At 2pm on Sunday, April 20th, the Town of Arlington will be joined by the Menotomy Minuteman and participants from many historical reenactment groups to reenact the Battle of Menotomy. Beginning at Mass Ave and Grove Street in Arlington, this ‘running’ battle will stretch nearly one mile of Mass Ave, ending at Medford Street. Spectators will watch several significant battle engagements. Spectators are only allowed to watch on the northern side of Mass Ave.
About the Battle of Menotomy:
The Battle of Menotomy was the longest and bloodiest engagement of April 19th, 1775. On that fateful day, Menotomy (now Arlington) was a crossroads village of about 400 farmers, millers, tavern keepers, and their families (“Menotomy” deriving from the Indigenous term for “flowing water;” our Mill Brook.) Here 79 companies of minutemen from 16 towns, 3800 militiamen in all, surrounded and engaged His Majesty’s troops on their retreat from Concord and Lexington. While adding to the grim statistics of the day (forty royal troops killed, and 25 colonials lost), the Battle of Menotomy was decisive proof (as John Adams would argue to the Continental Congress) that the Crown and its colonies were in a state of war.