Isaac Davis
Isaac Davis (February 23, 1745 – April 19, 1775) was a gunsmith and a militia officer who commanded a company of Minutemen from Acton, Massachusetts, during the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. In the months leading up to the Revolution, Davis set unusually high standards for his company in terms of equipment, training, and preparedness. His company was selected to lead the advance on the British Regulars during the Battle of Concord because his men were entirely outfitted with bayonets. During the American advance on the British at the Old North Bridge, Davis was among the first killed and was the first American officer to die in the Revolution.
In the town of Concord, a statue called The Minute Man was placed on the approximate site of Isaac Davis’ death. The statue is the work of sculptor Daniel Chester French, who is better known for his 1920 statue Abraham Lincoln which resides in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. French used descendant’s of Isaac Davis as models for the statue and Isaac Davis’ plow, now on display in Acton’s Town Hall, as the model for the plow in the statue.
The Isaac Davis statue has become a lasting symbol of the Minute Men and their courageous stand against the British Regulars. Its significance is so profound that the National Guard adopted the image as the idealized representation of the citizen-soldier, embodying the very spirit from which they trace their lineage.
