Saturday, May 23, 2026
10:00 am to 4:30pm
Minute Men of 1861
North Bridge Visitor Center, Concord
In the spring of 1861, President Abraham Lincoln put out a call for volunteers to suppress the secessionist rebellion brewing in the south. As a result, thousands of men from local communities like Concord, Acton, and Lowell answered the call as “Minute Men.”
Shockingly on April 19, 1861, the 6th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Militia (Minute Men) came under attack by a secessionist mob while transferring trains in Baltimore, Maryland. In a brutal melee the secessionist killed five militiamen and wounded 36 others. Overall, the battle resulted in the death of twelve Baltimoreans. These casualties are often cited as the first combat casualties of the American Civil War. For many of the Massachusetts soldiers, the symbology of their first combat experience occurring on the same day their grandfathers started the revolution was poignant.
Learn more throughout as you engage with Park Rangers and Living Histoy volunteers.
11 am
Mustering the militia: The Minute Men of 1861
Following the outbreak of war in early April 1861, Massachusetts militia men rushed to protect Washington D.C. These volunteer militia represented a wide range of Massachusetts civilians. Like their grandfathers in 1775, these men responded in a moments notice to protect the communities they held dear. Join historian Tyler Grecco as he examines the men of Massachusetts’s volunteer militia in 1861.
2 pm
The Pratt Street Riot: Battlefield in Box
