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Tom Hampton the Minuteman
by Cong
The whole night, I was worried about fighting, and
about killing another man. I had never killed another man before. To
me, killing another man is not right, but I would have no choice if he
was trying to kill me in battle.
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I was in a deep sleep until I heard yelling outside. It sounded like a man. I jumped right off of my bed, and I rushed to the window to see who it was. It was a man on a horse. I realized it was Paul Revere yelling out, “The British are coming. The British are coming.” I rushed to my closet. I only one minute, I got my clothes on and my hunting rifle ready. I was a minuteman/ I was called that because I was ready to fight at a minute's notice. After I got my gear., I rushed down stairs quietly, trying not to wake my family up, but my wife was downstairs. She was crying And begged me not to go.
I did not say anything. Then she gave me a locket of her picture and my son. My son woke up and asked me, where was I going? I did not want to make him cry, So told him that I was going away for one night. That I would be back soon. I told my son to go back to sleep, and I kissed my wife goodnight. Outside I saw all the other minutemen and farm workers with guns. They were rushing to the church. I could hear bells ringing and drums making rattling noises. I felt cold and afraid. We all met up with Captain Johnson, the head of the minutemen. He told us all to line up near the meeting house. I ask Captain Johnson Why are the British coming? He said That they want the guns and powder hidden in Concord.
The whole night, I was worried about fighting, and about killing another man. I had never killed another man before. To me, killing another man is not right, but I would have no choice if he was trying to kill me in battle. Just thinking of blood makes me feel sick. I keep seeing my wife and my son’s faces. I thought of them the whole night. I can still hear my wife telling me not to be a minuteman, and to think about our son. She is worried that I might be killed in battle and our son may not have a father. I told her that I am fighting for her and our son, and for this country.
Slowly the sun began to rise. All the bells and the drums stopped making noise. It was quiet. All the other minutemen thought the Red Coats went somewhere else until we heard marching feet. It got louder and louder then we saw a bloody river of Red Coats stampeding down a hill. They came closer it looked like a thousand Red Coats and we only had 75 minutemen, “There are just too many of them,” I heard Captain Johnson say.
Some of the other minutemen began to move off to the woods. Then someone fired a gun shot that startled everyone. No one knows who fired it. It could have been the Red Coats or the minutemen, but it did not matter because everybody began to shoot at each other. Minutemen fell all around me. I was afraid, but I still fired shots at the Red Coats. Some of us ran to the back of trees to take cover. I could see blood flying all over the grassy fields. I got sick to my stomach. I leaned around a tree trunk to have a look, and I could see British soldiers getting into formation to fire their muskets. I saw the bark of the tree flying off. The muskets were firing so loud, that it made my heart skip a beat. It was as loud as thunder. The British were being killed in large numbers because their formation was just standing there, firing without taking cover. I thought that they were crazy. We had a good chance of winning if we kept on taking cover, and firing back. I think that I killed about 16 of the Red Coats.
Epilogue
The battle lasted for a long time until the Red Coats retreated and more rebels came to help us out. After the battle Captain Johnson told us that eight minutemen died today. May God rest their souls. We found out later that 73 Red Coats died and we wounded 174. Although it seemed like forever it had only been hours since I hugged my wife and son. My whole family was worried sick about me because they knew I was in the battle. All I wanted to do was to go to sleep and never have to kill again.