Happy belated Bahti Meskerem! Bahti Meskerem and Mount Adal are to Eritrea what Lexington and Concord are to the American people. The Battles of Concord and Lexington were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775 in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America. The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising over Lexington. The day after the battle John Adams left his home to ride along the battlefields. He became convinced that "the Die was cast, the Rubicon crossed." Thomas Paine had previously thought of the argument between the colonies and the home country as a kind of lawsuit but after news of the battle reached him he rejected the King of England forever. George Washington received the news of the battle at his home and wrote to a
friend, "the once happy and peaceful plains of America are to be drenched in blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?"
Received on Tue Sep 03 2013 - 19:24:58 EDT