USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 2
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Lexington records contain a number of those valuable papers, all prepared by Mr. Clarke, which would do honor to any statesman in the country. The practice of giving instructions to its dele- gates was not peculiar to Lexington ; but, though I have seen the instructions given by quite a num- ber of towns, I have seen none so full and able as those upon our town-book. In fact, if all other' records were destroyed, and all traditions were ig- nored, a historian wishing to ascertain the canse of the Revolution, and the exact points of the contro- versy, - the demand on the one side and the an- swer on the other, - would be able from these pa- pers to obtain information which would enable him to fill this chapter of his history with facts of an un- doubted character, which could be relied on. Mr. Clarke was well read in the science of civil govern- ment, and in his masterly documents he met the par- ticular issues of the day, and showed in the clearest manner that as English subjects we were deprived of the rights and privileges of Britishı freemen which were granted to us by our charter, and con-
firmed by the constitution of Great Britain ; and that during the whole controversy we were in the right and the parliament in the wrong ; that they, in truth, and not we, were the rebels, ignoring, disregarding, and trampling upon the fundamental principles of their own organic law. These papers not only instructed our own people, and so pre- pared them for the events of the 19th of April, 1775, but by their publication they enlightened the public mind, and prepared the people generally to resist the encroachments of Great Britain, and also to establish free governments and to perform all the duties of republican citizens. Mr. Clarke possessed a clear, vigorous, and well-balanced mind, and was always actuated by high moral principles, whether acting as the divine or as the statesman. He was, in fact, religiously political and politically religions, and so was progressive and conservative at the same time. He was the friend, the adviser, the compeer of Adams, Han- cock, and Warren, who frequently found a home under his roof and received wise instruction from his lips.
Lexington was peculiarly fortunate in being blessed with two such ministers as Hancock and Clarke, whose united ministry exceeded a century, and whose wisdom and prudence guided the people in the arts of peace and in the perils of war. Their lives, their teachings, and their characters were so blended with the affairs of the town that they are as necessarily a part, and an important part, of the history of Lexington as Washington is of the American Revolution. Mr. Clarke was not a poli- tician in the popular sense of the word ; he was a statesman, and his teaching was not calculated to make men partisans, but understanding, patriotic citizens. He regarded civil government as a divine institution, necessary for the well-being of society and being designed for the whole people, the whole people should have a voice in the form of govern- ment. He regarded government, when established, as a social compact, where the people enter into a solemn contract to abide by its provisions, until they are annulled by the terms of the compact itself. He regarded the consent of the people as essential to the validity of government, and sus- tained this doctrine by divine authority. He says, in his election sermon preached before the state government : " The laws of nature give men the right to select their form of government. Even God himself, the Supreme Ruler of the world, whose government is absolute and uncontrollable, that
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ever paid a sacred attention to this important right, - hath ever patronized this interesting claim in the sons of men. The only constitution of civil govern- ment that claims its origin direct from heaven is the theocracy of the Hebrews ; but even this form of government, though dictated by infinite wisdom, and written by the finger of God, was laid before the people for their consideration, and was ratified, introduced, and established by common consent."
Both Hancock and Clarke were very popular with their flocks, and possessed great influence over them in all things. Mr. Clarke's patriotic views were instilled into the hearts of his fellow-citizens, so that they could with propriety be addressed by him as fellow-patriots. And, no doubt, his ardent love of liberty and devotion to the interest of the colony tended to produce that firmness and self- sacrificing spirit displayed in the opening scene of our Revolutionary drama. Among the important services rendered by Mr. Clarke may be mentioned his influence upon Colonel Hancock in preparing him for the Revolutionary struggle. Young Han- cock was an ardent, impressible man, fond of soci- ety and show. He had been abroad, and was present at the funeral of George II. and at the coronation of George III. Coming at once, as he did at the death of his uncle, into the possession of a princely fortune, would naturally make a young man vain. His position of course attracted atten- tion, and the royalists sought to secure him in their interest. The security of his large property and the chance of promotion were held up to him. In weighing them against his natural love of lib- erty and devotion to his country it is believed that, for a time, he faltered. But, fortunately for the country and for his reputation, there were other influences brought to bear upon him. Samuel Adams was ever ready to strengthen the weak, and his influence with Hancock was in the right direc- tion. But there was another influence, more silent perhaps, but quite as controlling. His connection with Mr. Clarke's family, his respect for Mr. Clarke, and his confidence in his judgment, brought him frequently to his house. The well-known patriotism of Mr. Clarke, his courtly and persua- sive manner, and his commanding talents, could not fail to impress the mind of Hancock, and it is believed that he was highly influential in inducing the young merchant of Boston to take an open and decided stand in support of the rights of the colo- nies. And it is due to the memory of Hancock to say that if there ever was a time when he faltered,
after he had avowed his sentiments no man was truer or bolder, or more ready to make sacrifices in the cause of liberty.
But Lexington has a civil and military history as well as an ecclesiastical one. Lexington was made a precinct in 1691, and was incorporated as a town in 1713. As a municipal corporation she laid out highways, provided for the support of the poor, and established that indispensable institution of New England, - free schools. The town being entirely agricultural, and lying near the neighbor- hood of manufactures and commerce, her young men too frequently have been induced to quit the primitive calling of tilling the soil, and to seek more lucrative business in other callings elsewhere; and hence the population of Lexington has been of a slow growth. And her population received another check in 1754, when a thousand acres of her territory with the inhabitants thereon were taken from her to help form the town of Lincoln. The people of Lexington have been too unwilling to encourage manufactures and the mechanic arts ; and hence she has not increased in population like some of her neighboring towns. But more of this history hereafter.
Lexington has, of course, a military history, and one which reflects no dishonor upon the place. In the French and Indian wars Lexington acted no insignificant part. The rolls of that day are so imperfect that no full and accurate account can be given of the number of soldiers that were sent into the field from this town. From 1755 to 1763, inclusive, taking the number of men each year, will give a total of one hundred and sixty-eight men, who were found on every battle-field, - at Louisburg, Quebec, Crown Point, Ticonderoga, Fort William Henry, and wherever a foe was to be encountered or a daring deed to be performed. Some of the Lexington men were attached to the famous corps known as "Rogers' Rangers," - a corps in which Stark served his military appren- ticeship; a corps whose name was expressive of the life they led, ranging through the wilderness, seeking their wary foe by day and by night, in silent glens or secret ambush ; a corps whose win- ter-quarters were in tedious marchings amid drifted snows and ice-clad hills, relying sometimes upon snow-shoes and sometimes upon skates for loco- motion, and carrying their only arsenal and com- missariat in their packs.
We have already alluded to the controversy of the colony with the mother country. This was
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continuous from the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765, to the opening of the Revolution. This controversy, which excited the attention of every town and village, was in no place better understood by the mass of the people than in Lexington. The clear and elaborate instructions of Parson Clarke, the frequent visits of Hancock and Adams, kept these questions constantly before the people; and the whole subject was discussed, not merely in a declamatory and passionate way, but on its merits. So that when our fathers resorted to arms, they rallied, not as an ignorant and infatuated mob, but as a band of patriots knowing their rights, and resolved to defend them ; to resist by arms unjust. oppression, whether they acted under the command of superior officers, or on their own responsibility, always keeping in mind the oft-repeated, popular prohibition not to commence a war : " Not to fire until they were fired upon."
We claim for Lexington no natural courage or patriotism beyond that possessed by the citizens of other towns. We know that the whole community was alive to the subject; and we have no doubt that if the British had moved in hostile array in any other direction, or through any other town, they would have met with firm resistance. .
The peculiar relation which subsisted between Hancock and Lexington was such that her citizens came to regard Hancock as a Lexington man. It was here that his grandfather spent his days. It was here that his father was born; and it was in Lexington that he spent his boyhood with his grand- father, his father having died and left him an orphan at the age of seven years. There were other causes which attracted him to Lexington. Parson Clarke was a college acquaintance, and had married a cousin of his ; and as Mr. Clarke resided in the house built by his grandfather and uncle, - the house where he had spent years of his boyhood, - Hancock would naturally feel attached to the place and the people to him.1 This attachment was shown on his part by the frequent visits to Lexington, and several presents made to the people; and on their part by the cordiality with which he was re- ceived, and the respect they were always ready to manifest to the President of the Provincial Con- gress, and chairman of the Committee of Safety,
ex-officio chief magistrate of the province and commander of her military forces. Not only John Hancock, but that stern patriot Samuel Adams, who was in fact the organizer of the American Revolution, - the man who stood firm when other honest patriots faltered, - he too was a warm friend of Mr. Clarke, and a frequent vis- itor at his house. He, with his friend Hancock, had been singled out by the British ministry, as victims to be arrested and sent to England for trial, that is, for execution. They were both stay- ing at Mr. Clarke's, not caring to trust themselves to the tender care of Governor Gage, who had ad- vised their arrest. They were botlı at Lexington on the 19th of April; and the people seemed to regard their safety as a sort of sacred trust; and consequently they posted a guard around the house on the night of the 18th, in consequence of an apprehended attempt to seize them, and deliver them over to Governor Gage.
All these circumstances would naturally tend to awaken the feelings, warm the patriotism, and call out the military spirit of the people. These causes and others had operated, some of them for years, to keep the citizens of Lexington alive to the in- terests of the colonies, and ready to make any sacrifice in the cause. In 1772, when things seemed approaching a crisis, and indications not to be mis- taken were visible that the oppressive policy of Britain was to be enforced by military power, there was a pause, a faltering, even in Boston. John Adams had retired from the service of the people ; Cushing, Philips, Church, and others, who had been active before, hesitated, or declined to serve on the committee of correspondence. But there was one master spirit, who, like all other truly great men, was sure to rise with the occasion. Samuel Adams stood firm at his post. He saw in prospect the independence of the colonies, and conceived the plan of opening a correspondence with all the towns in the province ; and though this measure was but feebly seconded in Boston, Adams and others sent out a circular to the different towns to ascertain their feelings, and see how far the true patriots could be sustained in decisive measures of opposi- tion to the arbitrary acts of the royal governor. Lexington, in response to this circular, gave this patriotic reply : "We trust in God, that should the state of our affairs require it, we shall be ready to sacrifice our estates and everything dear in life, yea, and life itself in support of the common cause."
1 This venerable old mansion, where Hancock, the elder, and Clarke resided, making it a ministerial residence for more than a century, - the resort of Adams and Hancock, at the opening of the Revolution, - has been the resort of crowds of people, and the attraction of the place seems to increase with years.
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Such a pledge given in religious trust three years before hostilities commenced, indicated a fixed, firm, inflexible reliance upon Providence ; and a determination to make any sacrifice in the cause of freedom. Nor was this an empty boast. The final event showed that they were as good as their word. In 1774 the Provincial Congress, in view of the threatened danger, recommended to the people throughout the province to organize them- selves into companies, elect their officers, and be ready for any emergency. This was the origin of the organization known as minute-men. Lexing- ton, which had given such an assurance of devotion to the cause of human rights, was ready to adopt this proposed military organization ; and she ap- pears to have been free from an incumbrance ex- isting in some of the neighboring towns, that of existing companies whose officers were commis- sioned by the royal governor; and who felt a kind of allegiance to the officers of the crown. Lex- ington felt no restraint of this sort. She was free to act, and looked only to the Provincial Congress for authority. Her company of minute-men in- cluded nearly every citizen, except the aged and infirm, who associated themselves as what was de- nominated the "alarm list." The minute-men elected their officers agreeably to the recommen- dation of the Provincial Congress, so that Captain Jolin Parker was the lawful commander of a regu- larly organized company, clothed with power by the only government which the people recognized. No town, therefore, could have a military force more legal, more in conformity with the new order of things than Lexington; and no company had in its ranks men better instructed in their duty as soldiers and citizens, or men more devoted to the sacred cause of liberty.
The town had pledged itself to the province, and it was not found wanting, at the threat of danger. After forming their military organization, they strove to make that organization efficient, so far as their limited means would allow. They voted in open town-meeting, "To supply a suitable quantity of flints," " to bring two pieces of cannon from Watertown and mount them," "to provide a pair of drums for the use of the military com- pany in town," " to provide bayonets at the town's cost for one third of the training soldiers," " to have the militia and alarm-list meet for a review of their arms, etc." They also voted to pay the soldiers for the time they spent in drilling and preparing for active service; and in order that
these votes should not become a mere dead letter, committees were chosen to carry them into effect ; all of which showed that the people were in ear- nest, and expected that war would ensue.
It is due to the patriots of Lexington and to our fathers generally, to correct an error which has prevailed extensively, that they took up arms rather than pay a threepenny tax upon tea. This is a narrow view of the subject. They did object to taxation, because they had no representation in parliament. But the claim of Great Britain was not limited to taxation. She claimed the right of legislating for us in " all cases whatsoever," - a right to deprive us of all our civil privileges, such as of trial by jury, of suffrage, of holding prop- erty, - a doctrine by which they could compel us to serve in her army and navy, and to fight her battles in any part of the world; in a word, the right to make us slaves. And, in fact, before we took up arms, her parliament reduced some of these arbitrary principles to practice. The act changing the charter of Massachusetts practically deprived .us of trial by jury, and other domestic rights and immunities, which we all hold dear ; and it was the first bold step of exercising absolute control over the colonies. They had passed such laws, and had sent a governor, backed by military power, to enforce them. The resolution on their part was taken, their purpose was fixed. Their laws, however oppressive or cruel, should be exe- cuted even at the point of the bayonet. Nor were the colonies undecided. Old Middlesex had been in council, and from a full view of the subject her people said : " Life and death, or what is more, freedom or slavery, are in a peculiar sense, now before us ; and the choice and success under God depend greatly upon ourselves." And after assert- ing that the late acts of parliament are uncon- stitutional, and ought not to be obeyed, but re- sisted if need be unto death, they assert "that he can never die too soon who lays down his life in support of the laws and liberties of his coun- try."
Such was the sentiment and resolution of the county, and Lexington was not a whit behind the foremost in patriotic self-devotion. And now when to all appearance the crisis was at hand she had taken measures to meet it heroically. The issue was virtually made up, and nothing was wanting but an occasion to try the same. Gage had prac- tically said that the late acts of parliament should be enforced, and the people said they should not.
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The military stores deposited at Concord furnished an occasion to test the spirit of the people.
The order of time and the succession of occur- rences bring us to an event of the most interesting, delicate, and important character, -to what the country, with great unanimity, has denominated the "Battle of Lexington." While we cannot claim that any battle or fight, in the broadest sense of that term, occurred at any particular point on the 19th of April, 1775, since the battle, if such it be called, extended from Concord to Charlestown Neck, yet it becomes convenient and highly neces- sary to give a local name to the skirmish of that eventful day. And to no locality could it be given with as much propriety as to Lexington. It was here that the first encounter in arms occurred ; it was here that the first organized opposition to the King's troops was made; it was here that the first blood on each side was shed, and here the first martyrs to liberty fell ; and it was in Lexing- ton that the first British prisoners were made ; it was here that Percy met the fugitive forces of Smith, and saved them from perfect ruin; and it was here that the British soldiers commenced their system of vandalism, by firing the houses they had plundered ; and it was from Lexington that the in- telligence went forth which broke the spell of neu- trality and called the nation to arms. And, besides, Lexington made greater sacrifices of men and prop- erty than any town in the province on that occa- sion. To what place, then, could the events of the day be ascribed with as much propriety as to Lexington ? While we would not detract from the honors claimed by any other town, we will not ignore the honors bestowed upon ours by the whole country, as being the birthplace of American lib- erty ; and the praise bestowed upon our patriot fathers whose acts have contributed to make our town historic and our country free.
Hancock and Adams were stopping with their friend Clarke, at Lexington, and from the position they occupied they would naturally be possessed of all the facts known, and the rumors afloat, relative to the designs of the British ; they must have known that threats had been thrown out by the ministry of having them arrested and sent to Eng- land for trial. They, of course, kept their friends Clarke and Captain Parker well informed on all these subjects. There was, therefore, in Lexington, a perpetual watchfulness of the movements of the British. They knew that the few stores deposited at Concord had attracted Gage's attention ; and
Hancock knew that Colonel Barrett, to whose cus- tody they were committed, had been apprised of the danger, and had been directed to scatter and secrete them. With a knowledge of these facts the people of Lexington would have an eye to the safety of Hancock and Adams, and of the stores at Concord.
There was, in fact, a general belief in the spring of 1775 that some hostile movement would be made by Gage ; it was known that his troops were desirous of action, and that Gage himself was anxious to make some demonstration before the arrival of Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, who were on their way to Boston to supersede him. Every known fact and reasonable suspicion kept the patriots of Lexington on the watch. On the 18th of April they saw a number of strangers on horse- back pass up the road toward Concord. This created a suspicion that they might be British offi- cers sent on some hostile expedition. They had seen British officers making excursions in the country somewhat frequently, but they always re- turned towards Boston as the day drew towards a close, but in this particular case they passed up the road as the shades of evening were gathering round them. This circumstance went far to convince them that these strangers were British officers, bent on some hostile mission. Meanwhile, Solomon Brown of Lexington, who had been to market at Boston, returned late in the afternoon and informed Colonel Munroe, then orderly sergeant of Captain Parker's company, that he had seen nine British officers, dressed in blue great-coats, passing leis- urely up the roads, sometimes before and some- times behind him, armed, as he discovered by the occasional blowing aside of their great-coats. Munroe, suspecting that their design was to seize Hancock and Adams, immediately collected a guard of eight men, well armed and equipped, and placed them, himself at their head, at the house of Mr. Clarke, which was nearly a quarter of a mile from the main road leading to Concord. After some consultation, it was decided by the Lexington men to send three of their number, Sanderson, Brown, and Loring, towards Concord, to watch the British officers, and endeavor to ascertain and give information of their movements. In the borders of Lincoln, these men were taken prisoners by the British officers, who were paraded across the road.
Soon after, Mr. Devens, a patriot of Charles- town, sent to Lexington intelligence that the Brit- ish in Boston were in motion, and were preparing to leave town on some secret expedition, and that
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probably Concord was the place of their destina- tion. In view of the fancied danger, Captain Par- ker despatched messengers calling the members of his company to meet forthwith at the Common.
The evening passed in comparative quiet at Lex- ington. Hancock and Adams had retired for the night. A little past midnight a stranger arrived, post haste, at Mr. Clarke's house, which he found guarded by Sergeant Munroe and eight men ; and on requesting to be admitted to Mr. Clarke's house he was told that the family had just retired, and requested that they might not be disturbed by any noise about the house. "Noise ! " exclaimed Re- vere, "you will have noise enough before long ! The regulars are coming out!" He was then permitted to pass. On his knocking at the door, Mr. Clarke opened a window and inquired who was there. Revere, without answering the question, said he wished to see Mr. Hancock. Mr. Clarke, ever deliberate and watchful, was intimating that he did not like to admit strangers to his house at that time of night, without knowing who they were and the character of their business, when Han- cock, who had retired to rest but not to sleep, recognizing Revere's voice, cried out, "Come in, Revere, we are not afraid of you ! " Shortly after, Dawes, who came out through Roxbury, arrived, bringing the same intelligence, that a large num- ber of British troops had left Boston, and it was suspected that they were destined to Concord to destroy the military stores there.
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