Billerica Committee Marks 250th Anniversary of Town's Minutemen Marching to Concord

BILLERICA -- April 19, 2025, Billerica marks the 250th anniversary of its minutemen's role in the Battle Road fighting with a Patriots Day encampment in Concord. Tom Tringali, a member of the Billerica 250th Anniversary Committee, told attendees at Saturday's event near Merriam's Corner that Billerica received the alarm of the British expedition around 2 a.m. on April 19, 1775, mustered within three hours, and arrived at Merriam's Corner at roughly 9 a.m. where militia from Billerica, Chelmsford, and Reading fired on the rear of the retreating British column. Richard Hawes of the Billerica Colonial Minutemen, who maintained an encampment at the Concord Museum throughout the weekend, called the Merriam's Corner exchange "one of the first offensive acts of the war" and noted that Billerica subsequently passed a law barring sheep slaughter after August 1775 to preserve wool for soldiers in the field. The encampment, which included musket-ball casting, broom making, period cooking, and a soap-making demonstration, is the opening event of a commemorative program the Billerica 250th Anniversary Committee plans to carry through July 4, 2026.