973 where a major part of his job was determining eligibility for Medicaid. He went into the private insurance business in 1977 with Prudential Insurance Company and within a short time had become one of the company’s top sales agents. In 1982, he was promoted into management where he managed two field offices and as many as thirteen sales agents. After leaving Prudential in 1986, Lee decided to become more focused on health insurance and employee benefits. He has advised many local employers on how to have a more cost effective employee benefit program as well as conducted employee benefit meetings and enrollments for many area employers. The companies Lee has worked with ranged from small “mom and pop” businesses to local operations of large national companies. Lee received his B.S. degree from Kent State University where he has been active in the local alumni association. He has completed seven of the ten courses toward the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist designation. He has taught courses in employee benefits and insurance at Cleveland State University and local community colleges. In addition, Lee is an experienced and accomplished public speaker. He has been a member of Toastmasters International where he achieved the designation of “Able Toastmaster – Silver” in 1994. He has also served as a club president, Area Governor and District Public Relations Officer in Toastmasters as well as winning local speech contests. Lee has also been a member of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association’s Speaker’s Bureau where he was designated as one of the “official spokespeople for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” prior to the hall’s opening in 1995. He has given talks and presentations before many audiences including civic organizations, AARP chapters and many other community groups. With the implementation of the Medicare Modernization Act (Medicare drug bill) in 2006, Lee has shifted his focus to Medicare and helping Medicare beneficiaries navigate the often confusing array of choices and plans available. As an independent representative, Lee is not bound to any one specific company or plan, but he can offer a plan that suits an individual person’s needs and budget. In addition, Lee is well versed in the requirements and availability of various programs for assistance with Medicare part D as well as Medicaid. While he cannot make one eligible, he can assist in the process and steer one to where they may be able to receive assistance.