Lexington Town (part 5 of 25)

The apprehension which was felt for the safety of Hancock and Adams, was increased by the report of Sanderson, Revere, and others just escaped from the British officers, who had held them as prisoners. Their inquiries where these distinguished patriots could be found, left no doubt in the minds of the people of Lexington, that one object of the expedition was to seize them. The friends of Adams and Hancock advised them to leave their present lodgings, and repair to a place of greater safety. At first they objected. Hancock declared that "it should never be said of him, that he turned his back upon the British." But they were told that their preservation was of the utmost consequence to the interest of the Colony, and to the great cause of freedom ; and as they were unarmed, they could do but little towards opposing the king's troops. They at last consented, though with great reluctance, to leave the scene of danger, and the patriot priest whose hospitality they had shared, and whose sacred benedictions rested upon their heads. It was decided that they should repair to Burlinglon. But being unwilling to retire at once to a distant place, Avhere they should be beyond the reach of the earliest intelligence, and having a strong desu-e to witness with their own senses whatever might occur, they at first retired to the hill south-east of ]Mr. Clarke's house, which was then covered with wood, where they remained concealed till after the British had taken up their line of march for Concord, when they repaired to the house of a Mr. Eeed, in the borders of Burlington. Here they remained a short time, when they were induced to retire further from the scene of danger ; and they were conducted to the house of j\Iadam Jones, Avidow of Rev. Thomas Jones, and of Rev. Mr. Marrett, in Burlington.^

' While they were there, an alarm was given that the British were upon them. Whereupon, Mr. Marrett conducted them along a cartway to Mr. Amos Wyman's house, in a comer of Billerica.

Dorothy Quincy, true to the instincts of patriotism and her attaclinients to Hancock, to whom she was engaged, and whom she married in September of that year, accompanied him on that perilous occasion. It was at this phice, in the wood near Mr. Clarke's house, that the venerable Adams, on hearing the firing of the British troops, made that memorable exclamation, " What a glorious moruinff for America is this ! "

Far-sighted patriot ! He was not insensible to the horrors of war. Ilis patriotic soul was fully alive to the agonies of the dying, and the lamentations of the widow and the orphan. But in his prophetic vision, he looked beyond the events of that gloomy morning, to that brighter day which would dawn upon America. He was fvilly sensible that in politics as in religion, " the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church ; " and that the first guns that were fired, were but the signal for the general rising of the people, which must result in the independence of the colonies. Though a dark cloud overshadowed his beloved country, he plainly saw that its gilded margin betokened a brighter sky, and pointed to the bow of promise. Such prospects filled him with rapture, and drew from him that cheering, patriotic exclamation.

While these British officers were playing their part on the road towards Concord, the British troops were on their march to the place of their destination. Colonel Smith, at the head of about eight hundred grenadiers, infantry and marines, the floAver of the British army, embarked about ten o'clock in the boats of the ships of war. They landed at Phipps's farm in Cambridge, near where the present court-house stands, just as the moon was rising ; and to prevent discovery, took an unfrequented path across the marshes to the old road leading from Charlestown to Menotomy. This subjected them to considerable delay and inconvenience, as the path was untrodden, and they were compelled in some cases to wade through the water. Being on a secret expedition, their march was silent and noiseless. Gerry, Orne, and Lee, having been apprised of their approach, rose from their beds at jNlcnotomy, to witness then* stealthy midnight march. The front of the column passed the house without annoying any one ; but as they proceeded a sergeant's guard was detached to search the house. Gerry, Orne, and Lee, consid- ering themselves in immediate clanger, though but partly dressed, escaped from the house to the neighboring fields, where they remained till the overflowing scourge had passed by.^ The soldiers searched the house ; they entered into the chambers where they had been sleeping, but their intended victims had departed.^

Colonel Smith had not marched far before he found that the country was alarmed. Though General Gage had used the utmost secresy in preparing for the expedition, and his own movements had been cautious and stealthy ; though no martial airs had animated his troops, and their march was silent as the grave to which many of them were hastening, he found that the news of his expedition had preceded him. The light fi'om the Old North Church in Boston, had drawn forth a chime from the bells of the country churches, and the firing of alarm guns in every direction showed that the faithful heralds, sent out by the patriots, had performed their duty ; and if they had not prepared his way before him, they had prepared the people to give him a warm if not cordial reception. Fearing that the country was rising to oppose his progress, he detached six companies of light infantry, under the command of Major Pitcairn, with orders to press forward and secure the bridges at Concord. At the same time. Colonel Smith dispatched a messenger to General Gage for a reenforcement. Soon after, the officers who had been sent forward the preceding night, returned with very exaggerated statements of the numbers of the militia which were collecting - repi-esenting that there were five hundred assembled at Lex-

1 Smith, in his West Cambridge Address, says, " Gerry in his perturbation, being on the point of opening the front door in their faces, the landlord cried out to him, ' For God's sake don't open that door ! ' and led them to the back part of the house, whence they escaped into the cornfield, before the officer had posted his guards about the doors. There was nothing to conceal them from view in the broad field but the corn -stubble which had been left the previous fall a foot or two high, and that was but little protection in the bright moonlight. Gerry stumbled and fell, and called out to his friend, ' Stop, Orne ; stop for me, till I can get up ; I have hurt myself ! ' This suggested the idea, and they all threw themselves flat on the ground, and, concealed by the stubble, remained there, half-clothed, as they left their chamber, till the troops passed on. Colonel Lee never recovered from the effects of that midnight exposure ; he died in less than a month from that night."

injT^ton, and that they were constantly coniinf^ in from eveiy quarter. The representation so alarmed Pitcairn, that when he had arrived near Lexington Common, he halted till the grenadiers came in sight, that he might be supported in case he should be attacked by an overwhelming force.*

"The march of the British," says Phinney, "was silent and rapid. One of the messengers sent by our people to ascertain if they were coming, was surprised before he was aware of their approach, and taken prisoner in Cambridge.^ Thus they continued their march undiscovered, taking and detaining as prisoners. every person they met with on the road, till they had arrived within a mile and a half of Lexington meeting-house. In order to secure persons travelmg upon the road, they would send two soldiers at a considerable distance in advance of the main body, with orders to secrete themselves, one on each side of the road, and Avhen any one approached, they would allow him to pass them, so as to get between them and the troops, and then rise and close upon him. In this way they had taken a number of our men, who had been sent to get information of their approach. Thaddeus Bowman, the last one sent on this business, was riding pretty rapidly down the road, and had proceeded about a mile and a half, when his horse became suddenly frightened, stopped, and refused to go forward. In a moment he discovered the cause. Two British soldiers were perceived just ahead, sitting on opposite sides of the way, close to the fence. It was then daylight. While Bowman was unsuccessfully endeavoring by all the means of whip and spur to ui'ge his horse forward, not conceiving of their plan to entrap him, he caught a glimpse of the main body of the British troops, then about twenty rods off. He instantly turned his horse and rode with all possible speed to the meeting-house, and gave Captain Parker the first certain intelligence of the a])proach of the king's troops. About the same time that Bowman discovered them, a flanking party made prisoner of Benjamin Wellington, who was within about ten rods of the main road, on his way to join the company at the Common. They took his arms from him, and on his promise to return home, he was released. Wellington, however, took a cross route to the meeting-house, and reached

It was now about half-past four in the morning. Captain Parker immediately ordered the alarm guns to be fired, and the drum to beat to arms. Sergeant William Munroe was directed to form the company, which he did with the utmost dispatch, in two ranks, a few rods north of the meeting-house. Fifty or sixty of the militia had formed, or rather were forming, while there were some thirty spectators near by, a few of whom had arms. But what was to be done ! What could this little devoted band do in the face of what they then believed to be twelve or fifteen hundred veteran troops ? To attack them would, in a military point of view, be the height of madness ; to stand their gi'ound in case they were attacked by such overwhelming numbers, would be exposing themselves to certain destruction without any justifialjle motive. Captain Parker and his men not only knew their danger, but they knew the great responsibility which rested upon them. They stood there not merely as soldiers, but as citizens, nay, almost as statesmen, having the destiny of the country in their hands. Their conduct on that occasion might affect, for weal or for woe, thousands that were to come after them. The patriots in the other colonies had expressed a fear, lest the people of Massachusetts, goaded on by oppression, might indiscreetly commit some overt act, and so involve the country prematurely in a civil war. The Continental Congi-ess had recommended to the people of this Colony, to avoid a collision with the king's troops, and in all cases to act only on the defensive.- Hancock and Adams had recommended prudent measures ; and though they foresaw that a conflict of arms was approaching, they were extremely anxious that when war should come, we could say with truth that the colonists were not the aggressors. Captain Parker, in his intercourse with Parson Clarke, had learned that patriotism was consistent with prudence ; and that his duty to liis country and to his God, required him to act only on the defensive. To have been the assailant under such circumstances, would have been unworthy of him as a military commander and as a patriotic citizen, and would justly have exposed him to the censure of a court-martial, and tlie displeasure of every intelligent friend of the popular cause. Knowing his duty as a soldier, and feeling the full weight of his responsibility as a citizen, Captain Parker ordered his men "not to fire unless they were fired upon."

At a short distance from the parade ground, the British officers, hearing the beat of the American dnim, and regarding it as a challenge, ordered the column to halt and prime and load ; when they moved forward in double quick time directly upon the Americans, as they were forming. Some of Captain Parker's men, unused to such trying scenes, and knowing their inability to resist successfully, for a moment faltered ; Parker commanded every man to stand his ground till he should order him to leave it, and added that he would cause the first man to be shot down who should attempt to leave his post.^ At this moment the British rushed forward with a shout, led on by Major Pitcairn, who exclaimed, " Disperse, ye rebels ; lay down your arms and disperse ! " The Americans did not obey ; whereupon he repeated the exclamation with an oath, rushed forward, discharged his pistol and commanded his men to fire. A few guns were discharged ; but as no execution was done, the Americans, supposing that they were loaded only with powder, stood their ground, but did not return the fire. The command to fire was repeated, and a general discharge from the front rank followed with fatal effect. The Americans, seeing some of their numbers killed and wounded, hesitated no longer as to their right to resist, and several of them immediately returned the fire of the British. Jonas Parker, John Munroe, and Ebenezer Muuroe, Jr., and some others, fired before leaving the line. Captain Parker, seeing several of his men fall, and the British rushing upon his little band from both sides of the meeting-house, as if to surround them, ordered his men to disperse. They did so ; but as the British continued firing, sevei'al of the Americans returned the fire after leaving the field. ^

The firing on the part of the Americans, and also on the part of the British, after the first two rounds, was scattering and irregular. As Major Pitcairn led the van, the responsibility of

' Depositions of Underwood, Douglass, and John ^Munroe. * Depositions of 1775, Gordon's Letter, Clarke's Narrative, Phinney's History, and Everett's Address.

the first firing rests solely upon him. From the best information that can be obtained, it is not probable that Colonel Smith was upon the ground, until after or at the moment of the fatal volley. Most of the accounts, and especially the British, which are the best authority on the question as to who was then in command, ascribe it to Pitcairn. As the light infantry, which were put under the Major, were sent forward in advance of the grenadiers, and as the grenadiers under Smith did not join the column of infantry, until the delay of the latter near the Common, the sole direction of the firing must have devolved upon Pitcairn in the first instance. It is probable that Smith, who was not far from the Common, hearing the first discharge, rode forward, and arrived about the time the fatal volley was fired by the command of the Major. Smith may have been upon the Common before the scattering fire ceased, but was not at the commencement of the firing.^

The depositions taken in 1775, and subsequently, during the life-time of those who were actors in the scenes of that day, have preserved many interesting facts relative to the firmness, heroism, and noble daring of individuals on that occasion. Jedediah Munroe was wounded in the morning ; but nothing daunted by the dangers he had encountered and the wound he had received, instead of quitting the field, he marched with his company towards Concord to meet the enemy, and fell a victim to his patriotism and bravery in the afternoon. ^ On the first fire of the British in the morning, John Munroe, seeing no one fall, said coolly to his namesake, Ebenezer Munroe, Jr., that they had fired nothing but powder. On the second discharo-e, Ebenezer replied, 'They have fired something besides powder now, for I am wounded in the arm.' He then discharged his gun at the British, receiving two balls from them in return - one of

^ Several of the depositions taken in 1824, ascribe the command to fire to Colonel Smith. But though the deponents were on the field at the time, and saw the officers who first rode forward ; not knowing either of the officers, they could not tell one from the other. Pitcairn himself admitted that he was the officer in command at the commencement of the firing, though he knew that admission subjected him to the censure of his own government.

* Jedediah ^lunroe was armed that day not only with a musket, but with a long sword, or claymore, probably brought over by his ancestors from the Highlands of Scotland in the times of Oliver Cromwell. - MS. Papers of Edmund Munroe, late of Boston.

which grazed his cheek, the other passed between his arm and his body, leaving its mark in his garment. John Munroe, after firing in the line, retreated a few rods, when he turned about, loaded his gun with two balls, and discharged it at his pursuers ; the strength of the charge carrying away about a foot of the muzzle of his gun. William Tidd, the second in command of the company, when retreating from the Common, was pursued by an officer, supposed to be Pitcaii-n, on horseback, up the Bedford road some thirty or forty rods, with repeated cries of " Stop, or you are a dead man." Tidd turned from the road into the lot, where he made a stand, and discharged his gun at his pursuers, who in turn sought safety in flight. John Tidd remained upon the field so long, that as he was leaving the Common a British officer upon horseback rushed upon him and struck him down with his cutlass ; and while he remained senseless from the effects of the blow upon the head, they despoiled him of his arms, taking away his gun, cartridge-box and powder-horn. This furnishes pretty good proof that he did not run on the first approach of the enemy. ^

Joshua Simonds, with three others, had, on the approach of the British, gone into the church to obtain a supply of powder. They had succeeded in getting two quarter casks from the upper loft into the gallery, when the British reached the meeting-house. Two of them, Caleb Harrington and Joseph Comee, resolved at every hazard to escape from the house and join the company. Harrington was killed in the attempt at the west end of the meeting-house. Comee, finding himself cut off from the company, ran under a shower of balls, one of which struck him in the arm, to the Munroe house, (where Mr." John Hudson now resides,) and passing through the house made his escape at the back door. The third secreted himself in the opposite gallery, while Simonds loaded and cocked his gun, and laying down, placed the muzzle upon the open cask of powder, determined to blow up the British, if they should enter the gallery, choosing to destroy his own life rather than fall into their hands. "History, Koman history," says Everett, "does not furnish an example of bravery that outshines that of Jonas Parker. A truer

' Depositions of John Miuiroe, Ebenezer Munroe, and William Tidd : Everett's Address: Petition of John Tidd to the Legislature, January, 1776.

heart did not bleed at Thermopylae. He was next door neighbor of Mr. Clarke, and had evidently imbibed a double portion of his lofty spirit. Parker was often heard to say, that be the consequences what they might, and let others do what they pleased, . he would never run from the enemy. He was as good as his word ; - better. Having loaded his musket, he placed his hat, containing his ammunition, on the ground between his feet, in readiness for the second charge. At the second fire from the enemy, he was wounded, and sunk upon his knees ; and in this condition discharged his gun. Wliile loading it again upon his knees, and striving in the agonies of death to redeem his pledge,, he was transfixed by a bayonet, and thus died on the spot where he first stood and fell," ^

In addition to Jonas Parker, whose death was thus remarkable, Isaac Muzzy, Robert Munroe, and Jonathan Harrington, were killed on or near the Common, where the company was paraded. Robert Munroe, who thus fell a sacrifice to the lawless oppression of Great Britain, had, on a former occasion, periled his life in her defence - having served in the French war, and been standard-bearer at the capture of Louisburg in 1758. "Harrington's was a cruel fate. He fell in front of his own house, on the north of the Common. His wife at the window saw him fall, and then start up, the blood gushing from his breast. He stretched out his hands towards her, as if for assistance, and fell again. Rising once more on his hands and knees, he crawled towards his dwelling. She ran to meet him at the door, but it was to see him expire."^ Samuel Hadley and John Brown were killed after they left the Common, and Caleb Harrington in attempting to escape from the meeting-house. Asahel Porter, of Woburn, was not under arms. He had been captured on the road by the British that morning on their approach to Lexington ; and in attempting to make his escajfe, about the time the firing commenced, was shot down a few rods from the Common.^

* Phinney's History and Deposition appended, and MS. Statement of Levi Harrington. The number killed that morning was eight, viz : Jonas Parker, Robert Munroe, Isaac Muzzy, Jonathan Harrington, Caleb Harrington, Samuel Hadley and John Brown of Lexington, and Asahel Porter of Woburn. Three other Lexington men were killed and one wounded in the afternoon.

In addition to the killed, nine, viz: Ebenezer Munroe, Jr., John Tidd, John Eobbins, Solomon Pierce, Joseph Comee, Thomas Winship, Nathaniel Farmer, Jedediah Munroe, and a colored man called Prince, were wounded in the morning, and Francis Brown in the afternoon. Jedediah Munroe, who was. wounded in the morning, was killed in the afternoon. Several of the above received severe wounds.^

Of Captain Parker's gallant company, seven were killed, and nine wounded on or near the Common, being a quarter part of tlie whole number assembled. This furnishes the most striking proof of their bravery, and the firmness with which they withstood the British fire. The history of the most sanguinary battles, though continued for hours, rarely furnishes a per centage of loss equal to this. At the celebrated battle of Austerlitz, where the combined forces of Russia and Austria were so signally defeated and cut to pieces by Napoleon, the loss of the allies was only fifteen per cent ; while here it -was twenty-five. Brave and patriotic band ! How shall we do justice to your names and your memories ! When a dark cloud overshadowed our country, and many a stout heart shrunk back in dismay, you boldly stood forth in defence of our rights, and offered yourselves a living sacrifice on the altar of freedom. Your firmness inspired the patriots throughout the colonies - your blood cemented the union of the States. To you we are indebted, in no small' degree, for the manifold blessings we now enjoy. A grateful country remembers your deeds of noble daring, and will transmit your names to the latest posterity.

' Farmer received a ball in his right arm, which fractured the bone, and disabled him for a long time : several pieces of bone were taken from his arm months afterwards. The Legislature made him a grant of £15 15s. for loss of lator and for surgical attendance. Comee was wounded in the left arm, and received a grant of £12 7s. Tidd, of whose wound in the head we have already spoken, was rewarded for his bravery and suffering by a grant of £4 10s. Ebenezer Munroe, Jr., Was wounded in the arm, and remembered by a grant of £4. Francis Brown, who was wounded in the afternoon, received a ball in his cheek, which went nearly through his neck, where it lodged and was extracted on the back of his neck, the year following. He received £12 25. from the Legislature. Notwithstanding this severe wound, he lived fifteen or twenty years, and in 1776 commanded the Lexington company. Nor must we forget the black man. Prince ; he entered the Continental service, and served under Captain Edmund Munroe, in Colonel Bigelow's regiment.

Battle Of Lexington

One man of the tenth regiment was wounded in the leg, and another in the hand. INIajor Pitcairn's horse was struck in two places.^ When Munroe and others fired from the hne, the British were so enveloped in smoke by the vollej they had just fired, as to make them invisible to the Americans. This is undoubtedly one cause wliy more of their 'shots did not take eifect. Some of the militia retreated up the Bedford road, but most of them across the swamp to the rising ground north-west of the Common. As soon as the Lexington company had dispersed, and the firing had ceased, the British troops drew up on the Common, fired a volley, and gave three cheers in token of their victory ! They then took up their line of march for Concord, the next village, about six miles distant, where they arrived without further opposition. The tarry of the British at Lexington was short, the whole period occupying not more than twenty or twenty-five minutes. Most of Captain Parker's company, who had withdrawn to no considerable distance, returned to the Common immediately after the British had left for Concord, and made prisoners of six of tlie regulars who Avere in the rear of the detachment. It was supposed that they had wandered from the main-body for the purposes of plunder, or had gone into some of the houses on the road, to obtain some refreshment, and were thus left behind. These prisoners were disarmed, put under guard, and conducted to Woburn precinct, now Burlington, and from thence were sent to Chelmsford. ^ There was another prisoner taken shortly after, on the road near the old Yiles tavern, not far from the Lincoln line. These were the first prisoners made in the Revolution.

The report of the blopdy transaction at Lexington spread as on the wings of the wind, and the fact that the regulars had fired upon and killed several citizens, was kno"vvn not only in the neigliboring towns, but to the distance of forty or fifty miles, in the course of the forenoon.^ The people immediately flcAV to arms ; and half-formed companies, and single individuals, were seen moving rapidly to the scene of action. The intelligence that the British were on their way for Concord, had readied that place between one and two o'clock in the morning. Dr. Prescott, whose escape from the British officers has already been related, had given the alarm. The village bell and the alarm guns awoke the people from their slumbers. The Committee of Safety, the military officers, and the prominent citizens, held a hasty consultation. Kev. Mr. Emerson, their patriotic priest, was with them. The militia and minute-men were asseml)lcd, and expresses were sent towards Lexington to ascertain the approach of the king's troops. In the meantime the patriotic Colonel Barrett, to whose care had been committed the military stores in that place, was actively employed in removing them to places of safety. Some were secreted in the woods, and some under rubbish about the buildings, as opportunity would permit, or ingenuity suggest.

Concord is about eighteen miles from Boston. The village is situated on low, level ground, and is completely commanded by the hills on either side. Between these hills on the northwesterly and westerly side of the village, flows the Concord river in a serpentine channel with a sluggish current, approaching in some places within fifty rods of the houses, though generally at a greater distance. Across this stream in 1775, there were two bridges, known as the North and South bridges. The North bi'idge was some two hundred rods from the meeting-house. The west bank of the river at that place consists of low, wet ground, which is generally overflowed in the spring freshets.

through the streets at full speed, « To arms ! to arms ! the war has begun ! ' His white horse, bloody with spurring, and dripping with sweat, fell exhausted by the church. Another was instantly produced, and the tidings went on. The bell rung out the alarm, the cannon were fired, and messengers sent to every part of the town to collect the soldiery. As the news spread, the implements of husbandry were thrown by in the field, and the citizens left their homes with no longer delay than to seize their arms. In a short time the minute-men were paraded on the green, under Captain Timothy Bigelow ; after fervent prayer by the Rev. Mr. Maccarty, they took up their line of march. They were soon followed by as many of the train-bands as could be gathered under Captain Benjamin Flagg." This shows the spirit of the times ; and as Worcester, at least thirty miles distant from Lexington, received the tidings of the attack before noon, it shows the rapidity with which the alarm on that day was given.

From the bridge the road was a causeway leading westerly over the low ground towards Acton. The road from the hill where the Americans assembled after leaving the village, ran southerly till it met this causeway leading to the bridge at an acute angle. This bridge across the river was discontinued in 1793 ; the abutments and causeway, however, are still to be seen. ' The North bridije led to Colonel Barrett's, which was about two miles from the centre of the town. The road from Lexington enters Concord from the south-east, and runs along nearly a mile upon level land close to the foot of a hill which rises abruptly from thirty to fifty feet above the road, and terminates at the north-easterly part of the square. The top forms a plain which overlooks and commands the village. The liberty-pole stood upon the northerly part of this ridge of high land. " The town," says D' Bernicre, the spy sent out by General Gage, "is large, and contains a church, jail, and court-house ; but the houses are not close together, but in little groups."

Reuben Brown, one of the messengers sent forth from Concord to obtain information, returned with the intelligence that the British had fired upon the Americans at Lexington, and were on their way to Concord. This was soon after confirmed, with the additional intelligence, that some half-dozen of the Americans had been killed.^ The militia and minute-men of Concord

* John Hoar, and seven others of Lincoln, on the 23d of April, 1775, testify that on the 19th of April they " were assembled at Concord in the morning of that day in consequence of information received that a brigade of regular troops were on their march to Concord, who had killed six men at Lexington ; about an hour afterwards we saw them approaching," &c. Captain Nathan Barrett, Lieutenants Jonathan Farrar, Joseph Butler, and Francis Wheeler, and Ensign John Barrett, and eleven others, all of Concord, testify on the same day as follows: "On Wednesday, the 19th instant, about an hour after sunrise, we assembled on the hill near the meeting-house in Concord, in consequence of information that a number of regular troops had killed six of our countrymen at Lexington, and were on their march to Concord ; and about an hour after we saw them approaching to the number, as we imagined, of about twelve hundred." As these troops assembled at Concord " About an hoiir before the British arrived," and had at that time received information that the regulars had Jived upon and killed six of their countrymen at Lexington, it is manifest that this information had been forwarded with the utmost dispatch, and hence must have been known to all the militia and minute-men before the firing at the North bridge.

There is strong internal evidence in the depositions, that the intelligence of the slaughter of Captain Parker's men was early communicated to the citizens assembled on the Green near the meeting-house. They were soon joined by a portion of the military from Lincoln,^ which had turned out on the alarming intelligence from Lexington of the slaughter of their countrymen. The gallant Captain "William Smith had brought on his minute-men, and Captain Sgmucl Farrar, with equal promptness, was there with his militia company. It was determined at first to go out and meet the enemy, and some companies marched down the Lexington road, till they saw the British approaching within about two miles of the village. Captain IMinot remained in the village, and took a position on the hill near the liberty-pole. The companies Avhich had marched down the road soon returned, and reported that the British were three or four times their number. The whole party then wisely fell back to an eminence about eighty rods from the meeting-house, where they formed in two battalions.^ Here they were joined by Colonel Barrett, the senior officer on the occasion, who had previously been engaged in removing and secreting the military stores. In the meantime the British appeared in full view at the distance of a quarter of a mile, marching at a rapid rate. There was but little time for deliberation. Some were in favor of standing their ground and resisting the British troops, in case they should attack them. But and to the military at Concord. The deponents had information that six of their countrymen were slain, which shows that the tidings must have been forwarded immediately, before the whole number had been ascertained. Timothy ilinot, Jr., of Concord, testified that after he heard of the regulars firing upon the Lexington men, he thought it his duty to secure his family ; and after securing them, to use his own language, " sometime after that, returning towards his dwelling, and finding that the bridge was guarded by the regular troops," stood as a spectator and saw the Americans march down to the bridge where the firing co ' menced." The only authority we can find that even implies that the Americans at the North bridge did not know of the slaughter at Lexington, is that of Mr. Emerson, and his language may naturally be interpreted to imply nothing more than that they had not learned all the particulars, though they had heard of the main fact. Such an interpretation of his language will make it harmonize with that of Captain Barrett and sixteen other citizens of Concord. None can take an impartial view of the evidence without being satisfied that the Lexington slaughter was known to the Americans before a gun was fired at Concord. "Tliat such a fact, so perfectly known to hundreds at Lexington about sunrise, on a day when so many were literally running from town to town, should not have traveled six miles in about five hours, cannot be believed." - Adams's Address. ' Emerson, Ilipley and Clark.

more prudent counsels prcyailed, and Colonel Barrett ordered the militia under bis command, to retire over the North bridge to a commanding eminence about three-fourths of a mile from the meeting-house, there to Avatch the movements of the enemy and wait for reenforcements.^

The British troops marched into Concord in two columns ; one in the main road, and the other north of the road on the hill from which the Americans had just retired. Colonel Smith, with the grenadiers, marines, and a portion of the light-infantry, remained in the centre of the town, while Captain Parsons, with six light companies, consisting however of only about tAvo hundred men, was detailed to secure the North bridge, and destroy the stores supposed to be deposited in that part of the town. Pursuant to orders, Captain Parsons posted Captain Laurie with about one hundred men at the bridge, while he proceeded with the remainder, under the guidance of Ensign D' Bernicre, who had visited Concord about a month before, to the house of Colonel Barrett, in pursuit of military stores. Captain Pole, with a small detachment, was sent to the South bridge for a similar purpose.^ These bridges were important in a military point of view, as they furnished the only approach to the town from the west and north-west, at this season of the year, when the water is usually higii.

In the meantime the Americans, assembled on the hill near the North bridge, were receiving accessions to their numbers from Carlisle, from Chelmsford, from Westford, from Littleton and Acton, and from other towns in that neighborhood. As the militia and minute-men repaired to the scene of action with the utmost haste on the first receipt of the intelligence of the approach of the British, the companies generally were not full at this early hour. About four hundred and fifty however had arrived.^ They were formed in line by Joseph Hosmer of Concord, who acted as adjutant on the occasion. As the men arrived they took their places in their respective companies. The gallant Captain Davis, with his Acton minute-men, came upon the field after the line was partly formed, and took his appropriate place - the one which he had occupied a short time before at a muster - on the left of the Concord minute companies, commanded by Captains Brown and Miles, both of whom were his seniors.^ From their position on the hill the Americans had a full view, not only of the British troops at the bridge, but also of those near the meeting-house, who were seeking for and destroying military stores. Seeing several fires set by the troops under Colonel Smith, they became alarmed for the fate of the A'illage. A consultation of the officers present and of prominent citizens was held, which resulted in a resolution to pass the bridge, and march to the centre of the town.^

The Americans were at this time about four times as numerous as the British at the bridge ; but the latter were vastly superior in discipline, and in the quality of their arms. Besides, the British had a veteran force of at least five hundred men in the village, on which they could fall back in case of necessity ; and being posted at the bridge which the Americans could approach only by a narrow causeway, they had greatly the advantage of position. Knowing that the British had fired upon the militia at Lexington, and killed several men, the Americans had every reason to believe that they would dispute the passage of the bridge ; and knowing that the front of the column upon the causeway leading directly to the bridge, Avould be greatly exposed to their fire in case of resistance, it required no ordinary firmness to occupy that position. Who then should head the column? What company should occupy that post of honor and of danger ? It of right belonged to the Concord companies ; their position on the right of the line would, under ordinary circumstances, give them that post. A consultation of the officers and others was had, at which the subject was considered. We have no full report of what took place there. AVilliam Parkman of Concord, who was pi'csent acting as one of the vigilance committee, said that Major Buttrick requested one of the Concord companies to meet the British at the bridge, but the Captain replied that he had rather not. Captain Davis of Acton, promptly accepted the honor, dangerous as was the position.^ Captain AMlliam Smith of Lincoln, also oflcred his services to lead the column to the

' Adams's Address, and Depositions appended. "^ Ripley and Shattuck. ' Deposition of Bradley Stone, appended to Adams's Letter to Lemuc.l Shattuck, Esq.

bridge.^ That there was some feeling exhibited on this occasion, and that some of the officers had decHned the post of danger, is manifest from the course pursued by the gallant Davis, who, in returning to his company from this consultation, said with emotion and firmness, " I have n't a man in my company that 's afraid to go," and ordering his men to follow him, wheeled them out of the line, and placed them at the head of the column, under the guidance of Major Buttrick.- Colonel Barrett gave orders to pass the bridge, but not to fire unless fired upon by the king's troops. He designated ]\Iajor John Buttrick to execute this order. Lieutenant Colonel Robinson, of Westford, volunteered to accompany him. On their march ISIajor Buttrick requested him to act as his superior, but he generously declined.^

It was nearly ten o'clock when the Americans, about three hundred strong,"* commenced then' march for the river, the Acton company in front, led by the gallant Davis. Captains Brown, Miles, Smith and others fell into line with their companies.

- Mass. Archives, - "Lincoln, November, 1776. This may certify that Captain William Smith of Lincoln, in the county of ^liddlesex, appeared on Concord parade early in the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, with his company of minute-men; was ordered to leave his horse by a field-officer, and take his post on an adjacent hill - the British troops possessing the North bridge. He voluntarily offered with his company, to endeavor to dislodge them, leaving his horse at the tavern ; by which means, on their retreat, the horse, &c., were carried off with one of their wounded men. - John Buttrick, Major."

" Smith's Deposition, appended to Adams's Address. Pierpont, in a Poem delivered at Acton, October 29th, 1851, on the celebration of the completion of the monument erected to the honor of Davis, Hosmer, and Hay ward, thus describes this consultation :

" But who shall head the column ? Who shall dare Beard fiist the lion, leaping from his lair? The chiefs in consultation ask, ' Which corps Of these, who never faced a foe before, Will stand those veterans' fire ? Which will not quail At yonder bayonets, and the leaden hail That lies behind them ? Davis, are there ten Of your command - of Acton's minute men - Who will not waver - will not quit their place, When meeting yonder bull-dogs face to face ? ' ' Ten, do you ask me, Buttrick, Robinson, Ten of my minute men that will 7wt run ? Say but the word - march with me down this hill , And you shall see, there is not one that icilL' Nor was there one that did."

Their positions, however, are not exactly knoAvn.^ They marched in double ranks . The British guard of about one hundred in niunber, under Captain Laurie, were then on the west side of the river. On seeing the Americans approach, they recrossed the bridge, formed in order of battle, and began to take up the planks. Major Buttrick in a loud voice remonstrated against this, and ordered his men to hasten their march. A^^ien they arrived within a few rods of the bridge, they were fired upon by the British. The first guns, only two or three in number, did no execution, the balls, probably by design, strildng the water. These were followed by a few other shots, one of which wounded Luther Blanchard, a fifer in the Acton company. These were succeeded by a volley, by which Captain Davis and Abner Hosmer, of the same company, were killed. On seeing this. Major Buttrick exclaimed : " Fire, fellow soldiers ; for God's sake, fire ! " This order was instantly obeyed, killing one and wounding several of the enemy. The British immediately retreated in great haste and confusion towards the village, and were soon met by a reenforcement ; when the whole fell back upon the main body, near the meeting-house. The Americans pursued them over the bridge, where one of the wounded British soldiers was cruelly killed by a liatchet, as he was struggling to rise from the ground.^ Part of the Americans turned off to the left, and ascended a hill east of the main road, while another portion returned to the high grounds, carrying with them the remains of Davis and Hosmer. Military order was now broken up, and the Americans improved the time in taking refreshments. In the mean time, the detachment which had been sent to Colonel Barrett's to destroy the munitions of war, returning, re-passed the bridge Avhere the skirmish had taken place, and joined the main body under Colonel Smith, without molestation. The localities here referred to, and the movement of the troops, will be better understood by reference to the accomnanving diagram.

' This barbarous deed gave rise to tlie charge made bj' the British that the Americans scalped the wounded and cut off their cars. The act was committed by a rash young man, acting from the impulse of the moment, who regretted it to his dying day. It was condemned by all parties at the time, and has never been justified by any one. It was an act of an individual, without orders from any iu authority.

The Americans, whose numbers were now considerably increased, onght, it has been said, to have intercepted this detachment at the bridge ; but as no declaration of war had taken place, there must have been some hesitancy on the part of the officers as to the wisdom or propriety of such an attempt. Such a step might have exposed the women and children to the grossest outrages, and the village itself to destruction. The conduct of the British in the afternoon shows that such apprehensions, if they were entertained, were well founded. Besides, the Provincial troops were unused to strict discipline, and it would have been difficult to rally them, and bring them into the field to act with such efficiency at a single point, as to intercept a hundred veteran soldiers ; and every military man knows that it would have been next to impossible for three hundred militia, without discijjline and poorly armed, to capture such a force before they could have been relieved by Colonel Smith, who had six or seven hundred men at his command, and who must have been on the alert for the safety of Captain Parsons' detachment. On the whole it was undoubtedly wise that no such attempt was made by Colonel Barrett ; though it must have been a great mistake to permit the militia and minute men to disperse at that critical moment, as they were allowed to do, on the poor plea that they wanted their breakfast.

The British met with but partial success in their destruction of military stores. The delay produced by the affiiir at Lexington, and the consequent caution which Colonel Smith afterwards observed, gave the people at Concord a better opportunity than they would otherwise have had to secure them ; which they so wisely improved, by scattering and secreting them, that most of them escaped destruction. Little' or no success croA\aied the effijrts of the detachment, sent to the South bridge. The party sent to Colonel Barrett's were a little more successful. They burnt a number of gun carriages and other implements of war. In the centre of the town, they knocked off. the trunnions of three iron twenty-four pounders, burnt a number of gun carriages, threw a quantity of balls into the mill-pond, broke open some sixty barrels of flour, and destroyed a small quantity of wooden bowls and spoons. They also cut down the liberty-pole, and set the court-house on fire, which however was extinguished by the exertion and address of the patriotic Mrs. Moulton. Gordon sums up the total destruction as follows : " They disabled three twenty-four pounders, destroying their carnages, wheels and limbers ; sixteen wheels for brass three pounders ; two carriages with wheels for two four pounders ; about one hundi'ed weight of balls, wliich they threw into the river and wells, and about sixty barrels of flour, one-half of wliich was afterwards saved." ^ After the firing at the North bridge, the British fell back to the village, where they were soon joined by the detachments under Captain Parsons and Captain Pole, who had been sent out to destroy the mihtary stores. Here the whole body of the king's troops remained nearly two hours unmolested ; a delay not easily accounted for, unless Colonel Smith was in expectation of a reenforcement - a delay which nearly cost him the loss of his whole detachment. In the meantime the country was alarmed, and the militia and minute-men were pressing to the scene of action. The farmer left his plough in the fun-ow, the mechanic threw down his tools, and neither returned to his house, save to seize his musket and his powder horn, that he might be prepared to defend his own and his country's rights. The intelligence which went forth from Lexington in the morning, had like an electric fire spread rapidly in every du-ection, and produced a shock of righteous indignation, which brought men from every quarter, and prepared them for vigorous action ; and the scenes which had occurred at the North bridge at Concord, strengthened their hands and their hearts, and rendered them desperate.

About noon the British commenced their retreat. They left the village in the same order in which they entered it - the main body in the road, and a strong flanking party upon the hill to protect their left. For the first mile they were unmolested ; but when they arrived at Merriam's corner, they encountered a party of minute-men from Reading, under Major Brooks, afterwards Governor of the Commonwealth ; Colonel William Thompson

* "The shrewd and successful address of Captain Timothy WTieeler on this occasion deserves notice. He had the charge of a large quantity of Provincial flour, which together with a few casks of his own, was stored in his barn. A British officer demanding entrance, he readily took his key, and gave him admission. The officer expressed his pleasure at the discovery; but Captain Wheeler with much affected simplicity said to him, putting his hand upon a barrel - 'This is my flour. I am a miller, sir. Yonder stands my mill. I get my living by it. In the winter I grind a great deal of grain, and get it ready for market in the spring. This,' pointing to one barrel, 'is the flour of wheat ; this,' pointing to another, ' is the flour of corn ; this is the flour of rye ; this,' putting his hand upon his own cask, ' is my wheat ; this is my rye ; this is mine.' - Well,' said the officer, < we do not injure private property ;' and withdrew, leaving this important depository untouched." - Holma's Annuls.

with a body of militia from Billerica and the vicinity coming up about the same time. The Provincials on the high grounds near the North bridge, seeing the British leaving the village, went across the " great field," so called, to the Bedford road, and arrived in time to support the troops brought up by Brooks and Thompson. Here may be said to have commenced the battle of the IDtli of April. At Lexington Common and at Concord North bridge, but few guns had been fired by the Americans ; and though ten Americans had fallen, only one of the king's troops had been killed by the return fire. But now all restraint seems to have been removed, and every true patriot felt at full liberty to fire without the bidding of any superior. Rev. Edmund Foster, then a young man and a private in the Reading company, gives a graphic account of what occured at this point. " A little before we came to Merriam's hill, we discovered the enemy's flank guard of about eighty or a hundred men, who, on the retreat from Concord, kept the height of land, the main body being in the road. The British troops and the Americans, at that time, were equally distant from Merriam's corner. About twenty rods short of that place the Americans made a halt. The British marched down the hill with very slow but steady step, without music or a word being spoken that could be heard. Silence reigned on both sides. As soon as the British had gained the main road, and passed a small bridge near the corner, they faced about suddenly and fired a volley of musketry upon us. They overshot ; and no one to my knowledge was injured by the fire. The fire was immediately returned by the Americans, and two British soldiers fell dead at a little distance from each other in the road near the brook. The battle now began and was carried on with little or no military discipline or order on the part of the Americans, during the remainder of the day. Each sought his own place and opportunity to attack and annoy the enemy from behind trees, rocks, fences and buildings as seemed most convenient." ^

A little above, near Hardy's Hill, the Sudbury company, led by Captain Cudworth, came up and attacked them with vigor. There was also a severe skirmish below Brooks's tavern on the old road north of the school house. " AVe saw a wood at a distance," says Mr. Foster, " which appeared to lie on or near the road where the enemy must pass. Many leaped over the walls and made for that wood. We arrived just in time to meet the enemy. There was on the opposite side of the road, a young growth of wood filled with Americans. The enemy were now completely between two fires, renewed and briskly kept up. They ordered out a flank guard on the left to dislodge the Americans from their posts behind the trees ; but they only became better marks to be shot at." A short but sharp contest ensued in which the enemy received more deadly injury than at any other place from Concord to Charlestown.

From the bridge below Brooks's, the woody defiles extended a considerable distance ; in passing which the British suffered severely. The character of the country obstructed their flanking parties ; and as the retreat was now approaching a rout, and their flanks were outflanked by the Americans, they were called in, - thus exposing their main body to the direct fire of those who lined the woody borders of the road. Here they were met by a large body of men from Woburn, who, fired by patriotism, had rallied in defence of the common cause. Loammi Baldwin, afterwards Colonel Baldwin, was one of that body. In Lincoln also, Captain Parker, who had collected most of his men, came up with his company, and taking a position in the fields, poured into the retreating enemy a galling and destructive fire as they passed. Nor ceased the efforts of this gallant band with a single discharge. They joined in the pursuit, determined to avenge the outrage of the morning ; and their loss in the afternoon in killed and wounded is conclusive evidence that they did not shun the post of danger. In no part of the retreat were the British more sorely pressed than in passing through Lincoln. Their loss was severe. Eight of their slain were buried in Lincoln grave-yard. The loss of the Americans was comparatively light ; though Captain Jonathan Wilson, of Bedford, Nathaniel Wyman, of Billerica, and Daniel Thompson, of Woburn, fell in this part of the field.

The retreat here became a rout, the British making little resistance other than what could be made in their rapid flight. As they entered the town of Lexington, however, they made one more desperate effort to check the pursuers, and restore order in their broken ranks. Near the old Viles tavern, on the boi'der of the town, they threw a detachment upon a high bluff on the north side of the road, to hold the Americans in check, till they could form their fugitives on Fiske Hill, about a hundred rods below. But the Americans by this time had acquired so much confidence in their own prowess, that they vigorously attacked the detachment on the bluff, and drove them from their commanding position.

In the meantime Colonel Smith was attempting to rally his men on Fiske Hill, or at least to restore something like order amonsr his fugitives. De Bernicre, who was with the detachment acting as their guide, informs us that after other efforts had failed, the officers placed themselves in front, and threatened every man with instant death, who should leave the line. This desperate expedient partly succeeded, and many of the troops formed under a galling fire. An officer mounted on a fine, spirited horse, with a drawn sword in his hand, was seen actively engaged in rallying the fugitives, directing their movements, and attempting to restore order. A party of the Provincials having passed through the woods, concealed themselves behind a pile of rails near where the British were attempting to form, and poured into their halfformed ranks a deadly volley. The officer was unhorsed, and his affrighted animal leaping the wall, ran directly to those who had relieved him of his rider, and was taken by them. Colonel Smith was here severely wounded in the leg. This unexpected attack upon their flank, the flight of the detachment driven from the bluff, and the hot pursuit of the Provincials, destroyed the last hope of the king's troops, who fled in the utmost confusion.^

At the foot of Fiske ffill on the easterly side, near the present residence of Mr. Dudley, a personal contest took place between Mr. James Hayward, of Acton, and a British soldier. The latter had stopped at the well to obtain a draught of water, and as the ardent Hayward, who was in front in the pursuit, approached, the Briton drew up his gun, and exclaimed, " You are a dead man ! " "And so are you," returned the youthful Hayward. They both

1 Ripley, Shattuck, and Frothingham. The horse captured at Fiske Hill was with his trappings taken to Concord and sold at public auction. Captain Nathan Barrett bought the pistols, and afterwards offered them to General Washington, but he not accepting them, they were given to General Putnam.

The British were again attacked with great vigor and fatal effect in a wood near the old poor-house in Lexington. Their ammunition began to fail, and the troops were so oppressed with thu'st and fatigue, as to be almost unfit for service. Their flight was so rapid that their killed were left where they fell. Their wounded which they attempted to take with them, created great embarassment, and many were left behind. The troops broke, and disregarding all order, each one looked out for himself alone. This was the condition of the British when they passed Lexington Common, on which they had shoT\Ti such a haughty demeanor, and so much martial pride some eight or nine hours before. They were fatigued, dispirited, and almost exhausted ; and nothing but the timely arrival of Lord Percy with a reenforcement saved the detachment from utter ruin.

The British accounts admit that the condition of Colonel Smith was perilous in the extreme, when Percy joined him. Mahon, an English historian, says of Smith's detachment, "Their utter destruction would have ensued, had not General Gasre sent forward that morning another detachment under Lord Percy to support them."^ All accounts agree that the day was unusually warm for that season of the year, and so hotly were the British troops pressed on their retreat, that they were well-nigh exhausted. Stedman, the British historian who attended Percy in this expedition, not only admits that "the British were driven before the Americans like sheep," but he says that when they arrived within the hollow square formed by Percy's brigade to receive them, " They were obliged to lie down upon the ground, their tongues hanging out of their mouths, like those of dogs after a chase." ^

It has already been stated that Colonel Smith on his way to Lexington from Boston, became alarmed, and sent a messenger to General Gage for a reenforcement. His message was received early in the morning, and about nine o'clock Gage dispatched three regiments of infantry, and two divisions of marines with two field-pieces, under Lord Percy, to support him. Percy marched out through Roxbury to the tunc of Yankee Doodle.^ To prevent or impede his march, the selectmen of Cambridge caused the planks of the old bridge, over which he was obliged to pass, to be taken up ; but instead of removing them to any distance, they were unwisely left u])on the causeway on the Cambridge side of the river. Hence Percy found no difficulty in replacing them so as to enable his troops to cross. But a convoy of provisions under a sergeant's guard was detained, until it was out of the protection of the main body, and measures were taken to cut it off, which was effectually done in Menotomy. Gordon the historian, who visited the scene of action immediately after the events occurred, ascribes the leadership in this movement to

' As the tune of " Yankee Doodle," was employed by the British in derision, at the commencement of the Revolution, it may be desirable to learn something of its origin and character. Strictly speaking, it is not to be classed with our national airs ; yet it is played so often, is so associated with our national life, and so entwined with our free institutions, that no liberty-loving :American is willing to discard it. Though its faults may be obvious, they are all pardonable. Cynics may snarl, and wits may satirize it, but the people take it to their bosoms. The lovers of scientific music may denounce it, as low and vulgar, and unworthy of a refined and delicate taste ; but the truly democratic reply is " the sovereign people do not so understand it." They love the gay old tune, and will not give it up. They hail it as one of our free institutions, and are ready to stand by it. And the singular fact, that it has no acknowledged words, only gives it a versatility, which adapts it to every subject, and fits it for all occasions. The poetry in which it naturally flows, can be composed by almost every rhymester, and the tune luxuriates as freely in low doggerel, as in the sublime stanzas of our greatest poets. It is equally at home in and it is never embarassed in whatever dress it appears. It is also adapted to all occasions, and can with equal grace and propriety, cheer on the brave, or lampoon the laggard. In fact,

" The tune you know is a ' Daughter of the Regiment,' coming to us by adoption. Its parentage is involved in obscurity ; many cities, as in the case of Homer, claiming it. Some consider it an old vintage song of France ; the Spaniards think their voices have echoed to its notes in early days; the Magyars with

Rev. Dr. Pajson, of Chelsea, while others ascribe it to one David Lamson, a half-breed Ijidian. Probably both statements are founded in fact. It is admitted that a courier came from Old Cambridge, who informed the people of AYest Cambridge that these supplies were on the way and urged them to intercept them ; and that the people rallied, and made Lamson their leader at that place, while Pay son might have been the instigator, and an active leader at some other point. A few of the citizens of West Cambridge assembled, and under the leadership of Lamson, took a position behind a bank wall of earth and stone, and when the convoy made its appearance near the meeting-house in that parish, they demanded a surrender, which being refused, they discharged

Louis Kossuth, recognize in it one of their old national dances. England entertains some shadowy tradition of it, both before and during the times of Cromwell ; and the Dutchman claims it, as a low coxintry song of tithes and Bonnyclabber, giving the original words -

" But whatever may have been the origin, this - Daughter of the Regiment,' go far as I can learn, first appeared in America, on the banks of the Hudson in June, 1755, and was introduced into the American camp by one roguish Dr. Richard Shuckburg of the British Army, in this amusing way. Our Colonial companies, under Governor Shirley, encamped on the left of the British, meanly disciplined and poorly clad, and marching after music quite two centuries old, increased of course the ridicule of their well equipped and fashionable transatlantic brethren. To keep the sport along, this mischievous Dr. Shuckburg, "vvit, surgeon and fiddler as he was, tells the Americans that the music is too ancient, and that he will get up a tune in the modern style - and so he gave them ' Yankee Doodle.' The American soldiers called it ' mighty fine.' It struck a strong chord in the American heart, and was heard immediately, and nothing else was heard, throughout the camp and throughout the Colonies.

"This tune became our battle-march, through the Revolution ; and though the British gave it to us in June, 1755, we gave it back to them with compound interest in June, 1775, at Bunker Hill; and we baptized the bantling, which they gave us in derision, in the blood of heroes, placed upon it the name of FKEEDOM, rocked it in Faneuil Hall, and took it home to dwell with us forever ! -Independence now and forever' rings through every note of it, and one never feels half so much like '76 itself, as when he hears it rolling. Hence the leaders of the Rebellion, after the pitiful policy of European kings, descend to the mean expedient of ostracising our national songs, in order to keep their wicked cause in countenance with the people. Yankee Doodle must be silenced before our brave old flag can be cut down ; so long as its old rolicsome notes roll out, the stars and stripes must and will float over us."

a volley killing several of the horses. The affrighted drivers and the guard made their escape as best they could. The wagons were taken possession of by the citizens, and were removed to a place of safety. It is said that six of the men attached to the teams were afterwards taken prisoners.^

Percy met the fugitives some half a mile below Lexington Common about two o'clock. One of his field pieces was placed on a bluff or mound near the present site of tlie town hall, which has since been levelled for the erection of the building and the repairs of the highways ; and the other upon the high ground above the Munroe tavern and back of the residence of tlie late Dea. Nathaniel Mullikcn. By this accession to the British force, and by the presence of the artillery, the Americans were, for a short period, kept in check. Sliots were fired from the fieldpieces in every direction where any Provincials could be discovered. Several shots were thrown into the village - one of which passed through the meeting-house, and out at the pulpit window. The ball lodged in the back part of the Common ; it was preserved

' Smith's West Cambridge Address. After stating that six of these grenadiers surrendered to "an old woman digging dandelions," Mr. Smith says, "So to "West Cambridge belongs the honor of making the first capture of provisions and stores, and also of prisoners, in the American Revolution." Granting the marvellous achievement of the old lady, which some may be disposed to question, the truth of history compels us to say, that he must have been misled in supposing that these were the first prisoners taken that day. . Percy did not leave Boston till about nine o'clock that morning, and coming out over the Neck, through Roxbury and Brighton, could not have reached West Cambridge before about the middle of the day ; as he did not reach the Munroe tavern in Lexington, till nearly two o'clock. His baggage was in his rear and was detained so long at the bridge, or by other misfortunes, as to be separated from the troops. It must have been twelve or one o'clock before they could have reached the centre of West Cambridge. Now, it is a well authenticated fact, that several British soldiers who fell in the rear of their main body, were captured at Lexington, soon after the British left for Concord, which must have been as early as seven or eight o'clock that morning. See depositions of Wm. Monroe, John Monroe, Ebenezer Munroe, and James Reed of Burlington, to whose house the prisoners were sent. These deponents were all actors in the scene of that morning and knew what they related.

Gordon, who wrote a History of the Revolution, whose means of information were good, gives the following account of what happened at West Cambridge. " Before Percy's baggage reached the place, a few Americans, headed by Rev. ilr. Payson of Chelsea, who till then had been extremely moderate, attacked a party of twelve soldiers carrying stores to the retreating troops, killed one and wounded several, made the whole prisoners, and gained possession of their arms and stores without any loss to themselves." Vol. i. p. 313.

for some time, when it was passed over to Harvard College, and by some neglect it was taken away, and as far as we know is lost. Another ball was ploughed up some years after, on the farm owned and occupied by the late Benjamin Fiske, Esq., on Lowell street.

There must have been many cases of extreme bravery, of wise caution, of great exertion and of cruel suffering, which occurred that day. Nor is the glory due to the men alone. The women and children performed and endured their full share of labor and of suffering. We would joyfully give some instances of rare courage or personal foresight ; but the moment you go beyond the record you have such floods of traditionary lore, some probable and some improbable, that you cannot distinguish fact from fiction ; and we had rather omit some incidents tolerably well authenticated, than to falsify history by inserting the extravagant accounts of some credulous persons, who to magnify the worth of a family, or the honor of the town, would swell mole hills into mountains.

We will state, however, what is true in general, that after the British had passed on to Concord, there was great apprehension for the safety of families ; and many who resided on the line of the great road, left their houses in dismay, and fled to distant neighbors, or in some cases to the woods, taking with them some valuables from their houses ; - and what is still more trying, in some cases mothers with their babes but a few days old, and the sick and infirm, who had been confined to their beds, were hurried away to places of safety.

During this respite the harrassed troops were enabled to rest themselves, and, by entering the houses in the immediate neighborhood and seizing whatever they could lay their hands upon, to obtain some refreshment. But after pillaging the houses, not only of what their hunger and thirst required, but of such articles of clothing, &c., as they could comfortably carry away, they wantonly destroyed the furniture and other pi-operty in and about the buildings ; and to complete their works of vandalism, they set fire to several buildings which were entirely consumed. Joseph Loring who resided on the place directly opposite the present town house, had his house- and barn, valued at £350, laid in ashes, and other property to the amount of £370 was wantonly destroyed. Lydia Mulliken had her house and shop, valued at £128, and other property to the amount of £303, destroyed. Joshua Bond lost his dwelling house and shop, and other property valued at £189 IGs. Id. William Munroe lost in household furniture, goods in retail shop, &c., destroyed, £203 lis. 9d. The whole amount of property in Lexington thus ruthlessly destroyed, was valued at the time at £1,761 26-. 3d.^

The conduct of the king's troops, after they were met by Percy, was marked by a vandalism totally unworthy the character of a soldier. In addition to a wanton destruction of property, they practiced a system of personal insult, treachery and murder, which reflects disgrace and infamy upon the commanders and the men. A party entered the Mvmroe tavern, and helping themselves, or rather compelling the inmates of the house to help them to whatever they wanted, they treacherously and with ruthlessness shot down John Raymond, an infirm man residing in the family, only because he, becoming alarmed at their roughness and brutal conduct, was about leaving the house to seek a place of greater safety. The brutality here commenced, was continued throujrhout the remainder of their retreat.

As the events, crowded into the memorable 19th of April, were numerous as well as important, and are naturally divided by the change of commanders, which took place in Lexington, we will, like the fugitives of Smith's command, rest for a short time, and commence our next chapter with the flight of Lord Percy.

* See original accounts as reported by a coramittee. The sufferers in Lexington were: Joseph Loring £720, Jonathan Harrington £103 7s., Lydia Winship £66 13s. 4d , Joseph Mason £14 13s. id., Matthew Mead £101, Benjamin Merriam £223 4s., Nathaniel Farmer £46 10s., Thomas Fessenden £164, Benjamin Fiske £9 7s., Jeremiah Harrington £11 13s. lid., Robert Harrington £12, Joshua Bond £189 16s. Id., Benjamin Brown £42, Hepzibah Davis £5 Is. 6f/., Benjamin Estabrook £12, Samuel Bemis £4 8s. 8d., Nathan Blodgett £18, Elizabeth Sampson £10, Jonathan Smith, jr., £13 12s. 8d., John Williams £36 16s., John Winship £12, Margaret Winship £22 10s., Marret Mimroe £5 5s., William IMunroe £203 lis. 9^^., Amos Muzzy £18 4s., Lydia Mulliken £431, "Wm. Munroe Jr., £9.

Percy commences his Retreat - Heath and Warren join the Provincials - The Mihtia gather at West Cambridge - The Danvers Company - The Zeal and Bravery of Warren - The Barbarities of the British - Aspin wall's Account

- Retreat becomes a Rout - British take Shelter in Charlestown - The Fatigue and Exhaustion of their Troops - The British Loss - The Provincial Loss - The Effect of this Day's Events upon the Public Mind - The Nineteenth of April celebrated - Lexington Monument - Concord ^Monument

- Danvers Monument - West Cambridge - Acton Monument - Middlesex a Monumental County - A Proposed National Monument at Lexington - The Relative Claims of Lexington, Concord, and other Towns to the Honors of the Nineteenth of April, 1775.

Percy, as senior officer, assumed the command. He had now under him a force of about eighteen hundred well disciplined troops, and two pieces of artillery - a force four times as large as that of the Americans. But still he manifested no disposition to attack the rebels as he denominated them, or to drive back the undisciplined citizens, which hung upon his rear, and flanked him at every convenient point. Though he left Boston in the morning with as stout a heart as that of his namesake of Northumberland, immortalized in the ballad of " Chevy-Chase," and though his force was superior to that of his prototype, he had no disposition to " spend his dearest blood,", in a contest with the rebels ; but took warning by the fate of his predecessor, and giving over his hunt in woods of old Middlesex, made the best of his way to his headquarters at Boston.

After the weary fugitives of Smith's command were rested and refreshed, Percy commenced his retreat. His field-pieces, which at first kept the Provincials at a distance, soon lost theu' terror ; and the same undisciplined force which had proved such a scourge to Smith and Pitcairn, hung upon his rear, and assailed him on his right and left from the trees, and rocks, and fences, and ren- dered his movement rather a flight than a retreat. Some of the Americans who had pursued the British from Concord, gave over the chase from time to time on the route ; and, at Lexington, after se(^ng tliat Smith was supported by a thousand fresh troops and two pieces of artillery, and deeming a furtlicr pursuit unavailing, others returned to their homes. The larger portion, however, remained, and being joined by others, united in the pursuit.

It was nearly three o'clock when Percy commenced his retreat. Up to this time there had been no general oflficer who assumed the command of the Americans. General Heath who had been appointed by the Provincial Congress one of the general oflScers, to command the militia and the minute-men, in case they were called out, had an inten'iew with the Committee of Safety that morning : after which he repaired to Watertown, where he collected a small body of the militia, which he ordered to move to Cambridge, to take up the planks and make a barricade of them at the Great Bridge, so as to intercept the British, if they attempted to return to Boston by way of Roxbury and the Neck. Having given this order. Heath, accompanied by Dr. Warren, passed by a cross road to the scene of action, and arrived at Lexington just before Percy took up his line of march, or rather commenced his flight. Heath collected the scattered Provincials, and put them in as good order as the nature of the case would permit, and pressed closely upon Percy's rear. For the first two miles nothing of special moment occurred ; but on descending from the high lands, at the "foot of the rocks" upon the plain in West Cambridge, the fire became brisk. The topography of the country, the locality of the population in other towns, and the direction of the roads, would naturally bring together a considerable accesion to the Provincial force at this point. Not only from Cambridge, but from Roxbury and Dorchester, and Brookline and Needham, and Watertown, and Dedham, on the one hand, did the militia and minute-men rally and move to West Cambridge ; but tliey came in freely from Medford, and Charlestown, and Lynn, on the other. Thus strengthened, the Americans made a more formidable resistance here than at any point below Lexington. Here too the youthfid Foster brought up his gallant company of minute-men from

Danvers, which marched in advance of the Essex regiment, and arrived after a rapid march of sixteen miles in four hours, in time to meet the common enemy. The company consisted of one hundred men, and had about ten days before elected Gideon Foster, a brave and ardent young man of twenty-six years of age, as their captain.' Arriving at West Cambridge, and being as he says, "unused to the artifices of war," he posted a part of his men near the road to intercept the main body of the British. They took post in a Availed inclosure, and made a breastwork of bundles of shingles ; others placed themselves behind trees on the side of the hill west of the meeting-house, where they awaited the arrival of the king's troops. But while the main body of the British came down the road, they had thrown forward a large guard, which had flanked and came up in rear of the Danvers men, who found themselves between two fires. In this critical situation they suffered severely - having seven killed and several wovnided.

This accumulation of fresh troops in front of the retreating regulars, together with the force which hung upon their rear, made their position uncomfortable, and induced them to assume a more warlike attitude than they had done before. They drew up their men temporarily in order of battle, and in a few instances had recourse to their field-pieces. But this more formal array on their part, was met by a more perfect organization on the part of the Provincials. General Heath assumed the control, and as far as practicable reduced the discordant elements to order ; and the ardent and intrepid Warren by word and deed, by active effort in places of the greatest danger, rallied and inspired the men. As at Bunker Hill in June following, so here, he seemed to rise with the occasion, and take new courage as obstacles pre-

' Foster's Address at the laying of the Corner Stone of the Danvers Monument, in memory of the members of his company who fell at West Cambridge. He says, " On that morning (April 19, 1775) more than one hundred of my townsmen hastened to the field of battle, unused to the artifices of war ; but their hearts were glowing with zeal in their country's cause, and they were ready to offer their lives on the altar of their liberties." - "I was then twentysix years of age. About ten days before, I had been chosen to command a company of minute-men, who were at all times to be in readiness at a moment's warning. They were so ready. They all went, and in about four hours from the time of meeting, they travelled on foot, half of the way upon the run, sixteen miles and saluted the enemy."

sented and as dangers pressed. He was seen everywhere, animatinjj the men and directing their movement.^ But the British were too anxious to gain the cover of their ships, and the Provincials were too ardent in their pursuit to admit of an}i:hing like a formal battle.

But there was brisk skirmishing ; and bold attacks of small bands, and instances of individual courage occurred at different pomts. Here General Warren had his temple grazed by a musket-ball, which carried away a pin from his earlock.^ Here Samuel Whittemore was shot and bayoneted and left for dead. Here Dr. Eliphalet Downer in a single combat with a British soldier, killed him with his bayonet.^

Up to the time of the arrival of Percy with his reenforcement, the British troops had, in the main, abstained from pillage, and had confined themselves mostly to the destruction of military stores. But we have already seen that before leaving Lexington, they commenced a system, not merely of plunder but of barbarity - wantonly destroying private property, and butchering the aged and defenceless. If this was not actually ordered, it was permitted by Percy. And this policy, commenced at Lexington, was continued through the remainder of the day. At West Cambridge their course was marked by pillage, and by a wanton destruction of private property. Nor was their barbarity confined to the destruction of property. They attacked and ruthlessly butchered the old and infirm, the weak and defenceless. Even women and cliildren were the subjects of their brutal rage. Furniture was destroyed, houses were set on fire, women and children driven from their homes, and peaceable citizens mur-

' The conduct of "Warren on this occasion was a subject of general commendation, and probably secured to him the appointment of major-general, which he soon afterwards received. In a poem, published in Boston, 1781, Warren's conduct at West Cambridge is thus described :

" From rank to rank the daring warrior flies, And bids the tliundcr of the battle rise; Sudden arrangements of his troops are made. And sudden movements round tlie plain displayed. Columbia's Oenius in her polished shield Gleams bright and dreadful o'er tlie hostile field J Her ardent troops enraptured with the sight, With shock resistless force the dubious fight, Britons astonished, tremble at the sight And, all confused, precipitate their flight."

dered and mangled in cold blood. Jason Russell, an Invalid and non-combatant, was cruelly murdered in his own house. Jabez Wyman and Jason Winship, two aged citizens unarmed, who came to Cooper's tavern simply to inqviire the news, "were most barbarously and inhumanly murdered by the British, being stabbed through in many places, their heads mauled, skulls broken, and their brains dashed out on the floors and walls of the house." ^ The house of Deacon Joseph Adams was rudely entered, and his sick wife driven from her bed, and her young children exposed to the flames of their burning dwelling. We give these facts in the language of Mrs. Adams : " Divers of the king's troops entered our house by bm-sting open the door, and three of the soldiers broke into the room in which I was confined to my bed, being scarcely able to walk from the bed to the fire, not having been to my chamber door from being delivered in child-bed to that time. One of the soldiers immediately opened my curtain with his bayonet fixed, pointing the same at my breast. I immediately cried out, ' For the Lord's sake, do not kill me ;' he replied, ' Damn you.' One that stood near said, ' We will not hurt the woman, if she will go out of the house, but we will surely burn it.' I immediately arose, threw a blanket over me, and crawled into a corn-house near the door, with my infant in my arms, where I remained until they were gone. They immediately set the house on fire, in which I had left five children ; but the fire was happily extinguished, when the house was in the utmost danger of being utterly consumed."^

Before setting fire to the house, they robbed it of all the valuables which they could carry away - not sparing the communion service of the chm'ch, which was kept by Deacon Adams. Various houses were entered, and similar outrages committed.^ These enormities tended to exasperate the Americans and make them more zealous in the pursuit. " Indignation and outraged humanity struggled on the one hand ; veteran discipline and desperation on the other." *

The loss to the Americans and to the British -vvitliin the limits of West Cambridge was considerable. One British officer was left wounded at a house near the present railroad station. The ajiproaching night and the const^mt accessions to the Provincials admonished Percy to hasten his retreat.

The British took the road which winds round Prospect Hill.^ When they entered this part of Charlestown their situation became nearly as critical as was Smith's, when he arrived at Lexington and took shelter under the protection of Percy's

«' On the 19th of April, 1775, the militia of Erookline marched towards Lexington across the fields as a crow flies. My father, Dr William Aspinwall, and my maternal grandfather, Isaac Gardner, one of his majesty's Justices of the Peace, went with the rest. Red was in those days a common color for coats, and appearing at the rendezvous, Dr. Aspinwall had on a coat of that color, but being told that he might be shot for an enemy by his own friends, he thought it best to put on another of a different hue. "When the Brookline men reached "West Cambridge, the British troops were resting at Lexington, and they endeavored to get within musket range of the British pickets, at least to see them when they came. An irregular fire took place ; but when the British began to move towards Boston, the militia scattered, some to a distance, and others to various covers to harrass the retreating enemy.

Mr. Gardner with a few others posted themselves behind some casks near "Watson's corner. While they were intently watching the approaching column, the British flank guard came upon their rear, and shot and bayoneted the whole party. Mr, Gardner was pierced by balls and bayonets in twelve places.

-' Dr. Aspinwall, in the meantime, had regained the college road, where he found a' detachment of six or seven score of men under Captain Gridly, drawn up in. line across the road. He suggested to the captain, that the enemy would not take the college road, but go directly towards Charlestown as the shortest course ; and if they did come down the road, his company could not stop them. Finding, however, that his remonstrances were unheeded, the doctor mounted the wall just as the head of the British column crossed the northern extremity of the road, and crying out, ' There they go ! Now boys, whoever wants to do any good, follow me,' pushed on with about half the detachment, and a number of his Brookline neighbors, and getting within musket shot, he continued to fire with deliberate aim as fast as he could load. In reloading, however, he found it best to shelter himself behind a tree or whatever protection he could find, against the fire of his own party in the rear. On one of the momentary halts, his neighbor, Ebenezer Davis, passing him, pointing out the body of a British soldier, cried out, ' Doctor, that man's arms are yours, for you brought him down.' But the doctor thought himself better employed in endeavoring to get another shot as quick as possible.

"After the pursuit was ended, he learned the fate of Mr. Gardner, sought out the body, and had it conveyed home to his bereaved widow, and her eight young children."

brigade. " The large number of wounded," says Frothingham, " proved a distressing obstruction to tlieir progress, while they had but a few rounds of ammunition left. Their field-pieces had lost their terror. The main body of the Provincials hung closely on their rear ; a strong force was advancing upon them from Roxbury, Dorchester and Milton ; while Colonel Pickering with the Essex miUtia, seven hundred strong, threatened to cut oif their retreat to Charlestown. Near Prospect Hill the fire again became sharp, and the British again had recourse to their fieldpieces. James jVliller of Charlestown, was killed here. Along its base Lord Percy, it is stated, received the hottest fire he had during his retreat. General Gage, about sunset, might have beheld his harrassed troops almost on the run, coming down the old Cambridge road to Charlestown Neck, anxious to get under the protection of the guns of the ships of war. The minutemen closely followed, but when they reached the Charlestown Common, General Heath ordered them to stop the pursuit." ^

On arriving at Charlestown the British troops offered no indignities to the inhabitants. The town had been the scene of great excitement through the day, and on the approach of the retreating army at sunset, the inhabitants were naturally filled with apprehension, and many had left the place. But the officers assured them that, if they returned to tlieir houses, they would not be molested. The main body of Percy's troops occupied Bunker Hill, and some additional troops were sent over from Boston. Sentinels were placed about the town and the night passed off* quietly.

Thus ended a day of great anxiety and peril to his majesty's troops. They had left Boston with high hopes and expectations - regarding the expedition as a sort of pleasure excursion. But the day had proved one of fatigue, of toil, and of danger. Twice dm'ing their adventure they had been in a perilous situation. Colonel Smith's command had barely escaped destruction in their march from Concord by taking refuge under the guns of Percy's brigade, whose timely arrival alone saved them.

* Siege of Boston. In this excellent work, Mr. Frothingliam has well nigh exhausted all the material which relates to the battle of Lexington ; so that we have, in most cases, after much research been compelled to rest mainly upon the facts and authorities he has already presented.

Nearly the same was tnie of Percy's command oh arriving at Charlestown. If he had been but a trifle hiter he would inevitably have been cut off by the Essex regiment, and the troops from Dorchester, Milton and other places. The protection of the guns of the ships of war was as grateful to Percy, as was the protection of his own guns to tlie fugitives of Smith and Pitcaim.

The sufferings of the king's troops, especially those under Smith, which left Boston on the evening of the 18th, must have been very severe. To march forty miles in half that number of hours, is of itself no ordinary trial of human endurance, for soldiers laden with their arms, and such other appendages as are necessary for troops, even when reduced to light marching order. But this severe march was performed under the most embarrassing circumstances, - a portion of it in the night, across lots and marshes, and other portions of it under a galling fire in flank and rear - now pressing through a narrow gorge, and now thrown out as a flank guard to clear the woods and drive the Provincials from their hiding places behind trees, rocks and fences. Nor were the ordinary trappings of war their only incumbrance. To bear off their wounded comrades must have greatly increased their burden, and impeded their march. The heat of the day, the haste which attended some portion of the movement, the loss of sleep and rest, the great difficulty of satisfying their hunger or slaking their thirst - these, and embarrassments such as these, must have rendered their march exhausting, and made their sufferings extreme.

But to the officers in command, and to all filled with that lordly pride which characterized the haughty Britons at that period, the flight of their troops must have been peculiarly humiliating. They had boasted of their ability to put whole regiments of Yankees to flight with a handful of British troops ; and of marching in triumph through the country Avith a single regiment. To such men the shameless fliglit of British reguhirs, well disciplined and completely armed, before one-half their number of the Provincials, without discipline or organization and poorly armed, nmst have been mortifying - especially to Lord Percy and the officers in immediate conunand ; and to General Gage and his advisers, the result of this expedition must have cdst " ominous conjectures o'er the whole success " of subduing the rebellious Province. And had not the British ministry been fated to be blind, they would have seen in this day's adventure, the result of a contest with such a people, determined to be free.