National Guard units seeking to confiscate a cache of recently banned weapons were ambushed by elements of a Para-military extremist faction. Military and law enforcement sources estimate that 72 were killed and more than 200 injured before government forces were compelled to withdraw.
Speaking after the clash, Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage declared that the extremist faction, which was made up of local citizens, has links to the radical right-wing tax protest movement.
Gage blamed the extremists for recent incidents of vandalism directed against internal revenue offices. The governor, who described the group’s organizers as “criminals,” issued an executive order authorizing the summary arrest of any individual who has interfered with the government’s efforts to secure law and order.
The military raid on the extremist arsenal followed wide-spread refusal by the local citizenry to turn over recently outlawed weapons.
Gage issued a ban on weapons and ammunition earlier in the week. This decision followed a meeting in early this month between government and military leaders at which the governor authorized the forcible confiscation of illegal arms.
One government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, pointed out that “none of these people would have been killed had the extremists obeyed the law and turned over their weapons voluntarily.”
Government troops initially succeeded in confiscating a large supply of outlawed weapons and ammunition. However, troops attempting to seize arms and ammunition in Lexington met with resistance from heavily-armed extremists who had been tipped off regarding the government’s plans.
During a tense standoff in the Lexington town park, National Guard Colonel Francis Smith, commander of the government operation, ordered the armed group to surrender and return to their homes. The impasse was broken by a single shot, which was reportedly fired by one of the right-wing extremists.
Eight civilians were killed in the ensuing exchange.
Ironically, the local citizenry blamed government forces rather than the extremists for the civilian deaths. Before order could be restored, armed citizens from surrounding areas had descended upon the guard units. Colonel Smith, finding his forces over matched by the armed mob, ordered a retreat.
Governor Gage has called upon citizens to support the state/national joint task force in its effort to restore law and order. The governor also demanded the surrender of those responsible for planning and leading the attack against the government troops.
Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock, who have been identified as “ringleaders” of the extremist faction, remain at large.
Yeah, Justine worked it in Cody, she's selling memberships at the museum. We all rode together over there and the kids and I watched the big parade, then went river rafting. That took the whole day. Picked up mom, went to the gas station for giant froyo cones and just beat the thunderstorms in time to save Chester, who was in the yard. Then grilled some meats with friends before heading out to see the fireworks... but the rain settled in and at 9 pm we all wrote off the fireworks... at 10 pm the rain had stopped, the ceiling was at 1000ft or so and they started setting them off. The kids were already sacked out so we just stayed home. The cloud cover meant we could hear them just fine.
Oh, yeah. It was a kind of "shake your head" moment at first, but we've been laughing at it ever since. Do you remember my post a couple of years ago about tracing all the kitchen circuits to find the reason for a dead outlet and L fixed the problem by pushing "that little red button?" I think we're even on that score now.
I don't text people and I hope they don't text me, but once in a while... it's so rare that I can never remember the ringtone I set for it. So one time a guy had the wrong number and was texting me at 2, 3, 4 a.m. The phone would make this little clunk clunk sound a couple of times, then go quiet. Then he'd text me again and I'd wake up thinking What the... and then nothing so back to sleep... Then about 7 am I finally had a little MrsOTD-style eureka moment
Oh, yeah. It was a kind of "shake your head" moment at first, but we've been laughing at it ever since. Do you remember my post a couple of years ago about tracing all the kitchen circuits to find the reason for a dead outlet and L fixed the problem by pushing "that little red button?" I think we're even on that score now.
Nope. Not here either. Or at least, not after one or two beeps.
I don't text people and I hope they don't text me, but once in a while... it's so rare that I can never remember the ringtone I set for it. So one time a guy had the wrong number and was texting me at 2, 3, 4 a.m. The phone would make this little clunk clunk sound a couple of times, then go quiet. Then he'd text me again and I'd wake up thinking What the... and then nothing so back to sleep... Then about 7 am I finally had a little MrsOTD-style eureka moment
We went to a 4thof July/wedding anniversary party at a friends house up in the Sierras - whole pig on the spit, a five gallon pot of chili beans, another of baked beans, salads, pasta, desserts - I did say "party," didn't I? He has a shop/beer bar in his back yard with two walk-in coolers, four kegs of locally brewed beverages (wheat, pilsner, hard cider and sarsaparilla). There were about 125 guests, all ages, and fireworks afterward. He does this every year, and this was the third one we've attended. We met a lot of good, interesting people and re-met some we had talked to at previous parties. Great food and fun!
We left the party about 10 or 10:30 and went back to our hotel and to bed. About two in the morning, the alarm beside the bed, which we had not set, went off. BeepBeepBeep . . . BeepBeepBeep . . . BeepBeepBeep. L pushed every button she could find and it finally quit. About a half hour later, it went off again. BeepBeepBeep . . . BeepBeepBeep . . . BeepBeepBeep. L pushed buttons again and we tried again to get some sleep. But, another half hour and BeepBeepBeep . . . BeepBeepBeep . . . BeepBeepBeep. I suggested that she unplug it, so she did. A half hour later, BeepBeepBeep . . . BeepBeepBeep . . . BeepBeepBeep. This time I got up, put it in the bathroom and closed the door. Yep, BeepBeepBeep . . . BeepBeepBeep . . . BeepBeepBeep. So I put it outside the room on the walkway and went back to bed. Another half hour and another BeepBeepBeep . . . BeepBeepBeep . . . BeepBeepBeep. It was daylight by now, so I got up and started getting dressed to take the infernal battery backed up contraption down to the front desk and demand that they lock it up somewhere where they slept, but L said, "Oh, don't do that, I just figured it out. That's my cellphone telling me it needs to be charged."
I think we finally got caught up on our sleep this morning.
July 4th is second-to-nada. Walkin' home with my empanada.
Never done that, nope.
