Concord nevermore existed ’twixt our people and the foemen—
On they came in haste from Concord, where a few had stood to fight them,
Where they failed to conquer Buttrick, who had stormed the bridge despite them;
On they came, the tools of tyrants, ’mid a people who abhorred them;
They had done their master’s bidding, and we purposed to reward them.
We, at Meriam’s Corner posted, heard the fifing and the drumming
In the distance creeping onward, which prepared us for their coming;
Soon we saw the lines of scarlet, their advance to music timing,
When our captain quickly bade us pick our flints and freshen priming.
There our little band of freemen, couched in silent ambush lying,