John Barker Primary Source

A primary source is a document that was created at the time of a historical event. Some examples include: the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, and the Mayflower Compact. All of these are documents written by an individual who was personally involved in a historical event. They are not telling us what other people witnessed; they are telling us what they witnessed. The primary source that I want to look at is a first-hand account of the battle of Lexington and Concord during the Revolutionary War, which was written by Lieutenant John Barker. In the next few paragraphs I want to explain a little about who John Barker was, why he wrote this account, and how it can help us teach history. Lieutenant John Barker was an officer in the …show more content…
At one point he even calls one of them “a very heavy fat man”. (Barker’s Account) He not only degraded some of his commanding officers, he also questioned some of their decisions. A few times he remarks that they should have done some things a different way. He was not happy with the way the battle turned out and he did not hesitate to voice that opinion in his diary, even remarking that the battle “from the beginning to end was as ill planned and ill executed as it was possible to be”. (Barker’s Account) Although he shows his displeasure toward the British more than he does for the colonists, he still tries to make the British look good. One example of his bias toward the British is in his account of the first shot of the war. According to Lieutenant Barker, the colonists fired the first shot, to which the British answered with a few shots of their own. (Barker’s Account) It is typically said that no one is sure who fired the first shot. As an American I would like to say the British shot first but that is just my bias toward the United States. Barker’s account just helps us to see that he may have disagreed with some of his officers, but he still wanted his country to be the good