Minute man

Minute Man is a bronze figure at Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts, showing a colonial militiaman life-size as he sets down his farming tool and takes up his musket. The figure stands on a granite pedestal and faces across the river toward the historic bridge, surrounded by open meadows and old trees.

Daniel Chester French created the monument in 1874 from melted Civil War cannons to mark the centennial of the 1775 skirmishes. The unveiling took place on April 19, exactly one century after the day when the first shots between colonial militiamen and British troops were fired.

The figure carries the first stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord Hymn carved into its base, a poem honoring the farmers who left their work and took up arms in 1775. Visitors often read the lines on the pedestal while looking across the quiet meadow where the first shots of the Revolution rang out.

Access follows paths through Minute Man National Historical Park, which run from the visitor center to the bridge and stay open year-round. The paths are relatively level and easy for most visitors to walk, with the short distance from the parking area taking only a few minutes.

Two time capsules rest beneath the base, one from 1875 and another from 1975, containing documents and memorabilia from both centennial celebrations. French used a real Concord farmer as his model to capture the posture of a man shifting between plow and musket.