列克星敦和康科德纪念独立战争爆发 250 周年
【中美创新时报2025 年 4 月 19 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）周六黎明时分，这座典型的新英格兰小镇的草地上响起了枪声，拉开了为期一天的纪念引发美国独立战争的战役的序幕。二百五十年后的今天，数以万计的观众在这里和康科德观看了重演者重演开场白。《波士顿环球报》记者Brian MacQuarrie和丹尼·麦克唐纳对此作了下述报道。
在莱克星顿，马萨诸塞大道东侧传来鼓声。50多名面色严肃的当地人手持火枪，站在宽阔的草地上。随后，一声枪响，如同1775年一位身份不明的枪手所开枪一样。
作为回应，约80名英国演习人员用枪发射空包弹，在一个阴冷的早晨，草地上烟雾缭绕，火焰四起。八名列克星敦民兵倒地，以精心设计的动作，刻画着伤员的致命伤势。另有十人受伤。
英军方面，只有一名士兵伤亡，受了轻伤。当战斗在他们面前展开时，另外还有260名英军重演者在马萨诸塞大道的行军队列中等待着。平民重演者观看了这场戏剧性的场面，其中包括代表民兵家属的妇女和儿童。
来自纳舒厄的 66 岁的洛伊斯·沃西纳 (Lois Voisine) 从周六凌晨 1 点起就一直待在巴特尔格林 (Battle Green)，热切地期待着重演一场小规模冲突，她说，在这场冲突中，所有 8 名殖民地死难者都与她有关。
“我几个月后就要搬到默特尔比奇了，所以现在是时候了，”沃西娜谈到她在列克星敦第一次观看重演时说道。“这已经是我的愿望清单上了。”
英国军队进入列克星敦纪念建军250周年，人群发出嘘声
这场里程碑式的重演拉开了为期一天的纪念活动的序幕，活动庄严而喜庆，旨在纪念这场战役爆发半百周年。这场战役最终以殖民地的胜利告终，并引发了长达八年的战争。林肯和阿灵顿也举行了相关活动。
美国前财政部长罗西·里奥斯 (Rosie Rios) 表示：“这是关于那些冒着一切风险的人们的故事，它让我们想起了美国的故事。”她目前担任美国250周年纪念活动的主席，该活动是一项非营利性活动，旨在动员全国各地的社区共同纪念美国独立战争的周年纪念日。
列克星敦官员估计那里的人群有 20,000 至 25,000 人。
周六，在扮演保罗·里维尔的演员离开波士顿，踏上历史性的午夜骑行之旅，警告殖民者英国军队正在推进几个小时后，列克星敦的庆祝活动拉开帷幕。
在列克星敦，黑暗中聚集了大批观众，他们围在临时围栏后面，但距离战场足够近，可以观看战斗。一位解说员向人群讲述了正在发生的事情，饰演民兵队长约翰·帕克的斯蒂芬·科尔再次敦促他的士兵们在红衣军前进时坚守阵地。
继莱克星顿重演之后，康科德又上演了更多戏剧性事件。周六早晨，第一教区教堂的钟声响起，警告英军正在行动。1775年4月18日，英国将军托马斯·盖奇从波士顿派遣700名士兵连夜赶赴战场，夺取据称藏匿在那里的殖民地军需物资。
250年后，一位扮演塞缪尔·普雷斯科特医生的演员骑马前往北桥——他从逮捕里维尔的英国巡逻队手中逃脱，骑马前往北桥——在那里，陷入困境的红衣军后来被叛军击退——拉响了警报。康科德民兵在那里鸣放礼炮，康科德独立炮兵连也发射了几发齐射。
数百人聚集在桥边，庆祝“响彻世界的枪声”周年纪念日。19世纪美国诗人拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生在其1837年的诗歌《康科德圣歌》中描述了这场冲突。一群重演者身着独立战争时期的服装，戴着三角帽，站在桥边的一座纪念碑附近。
“快去抓住他们，小伙子们，”一名路人说道。
附近摆放着大炮，凌晨5点45分刚过，人们就以工会的名义冲向炮筒。狂欢者们用手机记录下了这一幕。街对面聚集着更多重演者。人群的规模每分钟都在增长。
两个城镇都举行了错开时间的游行，康科德于上午 8:30 开始，列克星敦于下午 2 点开始。
此外，民兵国家历史公园是一条沿着英军从康科德血腥撤退路线的 5 英里长的小道，公园将在上午 9 点到黄昏的不同时间和地点举办讲座、生活历史遗址和战斗演示。
题图：民兵在莱克星顿战场上向推进的英军开火。约翰·图卢马茨基/《波士顿环球报》记者
附原英文报道：
Lexington and Concord mark 250th anniversary of start of Revolutionary War
By Brian MacQuarrie and Danny McDonald Globe Staff,Updated April 19, 2025, in 25 seconds
The minutemen fire back at the advancing British troops on Lexington Battle Green.John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
LEXINGTON — Gunfire rang out on the grassy common of this quintessential New England town just after dawn Saturday, kicking off daylong commemorations of the battles that sparked the American Revolution.
Two hundred and fifty years to the day, tens of thousands spectators watched reenactors replay the opening salvo here and in Concord.
In Lexington, drums sounded from the east on Massachusetts Avenue. More than 50 stern-faced locals stood with muskets on the grassy expanse. Then a single shot rang out, just as it had from an unknown gunman in 1775.
In response, about 80 British reenactors discharged blank cartridges from their firearms, clouds of smoke and bursts of flame erupting on the green on a cloudy, cool morning. Eight of the Lexington militia dropped to the ground, depicting the fatally wounded in choreographed detail. Ten more were wounded.
On the British side, one casualty: a single, slightly wounded soldier. While the battle unfolded in front of them, an additional 260 British reenactors waited on Massachusetts Avenue in the line of march. Civilian reenactors watched the drama, including women and children representing families of the militia.
Lois Voisine, 66, of Nashua, had been in place on Battle Green since 1 a.m. Saturday, eagerly anticipating the reenactment of a skirmish in which, she said, all eight of the Colonial dead were related to her.
“I’m moving to Myrtle Beach in the next few months, so it was now or never,” Voisine said of watching her first reenactment in Lexington. “This has been on my bucket list.”
Crowd boos British troops as they march into Lexington for 250th anniversary
The milestone reenactment launched a full day of commemorations, both solemn and festive, to mark the semisesquicentennial of the battles, which resulted in a colonial victory and ignited the eight-year conflict. Lincoln and Arlington are also holding events.
”This is about people who risked everything, and it reminds us of the American story,” said Rosie Rios, a former US Treasury secretary who is chair of America250, a nonprofit effort to engage communities across the country in commemorating the Revolution’s anniversaries.
Lexington officials estimated the crowd there at 20,000 to 25,000 people.
Saturday’s celebration in Lexington unfolded hours after a reenactor playing Paul Revere left Boston to embark on his historic midnight ride to warn colonists that British troops were advancing.
In Lexington, throngs of spectators gathered in the dark, ringing the battleground behind temporary fencing but close enough to watch the fight. A narrator told the crowd what was transpiring, and Stephen Cole, who portrayed militia Captain John Parker, once again urged his men to stand their ground while the Redcoats advanced.
Following the reenactment in Lexington, more drama unfolded in Concord, where bells at the First Parish church tolled Saturday morning as a warning that the British were on the move. On April 18, 1775, British General Thomas Gage dispatched 700 troops from Boston on an overnight mission to seize colonial military stores that he was told had been hidden there.
Two hundred and 50 years later, a reenactor portraying Dr. Samuel Prescott, who escaped from the British patrol that had arrested Revere, rode to North Bridge — where the embattled Redcoats were later repulsed by the rebels — to sound the alarm. The Concord Minute Men fired salutes there, and the Concord Independent Battery unleash several volleys.
Hundreds gathered by the bridge to celebrate the anniversary of the “shot heard round the world,” as the 19th-century American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson described the conflict there in his 1837 poem “Concord Hymn.” A group of reenactors stood near a monument by the bridge in Revolutionary War garb, including tricorn hats.
“Go get ‘em boys,” said one passerby.
Cannons were arrayed nearby, and people in union form ramrodded the cannon barrels shortly after 5:45 a.m. Revelers recorded the proceedings on their phones. More re-enactors milled about across the street. The crowd’s size grew by the minute.
Both towns were holing parades with staggered times, beginning at 8:30 a.m. in Concord and 2 p.m. in Lexington.
In addition, Minute Man National Historical Park, a 5-mile trail along the bloody British retreat from Concord, will feature talks, living-history sites, and demonstrations of the fighting there at various times and locations from 9 a.m. to dusk.
