Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Involvement by Edmund Rice Descendants

Michael A. Rice, Treasurer Edmund Rice (1638) Association, Inc. Summary

• Historical background leading up to the Battles of Lexington & Concord April 18- 19, 1775 • Brief biography of key leaders in the battles • Details of the progression of the battles and their aftermath • Some Edmund Rice descendants who were participating combatants in the battles Historical Background 1

• Boston Tea Party --- December 16, 1773  In response to increasing taxes & business restrictions 1760s (including Stamp, Townsend Acts) after the Seven Years War  Tea Act of 1773 favored W.D. Cooper. 1789. "Boston Tea status of East India Company Party." In: The History of North America. London: E. Newberry tea monopoly excluding Publisher. colonial shipping businesses Historical Background 2

• American Colonies Act of 1766 Declared Parliamentary sovereignty to North America • Massachusetts Government Act of May 20, 1774 abolished the Great & General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony & asserted greater royal control of governing appointees • Massachusetts Provincial Congress formed Oct. 5, 1774 & w/ John Hancock as its president; this extralegal body became the de facto Seal of the Provincial Congress of government of Massachusetts outside Massachusetts, "By the sword we of Boston; & it maintained the seek peace, but peace only under Colonial Militia (including the liberty." ) Historical Background 3: Address to Parliament by King George III on February 6, 1775

 We ... find that a part of your Majesty' s subjects, in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, have proceeded so far to resist the authority of the supreme Legislature, that a rebellion at this time actually exists within the said Province; and we see, with the utmost concern, that they have been countenanced and encouraged by unlawful combinations and engagements entered into by your Majesty's subjects in several of the other Colonies, to the injury and oppression of many of their innocent fellow-subjects, resident within the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the rest of your Majesty' s Dominions... William Faden’s 1775 Map of Boston showing British Defenses British Commanders in Boston

General Thomas Gage, Lt. Colonel Francis Smith, Governor of field commander of the 21 Massachusetts Bay, and companies in the expedition Commander-in-Chief, to Concord. Was wounded British forces in North west of Concord during the America. Ordered Smith evacuation to Boston. to confiscate weapons and powder at Barrett Farm.

Brig. General Hugh Percy, Maj. John Pitcairn, Royal Duke of Northumberland, Marines; led advance led relief column to cover guard into Concord & the retreat from Lexington wounded in action during to Boston; credited with the retreat. Evacuated to tactics saving lives of many Boston only to lose his British troops in retreat. life 2 months later at His half-brother, James Bunker Hill. Smithson, provided funds for Smithsonian Institution. Key ColonialBritish CommandersCommanders inin MassachusettsBoston

Colonel James Barrett of Captain John Parker of the Lexington the Concord Militia. It Militia was in command of the men at was at his farm west of Lexington Green. Reputedly ordered, Concord where powder “Stand your ground. Don't fire unless and weapons were fired upon, but if they mean to have a stored, prompting the war, let it begin here.” But they were British expedition. The scattered by the British firepower. Barrett farmhouse is Later in the afternoon he rallied his NRHP registered. men to attack the evacuating British in the ambush at Lexington known as “Parker's Revenge.”

Major John Buttrick of the Lt. Colonel John Robinson of Concord Militia led militia units at the Westford Minutemen was the skirmish at North Bridge. the highest ranking officer at Upon seeing Captain the North Bridge engagement. of the Acton Minutemen shot Despite his higher rank, he through the heart, ordered, "Fire, chose to defer command to fellow soldiers, for God's sake Buttrick from the local fire!" – the so called “Shot heard Concord Militia because of the ‘round the world” in Ralph Waldo much greater numbers of men Emerson’s Hymn of Concord. under Buttrick’s command Key ColonialBritish CommandersCommanders inin MassachusettsBoston

Brig. General William Heath commanded the combined Massachusetts forces during the last stages of the Battle of Lexington and Concord and in the aftermath siege of Boston, where he engaged in tactical training of the combined colonial militias. Dr. Joseph Warren, a physician and second President of the Massachusetts Provisional Congress, enlisted Paul Revere and William Dawes on April 18 to leave Boston and spread the alarm that the British forces in Boston were setting out to raid Concord. Warren participated in the Battles of Lexington and Concord the following day. He was later commissioned as a major general in the Massachusetts Militia and lost his life 2 months later at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Map by the U.S. National Park Service Amos Doolittle’s 1775 Engraving of the Battle at Lexington Green – Depicting British Firing on Scattering Militia Amos Doolittle’s 1775 Engraving of the Pitcairn’s Royal Marines Arrival in Concord Map by the U.S. National Park Service Amos Doolittle’s 1775 Engraving of the Engagement at the Concord North Bridge Amos Doolittle’s 1775 Engraving of the General Percy’s Relief Column Reaching Lexington Map by the U.S. National Park Service During the whole affair, the rebels attacked us in a very scattered, irregular manner, but with perseverance and resolution, nor did they ever dare to form into a regular body. Indeed they knew too well what was proper, to do so. Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob, will find himself very much mistaken. They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about, having been employed as rangers against the Indians and Canadians, and this country being very much covered with wood, and hilly, is very advantageous for their method of fighting. Report of Brigadier General Hugh Percy --1775 Comparative Battle Statistics

Massachusetts Bay Colony Great Britain

Strength: Leaving Boston 700 Lexington Green 77 400 Concord 400 100 End of Battle 3,960+ 1,500

Casualties and Losses: Killed 49 73 Wounded 38 174 Missing 5 53

Data compiled by Frank Warren Coburn (1922) from official reports Lexington Historical Society Edmund Rice Descendants Answering the Lexington Alarm of 19 Apr 1775

Name Birth Date Rank Town Served at John Barber 12 Oct 1742 Pvt. West Newton Cambridge Amos Rice 11 Feb 1743 Sgt. Northborough Lexington Asa Rice 12 Mar 1742 1st Lt. Shrewsbury Cambridge Ashbel Rice 28 Apr 1755 Pvt. Marlborough Lexington Eliakim Rice 1 Apr 1756 Pvt. Shrewsbury Cambridge Matthias Rice 31 Oct 1751 Pvt. Grafton Lexington Oliver Rice 7 Nov 1726 Pvt. Brookfield Concord Ezekiel Sawin 25 Dec 1751 Pvt. Natick Cambridge

Data from ERA Database courtesy of ERA Historian George King Lexington Alarm Memorial Plaque at Shrewsbury Minutemen of Northborough listed in Northborough History (1921) by Josiah Coleman Kent Minutemen of Northborough continued Sudbury Militia Response to the Lexington Alarm

 Six companies of militia mobilized; incl. one company of minutemen

 302 participants in the action

 Representing 1/5 of entire population of Sudbury at the time

 The 6 Sudbury companies attached to regiments of Col. John Barrett of the Concord Militia, and Col. Abijah Pierce of the Lincoln Militia, seeing action at Lexington during the retreat.

 Highest ranking Sudbury officer was Lt. Col. Ezekiel How Sr., the innkeeper of How’s Tavern. He was at Punkatassett Hill & North Bridge with Col. Barrett.

 Two Sudbury fatalities: Deacon Josiah Haynes & Ishael Reed Sudbury Minutemen in Capt. Aaron Haynes’s Company: In History of Sudbury 1638-1889 by Alfred Sereno Hudson Capt. Joseph Smith’s Company to Concord Capt. Moses Stone’s Company to Concord Capt. Isaac Locker’s Company to Concord Capt. John Nixon’s Company to Lexington Capt. Nathaniel Cudworth’s Company to Lexington Final Considerations

• The ERA Database has some but certainly not all military records of colonial militia members. • Descendants of Edmund Rice from all around the Lexington-Concord Region responded to the alarm and were part of the battles. • Sudbury was a major contributor of minutemen and militia to the battles, contributing about 8% of all colonial forces distributed between Barrett’s and Pierce’s Regiments • Edmund Rice descendants from Sudbury and elsewhere were contributors to effort.