THE LEXINGTON - CONCORD BATTLE ROAD
Hour-by-hour account of e,,ents preceding and on the History-making day April 19, 1775
CONCORD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
50c were morally certain of being put their perspiring bodies and parched ro death. themselves in an instant throats. . . . nor will the insurrection here The pond, like almost all fea turn out so despicable as it is tures of what was unspoiled coun perhaps imagined at home. For tryside or a small village compris my part, I never believed, I confess, ing the west end of Charlestown that they wd have attacked the in 1775, disappeared many years ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS king's troops, or have had the per ago. Under the impact of urban severance I found in them yester growth, this part of Charlesrown - day." was sec off as Somerville in 1842. The Boston National Sites Commission, Mark Percy's column wheeled to the All's Well left onto Beech street, from Mas .•. Bertman, Chairman, has petitioned Congress to sachusetts avenue, a quarter of a The last few musket shots establi:sh a national historic park along the Lex mile beyond the spot where three fl.ashed in the darkness as Gen. Amer,icans had been killed in the Percy's exhausted troops filed over ington-Concord battle road as a lasting memorial fight at the e_mpry casks, and came Charlescown Neck and reached the to the Minute Man. into the modern Somerville at the protection of Bunker H,ill. There corner of Beech and Elm streets. they flung themselves to the ground and waited, some of them The militia were too inexperi for hours, until arrangements could We are indebted to the Commission for the enced and too few in number to be completed and boats provided material in this booklet taken from their complete oppose Percy with anything like a to carry them across the river to frontal attack, but they exposed Boston. Thus ended the opeP-ing and interesting Interim Report to the Congress him to a hot fire from a grove not day of battle in the American of the United States. too far awav and killed several of Revolution. his men. As he had already done more than once on the rerreat, The British losses were 73 killed, Percy was compelled ro unlimber 174 wounded, 26 miss.ing, a total We are also indebted to the Boston Globe for of 273 casualties; while •the Amer his two field pieces and with can permission to use their edited story and the Boston non shot frighten and drive off icans had 49 fatalities, 41 wounded his adversaries. and five missing, a total casualty Herald for the picture of Meriam's Corner on list of 95. page 17. This sharp encounter took place at the corner of Elm street and Willow avenue in Somerville. Almost a mile farther on, the Cover picture of the Old North Bridge, Redcoats, now moving swiftly in Concord, Massachusetts, courtesy of Keith Martin, the last moments of daylight, came photographer for the Boston National Sites ro a small pond at the foot of the -- present Laurel street and Somer Commission. -ville avenue. Overheated by their exertions and frantic with thirst, many of the soldiers threw them selves into the water to refresh
Page Thirty-Two
In the house the Minute Men many or more British were finally who had no bayonets were at a slain in this stretch, which deserv great disadvantage, and the Red edly has been called "the bloodiest coats readily slew al they could half mile of all the Battle Road." reach. Some men from Beverly, and others, eight in number, fled The bu.ildings along the village into the cellar, and pointing their street of Menocomy had harbored so many Minute Men and made muske!S up the stairway, threatened " instant death to any soldiers who the route of the British retreat so Letter to Globe Included should follow. One venturesome hot and tantalizing that it was Redcoat took a chance and y.ras inevitable the harried troops would In Historical Park Report shot on the stairs. Another was sooner or later in their reckless killed in the fight on the floor fury make victims of some of the above. .innocent as well as the guilty. This very thing occurred at the Cooper A letter from an out-of--state couple, published in the After the British had gone, the Tavern. dead in and about the house were Sunday Globe of July 15, 1956, points up the significance at Jason Winship, 45, and Jabez gathered in a single room. When tached to the establishment of a National Historical Park along Mrs. Russell came home she found Wyman, 39, had already tarried her husband and eleven Minute too long over their mugs of ale the Lexington-Concord Battle Road of April 19, 1775. Men lying side by side on the floor and the landlord, Benjamin Cooper, in a common pool of blood. and his wife, Rachel, were mixing The letter writers, a man and his wife, who described flip at the bar when the Redcoats They were the largest number began shooting at the doors and themselves as "sad and disturbed," asked such questions as: of combatants, either American or windows and crowded .into the tap ._,,. British, to give up their lives in - room. The drinking companions "Is that tiny area all the ·space in Lexington and Concord any one place and at any one never had a chance. time during the course of the you have to spare to commemorate the epic events that day's conflict. The landlord and his spouse, occurred there? who escaped for their lives into (The Jason Russell House, com the cellar, made the incident appear mendably saved by the Arlington even more merciless and shocking "Has all the world forgotten? Historical Society in 1823, stands than it probably was. In a later today not far from its original lo depos.ition for the Provincial C�n- "Don't the residents of your section realize how vital to cation near the corner of Jason gress they described Winship and the world are the events that occurred there?" street and Massachusetts avenue.) his brother-in-law as "cwo aged gentlemen . . . most barbarously 5:30 P.M. and inhumanely murdered . . . The couple went on to state that "the Cradle of Democracy being stabbed thr,ough in many ( including Boston and Bunker Hill) should be a beautiful place, The section of the highway lead places, their heads mauled, skulls ing to the Cooper Tavern from the magnificent and shining for everyone to come and visit broke, and their brains beat out .._. ------Jason Russell House was, indeed, on the floor and walls of the the whole district should be a national park district." the scene of some of •the most _!i.ouse." frenzied and desperate action dur ing the running fight over an al most continuous battlefield. No The battle had reached the less than 20 Americans and as height of its feroc.ity at Menotomy.
Page Thirty end of Menotomy, now Arlington a swift blow before .ficishing him Heights, and half a mile farther on with ��ght inches of cold steel. came down again to lower ground known as the "Foot of the Rocks." Gen. Percy, riding his white Historical Significance of the There once again they were ex horse, offered a conspicuous target. posed to a fierce fire as Militia He escaped death or injury, but a 19th of April, 1775 from towns to the eastward and button was shoe from his uniform. nearer the coast began to enter The increasing number of Minute - - the fray. Men brought such pressure on his rear a.nd flanks that Percy .finally The Historical, Significance of the 19th of April, 1775: Beginning at the "Foot of the halted h.is column not far from the direct purpose of the military expedition to Lexington, as pre Rocks," the fire power of the Am "Rocks" and turned his two field ericans was greatly increased as sumed by the patriots who watched every move made by the pieces upon chem. The cannon shoe over 1700 men in no less than 35 hit no one, but temporarily, at British in Boston, wa:s to arrest John Hancock and Samuel companies began to swell the force least, scattered his pursuers. The Adams, who had taken refuge there as guests of the Reverend of Militia that had the Regulars destructive aspect of real war was under attack. Companies from Jonas Clarke following the adjournment of the Provincial Con now fully present as cannon balls Watertown, Medford, Malden, blasted the road, smashed into gress at Concord. These patriot leaders had been foremost in Dedham, Needham, Lynn, Bever stone walls and trees, and tore fomenting sedition against those acts of oppression and misrule ly, Danvers, Roxbury, Brookline jagged holes through houses. and Menotomy itself now thronged that for more than a decade had characterized the restrictive the roadsides. 5:00 P.M. Colonial policy of the King's ministers and Parliament. If The British were severely har captured, they doubtless would have been sent to England and - assed .in some of the bloodiest Jason Russell, 58 and lame, was - .fighting of the day as they re tried for treason. From Lexington, the royal troops were to one citizen of Menotomy who be treated over the long stretch of lieved that "An Englishman's house advance on Concord and seize the military stores gathered there more than a mile and a half of is his castle." So after tak,ing his by order of the Provincial Congress and the Committees of Massachusetts avenue from the wife and children to a place of "Rocks" to the center of the pres Safety and Supplies. greater safety, he had returned to ent Arlington. his dwelling and prepared for any Besides firing in the street or forays the British might make. The outcome, as every schoolchild knows, was a clash of from cover, the Militia and unat A group of Minute Men who arms. the shedding of blood, and the opening of the War of the tached individuals engaged rhe ran into a British flanking party Redcoats in hand-to-hand .fighting. American Revolution. When Samuel Adams heard the distant got to Russell's doorway just as In this manner, Dr. Eliphalet Earl Percy's column, coming up the rattle of British musketry on Lexington Green, he is alleged to Downer, who had arrived with the road, saw them and .fired, forcing have exclaimed, "What a glorious morning for America is this!" Brookline and Roxbury companies, them to take a shelter in che house. f,aced up to a British soldier and And, indeed, it was, for the volley which brought forth those killed him in a celebrated duel. The unfortunate Russell, with ecstatic and oft-quoted words from the "Father of the Revolu - - The bellicose physician, quickly his disabled foot, was the last to discovering he was no match for reach the door, and was stmck ·by tion" foretold the coming of Independence and the birth of a the ),legular in the fine points .of two bullets. As he lay in the new Nation. bayonet play, deftly reversed his doorway, the Redcoats stabbed musket. Using the butt as a club, him with no less than eleven bayo he then stunned his adversary with net thrusts.
Page Twenty-Nine 3:00 P.M. sides of the road and, from behind trees and the second line of walls Chronology of Incidents Gen. Percy opened his ranks a at more than point-blank distance, Relating to the 19th of April, 1775 half-mile east of Lexington Green .t:tsumed a fire that had been mo to adm,it Smith's men, "so much mentarily interrupted by the Br,it exhausted w�th fatigue, that they ish artillery. About this time, The Opening Day �ere obliged to lie down for rest three companies of Militia frqm on the ground, their tongues hang Newto_n also entered the fight. The of the \Var Minute Men had to give up the - ing out of their mouths, like those of dogs after a chase." The rescue chase as soon as -their ammun,ition of the American Revolution party was the King's Own 4th gave out. Their numbers, however, Regin::ient. were continually replenished along the way. Col. Smith's men rested for a The Revolutionary War of deeds, which began in earnest half-hour or more inside the J,ine 3:30 P.M. thrown out by the rescue party. on the 19th of April, 1775, was preceded by a long and no less The retreat of the British in the significant war of words, with Boston as the principal center of Meanwhile, Percy, with the two direction of East Lexington and fieldpieces he had brought along, Menotomy was resumed. Flankers agitation and objective of royal coercion. Fully living up to her opened the first cannonade of the prevented the Americans from reputation as the "Metropolis of Sedition," Boston was where Revolution. using any close cover and at the the first British regiments were sent in 1768 to enforce, what No Americans were killed or same time they entered and pll seemed to the inhabitants, the harsh and tyrannical measures w,ounded, but the meetinghouse on laged houses by the roadside with of a new British colonial imperialism and to quell the rebellious Lexington Green was struck and out restraint from their officers. rumblings of a people possessed not only of an ardent passion damaged. Percy's men, moreover, for freedom but a jealous knowledge of self-government. took pains to destroy any structure William Heath, one of five gen that might be used as cover by erals appointed by the Provincial The presence of the royal troops provoked the famous scattered groups of the Rebels for Congress co take charge of the Mi Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770. They were removed from sniping at the British flanks. Three litia, arrived at Lexington and soon the town temporarily, but were back again in greater numbers houses and three outlying build was joined by Dr. Joseph Wam,n. ings were both looted and burned. Both had attended a meeting of after the port was closed by act of Parliament following further defiant demonstrations by mobs and the populace in general. While this destruction was tak the Committee of Safecv at Menot ing place, the wounded were con omy -that morning after receiving 0£ these demonstrations, the Boston Tea Party of December 16, veyed into the Munroe Tavern, news of the baptism of blood at 1773, was an illustrious example. where their wounds were dressed. Lexington Green. John Raymond, a cripple, mixed Tension between patriots and the soldiery had mounted to drinks for the thirsty Redcoats at 4:30 P.M. the breaking point and more reinforcements were on the way fhe bar. When he tried to escape to aid in the increasingly difficult task of maintaining the King's The British troops trudged slow by the rear door, he was shot and - rule when General Thomas Gage, the military governor of the killed. ly on under the burden of goods they had stolen along the way. province, decided to take more positive measures to curb the bold Despite the precautions taken After advancing about two and a enterprise of the patriot leaders. The most important of these by Percy, marksmen among the half miles and soon after leaving measures for which preparations began to be made in March, Militia crept up in small numbers the Lexington line, they had to 1775, was a plan to send an expeditionary force to to woods and meadows on both climb Pierce's Hill near the west -Concord to destroy powder and other military supplies. Page Twenty-Eight MARCH 20, 1775 - MONDAY enemy was ".increasing from ill of the hill and, in greater disarray parts, while ours was reducing than before, hastened on toward Morning from deaths, wounds and fatigue, Lexington. and we were totally surrounded General Gage, Military Gover bearing on the topographical fea with such an incessant fire as it's impossible to conceive, our ammu 2:30 P.M. nor of the Province of Massachu tures 9f the landscape and, with the help of a friend of the royal nition was likewise near expended." The Americans kept a harrassing sens Bay, contemplating future fire on the flying foe as he sped operations into the country, sent g.overnment, learned about the lo Ensign De Berniere reported an cation of military stores being col even more humiliating siruatioµ: over Concord H.ill and on past Lex Captain Brown of the 52nd Regi ington Green. No stop was now ment, Ensign De Berniere of the lected at Concord by the Commit "When we arrived within a mile tees of Safety and Supplies set made to disperse any Rebels! No 10th Regiment, and a private on a up of Lexington, our ammunition be by the Provincial Congress. Plans gan to fail, and the light companjes Minute Men were now lined up secret scouting trip from Boston for a night march began to be laid to oppose the retreat. It was too to Roxb , Brookline, Weston, were so fatigued with flanking ury as soon as Brown and De Berniere that they were scarce able to :ict, easy to add to the enemy's discQm Sudbury and Concord. The three returntd from their mission. fiture on the flanks and at his were well armed and oo strikingly and a great number of wounded able tO get forward, made a rear. The situation had radically disguised fo "brown cloathes and (Daniel Bliss, a Tory, who liv.ed scarce great confusion; Gol. Smith had changed since the initial clash of reddish handkerchiefs" that th�y near the mill pond in the center arms at sunrjse. were readily recognized as spying of Concord, assisted Brown and received a wound through his leg, British soldiers. They, neverthe De Berniere. He left town with a m.14nber of officers were also As �he British ran on in con less, obtained useful information them never to return again.) wounded, so that we began to run fusion, more of their number were rather than retreat in order ... we killed and wounded. Three more attempted to stop the men and soldiers were abandoned near the form them two deep, but to no Lexington Green and carried into - - increased APRIL 15, 1775 - SATURDAY purpose, the confusion the Buckman Tavern, where one rather than lessened." of them died three days later. Morning In such a condition, the British The beaten British force was were to go on -the remaining mile The grenadiers and light infan now threatened w,ith complete dis Afternoon from Fiske Hill to the· village of solution before the relief party un try, comprising the flank oompanies Lexington. of the British regiments in Boston, The Provincial Congress, meet der Earl Percy could come to its were "taken off all duties 'till fur ing at Concord as the legislative Maj. Pitcairn as well as t..h.e aid. One last effort to restore dis ther orders." The reasons given for body representative of patriots in wounded Smith was a oonspicuous cipline, however, was made and this step were "Exercise and new the Province of Massachusetts Bay target for the M.inute Men 'ilnd succeeded in bringing the discom evolutions." Paul Revere and his and in defiance of the military Militia, whom Lt. Barker found "so fited troops together until they self-appointed patrol of patriots governor in Boston, adjourned. concealed there was ·hardly any could reach the protection of their noticed the removal of these troops John Hancock and Samuel Adams, seeing them." reinforcements. from their normal duties and re who had attended, went to Lexing With his superior in command, De Berniere described how it ported the fact to Dr. Joseph War ton to stay with the Reverend the Major tried valiantly to bring was done. "At last, after we got ren, �ho in turn relayed the intel Jonas Clarke, who resided in the - the men into line, but any hope through Lexington, the officers got ligence to the Committee of Safety. dwelling that is preserved by the of successfully reorganizing the to the front and presented their Preparations for an expedition into Lexingoon Historical Society and British oolumn had to be aban bayonets, and told the men that if the country to seize the military known today as the Hanoock doned. The distraught men, to the they advanced they should die. stores at Concord some 18 miles Clarke House. consternation of their officers, Upon this they began to form distant, were at once suspected. (The site of the meetinghouse broke and ran down the east side under a very heavy fire."
Paie Six Page Twenty-Seven sergeant ,in charge to surrender. ingcon, were once again to encoun where the Prov,incial Congress met of -the present First Parish Church, His request was not heeded and ter C1pt. Parker's little band· of late in 1774 and early again in Unitarian, on the south side of the drivers wh,ipped up their Minute Men under less favorable 1775 to lay plans for rebellion is Lexington Road near the central horses to get away. The old men, circu�stanc�s. Just over the line marked by a fitting tablet in front square of Concord.) who had taken aim, then fired, from Lincoln, the land rises sharply killing several of the horses and at a bend in the old road. There two of the soldiers, while some of many of Parker's men who had APRIL 16, 1775 - SUNDAY the others were wounded. not already gone on into Lincoln gathered and waited for vengeance. - Midnight or Soon After The drivers and guards who were not wounded or killed leaped As the sorely pressed Regulars in panic from the wagons and ran came ,into sight and finally drew Paul Revere observed "about 12 a Col. Conant, and some other to the shore of Spy Pond, a half- opposite their advantageous posi oClock at N,ight, the Boats be Gentlemen, that if the British went m,ile to the southward, where they tion, the Lexington men poured longing to the Transports were all out by water, we would shew nvo launched, & carried under the threw their guns into the warer. down a resounding volley. The lanthorns in the North Church Continuing Page Twenty-Six Page Seven dead and the Road was bloody." a mile ease of the bridge at Mer eight men in his company and into a pasture, where they were Yee at lease two British privates iam's Corner, they were attacked posted a guard at the Hancc-:k held for four hours. were kjlled in the road beyond the by the Sudbury company of Capt. Clarke House. • • scream, while several more were Nathaniel Cudworth, which cook • wounded. cover by the roadside. A constant 8:00 P.M. The grenadiers and light infan From Meriam's Corner on, the fire was kept up by the Minute try in Boston "were not apprised of warfare of the day became more Men as the Redcoats sped down The British horsemen rode the design, till just as jc was time and more of a guerrilla nature. It, the slope past the Brooks Tavern through Lexington w,ichouc at to march, they were waked by the indeed, was open season for shooc and over the line into Lincoln. tempting to molest Hancock and sergeants putting their hands on ·ing at the British. Any directing Crossing Tanners Brook, the Samuel Adams. The patrol con them and whispering to them." force and discipline beyond the British marched rapidly on. Across tinued on the old Bay Road to Lincoln. But Dr. Joseph Warren had the company unit were b.ck.ing and the bridge, the old road rums news almost before the British had even there they were slight as the sharply co the left. On the left As soonas the British patrol was left their barracks. He sear for Minutemen chose co .fight as indi hand side was a call growth of through Lexingcon, about 40 Min Paul Revere and William Dawes, viduals either exposed in pursuit trees and on the right one some ute Men gathered at the Buckman Jr. Dawes was dispatched over the or behind shelter. what smaller. Many Minute Men, Tavern on Lexingcon Green. route, longer by four miles, to Lex including the Bedford company of By these caccics the British force ,ington via Boston Neck, Roxbury, could not be destroyed, but jt could Capt. Jonathan Willson, raced co 8:30 P.M. Brookline, Cambridge and Menot at least be expelled from the coun reach the advantageous position omy (Arlington). tryside, and the casualties of the afforded by these woods. The British patrol passed the Americans kept to a minimum. farmhouse of Sgt. Samuel Hartwell 10:30 P.M. 1:30 P.M. of the Ljncoln Minc1ce Men. After In contrast, the British comman riding a mile or two farther on the Revere bid Capt. John Pulling, der cried to maintain his force in When the Regulars reached chis wooded portion of the highway, Concord Road, the patrol wheeled Jr. have two lanterns hung in the a solid formacjon on the highway, about and rode back toward Lex sLeeple of the Old North Church. exceoc when he sent out detach now cue off from the main route and known as Old Bedford and ·ington. ( The Hartwell House re He hurried to the north pare of the ments of light infantry in Banking mains today). .cown, where he kept a boat and movements. Virginia road, the Americans tµi der cover of the forest growth laid was rowed by two friends across These Banking parties were ef down a devastating fire that killed 9:00 P.M. the Charles River "a little to the fective and more than once caught eight men outright and wounded eastward where the Somerset man the local yeomen by surprise as many more. Fittingly, chis curving The Lexington Minute Men sent of-war lay." out scours on horseback to watch they fired from roadside walls, section of the road was soon to be (Joshua Bentley and Thomas the movements of the British pa boulders and trees. Of the cocal of named "The Bloody Angle." Richardson were the two friends trol. Elijah Sanderson, later a fa 49 Americans killed during the who rowed Revere across the river. The losses, to be sure, were not mous Salem cabinetmaker, Jona day's .fighting, it is probable that The,ir oars were muffled a petti all one-sided. In the heat of the than Loring and Solonic,n Brown, by more than twice as many met their coat, "yet warm from the body of action on the road, the Minute who had first spotted the horse face at the hands of the Bankers a fair daughter of liberty." Re as from the soldiers marching or Men forgot all about the British men, volunteered. .flankers. Capt. W;llson and two vere's boat was kept near the retiring along the highway. Charlestown Ferry, at the foot of ochers were shoe or fatally jabbed 10:00 P.M. 1:00 P.M. from the rear, and a fourth injured Prince Street). and disabled for life. The thre.! scours from Lexington The British detachment of about As the British approached the Half a mile farther on were were se,ized at pistol point by the 700 men assembled at the foot of cop of Brooks or Hardy's Hill, half three old houses, only a few hun- British patrol in Lincoln and led Boston Common under the general Page Twenty-Four Page NiM oommand of Lt. Col. Francis Smith Larkin and sent him off "to give Noon or Soon After Taking care not to be out-flanked, of the 10th Regiment and with the intelligence at Menotomy and the Reading men then advanced Maj. John Pitc::.irn of the Marines Lexington." The Brit,ish expeditionary force, to the cover of the bu,ildings and •in charge of the J,ight infantry. (Revere landed at a wharf off at last rested and organized as well stone walls at the homestead and Embarkation in boats on the .Back as possible for the return to Bos waited while the British slowly Bay began. Water St., just north of the present Charlestown Bridge and near City mn, pulled out of Concord, with made their way over a little bridge (The place where the troops en square. From there, he rode out flankers ordered up along the ri4ge that spanned Mill Brook, a few tered the boats was probably near the present Ma.in st. and headed - on the north of the road to Mer hundred feet farther along rhe the present corner-of Boylsoon and for Cambridge.) iam's Corner. highway. Charles streets, where the shore line Up to chis moment, the remain of the Back Bay then extended 12:30 P.M. der of the day might have passed back from the Charles River.) 11:30 P.M. without further ,incident. The few Beyond Charlesrown Neck, the As soon as the Americans who minutes of action at Lexington The British became well aware had been present at the fight at Green and Concord Bridge might of the fact that the secret of the present Sullivan square, Revere was confronted by two British the North Bridge received warn even have been written off as part expedition had not been kept suc ing that the British were heading of a chronicle without any ful.fill cessfully. Earl Percy, crossing Bos :horsemen waiting under a tree at a crossroads. Turning his horse back toward Lexington, they ment or far-reaching end. Such ton Common, heard a man say to crossed the Great Me::idows that however was not destined to be another, 'The British troops have abruptly, Revere galloped back to ward the Neck and took the road lay in the north of the village and the case'as the 1a:st of the grena marched, but they will miss their arrived at Meriam's Corner about diers, reaching the easr side of ;he aim." "What aim?" inquired Per for Medford, where he awakened Capt. Hall of the Minute Men be as soon as the retreating Redcoats. narrow bridge, suddenly turned and c:y. "Why," the man replied, "the In the vicinity of Meriam's Corner, fired a volley in the direction of cannon at Conwrd." fore pr-,c;eeding to Menoromy, alarmin_g almost every house on the ._ the numbers of the Militia were the Reading companies gathered way. increased to as many as 1100 as around the Meriam House. more men from ne,ighboring towns 11:00 P.M. From this volley, there was to (The Brit,ish horsemen who had appeared. be no point of return. A war had Revere arrived on the Charles barred Revere's path were on Cam From the north came the Biller opened that was not to end until town side and was met by Col. bridge st. at the present Charles ica, Chelmsford, Reading and W o Conant and others who had seen town-Somerville line. After wheel Yorktown. During the course of the light of the signal lanterns in burn companies. From the south, the next few hours, a continuous ing his horse, Revere rode over the those of Framingham and Sudbury. Page Ten Page Twenty-Three came upon three 24-pound iron from nearby houses. stating that the family did not wish with the Lincoln Minute Men. He cannon, which they knocked from to be d.isturbed by any noise. married Elizabeth Taylor in 1776. their trunnions, and destroyed a 11:00 A.M. Whereupon Revere cried out, small quantity of flour. Some gun "Noise! You'll have noise enough 1:00 A.M. carriages were also found and set The companies of Cape. Parsons before long. The Regulars are coming out!" Dawes and Prescott were riding on fire, together with a number r�curning from che Barrett farm, recrossed the North Bridge without about 200 yards behind Revere of barrels contammg wooden when the latter was surprised b interference from the Amer,icans - 12:30 A.M. y trenchers and spoons. The smoke and rejoined the main body of two Br.itish officers in .the road that rose from the burning of these troops in the square. They brought William Dawes, Jr., arnvmg at near the opening into the pasture supplies may have been seen by where the three Lexington scouts back the fuse story of atrocity in the Hancock-Clarke House from the M,inute Men gathering on the Revolution. his longer ride over Boston Neck had been taken prisoner three hours earlier. Dawes turned his Punkatasset Hill and prompted via Roxbury and Cambridge, set their attack at the North Bridge, They had ,observed .the bodies out for Concord with Revere. On horse quickly and sped down the perhaps, as much as the fires started of two of their slain comrades ly h.is ride, Dawes had managed to road back toward Lexington. He by the grenadiers in the town. ing beside the road near the ease elude the British sentrie.s on Bos made good his escape. end of the bridge. One of them ton Neck. While ·the action at the North had been k,illed instantly, but the Prescott jumped his horse over a soone wall, escaped down a farm Bridge was taking place, the four other, though woundec.l in the brief The bell in the belfr that stood y path by the swamp and carried the companies of light infantry under engagement, had not immediately on Lexingoon Green near the meet Capt. Parsons, returning from Col. expired. inghouse rang out the alarm and alarm to Concord. Revere made Barrett's farm, had got to a cross the Lexington Minute Men, about for a wood at the foot of the pas About a half hour later, a boy, ture, but just as he reached it, six roads still more than a mile away. .__ 130 in number, under Capt. John Charles Handley, a lad of 13 then hatchet in hand, had CJJOssed the Parker, began to assemble. of the Br,itish officers who were 1iving at a tavern kept by the bridge to join the force of Ameri holding the three captured Lexing Widow Brown, claimed later that cans. As he went by, the wounded Dr. Samuel Prescott, who had ton men, grabbed his bridle, put he "heard guns at the bridge, but soldier was sitting up and trying spent the evening with his sweet pisnols to his breast and forced him the British did not appear to hear to ra,ise himself to his knees. heart, Miss Mulliken, in Lexington, to dismount. Thus ended the fa. them." Whereupon ,the boy, doubtless un started on his journey of six miles mous ride of Paul Revere. ( The der the spell of the exciting action home to Concord. He overtook site of Revere's capture is marked that had just taken place and pos Revere and Dawes, who were soon with a tablet.) 10:00 A.M. sibly fearing the soldier meant to satisfied that he was "a high Son do him harm, decided to finish the of Liberty." 1:30 A.M. The main body of the British unfortunate victim by sinking the began to reassemble in the center sharp blade of h.is weapon into his Dawes and Prescott rode into Capt. Parker d,ismissed his men of Concord as Smith got back skull. the dooryard of a house near the on Lexington Green with orders to from the North Bridge and Pole's Lexingron-Linooln line and, on respond again at the beating of the company came in from the South The returning troops of Capt. knocking at the door, found Na drum. Those wh,o did not live near Br,idge. The men, who had been Parsons, seeing the corpse thus thaniel Baker, a L,inco!n Minute enough to go home repaired to the on the move since the night be mangled and bloody, originated ac - Man, still courting a Concord lass, Buckman Tavern. fore, were exhausted and needed oounts of exaggerated barbarism Elizabeth Taylor, who was visiting rest. The wounded required atten and cruelty. It soon became popu there. Baker, who lived in South Dr. Prescott came out of a tion and provision had to be made lar in England to believe that the Lincoln, spread the alarm ,on his thicket behind the house of Sgt. to carry them back to Bosnon. Rebels, in Indian fashion, scalped wz.y home. With his father, bro Samuel Hartwell of the Lincoln Chaises and horses were confis and cut off the ears of their ad thers and brother-in-law, he was Minute Men. He awakened the cated from stables, and bedding versaries. at Concord Bridge in the morning family and requested that the news Page Twenty-Two Page Eleve. be speeded to Capt. William Smith called out, "Have you heard any (The two British soldiers who discovered great fickleness and in of the Lincoln Minute Men, who thing about when the Regulars are were left on the ground are buried constancy of mind; sometimes ad lived a short distance back on the c;oming out?" One of the officers, beside a stone wall at the left of vancing, sometimes returning to road to Lexington. reaching for his sword, replied in the approach to the bridge. A slate their former posts" before definitely tablet bears a suitable inscription withdrawing into the village. Sukey, a slave girl, in terror of anger, "We will let you know when they are coming!" and struck Nel of verses from James Russell Lo While the British were engaged the British, refused to leave the well.) house, so Mary Hartwell, the ser son on the crown of his head, cut ,in these evolutions, about half the geant's wife, placing her 5-month ting a long gash. Thus was drawn American force of 400 recrossed the first blood on the opening Though the British were able w old infant ,in Sukey's arms, rushed the bridge to the west b�nk. There, morning of the Revolution! carry away one of their dead, their down the road to Capt. Smith's flight from the bridge was so com the bodies of Davis and Hosmer, house. The latter mounted his Nelson was taken prisoner, but plete that their wounded had to the Acton Minute Men, were taken horse and hastened to Lincoln was soon released and returned to hobble away as best they could. As oo the home of Maj. Buttrick, a Center, two miles to the south, liis home to have his wife bind up they passed the Elisha Jones House, handsome clapboarded dwelling where the two Lincoln companies his wound and dispatch him on Jones pointed his musket out of a that still stands on the slope of evenmally assembled and started horseback to Bedford, where he second story window, but his wife Punkatasset Hill but no longer in off for Concord. Thev were the spread the alarm. knocked it from his hands before view of the picmresque river set first companies to rea�h Concord • • • ·he could fire. Determined, how ting. A monument with a suitably from any of the neighboring towns. inscribed tablet commemorates Upon the arrival of Dr. Prescott, ever, to witness the spectacle be fore his eyes, Jones went down Maj. John Buttrick beside the • • • Concord was alarmed by the ring road nearly opposite the house. ing of the Town House bell. With stairs and stood ,in the doorway of Following his capture, Revere his shed. A retreating Redcoat, no When Captain Munday Pole gun in hand, Rev. William Emer was interrogated by the Br,itish, cfoubt welooming the chance to and his company of light infantry, son, grandfather of Ralph Waldo who became seriouslv disturb°ed shoot an insolent Rebel, took hasty who had seized the South Bridge Emerson ( who had built the Old when he told them that people for aim as he hurried by and fired. The at 8:00 a.m., heard the guns at Manse in 1769) was the first to a distance of 50 miles inoo the shot pierced the wall of the shed the North Bridge, they ac once answer the alarm. Three companies country were being notified about about a yard from Jones' head. The started back to the center of town of Minute Men and an alarm com ,their intended march. Maj. Mitch hole thus made is preserved today to rejo,in the main body. They re ell of the 5th British Reg,iment pany soon followed and gathered under glass and gives to the place .t_IJ.Oved the planks from the bridge at Wright's Tavern in the town gave orders for the prisoners to the popular name of the Bullet to protect their retreat. Some of mount and the party to ride back square. The task of removing and Hole House. Pole's troops were on Lee's HJll, t0ward Lexington. concealing the military stores that �n elevation about 100 feet high had not been sent away the day The Redcoats fleeing the North across the South Bridge, when the 2:00 A.M. before began. (Concord's first Bridge met Col. Smith coming to reports of musketry at the other Town House, erected in 1721 and their aid with his grenadiers about end of the town echoed in the sky. As the British officers and their used both for town meetings and a quarter of a mile away. They County courts, stood until 1794. were pursued by the Americ:;ns (Lee's Hill, now called Nashaw prisoners rode down .the road to tuc Hill, was 1:he home of Joseph Lexington, the hoof beats of their The Old Manse is preserved by the for only a shore distance. Mass. Trustees of Reservations. Lee, a Tory and the town's phy horses awakened Josiah Nelson, a sician,) Lincoln Minute Man, who had been Both Wright's Tavern and the - With his forces still divided, appointed to keep watch and carry Reuben Brown house survive.) Smith was nervous and undecided During their stay of an hour and the alarm to Bedford if the British • • • what oo do. According to Rev. a half at the South Bridge, Cap marched. William Emerson, who was watch tain Pole's company entered and The British grenadiers and light ing from the Old Manse nearby: searched at least three houses and Leaving his bed hurriedly, Nel infantry, who began to embark in "For half an hour, the enemy, by got food for which they were care son ran out into the road and boats on the Back Bay from Boston their marches and counter-marches, ful to pay the womenfolk. They Page· Twelve Page Twenty-One at their head" and "being a very co check the American advance at Common about 10:30 the evening The ladies brought with them a fat heavy man" so slowed up the the North Bridge and his leading before, crossed to Lech.mere Point "fine salmon" that Hancock and advance to the bridge as to m�e ranks of light infantry burst forth in Ease Cambridge. As the boats Adams had forgotten in their hasty it impossibl� ro arrive .in time to with the first shoes-three of them were heavily loaded and could not departure before sunrise. be of any help. which fell harmlessly into the river. be run in close, the troops had to The first full British volley fol wade ashore. They then waited "in The parry was about to sit down and make a meal of it when a Lex 9:30 A.M. lowed at a range of 75 yards or a dirty road" as much as three less. "Their balls whisled well," :hours "for provisions to be brought ington farmer rushed in w,ith a false rumor that the British were Capt. Laurie moved most of _his and Isaac Davis, the Acton cap - up from the boars and divided." ta-in, was killed as he was raising Each soldier then received a day's coming. They continued their men to the east end of the North .flight and .finally sat down to a Bridge, leaving only a few to pull his gun, and Abner Hosmer, one rations and 36 rounds of ammuni of his men, fell to the ground with tion. This delay was ser.ious as it repast of "cold salt pork and po up the planks. Maj. Buttrick, com tatoes served on a wooden tray" at -ing on at the head of the American a bullet through his head. gave the country people more tiine. Amos Wyman's in Billerica, a dis column, ordered the men at work In obedience to Barrett's oder, The troops were .finally ready to tance of more than four miles from to desist and accelerated the pace the Amer,icans had not fired first. advance about 2 a.m. They pro the Lexington parsonage they had of the militia. The men removing Maj. Buttrick now leaped inoo the ceeded through the west end of left earlier in the day. the planks stopped and hastily air aqd fervently shouted, "Fire, Charlestown, now Somerville, and formed for action in the road at fellow soldiers, for God's sake, cook a road skirting the northern 3:00 A.M. the end of the bridge. fire!" The words rang down the part of Cambridge to Menotomy. ranks and a volley was fired by all The British expedition arrived Laurie had little time to arrange who "could fire and not kill our in Menotomy, where the three his men effectively, for, as one of own men." A few more shots came 2:30 A.M. members of the Committee of his lieutenants later wrote, "the from the British, but their morale Revere and the three Lexington Safety from Marblehead - Col Rebels got so near h.im his people was broken by the number and - Jeremiah Lee, Col. Azor Orne and were obliged to form the best way scouts were let loose near the vil force of the round balls that came lage of Lexington and the British Elbridge Gerry, later signer of the They cou'd . . the three com smashing among them and they Declaration of Independence and panies got one behind the ocher patrol rode off in haste toward began to scatter. Menotomy. Revere made h,is way Vice President of the United States so that only the fro11t one cou'd -were spending the night at the fire." As the advancing column of in across a "burying ground and some spired Minute Men stepped onto pastures" to the Hancock-Clarke Black Horse Tavern following a ( Captain Laurie's men without the bridge, the Redcoats turned House to help with the flight of session of the Committee. As the doubt attempted to form in a tac and fled, leaving two men on the John Hancock and Samuel Adams. troops marched by, Gerry and his tical design known as "street fir. associates "arose from their beds to ground. At the end of the episode These ,important patriots were ing". Th;y lined up in columns of at the bridge, three privates were gaze on the unwonted spectacle" fours. After the men in the first taken first in a chaise co the house and, upon the approach of an offi to become fatalities, while four of of Capt. James Reed in a part of two or three ranks had fired from the eight British officers present cer and fileof soldiers to search the kneel.ing and standing positions, Woburn -that is now Burlingron, house, fled out the back door in were wounded, besides a sergeant about two miles away, and then a they broke to the right and left, and four men. their nightclothes and hid ,in ·a and filed to the rear to rdoad, while little farther to the home of Ma field of corn stubble. their position in front was taken Concord F,ight- "physically so -- dame Jones, a clergyman's widow. by ranks moving up in succession. little, spiritually so significant" - At the latter, they were joined later 4:00 A.M. Thus it was a theory that a narrow was over ·in two or three minutes, in the morning by Hancock's be but, as a noted student of that one way or bridge could be kept under trothed, Dorothy Quincy, and his Gen. Gage, pondering the fail a steady fire.) day in history has further remarked, aunt, Mrs. Thomas Hancock, who ure to keep the expedition a secret, "the way lay open for all that had also been guests of Rev. Jonas ordered Lord Percy to start out Ir was clearly Laurie's intention America since has done." Clarke. from Boston via Roxbury at this Page Twenty Page Thirteen As the light infantry "ascended Col. James Barrett, in general volley from a British platoon. An result of the alarm spread by Na• the height .in one line," the Minute command of the Militia at Con other volley followed and, with than,iel Baker and Capt. William Men retired "without firing" onto cord, was now back from the work bayonets leveled, the Redcoats Smith, arrived at Concord. The a second ridge, now known as Rip of putting out of sight the supplies charged. Eight men were killed Acton Minute Men, either accom ley Hill, half a mile north of the of ammunition and weapons at his and 10 more, wounded, were able panied or soon followed by the center and nearly opposite the farm. He ordered all the men on to get ,away with their fleeing com nine men from Groton, came from North Bridge that crossed the Con the second ridge or Ripley Hill, rades. The first American blood the opposite direction. The Bed cord River. A liberty pole with "a east of the Concord River, to cross had been fatally shed! ford Militia also got there in time the bridge on a muster .field on th_e to face the British. flag fly.ing" stood near the west end Jonathan Harrington, Jr., mer of the first ridge. After cutting brow of Punkatasset Hill. There the Americans were to await rein .rally wounded, was able to drag A rumor of fatalities at Lexing down the pole, the light infantry himself to the door of his house, ton, brought by the men from Lin came off the ridge and halted in forcements and see what the Brit ish would attempt to do. opposite the northwest corner of coln, was supported by Reuben the center of the town. the Green, where he died at his Brown of Concord, who had Col. Smith and Maj. Pitcairn -wife's feet. viewed the engagement at Lexing climbed to a cemetery near the site 8:00 A.M. ton Green and galloped home to Even more heroic in death was report. of the liberty pole and through The withdrawal of the Minute the brave Jonas Parker, cous.in of telescopes stared at the surrounding Men to Punkatasset Hill was com the captain, who had fired once countryside from among the grave pleted just before the seven Brit and yet stood his ground though 6:30 A.M. stones. As Smith later reported to ish companies under Capts. Laude wounded by a bullet and sinking An array of about 150 men from Gen. Gage, he very likely saw at and Parsons got to the North to his knees. He was trying to the companies gathered at Concord this time "vast numbers assembling Bridge. When Barrett saw t4e reload, with bullecs, wadding and marched down the road toward in many parts." companies of Parsons cross the flints in his hat tossed at his feet, Lexington. After a mile or mile bridge and take a road to the left when finally cut down by a bayo .l/-Od a half, they saw the British 7:30 A.M. over a causeway that led to his net thrust. coming. As the Minute Men read farm, two miles further on, he ily observed the Regulars had a Descending from the burying galloped home ahead of them to The ma,in body of the British soon came upon the Green. A force three or more times their ground, Smith ordered six com give warning and last orders. number, they prudently turned panies of light infantry, and then cheer rose in token of the victory Meanwhile, two of Laurie's com and "the musick struck up" as the around and marched back into a seventh, to proceed to the North town ahead of the Redcoats :ind Brjdge. There they divided into panies, the 10th Lincolnshires and troops started down the road for the King's Own 4th Royal North Concord. Any illusion as to the to the "grand musick" of fife and two parties. Three companies un drum. der Capt. Walter Laurie of the Lancashires, were sent across the secrecy of their mission was now 43d Regiment remained to guard bridge to the first rise of ground completely gone. beyond. The 43d Oxfordshires, as 7:00 A.M. the bridge, while four in command (The bodies of the eight Minute of Capt. Lawrence Parsons of the signed t.O watch the bridge itself, The British approached the cen remained on the east bank. Men who gave their lives wtre 10th Regiment marched on to Col. placed .in a tomb, in 1835, behind ter of Concord. Observing that Barrett's farm to look for the mili Troops from this company in t the Monument that was erected on some of the Minute Men had taken tary stores concealed there. At the turn surrounded the well in front Lexington Green m 1799. The up a pos.ition on a ridge to the same time, Smith d,ispatcbed Capt. of the Elisha Jones House (Bullet Jonathan Harrington House still right overlooking the road and the Munday Pole with a company of Hole House) , not far from the stands and is suitably marked.) town, Lt. Col. Smith, the British light infantry a mile in the oppo bridge and drank its cool water. commander ordered the light in site direction to hold the South Little did they realize that stores • • • fantry out as flankers to clear the Bridge and destroy any military of 55 barrels of beef and 1700 The two companies of Lincoln ridge, while the grenadiers kept to stores that might be found. pounds of salt fish were concealed Militia, which had ass�mbled as a the road. Page Eighteen Page Fifteen LEXINGTON CENTER GI LINCOLN LEXINGTON 0 0 O RT. 2 0 0 0 r-, PROPOSED HISTORIC 0 O CONCORD 0 0 0 ,•• , SITES 0 £ 11.tJ l. ..3 7 - BATTLE ROAD GRAPHIC SCALE (FEET) 1. BATILE GREEN (LEXINGTON) 2. PAUL REVERE CAPTURED 3. MERIAM'S CORNER 4. ANTIQUARIAN HOUSE 5. EMERSON'S HOUSE 6. WRIGHT'S TAVERN 7. BULLET HOLE HOUSE 8. OLD MANSE 9. CONCORD BRIDGE-MINUTE MAN 10. BUTTRICK HOUSE 11. MUSTER FIELD MERIAM'S CORNER in Concord, shown as 12. COL. BARRETI's HOUSE it appeared in 1885, is where the continuous running fight marking the British retreat be gan. Page Sixteen Page Seventeen LEXINGTON CENTER GI LINCOLN LEXINGTON 0 0 O RT. 2 0 0 0 r-, PROPOSED HISTORIC 0 O CONCORD 0 0 0 ,•• , SITES 0 £ 11.tJ l. ..3 7 - BATTLE ROAD GRAPHIC SCALE (FEET) 1. BATILE GREEN (LEXINGTON) 2. PAUL REVERE CAPTURED 3. MERIAM'S CORNER 4. ANTIQUARIAN HOUSE 5. EMERSON'S HOUSE 6. WRIGHT'S TAVERN 7. BULLET HOLE HOUSE 8. OLD MANSE 9. CONCORD BRIDGE-MINUTE MAN 10. BUTTRICK HOUSE 11. MUSTER FIELD MERIAM'S CORNER in Concord, shown as 12. COL. BARRETI's HOUSE it appeared in 1885, is where the continuous running fight marking the British retreat be gan. Page Sixteen Page Seventeen LEXINGTON CENTER GI LINCOLN LEXINGTON 0 0 O RT. 2 0 0 0 r-, PROPOSED HISTORIC 0 O CONCORD 0 0 0 ,•• , SITES 0 £ 11.tJ l. ..3 7 - BATTLE ROAD GRAPHIC SCALE (FEET) 1. BATILE GREEN (LEXINGTON) 2. PAUL REVERE CAPTURED 3. MERIAM'S CORNER 4. ANTIQUARIAN HOUSE 5. EMERSON'S HOUSE 6. WRIGHT'S TAVERN 7. BULLET HOLE HOUSE 8. OLD MANSE 9. CONCORD BRIDGE-MINUTE MAN 10. BUTTRICK HOUSE 11. MUSTER FIELD MERIAM'S CORNER in Concord, shown as 12. COL. BARRETI's HOUSE it appeared in 1885, is where the continuous running fight marking the British retreat be gan. Page Sixteen Page Seventeen As the light infantry "ascended Col. James Barrett, in general volley from a British platoon. An result of the alarm spread by Na• the height .in one line," the Minute command of the Militia at Con other volley followed and, with than,iel Baker and Capt. William Men retired "without firing" onto cord, was now back from the work bayonets leveled, the Redcoats Smith, arrived at Concord. The a second ridge, now known as Rip of putting out of sight the supplies charged. Eight men were killed Acton Minute Men, either accom ley Hill, half a mile north of the of ammunition and weapons at his and 10 more, wounded, were able panied or soon followed by the center and nearly opposite the farm. He ordered all the men on to get ,away with their fleeing com nine men from Groton, came from North Bridge that crossed the Con the second ridge or Ripley Hill, rades. The first American blood the opposite direction. The Bed cord River. A liberty pole with "a east of the Concord River, to cross had been fatally shed! ford Militia also got there in time the bridge on a muster .field on th_e to face the British. flag fly.ing" stood near the west end Jonathan Harrington, Jr., mer of the first ridge. After cutting brow of Punkatasset Hill. There the Americans were to await rein .rally wounded, was able to drag A rumor of fatalities at Lexing down the pole, the light infantry himself to the door of his house, ton, brought by the men from Lin came off the ridge and halted in forcements and see what the Brit ish would attempt to do. opposite the northwest corner of coln, was supported by Reuben the center of the town. the Green, where he died at his Brown of Concord, who had Col. Smith and Maj. Pitcairn -wife's feet. viewed the engagement at Lexing climbed to a cemetery near the site 8:00 A.M. ton Green and galloped home to Even more heroic in death was report. of the liberty pole and through The withdrawal of the Minute the brave Jonas Parker, cous.in of telescopes stared at the surrounding Men to Punkatasset Hill was com the captain, who had fired once countryside from among the grave pleted just before the seven Brit and yet stood his ground though 6:30 A.M. stones. As Smith later reported to ish companies under Capts. Laude wounded by a bullet and sinking An array of about 150 men from Gen. Gage, he very likely saw at and Parsons got to the North to his knees. He was trying to the companies gathered at Concord this time "vast numbers assembling Bridge. When Barrett saw t4e reload, with bullecs, wadding and marched down the road toward in many parts." companies of Parsons cross the flints in his hat tossed at his feet, Lexington. After a mile or mile bridge and take a road to the left when finally cut down by a bayo .l/-Od a half, they saw the British 7:30 A.M. over a causeway that led to his net thrust. coming. As the Minute Men read farm, two miles further on, he ily observed the Regulars had a Descending from the burying galloped home ahead of them to The ma,in body of the British soon came upon the Green. A force three or more times their ground, Smith ordered six com give warning and last orders. number, they prudently turned panies of light infantry, and then cheer rose in token of the victory Meanwhile, two of Laurie's com and "the musick struck up" as the around and marched back into a seventh, to proceed to the North town ahead of the Redcoats :ind Brjdge. There they divided into panies, the 10th Lincolnshires and troops started down the road for the King's Own 4th Royal North Concord. Any illusion as to the to the "grand musick" of fife and two parties. Three companies un drum. der Capt. Walter Laurie of the Lancashires, were sent across the secrecy of their mission was now 43d Regiment remained to guard bridge to the first rise of ground completely gone. beyond. The 43d Oxfordshires, as 7:00 A.M. the bridge, while four in command (The bodies of the eight Minute of Capt. Lawrence Parsons of the signed t.O watch the bridge itself, The British approached the cen remained on the east bank. Men who gave their lives wtre 10th Regiment marched on to Col. placed .in a tomb, in 1835, behind ter of Concord. Observing that Barrett's farm to look for the mili Troops from this company in t the Monument that was erected on some of the Minute Men had taken tary stores concealed there. At the turn surrounded the well in front Lexington Green m 1799. The up a pos.ition on a ridge to the same time, Smith d,ispatcbed Capt. of the Elisha Jones House (Bullet Jonathan Harrington House still right overlooking the road and the Munday Pole with a company of Hole House) , not far from the stands and is suitably marked.) town, Lt. Col. Smith, the British light infantry a mile in the oppo bridge and drank its cool water. commander ordered the light in site direction to hold the South Little did they realize that stores • • • fantry out as flankers to clear the Bridge and destroy any military of 55 barrels of beef and 1700 The two companies of Lincoln ridge, while the grenadiers kept to stores that might be found. pounds of salt fish were concealed Militia, which had ass�mbled as a the road. Page Eighteen Page Fifteen at their head" and "being a very co check the American advance at Common about 10:30 the evening The ladies brought with them a fat heavy man" so slowed up the the North Bridge and his leading before, crossed to Lech.mere Point "fine salmon" that Hancock and advance to the bridge as to m�e ranks of light infantry burst forth in Ease Cambridge. As the boats Adams had forgotten in their hasty it impossibl� ro arrive .in time to with the first shoes-three of them were heavily loaded and could not departure before sunrise. be of any help. which fell harmlessly into the river. be run in close, the troops had to The first full British volley fol wade ashore. They then waited "in The parry was about to sit down and make a meal of it when a Lex 9:30 A.M. lowed at a range of 75 yards or a dirty road" as much as three less. "Their balls whisled well," :hours "for provisions to be brought ington farmer rushed in w,ith a false rumor that the British were Capt. Laurie moved most of _his and Isaac Davis, the Acton cap - up from the boars and divided." ta-in, was killed as he was raising Each soldier then received a day's coming. They continued their men to the east end of the North .flight and .finally sat down to a Bridge, leaving only a few to pull his gun, and Abner Hosmer, one rations and 36 rounds of ammuni of his men, fell to the ground with tion. This delay was ser.ious as it repast of "cold salt pork and po up the planks. Maj. Buttrick, com tatoes served on a wooden tray" at -ing on at the head of the American a bullet through his head. gave the country people more tiine. Amos Wyman's in Billerica, a dis column, ordered the men at work In obedience to Barrett's oder, The troops were .finally ready to tance of more than four miles from to desist and accelerated the pace the Amer,icans had not fired first. advance about 2 a.m. They pro the Lexington parsonage they had of the militia. The men removing Maj. Buttrick now leaped inoo the ceeded through the west end of left earlier in the day. the planks stopped and hastily air aqd fervently shouted, "Fire, Charlestown, now Somerville, and formed for action in the road at fellow soldiers, for God's sake, cook a road skirting the northern 3:00 A.M. the end of the bridge. fire!" The words rang down the part of Cambridge to Menotomy. ranks and a volley was fired by all The British expedition arrived Laurie had little time to arrange who "could fire and not kill our in Menotomy, where the three his men effectively, for, as one of own men." A few more shots came 2:30 A.M. members of the Committee of his lieutenants later wrote, "the from the British, but their morale Revere and the three Lexington Safety from Marblehead - Col Rebels got so near h.im his people was broken by the number and - Jeremiah Lee, Col. Azor Orne and were obliged to form the best way scouts were let loose near the vil force of the round balls that came lage of Lexington and the British Elbridge Gerry, later signer of the They cou'd . . the three com smashing among them and they Declaration of Independence and panies got one behind the ocher patrol rode off in haste toward began to scatter. Menotomy. Revere made h,is way Vice President of the United States so that only the fro11t one cou'd -were spending the night at the fire." As the advancing column of in across a "burying ground and some spired Minute Men stepped onto pastures" to the Hancock-Clarke Black Horse Tavern following a ( Captain Laurie's men without the bridge, the Redcoats turned House to help with the flight of session of the Committee. As the doubt attempted to form in a tac and fled, leaving two men on the John Hancock and Samuel Adams. troops marched by, Gerry and his tical design known as "street fir. associates "arose from their beds to ground. At the end of the episode These ,important patriots were ing". Th;y lined up in columns of at the bridge, three privates were gaze on the unwonted spectacle" fours. After the men in the first taken first in a chaise co the house and, upon the approach of an offi to become fatalities, while four of of Capt. James Reed in a part of two or three ranks had fired from the eight British officers present cer and fileof soldiers to search the kneel.ing and standing positions, Woburn -that is now Burlingron, house, fled out the back door in were wounded, besides a sergeant about two miles away, and then a they broke to the right and left, and four men. their nightclothes and hid ,in ·a and filed to the rear to rdoad, while little farther to the home of Ma field of corn stubble. their position in front was taken Concord F,ight- "physically so -- dame Jones, a clergyman's widow. by ranks moving up in succession. little, spiritually so significant" - At the latter, they were joined later 4:00 A.M. Thus it was a theory that a narrow was over ·in two or three minutes, in the morning by Hancock's be but, as a noted student of that one way or bridge could be kept under trothed, Dorothy Quincy, and his Gen. Gage, pondering the fail a steady fire.) day in history has further remarked, aunt, Mrs. Thomas Hancock, who ure to keep the expedition a secret, "the way lay open for all that had also been guests of Rev. Jonas ordered Lord Percy to start out Ir was clearly Laurie's intention America since has done." Clarke. from Boston via Roxbury at this Page Twenty Page Thirteen be speeded to Capt. William Smith called out, "Have you heard any (The two British soldiers who discovered great fickleness and in of the Lincoln Minute Men, who thing about when the Regulars are were left on the ground are buried constancy of mind; sometimes ad lived a short distance back on the c;oming out?" One of the officers, beside a stone wall at the left of vancing, sometimes returning to road to Lexington. reaching for his sword, replied in the approach to the bridge. A slate their former posts" before definitely tablet bears a suitable inscription withdrawing into the village. Sukey, a slave girl, in terror of anger, "We will let you know when they are coming!" and struck Nel of verses from James Russell Lo While the British were engaged the British, refused to leave the well.) house, so Mary Hartwell, the ser son on the crown of his head, cut ,in these evolutions, about half the geant's wife, placing her 5-month ting a long gash. Thus was drawn American force of 400 recrossed the first blood on the opening Though the British were able w old infant ,in Sukey's arms, rushed the bridge to the west b�nk. There, morning of the Revolution! carry away one of their dead, their down the road to Capt. Smith's flight from the bridge was so com the bodies of Davis and Hosmer, house. The latter mounted his Nelson was taken prisoner, but plete that their wounded had to the Acton Minute Men, were taken horse and hastened to Lincoln was soon released and returned to hobble away as best they could. As oo the home of Maj. Buttrick, a Center, two miles to the south, liis home to have his wife bind up they passed the Elisha Jones House, handsome clapboarded dwelling where the two Lincoln companies his wound and dispatch him on Jones pointed his musket out of a that still stands on the slope of evenmally assembled and started horseback to Bedford, where he second story window, but his wife Punkatasset Hill but no longer in off for Concord. Thev were the spread the alarm. knocked it from his hands before view of the picmresque river set first companies to rea�h Concord • • • ·he could fire. Determined, how ting. A monument with a suitably from any of the neighboring towns. inscribed tablet commemorates Upon the arrival of Dr. Prescott, ever, to witness the spectacle be fore his eyes, Jones went down Maj. John Buttrick beside the • • • Concord was alarmed by the ring road nearly opposite the house. ing of the Town House bell. With stairs and stood ,in the doorway of Following his capture, Revere his shed. A retreating Redcoat, no When Captain Munday Pole gun in hand, Rev. William Emer was interrogated by the Br,itish, cfoubt welooming the chance to and his company of light infantry, son, grandfather of Ralph Waldo who became seriouslv disturb°ed shoot an insolent Rebel, took hasty who had seized the South Bridge Emerson ( who had built the Old when he told them that people for aim as he hurried by and fired. The at 8:00 a.m., heard the guns at Manse in 1769) was the first to a distance of 50 miles inoo the shot pierced the wall of the shed the North Bridge, they ac once answer the alarm. Three companies country were being notified about about a yard from Jones' head. The started back to the center of town of Minute Men and an alarm com ,their intended march. Maj. Mitch hole thus made is preserved today to rejo,in the main body. They re ell of the 5th British Reg,iment pany soon followed and gathered under glass and gives to the place .t_IJ.Oved the planks from the bridge at Wright's Tavern in the town gave orders for the prisoners to the popular name of the Bullet to protect their retreat. Some of mount and the party to ride back square. The task of removing and Hole House. Pole's troops were on Lee's HJll, t0ward Lexington. concealing the military stores that �n elevation about 100 feet high had not been sent away the day The Redcoats fleeing the North across the South Bridge, when the 2:00 A.M. before began. (Concord's first Bridge met Col. Smith coming to reports of musketry at the other Town House, erected in 1721 and their aid with his grenadiers about end of the town echoed in the sky. As the British officers and their used both for town meetings and a quarter of a mile away. They County courts, stood until 1794. were pursued by the Americ:;ns (Lee's Hill, now called Nashaw prisoners rode down .the road to tuc Hill, was 1:he home of Joseph Lexington, the hoof beats of their The Old Manse is preserved by the for only a shore distance. Mass. Trustees of Reservations. Lee, a Tory and the town's phy horses awakened Josiah Nelson, a sician,) Lincoln Minute Man, who had been Both Wright's Tavern and the - With his forces still divided, appointed to keep watch and carry Reuben Brown house survive.) Smith was nervous and undecided During their stay of an hour and the alarm to Bedford if the British • • • what oo do. According to Rev. a half at the South Bridge, Cap marched. William Emerson, who was watch tain Pole's company entered and The British grenadiers and light ing from the Old Manse nearby: searched at least three houses and Leaving his bed hurriedly, Nel infantry, who began to embark in "For half an hour, the enemy, by got food for which they were care son ran out into the road and boats on the Back Bay from Boston their marches and counter-marches, ful to pay the womenfolk. They Page· Twelve Page Twenty-One came upon three 24-pound iron from nearby houses. stating that the family did not wish with the Lincoln Minute Men. He cannon, which they knocked from to be d.isturbed by any noise. married Elizabeth Taylor in 1776. their trunnions, and destroyed a 11:00 A.M. Whereupon Revere cried out, small quantity of flour. Some gun "Noise! You'll have noise enough 1:00 A.M. carriages were also found and set The companies of Cape. Parsons before long. The Regulars are coming out!" Dawes and Prescott were riding on fire, together with a number r�curning from che Barrett farm, recrossed the North Bridge without about 200 yards behind Revere of barrels contammg wooden when the latter was surprised b interference from the Amer,icans - 12:30 A.M. y trenchers and spoons. The smoke and rejoined the main body of two Br.itish officers in .the road that rose from the burning of these troops in the square. They brought William Dawes, Jr., arnvmg at near the opening into the pasture supplies may have been seen by where the three Lexington scouts back the fuse story of atrocity in the Hancock-Clarke House from the M,inute Men gathering on the Revolution. his longer ride over Boston Neck had been taken prisoner three hours earlier. Dawes turned his Punkatasset Hill and prompted via Roxbury and Cambridge, set their attack at the North Bridge, They had ,observed .the bodies out for Concord with Revere. On horse quickly and sped down the perhaps, as much as the fires started of two of their slain comrades ly h.is ride, Dawes had managed to road back toward Lexington. He by the grenadiers in the town. ing beside the road near the ease elude the British sentrie.s on Bos made good his escape. end of the bridge. One of them ton Neck. While ·the action at the North had been k,illed instantly, but the Prescott jumped his horse over a soone wall, escaped down a farm Bridge was taking place, the four other, though woundec.l in the brief The bell in the belfr that stood y path by the swamp and carried the companies of light infantry under engagement, had not immediately on Lexingoon Green near the meet Capt. Parsons, returning from Col. expired. inghouse rang out the alarm and alarm to Concord. Revere made Barrett's farm, had got to a cross the Lexington Minute Men, about for a wood at the foot of the pas About a half hour later, a boy, ture, but just as he reached it, six roads still more than a mile away. .__ 130 in number, under Capt. John Charles Handley, a lad of 13 then hatchet in hand, had CJJOssed the Parker, began to assemble. of the Br,itish officers who were 1iving at a tavern kept by the bridge to join the force of Ameri holding the three captured Lexing Widow Brown, claimed later that cans. As he went by, the wounded Dr. Samuel Prescott, who had ton men, grabbed his bridle, put he "heard guns at the bridge, but soldier was sitting up and trying spent the evening with his sweet pisnols to his breast and forced him the British did not appear to hear to ra,ise himself to his knees. heart, Miss Mulliken, in Lexington, to dismount. Thus ended the fa. them." Whereupon ,the boy, doubtless un started on his journey of six miles mous ride of Paul Revere. ( The der the spell of the exciting action home to Concord. He overtook site of Revere's capture is marked that had just taken place and pos Revere and Dawes, who were soon with a tablet.) 10:00 A.M. sibly fearing the soldier meant to satisfied that he was "a high Son do him harm, decided to finish the of Liberty." 1:30 A.M. The main body of the British unfortunate victim by sinking the began to reassemble in the center sharp blade of h.is weapon into his Dawes and Prescott rode into Capt. Parker d,ismissed his men of Concord as Smith got back skull. the dooryard of a house near the on Lexington Green with orders to from the North Bridge and Pole's Lexingron-Linooln line and, on respond again at the beating of the company came in from the South The returning troops of Capt. knocking at the door, found Na drum. Those wh,o did not live near Br,idge. The men, who had been Parsons, seeing the corpse thus thaniel Baker, a L,inco!n Minute enough to go home repaired to the on the move since the night be mangled and bloody, originated ac - Man, still courting a Concord lass, Buckman Tavern. fore, were exhausted and needed oounts of exaggerated barbarism Elizabeth Taylor, who was visiting rest. The wounded required atten and cruelty. It soon became popu there. Baker, who lived in South Dr. Prescott came out of a tion and provision had to be made lar in England to believe that the Lincoln, spread the alarm ,on his thicket behind the house of Sgt. to carry them back to Bosnon. Rebels, in Indian fashion, scalped wz.y home. With his father, bro Samuel Hartwell of the Lincoln Chaises and horses were confis and cut off the ears of their ad thers and brother-in-law, he was Minute Men. He awakened the cated from stables, and bedding versaries. at Concord Bridge in the morning family and requested that the news Page Twenty-Two Page Eleve. oommand of Lt. Col. Francis Smith Larkin and sent him off "to give Noon or Soon After Taking care not to be out-flanked, of the 10th Regiment and with the intelligence at Menotomy and the Reading men then advanced Maj. John Pitc::.irn of the Marines Lexington." The Brit,ish expeditionary force, to the cover of the bu,ildings and •in charge of the J,ight infantry. (Revere landed at a wharf off at last rested and organized as well stone walls at the homestead and Embarkation in boats on the .Back as possible for the return to Bos waited while the British slowly Bay began. Water St., just north of the present Charlestown Bridge and near City mn, pulled out of Concord, with made their way over a little bridge (The place where the troops en square. From there, he rode out flankers ordered up along the ri4ge that spanned Mill Brook, a few tered the boats was probably near the present Ma.in st. and headed - on the north of the road to Mer hundred feet farther along rhe the present corner-of Boylsoon and for Cambridge.) iam's Corner. highway. Charles streets, where the shore line Up to chis moment, the remain of the Back Bay then extended 12:30 P.M. der of the day might have passed back from the Charles River.) 11:30 P.M. without further ,incident. The few Beyond Charlesrown Neck, the As soon as the Americans who minutes of action at Lexington The British became well aware had been present at the fight at Green and Concord Bridge might of the fact that the secret of the present Sullivan square, Revere was confronted by two British the North Bridge received warn even have been written off as part expedition had not been kept suc ing that the British were heading of a chronicle without any ful.fill cessfully. Earl Percy, crossing Bos :horsemen waiting under a tree at a crossroads. Turning his horse back toward Lexington, they ment or far-reaching end. Such ton Common, heard a man say to crossed the Great Me::idows that however was not destined to be another, 'The British troops have abruptly, Revere galloped back to ward the Neck and took the road lay in the north of the village and the case'as the 1a:st of the grena marched, but they will miss their arrived at Meriam's Corner about diers, reaching the easr side of ;he aim." "What aim?" inquired Per for Medford, where he awakened Capt. Hall of the Minute Men be as soon as the retreating Redcoats. narrow bridge, suddenly turned and c:y. "Why," the man replied, "the In the vicinity of Meriam's Corner, fired a volley in the direction of cannon at Conwrd." fore pr-,c;eeding to Menoromy, alarmin_g almost every house on the ._ the numbers of the Militia were the Reading companies gathered way. increased to as many as 1100 as around the Meriam House. more men from ne,ighboring towns 11:00 P.M. From this volley, there was to (The Brit,ish horsemen who had appeared. be no point of return. A war had Revere arrived on the Charles barred Revere's path were on Cam From the north came the Biller opened that was not to end until town side and was met by Col. bridge st. at the present Charles ica, Chelmsford, Reading and W o Conant and others who had seen town-Somerville line. After wheel Yorktown. During the course of the light of the signal lanterns in burn companies. From the south, the next few hours, a continuous ing his horse, Revere rode over the those of Framingham and Sudbury. Page Ten Page Twenty-Three dead and the Road was bloody." a mile ease of the bridge at Mer eight men in his company and into a pasture, where they were Yee at lease two British privates iam's Corner, they were attacked posted a guard at the Hancc-:k held for four hours. were kjlled in the road beyond the by the Sudbury company of Capt. Clarke House. • • scream, while several more were Nathaniel Cudworth, which cook • wounded. cover by the roadside. A constant 8:00 P.M. The grenadiers and light infan From Meriam's Corner on, the fire was kept up by the Minute try in Boston "were not apprised of warfare of the day became more Men as the Redcoats sped down The British horsemen rode the design, till just as jc was time and more of a guerrilla nature. It, the slope past the Brooks Tavern through Lexington w,ichouc at to march, they were waked by the indeed, was open season for shooc and over the line into Lincoln. tempting to molest Hancock and sergeants putting their hands on ·ing at the British. Any directing Crossing Tanners Brook, the Samuel Adams. The patrol con them and whispering to them." force and discipline beyond the British marched rapidly on. Across tinued on the old Bay Road to Lincoln. But Dr. Joseph Warren had the company unit were b.ck.ing and the bridge, the old road rums news almost before the British had even there they were slight as the sharply co the left. On the left As soonas the British patrol was left their barracks. He sear for Minutemen chose co .fight as indi hand side was a call growth of through Lexingcon, about 40 Min Paul Revere and William Dawes, viduals either exposed in pursuit trees and on the right one some ute Men gathered at the Buckman Jr. Dawes was dispatched over the or behind shelter. what smaller. Many Minute Men, Tavern on Lexingcon Green. route, longer by four miles, to Lex including the Bedford company of By these caccics the British force ,ington via Boston Neck, Roxbury, could not be destroyed, but jt could Capt. Jonathan Willson, raced co 8:30 P.M. Brookline, Cambridge and Menot at least be expelled from the coun reach the advantageous position omy (Arlington). tryside, and the casualties of the afforded by these woods. The British patrol passed the Americans kept to a minimum. farmhouse of Sgt. Samuel Hartwell 10:30 P.M. 1:30 P.M. of the Ljncoln Minc1ce Men. After In contrast, the British comman riding a mile or two farther on the Revere bid Capt. John Pulling, der cried to maintain his force in When the Regulars reached chis wooded portion of the highway, Concord Road, the patrol wheeled Jr. have two lanterns hung in the a solid formacjon on the highway, about and rode back toward Lex sLeeple of the Old North Church. exceoc when he sent out detach now cue off from the main route and known as Old Bedford and ·ington. ( The Hartwell House re He hurried to the north pare of the ments of light infantry in Banking mains today). .cown, where he kept a boat and movements. Virginia road, the Americans tµi der cover of the forest growth laid was rowed by two friends across These Banking parties were ef down a devastating fire that killed 9:00 P.M. the Charles River "a little to the fective and more than once caught eight men outright and wounded eastward where the Somerset man the local yeomen by surprise as many more. Fittingly, chis curving The Lexington Minute Men sent of-war lay." out scours on horseback to watch they fired from roadside walls, section of the road was soon to be (Joshua Bentley and Thomas the movements of the British pa boulders and trees. Of the cocal of named "The Bloody Angle." Richardson were the two friends trol. Elijah Sanderson, later a fa 49 Americans killed during the who rowed Revere across the river. The losses, to be sure, were not mous Salem cabinetmaker, Jona day's .fighting, it is probable that The,ir oars were muffled a petti all one-sided. In the heat of the than Loring and Solonic,n Brown, by more than twice as many met their coat, "yet warm from the body of action on the road, the Minute who had first spotted the horse face at the hands of the Bankers a fair daughter of liberty." Re as from the soldiers marching or Men forgot all about the British men, volunteered. .flankers. Capt. W;llson and two vere's boat was kept near the retiring along the highway. Charlestown Ferry, at the foot of ochers were shoe or fatally jabbed 10:00 P.M. 1:00 P.M. from the rear, and a fourth injured Prince Street). and disabled for life. The thre.! scours from Lexington The British detachment of about As the British approached the Half a mile farther on were were se,ized at pistol point by the 700 men assembled at the foot of cop of Brooks or Hardy's Hill, half three old houses, only a few hun- British patrol in Lincoln and led Boston Common under the general Page Twenty-Four Page NiM sergeant ,in charge to surrender. ingcon, were once again to encoun where the Prov,incial Congress met of -the present First Parish Church, His request was not heeded and ter C1pt. Parker's little band· of late in 1774 and early again in Unitarian, on the south side of the drivers wh,ipped up their Minute Men under less favorable 1775 to lay plans for rebellion is Lexington Road near the central horses to get away. The old men, circu�stanc�s. Just over the line marked by a fitting tablet in front square of Concord.) who had taken aim, then fired, from Lincoln, the land rises sharply killing several of the horses and at a bend in the old road. There two of the soldiers, while some of many of Parker's men who had APRIL 16, 1775 - SUNDAY the others were wounded. not already gone on into Lincoln gathered and waited for vengeance. - Midnight or Soon After The drivers and guards who were not wounded or killed leaped As the sorely pressed Regulars in panic from the wagons and ran came ,into sight and finally drew Paul Revere observed "about 12 a Col. Conant, and some other to the shore of Spy Pond, a half- opposite their advantageous posi oClock at N,ight, the Boats be Gentlemen, that if the British went m,ile to the southward, where they tion, the Lexington men poured longing to the Transports were all out by water, we would shew nvo launched, & carried under the threw their guns into the warer. down a resounding volley. The lanthorns in the North Church Continuing Page Twenty-Six Page Seven MARCH 20, 1775 - MONDAY enemy was ".increasing from ill of the hill and, in greater disarray parts, while ours was reducing than before, hastened on toward Morning from deaths, wounds and fatigue, Lexington. and we were totally surrounded General Gage, Military Gover bearing on the topographical fea with such an incessant fire as it's impossible to conceive, our ammu 2:30 P.M. nor of the Province of Massachu tures 9f the landscape and, with the help of a friend of the royal nition was likewise near expended." The Americans kept a harrassing sens Bay, contemplating future fire on the flying foe as he sped operations into the country, sent g.overnment, learned about the lo Ensign De Berniere reported an cation of military stores being col even more humiliating siruatioµ: over Concord H.ill and on past Lex Captain Brown of the 52nd Regi ington Green. No stop was now ment, Ensign De Berniere of the lected at Concord by the Commit "When we arrived within a mile tees of Safety and Supplies set made to disperse any Rebels! No 10th Regiment, and a private on a up of Lexington, our ammunition be by the Provincial Congress. Plans gan to fail, and the light companjes Minute Men were now lined up secret scouting trip from Boston for a night march began to be laid to oppose the retreat. It was too to Roxb , Brookline, Weston, were so fatigued with flanking ury as soon as Brown and De Berniere that they were scarce able to :ict, easy to add to the enemy's discQm Sudbury and Concord. The three returntd from their mission. fiture on the flanks and at his were well armed and oo strikingly and a great number of wounded able tO get forward, made a rear. The situation had radically disguised fo "brown cloathes and (Daniel Bliss, a Tory, who liv.ed scarce great confusion; Gol. Smith had changed since the initial clash of reddish handkerchiefs" that th�y near the mill pond in the center arms at sunrjse. were readily recognized as spying of Concord, assisted Brown and received a wound through his leg, British soldiers. They, neverthe De Berniere. He left town with a m.14nber of officers were also As �he British ran on in con less, obtained useful information them never to return again.) wounded, so that we began to run fusion, more of their number were rather than retreat in order ... we killed and wounded. Three more attempted to stop the men and soldiers were abandoned near the form them two deep, but to no Lexington Green and carried into - - increased APRIL 15, 1775 - SATURDAY purpose, the confusion the Buckman Tavern, where one rather than lessened." of them died three days later. Morning In such a condition, the British The beaten British force was were to go on -the remaining mile The grenadiers and light infan now threatened w,ith complete dis Afternoon from Fiske Hill to the· village of solution before the relief party un try, comprising the flank oompanies Lexington. of the British regiments in Boston, The Provincial Congress, meet der Earl Percy could come to its were "taken off all duties 'till fur ing at Concord as the legislative Maj. Pitcairn as well as t..h.e aid. One last effort to restore dis ther orders." The reasons given for body representative of patriots in wounded Smith was a oonspicuous cipline, however, was made and this step were "Exercise and new the Province of Massachusetts Bay target for the M.inute Men 'ilnd succeeded in bringing the discom evolutions." Paul Revere and his and in defiance of the military Militia, whom Lt. Barker found "so fited troops together until they self-appointed patrol of patriots governor in Boston, adjourned. concealed there was ·hardly any could reach the protection of their noticed the removal of these troops John Hancock and Samuel Adams, seeing them." reinforcements. from their normal duties and re who had attended, went to Lexing With his superior in command, De Berniere described how it ported the fact to Dr. Joseph War ton to stay with the Reverend the Major tried valiantly to bring was done. "At last, after we got ren, �ho in turn relayed the intel Jonas Clarke, who resided in the - the men into line, but any hope through Lexington, the officers got ligence to the Committee of Safety. dwelling that is preserved by the of successfully reorganizing the to the front and presented their Preparations for an expedition into Lexingoon Historical Society and British oolumn had to be aban bayonets, and told the men that if the country to seize the military known today as the Hanoock doned. The distraught men, to the they advanced they should die. stores at Concord some 18 miles Clarke House. consternation of their officers, Upon this they began to form distant, were at once suspected. (The site of the meetinghouse broke and ran down the east side under a very heavy fire." Paie Six Page Twenty-Seven 3:00 P.M. sides of the road and, from behind trees and the second line of walls Chronology of Incidents Gen. Percy opened his ranks a at more than point-blank distance, Relating to the 19th of April, 1775 half-mile east of Lexington Green .t:tsumed a fire that had been mo to adm,it Smith's men, "so much mentarily interrupted by the Br,it exhausted w�th fatigue, that they ish artillery. About this time, The Opening Day �ere obliged to lie down for rest three companies of Militia frqm on the ground, their tongues hang Newto_n also entered the fight. The of the \Var Minute Men had to give up the - ing out of their mouths, like those of dogs after a chase." The rescue chase as soon as -their ammun,ition of the American Revolution party was the King's Own 4th gave out. Their numbers, however, Regin::ient. were continually replenished along the way. Col. Smith's men rested for a The Revolutionary War of deeds, which began in earnest half-hour or more inside the J,ine 3:30 P.M. thrown out by the rescue party. on the 19th of April, 1775, was preceded by a long and no less The retreat of the British in the significant war of words, with Boston as the principal center of Meanwhile, Percy, with the two direction of East Lexington and fieldpieces he had brought along, Menotomy was resumed. Flankers agitation and objective of royal coercion. Fully living up to her opened the first cannonade of the prevented the Americans from reputation as the "Metropolis of Sedition," Boston was where Revolution. using any close cover and at the the first British regiments were sent in 1768 to enforce, what No Americans were killed or same time they entered and pll seemed to the inhabitants, the harsh and tyrannical measures w,ounded, but the meetinghouse on laged houses by the roadside with of a new British colonial imperialism and to quell the rebellious Lexington Green was struck and out restraint from their officers. rumblings of a people possessed not only of an ardent passion damaged. Percy's men, moreover, for freedom but a jealous knowledge of self-government. took pains to destroy any structure William Heath, one of five gen that might be used as cover by erals appointed by the Provincial The presence of the royal troops provoked the famous scattered groups of the Rebels for Congress co take charge of the Mi Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770. They were removed from sniping at the British flanks. Three litia, arrived at Lexington and soon the town temporarily, but were back again in greater numbers houses and three outlying build was joined by Dr. Joseph Wam,n. ings were both looted and burned. Both had attended a meeting of after the port was closed by act of Parliament following further defiant demonstrations by mobs and the populace in general. While this destruction was tak the Committee of Safecv at Menot ing place, the wounded were con omy -that morning after receiving 0£ these demonstrations, the Boston Tea Party of December 16, veyed into the Munroe Tavern, news of the baptism of blood at 1773, was an illustrious example. where their wounds were dressed. Lexington Green. John Raymond, a cripple, mixed Tension between patriots and the soldiery had mounted to drinks for the thirsty Redcoats at 4:30 P.M. the breaking point and more reinforcements were on the way fhe bar. When he tried to escape to aid in the increasingly difficult task of maintaining the King's The British troops trudged slow by the rear door, he was shot and - rule when General Thomas Gage, the military governor of the killed. ly on under the burden of goods they had stolen along the way. province, decided to take more positive measures to curb the bold Despite the precautions taken After advancing about two and a enterprise of the patriot leaders. The most important of these by Percy, marksmen among the half miles and soon after leaving measures for which preparations began to be made in March, Militia crept up in small numbers the Lexington line, they had to 1775, was a plan to send an expeditionary force to to woods and meadows on both climb Pierce's Hill near the west -Concord to destroy powder and other military supplies. Page Twenty-Eight end of Menotomy, now Arlington a swift blow before .ficishing him Heights, and half a mile farther on with ��ght inches of cold steel. came down again to lower ground known as the "Foot of the Rocks." Gen. Percy, riding his white Historical Significance of the There once again they were ex horse, offered a conspicuous target. posed to a fierce fire as Militia He escaped death or injury, but a 19th of April, 1775 from towns to the eastward and button was shoe from his uniform. nearer the coast began to enter The increasing number of Minute - - the fray. Men brought such pressure on his rear a.nd flanks that Percy .finally The Historical, Significance of the 19th of April, 1775: Beginning at the "Foot of the halted h.is column not far from the direct purpose of the military expedition to Lexington, as pre Rocks," the fire power of the Am "Rocks" and turned his two field ericans was greatly increased as sumed by the patriots who watched every move made by the pieces upon chem. The cannon shoe over 1700 men in no less than 35 hit no one, but temporarily, at British in Boston, wa:s to arrest John Hancock and Samuel companies began to swell the force least, scattered his pursuers. The Adams, who had taken refuge there as guests of the Reverend of Militia that had the Regulars destructive aspect of real war was under attack. Companies from Jonas Clarke following the adjournment of the Provincial Con now fully present as cannon balls Watertown, Medford, Malden, blasted the road, smashed into gress at Concord. These patriot leaders had been foremost in Dedham, Needham, Lynn, Bever stone walls and trees, and tore fomenting sedition against those acts of oppression and misrule ly, Danvers, Roxbury, Brookline jagged holes through houses. and Menotomy itself now thronged that for more than a decade had characterized the restrictive the roadsides. 5:00 P.M. Colonial policy of the King's ministers and Parliament. If The British were severely har captured, they doubtless would have been sent to England and - assed .in some of the bloodiest Jason Russell, 58 and lame, was - .fighting of the day as they re tried for treason. From Lexington, the royal troops were to one citizen of Menotomy who be treated over the long stretch of lieved that "An Englishman's house advance on Concord and seize the military stores gathered there more than a mile and a half of is his castle." So after tak,ing his by order of the Provincial Congress and the Committees of Massachusetts avenue from the wife and children to a place of "Rocks" to the center of the pres Safety and Supplies. greater safety, he had returned to ent Arlington. his dwelling and prepared for any Besides firing in the street or forays the British might make. The outcome, as every schoolchild knows, was a clash of from cover, the Militia and unat A group of Minute Men who arms. the shedding of blood, and the opening of the War of the tached individuals engaged rhe ran into a British flanking party Redcoats in hand-to-hand .fighting. American Revolution. When Samuel Adams heard the distant got to Russell's doorway just as In this manner, Dr. Eliphalet Earl Percy's column, coming up the rattle of British musketry on Lexington Green, he is alleged to Downer, who had arrived with the road, saw them and .fired, forcing have exclaimed, "What a glorious morning for America is this!" Brookline and Roxbury companies, them to take a shelter in che house. f,aced up to a British soldier and And, indeed, it was, for the volley which brought forth those killed him in a celebrated duel. The unfortunate Russell, with ecstatic and oft-quoted words from the "Father of the Revolu - - The bellicose physician, quickly his disabled foot, was the last to discovering he was no match for reach the door, and was stmck ·by tion" foretold the coming of Independence and the birth of a the ),legular in the fine points .of two bullets. As he lay in the new Nation. bayonet play, deftly reversed his doorway, the Redcoats stabbed musket. Using the butt as a club, him with no less than eleven bayo he then stunned his adversary with net thrusts. Page Twenty-Nine In the house the Minute Men many or more British were finally who had no bayonets were at a slain in this stretch, which deserv great disadvantage, and the Red edly has been called "the bloodiest coats readily slew al they could half mile of all the Battle Road." reach. Some men from Beverly, and others, eight in number, fled The bu.ildings along the village into the cellar, and pointing their street of Menocomy had harbored so many Minute Men and made muske!S up the stairway, threatened " instant death to any soldiers who the route of the British retreat so Letter to Globe Included should follow. One venturesome hot and tantalizing that it was Redcoat took a chance and y.ras inevitable the harried troops would In Historical Park Report shot on the stairs. Another was sooner or later in their reckless killed in the fight on the floor fury make victims of some of the above. .innocent as well as the guilty. This very thing occurred at the Cooper A letter from an out-of--state couple, published in the After the British had gone, the Tavern. dead in and about the house were Sunday Globe of July 15, 1956, points up the significance at Jason Winship, 45, and Jabez gathered in a single room. When tached to the establishment of a National Historical Park along Mrs. Russell came home she found Wyman, 39, had already tarried her husband and eleven Minute too long over their mugs of ale the Lexington-Concord Battle Road of April 19, 1775. Men lying side by side on the floor and the landlord, Benjamin Cooper, in a common pool of blood. and his wife, Rachel, were mixing The letter writers, a man and his wife, who described flip at the bar when the Redcoats They were the largest number began shooting at the doors and themselves as "sad and disturbed," asked such questions as: of combatants, either American or windows and crowded .into the tap ._,,. British, to give up their lives in - room. The drinking companions "Is that tiny area all the ·space in Lexington and Concord any one place and at any one never had a chance. time during the course of the you have to spare to commemorate the epic events that day's conflict. The landlord and his spouse, occurred there? who escaped for their lives into (The Jason Russell House, com the cellar, made the incident appear mendably saved by the Arlington even more merciless and shocking "Has all the world forgotten? Historical Society in 1823, stands than it probably was. In a later today not far from its original lo depos.ition for the Provincial C�n- "Don't the residents of your section realize how vital to cation near the corner of Jason gress they described Winship and the world are the events that occurred there?" street and Massachusetts avenue.) his brother-in-law as "cwo aged gentlemen . . . most barbarously 5:30 P.M. and inhumanely murdered . . . The couple went on to state that "the Cradle of Democracy being stabbed thr,ough in many ( including Boston and Bunker Hill) should be a beautiful place, The section of the highway lead places, their heads mauled, skulls ing to the Cooper Tavern from the magnificent and shining for everyone to come and visit broke, and their brains beat out .._. ------Jason Russell House was, indeed, on the floor and walls of the the whole district should be a national park district." the scene of some of •the most _!i.ouse." frenzied and desperate action dur ing the running fight over an al most continuous battlefield. No The battle had reached the less than 20 Americans and as height of its feroc.ity at Menotomy. Page Thirty were morally certain of being put their perspiring bodies and parched ro death. themselves in an instant throats. . . . nor will the insurrection here The pond, like almost all fea turn out so despicable as it is tures of what was unspoiled coun perhaps imagined at home. For tryside or a small village compris my part, I never believed, I confess, ing the west end of Charlestown that they wd have attacked the in 1775, disappeared many years ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS king's troops, or have had the per ago. Under the impact of urban severance I found in them yester growth, this part of Charlesrown - day." was sec off as Somerville in 1842. The Boston National Sites Commission, Mark Percy's column wheeled to the All's Well left onto Beech street, from Mas .•. Bertman, Chairman, has petitioned Congress to sachusetts avenue, a quarter of a The last few musket shots establi:sh a national historic park along the Lex mile beyond the spot where three fl.ashed in the darkness as Gen. Amer,icans had been killed in the Percy's exhausted troops filed over ington-Concord battle road as a lasting memorial fight at the e_mpry casks, and came Charlescown Neck and reached the to the Minute Man. into the modern Somerville at the protection of Bunker H,ill. There corner of Beech and Elm streets. they flung themselves to the ground and waited, some of them The militia were too inexperi for hours, until arrangements could We are indebted to the Commission for the enced and too few in number to be completed and boats provided material in this booklet taken from their complete oppose Percy with anything like a to carry them across the river to frontal attack, but they exposed Boston. Thus ended the opeP-ing and interesting Interim Report to the Congress him to a hot fire from a grove not day of battle in the American of the United States. too far awav and killed several of Revolution. his men. As he had already done more than once on the rerreat, The British losses were 73 killed, Percy was compelled ro unlimber 174 wounded, 26 miss.ing, a total We are also indebted to the Boston Globe for of 273 casualties; while •the Amer his two field pieces and with can permission to use their edited story and the Boston non shot frighten and drive off icans had 49 fatalities, 41 wounded his adversaries. and five missing, a total casualty Herald for the picture of Meriam's Corner on list of 95. page 17. This sharp encounter took place at the corner of Elm street and Willow avenue in Somerville. Almost a mile farther on, the Cover picture of the Old North Bridge, Redcoats, now moving swiftly in Concord, Massachusetts, courtesy of Keith Martin, the last moments of daylight, came photographer for the Boston National Sites ro a small pond at the foot of the -- present Laurel street and Somer Commission. -ville avenue. Overheated by their exertions and frantic with thirst, many of the soldiers threw them selves into the water to refresh Page Thirty-Two