The Concord Hymn
Ralph Waldo Emerson
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
In 1837, this hymn was sung to the tune "Old Hundredth" during the 4th of July celebration of the town of Concord, Massachusetts, for the dedication of the Obelisk, a battle monument commemorating the battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, erected near the North Bridge where the initial battle took place. By 1837 the bridge had been lost to a flood.
The first stanza is inscribed on the base of Daniel Chester French's Minute Man Statue.