The Revolutionary War was delayed.
The crowd at the Old North Bridge shuffled in place, ears straining for the sound of drums, children craning from the their parents’ shoulders for the sight of a tricorn hat or a bright red coat.
There were footsteps on the gravel by the Minute Man Memorial and the drums finally sounded with a rat-a-tat-tat. The Redcoats were on the march, 248 years after the original “Shot heard round the world” was fired on the bridge by farmers fed up with English rule.
