18. The Civil War Begins, 1861

During the Civil War, Concord's Town House provided a center for enlistment and soldiers' relief activities and a hall for lectures and other events to disseminate information. This broadside - dated April 17, 1861 - documents Concord's immediate response to the call to service following the surrender of Fort Sumter on April 13, 1861. Concord soldiers departed for Washington on April 19, 1861, a date evocative of the town's role at the beginning of the American Revolution. Six years later, on April 19, 1867, Concord honored its Civil War dead by dedicating a memorial obelisk in Monument Square on the green in front of the Town House.