Tradition reports his order (JOHN PARKER) at Lexington Green to be "Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."   He witnessed his cousin Jonas Parker killed by a British bayonet. Later that day he rallied his men to attack the regulars returning to Boston in an ambush known as "Parker's Revenge."

John Parker
(July 13, 1729 – September 17, 1775)
This statue known as The Lexington Minuteman was originally meant to represent the common Minuteman, but has now become accepted as Captain John Parker. It is by Henry Hudson Kitson and it stands at the town green of Lexington, Massachusetts. It is not actually based on Parker's appearance, as no known likenesses of him survive today