Chelmsford Minutemen to Replicate March to Concord

In his everyday life, Jim Curley may have nothing in common with a man from 1775. But when this local history buff suits up with stockings, breeches, and a musket, all of that changes.

Curley embodies the very first and true American dream - a nation of independence - as a Chelmsford minuteman.

Curley said a quite a few Chelmsfordians marched to Concord to fight in the beginnings of the Revolutionary War. Chelmsford minutemen are not to be confused with the more famed Lexington minutemen, who wear specific uniforms.

Chelmsford minutemen were farmers and merchants, Curley said, and would not have been able to assemble uniforms.

"We dress in what would be appropriate for our day-to-day attire if we were from 1775," he said. "We are trying to re-enact what it was really like way back then. We all have different types of weapons. Some of us have firearms, some have long or short muskets, it depended on what that person could get. That's what it would be like."

But to Curley, it's about more than wearing the clothes of a Revolutionary War soldier.

"To participate in starting this country, it gives me goosebumps," he said. "When you think about what we’re doing, we’re re-enacting the thoughts and feelings of those days gone by. We get a little worked up sometimes."

Especially when Curley thinks about how the locals here had a duty to house, feed and clothe the British who were occupying them.

"We had to provide for them and daughters were not off limits," he said. "You think about that and it just gets your blood boiling. No wonder we had a revolution, it was completely wrong. We had a natural right to be governed as ourselves and not to pay homage to England, who was living off our purse."

Though Curley said he's only been a minuteman for about two years, he's always been interested in local history.

"I went to a Patriots Day event at the bridge in Concord a few years ago and I said, 'I want to do that' ," he said. "I love history and I love the fact that this is where it all began, the shot heard around the world, and the first instances of a true revolution."

Curley loves to spend his time the library's local history room, and is particularly fond of a book called The History of Chelmsford.

Curley's daughter, Claire Petrillo, said she remembers when he first checked the book out of the library.

"He read us every fact about Chelmsford," she said.

But it's true - local history holds a special place in Curley's heart.

"At the North Bridge, every day is April 19, 1775, and you get to re-enact it over and over again," he said.

 Keeping History Alive

On Patriots Day 2012, the Chelmsford minutemen will walk from Chelmsford to Concord's North Bridge and join the other local minutemen for a re-enactment ceremony.

This traditional walk, usually done with Boy Scouts, had stopped in recent years.

Tomorrow, the Chelmsford Minutemen will take a practice walk from Chelmsford Center to Carlisle Center to get a sense of how long the walk might take on Patriots Day.

Chelmsford Minutemen Captain John Greenwood remembers doing the same walk in the 1970s with his Boy Scout troop.

"It was really cool, walking with these guys with muskets and (in those) outfits. There were a lot of us in those days, probably a couple hundred (scouts)," he said. 

The minutemen would tell the scouts about their weapon and talk about the historic route they were taking.

"Some snuck off ahead of the group, hid in woods and fired at us to give us an idea of what it was like for the minutemen when the British fired on them while they were marching," he said. "You never expected it to happen and they just fired on us all of a sudden."

Greenwood said a lot of residents don't realize the history that is in their own back yard.

"I worked at the national park in Concord for years as a volunteer and you see people coming by the bus load from all over the world to see this bridge and what happened here and yet you didn't see a lot of people from the area," he said.

A New Generation of Minutemen

Tomorrow's practice walk will be about five miles, a straight route from Boston Road to Concord Road - believed to be the actual route the minutemen took in 1775. April's walk to Concord will be about 11 or 12 miles.

Greenwood said he will be excited to share the walk with the Boy Scouts that inspired him to become a minuteman when he was 15.

Curley said the goal of the walk is to get more visbility in town and also to get the Boy Scouts to think more about the colonial days.

"Usually they learn about it in second grade and never talk about it again. So it is to try to get them to understand a little about what it was like back then," said Curley.

About eight of the minutemen will walk the route tomorrow.

 "We're just going to be walking down the street ... But it'll be enough of a spectacle with our muskets," said Curley.

Curley and Greenwood are hopeful some of the Boy Scouts accompanying the minutemen on April's trip will be inspired to join when they're older.

"Some people do it because it's fun, they get the fire musket with no special permit because it’s a replica can't be used as a real weapon," Curley said. "A lot of people do it because it's something that dates back to that time and we feel a connection to it."