As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, those who portray the soldiers that fought for — and against — the American Revolution are readying themselves for battle.

A number of events will be reenacted in Massachusetts to mark the semiquincentennial, including the Battle of Lexington and the naval Battle of Gloucester.

Steve Cole, the captain of the Lexington Minutemen, will have his troops there. His group is helping to organize both, and it’s a job Cole takes very seriously.

“At the end of the day, sure, it’s fun to dress up and, you know, shoot the muskets and everything else, but we do it to honor the men and women that stood up for our liberties,” he said.

A multi-generational Lexington resident, Cole went to his first reenactment of the Battle of Lexington as a baby and has rarely missed an anniversary since. This coming year marks his 30th in the Minutemen.

“We have the honor and privilege of portraying and representing the first veterans of our country,” he said. “Actually, the first to die for the country and the first to stand up to the British crown.”

The members of the Minutemen each portray a different individual in history who was really fought in the militia. As captain of the group, Cole plays the role of the real-life Captain John Parker, the legendary figure who led his men onto Lexington Green one early April morning in 1775.

Cole has learned a great deal about Parker. The group takes pains to research all the men they play, looking through depositions given after battles, old newspapers, town documents, and pensions records.

Because of that research, Cole said that contrary to what many might say in history books, Parker didn’t have military experience prior to leading men in the early aughts of the revolution.

Many other men in the 153 person regiment had military experience. So why then did they pick Capt. Parker, Cole has asked him. “It says a lot about his character.”

Parker was also fighting tuberculosis at the time, succumbing to the disease just a few months after the battle.

“He still had that strength in leadership to stand up to the largest and most powerful army in the world at the time, and then, after getting a thorough-ass whooping that morning, continue fighting,” Cole said. “To be able to portray and honor and represent him, next to being a dad, it’s probably one of … my greatest honors.”

But not everyone is so lucky, or so eager, to play the winning heroes in the story.

On the other side of Lexington Green, Mike Graves also portrays a Revolutionary War figure, albeit one wearing red.

Graves is the Lieutenant (he pronounces it the British way, like “left-tenant”) Colonel and Commanding Officer of His Majesty’s 10th Regiment Afoot in America.

“You can find everything out about us at Redcoat.org,” he said. Those who navigate to the site will see a tab called, “Take A Shilling,” which was the phrase that meant, “enlist” during Revolutionary times.

He joined the group 2005 after moving to Massachusetts from Nebraska. Graves’s son, who was in the sixth grade at the time, was obsessed with history. When, on a family outing, his saw members of the regiment in their red coats recruiting, he asked his dad to join.

He said to Graves, “You know, you have to take me everywhere, so you might as well just join, too.”

When asked if they had come across some militia men that day, if they would have joined the Minutemen instead, Graves wasn’t sure.

“This was initially driven by my son. He’s kind of an anglophile,” Graves said.

“The uniform is a recruiting tool,” he added, and the impetus that got the whole regiment started.

Graves has worked his way up the ranks for about 20 years, but the reenacted regiment was founded actually in 1968 by a former Hollywood makeup artist, who went to a reenactment and was a little disappointed with what he saw.

At the time, there weren’t many groups portraying the British soldiers, and those who were didn’t really look like they were from the most powerful army in the world, Graves explained.

“He saw these British soldiers, who were dressed in, like, papier-mâché hats and red bath robes,” Graves said. “They basically looked like circus clowns.”

“Americans, these militiamen, were standing up to one of the best trained, best equipped armies in the world,” he said. “If you want to portray that, then you need people who accurately portray the British soldier as they stood in 1775.”

Suffice to say, the uniforms of the regiment now are authentic and elaborate, by modern standards.

“Basically, the uniform of the day was just a three piece suit,” Graves said, with breeches, a linen shirt, and a waist coat. Most suits would have been wool, great for the cool April morning of the Battle of Lexington, less so on a warm summer day for the Battle of Gloucester.

Then there are the buttons, forty or so, pewter on a regular soldier and silver for an officer.

Although his son isn’t a part of the regiment anymore, Graves said, he’s turned some of his experience into a career. He’s now a tailor who has created costumes for his former comrades and the patriots on the other side.

“My attitude is, the better they look, the better we all look together,” Graves said.

When the battle is over, the men from both sides who spent a day fighting and many months planning that fight ahead of time, are actually friends.

“People, they see us fighting out on the battlefield, but we’re all going out and having a beer together after,” Graves said. “We’re very close. We’re partners. And, you know, we couldn’t do this without each other.”