Bedford claims its Revolutionary role Its place in history overshadowed by neighboring townsBEDFORD -- For most people, tales of the American Revolution conjure images of Lexington's Battle Green and Concord's Old North Bridge.
''Tourists lump the two together. That's really what they think happened here," said Lexington historian S. Lawrence Whipple. ''They don't try and separate other surrounding towns." Which is unfortunate for Bedford, the suburb that borders Lexington and Concord and is celebrating its 275th birthday this month. Though Bedford is home to the country's oldest flag, sent the most men to Concord's early morning fight and was the regular meeting place for Boston's Committee of Public Safety, the town somehow has had to take a back seat to its more famous neighbors. The only bow to Bedford that poet Ralph Waldo Emerson makes in his epic poem of the start of the Revolutionary War is noting the presence of Bedford's flag at the Concord bridge on April 19, 1775. And even the Bedford Minutemen, modern-day battle reenactors who refer to Emerson's poem when talking of the flag, are not 100 percent sure he even meant Bedford. For some of Bedford's 13,000 residents, the Colonial snub is irrelevant. For others, it's an irritating thorn in the town's unique historical past. ''There has always been feeling as long as I've been here about Concord and Lexington and how they feel they are the Revolutionary towns and no one else counts," former selectwoman Louise Maglione said in an interview. Maglione even recalls a man expressing rancor about Bedford's status at a meeting held about 20 years ago. ''One time some man got up at Town Meeting and said 'Bedford is a valley of humility between two mountains of arrogance.' " But Bedford Historical Society chairman Don Corey is not bothered. ''I don't begrudge Lexington and Concord their place in history," he said. ''I can't believe we should be up there with Concord and Lexington. You have to give credit [because] the battle took place there. Bedford didn't have any battles." ''But we have a great deal to be proud of," he said of contributions that ''tend to get forgotten." According to Corey and fellow historian John Filios, 77 Bedford Colonials, the largest contingent of Minutemen, showed up at the Old North Bridge to fight. ''It was almost a universal turnout of men and boys who could walk and carry a weapon," said Corey. ''It was unusual for a town as small as Bedford, with 550 residents, to have that many men under arms," Filios said. The town's red, silver, white, and gold flag, the oldest intact flag in America, flew throughout the battle and was then brought back to Bedford and stored. ''We think now it's from the early 1700s," Corey said of the silk and damask flag designed and made in England. ''We have it by oral tradition that it was carried into battle by Nathanial Page." During the Revolutionary War, patriots from Boston and other towns met at Domine Manse, Minuteman reenactor David Wright said of the house that still stands at 110 The Great Road. Wright said people tend to forget about Bedford because the battles that history speaks of were fought in Lexington and Concord. But Bedford ''is just as important as any other nearby town." (The bloodiest battle of the day was fought along Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington, the town that lost the most men.) The Bedford Minutemen reenactors emblazon T-shirts with the first stanza of Emerson's poem ''Concord Hymn," which refers to the flag. ''He never mentions Bedford," Wright said. ''It could be any flag." But the reenactors believe Emerson spoke of Bedford's flag, which is now displayed at the town library. In the last few years Bedford has honored the flag by creating a safe space for it at the library and by dedicating a bronze statue of Nathanial Page carrying the flag at Veterans Memorial Park on The Great Road. ''Lexington and Concord have these wonderful statues that go way back in time," Wright said. ''Those two statues are world known." Since 1965 Bedford has honored the Colonials' resistance against the British with an annual pole capping at Wilson Park. A reenactor shimmies up a 30-foot pole and plants a red cap on top. The ceremony is attended by more than 300 reenactors from New England, Wright said. That red cap signifies freedom, Wright explained. During the Revolution, the patriots would hang a red flag in Boston to signify a meeting. ''It grew into an act of defiance," Wright said. Red stockings cropped up throughout New England, but were quickly torn down by the British. ''We know that Bedford had a liberty pole in Wilson Park in the 1800s to stand in commemoration of that time," said Wilson. The town's history may never be as well known as Lexington or Concord. But it's known in Bedford, where residents proudly display and wear replicas of the flag. And Bedford children's librarian Sharon McDonald wrote the book ''The Bedford Flag Unfurled," explaining the flag's history. ''Lexington has the green, Concord has the bridge, and we have the flag," Filios said. Although it hasn't happened yet, Whipple said time may change Bedford's place in history.
''Things always get straightened out in the end," he said. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
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