USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Concord > History of the siege of Boston, and of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument. With illustrative documents > Part 9
USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the siege of Boston, and of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument. With illustrative documents > Part 9
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lexington > History of the siege of Boston, and of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument. With illustrative documents > Part 9
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
2 On the 14th of April, the Somerset man-of-war, of sixty-four guns, was hauled into Charles River, and now lays between the ferry ways. - Essex Gazette, April 18.
3 Several lists of the killed and wounded were published in the journals of the day. The following was mainly compiled by John Farmer, and was pub- lished in the Mass. Hist. Collections, vol. XVIII. : -
Lexington. - Killed, Jonas Parker, Robert Monroe, Samuel Hadley, Jon- athan Harrington, jr., Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, John Brown, Jede- diah Monroe, John Raymond, Nathaniel Wyman, 10. Wounded, John Robbins, Solomon Pierce, John Tidd, Joseph Comee, Ebenezer Monroe, jr.,
1
LOSS OF THE AMERICANS.
81
estimated the value of the property destroyed by the ravages of the troops, to be-in Lexington, £1761 15s. 5d .; in Con- cord, £274 16s. 7d .; in Cambridge, £1202 Ss. 7d. Many petitions of persons who engaged the enemy on this day are on file, who lost guns or horses, or suffered other damage. The General Court indemnified such losses.
Thomas Winship, Nathaniel Farmer, Prince Estabrook, Jedediah Monroe, Francis Brown, 10.
Concord. - Wounded, Charles Miles, Nathan Barrett, Abel Prescott, jr., Jonas Brown, George Minot, 5.
Cambridge. - Killed, William Marcy, Moses Richardson, John Hicks, Jason Russell, Jabez Wyman, Jason Winship, 6. Wounded, Samuel Whit- temore, 1. Missing, Samuel Frost, Seth Russell, 2.
Needham. - Killed, John Bacon, Elisha Mills, Amos Mills, Nathaniel Chamberlain, Jonathan Parker, 5. Wounded, Eleazer Kingsbury, Tolman, 2.
Sudbury. - Killed, Josiah Haynes, Asahel Reed, 2. Wounded, Joshua Haynes, jr., 1.
Acton. - Killed, Isaac Davis, Abner Hosmer, James Hayward, 3. Wounded, Luther Blanchard, 1.
Bedford. - Killed, Jonathan Wilson, 1. Wounded, Job Lane, 1.
Woburn. - Killed, Daniel Thompson, Asahel Porter, 2. Wounded, George Reed, Jacob Bacon, - Johnson, 3.
Medford. - Killed, Henry Putnam, William Polly, 2.
Charlestown. - Killed, James Miller, Edward Barber, 2.
Watertown. - Killed, Joseph Coolidge, 1.
Framingham. - Wounded, Daniel Hemminway, 1.
Dedham. - Killed, Elias Haven, 1. Wounded, Israel Everett, 1.
Stow. - Wounded, Daniel Conant, 1.
Roxbury. - Missing, Elijah Seaver, 1.
Brookline. - Killed, Isaac Gardner, 1.
Billerica. - Wounded, John Nichols, Timothy Blanchard, 2.
Chelmsford. - Wounded, Aaron Chamberlain, Oliver Barron, 2.
Salem. - Killed, Benjamin Pierce, 1.
Newton. - Wounded, Noah Wiswell, 1.
Danvers. - Killed, Henry Jacobs, Samuel Cook, Ebenezer Goldthwait, George Southwick, Benjamin Deland, Jotham Webb, Perley Putnam, 7. Wounded, Nathan Putnam, Dennis Wallace, 2. Missing, Joseph Bell, 1.
Beverly. - Killed, Reuben Kenyme, 1. Wounded, Nathaniel Cleves, Samuel Woodbury, William Dodge, 3d, 3.
Lynn. - Killed, Abednego Ramsdell, Daniel Townsend, William Flint, Thomas Hadley, 4. Wounded, Joshua Felt, Timothy Monroe, 2. Mis- sing, Josiah Breed, 1.
Total. - Killed, 49. Wounded, 39. Missing, 5.
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LEXINGTON AND CONCORD.
The British lost seventy-three killed, one hundred and sev- enty-four wounded, and twenty-six missing, - the most of which were taken prisoners. Of these, eighteen were officers, ten sergeants, two drummers, and two hundred and forty were rank and file. Lieutenant Hall, wounded at the North Bridge, was taken prisoner on the retreat, and died the next day. His remains were delivered to General Gage. Lieutenant Gould was wounded at the bridge, and taken prisoner, and was exchanged, May 28, for Josiah Breed, of Lynn. He had a fortune of £1900 a year, and is said to have offered £2000 for his ransom. The prisoners were treated with great humanity, and General Gage was notified that his own surgeons, if he desired it, might dress the wounded.
In Lexington, the anniversary of the battle was appro- priately noticed for several years. In 1776, Rev. Jonas Clark delivered the sermon, which was printed. Seven ser- mons, by Reverends Samuel Cook, 1777, Jacob Cushing, 1778, Samuel Woodward, 1779, Isaac Morrill, 1780, Henry Cum- mings, 1781, Phillips Payson, 1782, and Zabdiel Adams, in 1783, were also published. The Legislature granted four hundred dollars to build a monument in this town; and hence the one erected in 1779 states it was erected by the town, "under the patronage, and at the expense, of the common- wealth," to the memory of the eight men who fell at the fire of the British troops. It is of granite, twenty feet high, stands near the place where they were killed, and bears an inscription written by Rev. Jonas Clark. In 1825, Major Elias Phinney prepared a history of the battle, and in 1835, . Hon. Edward Everett delivered an oration on the anni- versary.
In Concord, a monument has been erected near the place where the two soldiers, who were killed on the bridge, were buried. In 1824, the Bunker Hill Monument Association appropriated five hundred dollars to build one in this town ; and at its suggestion, the corner stone, in 1825, was laid, with great parade. Sixty of the survivors joined in the celebra- tion. Hon. Edward Everett delivered the address. Sub- sequently this association pledged one thousand dollars more for the purpose of securing the completion of this monument.
83
THE MINUTE-MEN.
In 1827, Dr. Ripley and others published " A History of the Fight at Concord."
In Danvers, on Monday, April 20, 1835, the corner-stone was laid of a monument to the memory of seven of its cit- izens, who fell on this day. General Gideon Foster, one of the survivors, made the address at the site of the monument, in which he stated that over an hundred of his townsmen went with him to the field this day. A procession proceeded to the church, where an address was delivered by Hon. Daniel P. King.
In West Cambridge, a monument was erected, June 24, 184S, over the remains of twelve of the patriots slain on this day, - the names of only three of whom, belonging to what is now West Cambridge, are known, viz: Jason Russell, Jason Winship, and Jabez Wyman. The twelve were buried in a common grave. Their remains were disinterred, and placed in a stone vault, now under the monument, April 22, IS4S. This is a simple granite obelisk, nineteen feet in height, enclosed by a neat iron fence. It was done by the voluntary contributions of the citizens of West Cambridge.1
The work so worthy of commemoration - THE COMMENCE- MENT OF THE WAR OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION - cannot be satisfactorily accounted for, without taking into view previous effort. Nothing is clearer than that it obeyed the great law of production. It was the result of labor. It took the people years of deliberation to arrive at the point of forcible resist- ance ; and after this point had been reached, it took months of steady preparation to meet such a crisis worthily. This crisis did not come unexpected, nor was it left to shift for itself when it did come. The leading patriots were not quite so dull and rash as to leave this unprovided for. They were men of sound common sense, who well discerned the signs of the times. If they trusted to the inherent goodness of their cause, they also looked sharp to have their powder dry. Indi- vidual volunteers, it is true, appeared on this day on the field. But still the power that was so successful against a body of British veterans of undoubted bravery, finely officered and
1 Hon. James Russell, Ms. letter, who took a prominent part in this pat- riotic work.
------
1
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LEXINGTON AND CONCORD.
finely disciplined, that twice put them in imminent peril of entire capture, was not an armed mob, made up of individuals, who, on a new-born impulse, aroused by the sudden sound of the tocsin, seized their rusty firelocks, and rushed to the " tented field." But it was an organized power, made up of militia who had associated themselves - often by written agreements - to meet such an exigence; who had been dis- ciplined ' to meet it, who were expected to meet it, and who had been warned 2 that it was close at hand. They were the minute-men. It is enough to say, that they came so near up to their own ideal of hazardous duty, and to the high expect- ation of their fellow-patriots, as to win praise from friend and foe.3 They did a thorough, a necessary, and an immortal work. They should have the credit of it. This battle should be called THE BATTLE OF THE MINUTE-MEN.
The effect of the news of the commencement of hostilities, both in the colonies and in Great Britain, was very great.
In the colonies the intelligence spread with wonderful rapid- ity. In almost every community in New England, on its reception, the minute-men rushed to arms. Hundreds of the muster-rolls - thousands of individual accounts of the sol- diers of the revolution - date from " The Lexington Alarm." And the same spirit prevailed out of New England. Nothing could exceed the shock which it gave to the public mind. To detail, however, the manner in which it was received through- out the colonies, would be foreign to the purpose of this work. In every quarter the people assembled, and prepared to join their brethren of Massachusetts in defence of their lib- erties.4
' The discipline described, pages 42-3, continued to this day. Thus Rev. Mr. Emerson, March 13, at a review in Concord, preached to the minute-men. Rev. Mr. Marett writes in his diary, April 4 : Rode to Read- ing, and heard Mr. Stone preach a sermon to the minute-men. On the 19th, he writes : Fair, windy, and cold.
2 See the order of the Provincial Congress, page 54. 3 " Lord Percy said at table, he never saw anything equal to the intrepidity of the New England minute-men." - Remembrancer, vol. I., 111.
4 It was the battle of Lexington that elicited, in North Carolina, the Meck- lenburg Declaration of Independence, about which so much has been written. This Declaration is alluded to in the journals of the time. Thus the Penn-
85
LETTER TO ENGLAND.
In Massachusetts the leading patriots regarded it to be important to present, as early as possible, an accurate account of the events of the day to the people of England. The Provincial Congress, which was immediately summoned, appointed, on the day of its meeting, April 22, a committee to take depositions in relation to the transactions of the troops in their route to and from Concord. On the next day Doctor Church, Mr. Gerry, and Mr. Cushing, were appointed a com- mittee to draw up a "narrative of the massacre." The com- mittee on depositions, on the 23d and 25th of April, held sessions at Concord and Lexington, and took a large number of affidavits. On the 25th, a letter was read in Congress, urging the expediency of sending an account immediately to England. On the 26th, a committee, consisting of the presi- dent, Doctor Warren, Mr. Freeman, Mr. Gardner, and Colonel Stone, were chosen to prepare a letter to the colonial agent. This committee, on the same day, reported the letter, and an account of the battle, addressed "To the Inhabitants of Great Britain;" and the committee of supplies was ordered to send these papers, with others in preparation, to England. This committee engaged the Hon. Richard Derby,' of Salem, to fit out his vessel as a packet. This ves- sel arrived in London on the 29th of May, and carried, besides the official papers, copies of the Essex Gazette, containing the published accounts of the events of the day. The address,
sylvania Ledger, November 4, 1775, contains Governor Martin's proclama- tion, which reviews it, and denounces it. The point of actual forcible resistance had been reached in Massachusetts nine months previous. To go further back, the bold Abington resolves of 1770, declaring acts of Parlia- ment "a mere nullity," produced a great effect through the colonies. They were a virtual declaration of independence. Other towns were equally bold.
1 The order to Captain Derby was as follows : - In Committee of Safety, April 27, 1775. Resolved, That Captain Derby be directed, and he hereby is directed, to make for Dublin, or any other good port in Ireland, and from thence to cross to Scotland or England, and hasten to London. This direc- tion is given, that so he may escape all cruisers that may be in the chops of the channel, to stop the communication of the provincial intelligence to the agent. He will forthwith deliver his papers to the agent on reaching Lon- don. J. WARREN, Chairman. P. S. - You are to keep this order a pro- found secret from every person on earth.
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LEXINGTON AND CONCORD.
after a brief relation of the battle, and of the outrages of the troops, states, that these "marks of ministerial vengeance have not yet detached us from our royal sovereign ;" that the colonists were still ready to "defend his person, family, crown, and dignity ;" that they would not tamely submit to the perse- cution and tyranny of this cruel ministry, but, appealing to Heaven for the justice of their cause, they were determined to die or be free ; and in closing said, that in a constitutional connection with the mother country, they hoped soon to be altogether a free and happy people.1 In the letter to the agent, he is requested to have the papers printed, and dis- persed through every town in England. Accordingly, on the day after the arrival of Captain Derby, the address was printed and circulated, and gave the first intelligence of the battle of Lexington and Concord to the British public.
The news was astounding. The government had informa- tion of the state of things in America that was accurate, but it refused to credit it. Speeches were made in Parliament por- traying the consequences of political measures with a foresight and precision that to-day appear wonderful, but the ministry listened to them with dull ears. It preferred to rely on repre- sentations from the colonies, made by adherents of the gov- ernment blinded by passion or swayed by interest, or on language in Parliament dictated by ignorance or pride, which described the great patriot party as a mere faction, and the colonists as cowards, and five thousand regulars as invincible. Hence, they looked to see their imposing military and naval preparations strike fear into "a rude rabble," and produce submission. Such ignorance and expectation were shared by the British nation. How great, then, was the astonishment to hear that a collection of country people, hastily assembled, had compelled the veterans of England to retreat to their strong holds! The news agitated London to its centre. It engrossed the attention of all classes. It seemed not merely improbable, but almost incredible.
On learning the intelligence, the government, which had received no despatches, issued the following card :-
1 This address appeared in the London Chronicle for May 27-30.
EFFECT IN ENGLAND. 87
" Secretary of State's Office, Whitehall, May 30, 1775.
" A report having been spread, and an account having been printed and published, of a skirmish between some of the people in the province of the Massachusetts Bay, and a detachment of his majesty's troops, it is proper to inform the public, that no advices have as yet been received in the American department of any such event.
" There is reason to believe that there are despatches from General Gage on board the Sukey, Capt. Brown, which, though she sailed four days before the vessel that brought the printed accounts, is not yet arrived."
Arthur Lee immediately issued the following note : - 1
" TO THE PUBLIC. " Tuesday, May 30, 1775. "As a doubt of the authenticity of the account from Salem, touching an engagement between the king's troops and the provincials, in the Massachusetts Bay, may arise from a para- graph in the Gazette of this evening, I desire to inform all those who wish to see the original affidavits which confirm that account, that they are deposited at the Mansion House, with the right honorable the Lord Mayor, for their inspection.
" ARTHUR LEE,
" Agent for the House of Representatives of the Massachusetts Bay."
General Gage's despatches did not arrive until eleven days after the arrival of Captain Derby. The excitement on their reception increased. The clamor against the ministers grew louder, because it was presumed that they concealed the official accounts, and intended to keep the people in ignorance. As soon, however, as General Gage's report reached Whitehall, on the 10th of June, it was published. This account was severely criticised in the journals, while Lord Dartmouth, in
1 This note was published in the London Chronicle for June 1, 1775. Some of the affidavits appear in full in this number. The original papers are now in .Harvard College Library. Captain Derby declined to go to Lord Dartmouth's office. Mr. De Berdt communicated to the minister the details. " He was too much affected to say much," writes Mr. De Berdt.
S
SS
LEXINGTON AND CONCORD.
a letter to General Gage, dated July 1, hesitates to approve of the step, which was certainly warranted, if not expressly commanded, in his previous despatches, and which was only carrying out his idea of disarming the province.1 "I am to presume that the measure of sending out a detachment of troops to destroy the magazines at Concord was taken after the fullest consideration of the advantages on the one hand, and hazards on the other, of such an enterprise, and of all the probable consequences that were to result from it. It is impossible for me to reflect upon this transaction, and upon all its consequences, without feelings, which, although I do not wish to conceal them, it is not necessary for me to express ; but I believe every man of candor will agree with me in opinion, that, let the event be what it may, the rashness and rebellious conduct of the provincials on this occasion evince the necessity, and will manifest to all the world the justice, of the measures which the king has adopted for supporting the constitution, and in which his majesty will firmly persevere."
The excitement was not allayed by the publication of the official despatches. The ministry, in virtually asking a sus- pension of judgment until their arrival, evidently hoped that the American narrative might prove fictitious, or at least might be exaggerated. Gage's account, however, substan- tially agreed with it. It admitted that a people who had been represented as "too cowardly ever to face the regulars," had attacked the king's troops : it admitted the galling annoyance,
1 Extracts from Lord Dartmouth's letters to General Gage, already given, show how positive were the instructions sent to direct the conduct of the governor. In a letter, dated April 15, 1775, on its way to Boston when the battle was fought, Lord Dartmouth says: "It would appear necessary and expedient, that all fortifications should be garrisoned by the king's troops, or dismantled and destroyed ; that all cannon, small arms, and military stores of every kind, that may be either in any magazine, or secreted for the purpose of aiding the rebellion, should also be seized and secreted ; and that the per- sons of such as, according to the opinion of his majesty's attorney and solicitor general, have committed themselves in acts of treason and rebellion, should be arrested and imprisoned." This letter authorizes General Gage to offer a reward for the apprehension of the patriot leaders, and a pardon to those who should return to obedience. Hence, the subsequent proclamation of General Gage.
,
89
GREATNESS OF THE DAY.
and that many were killed and wounded. I have only room for a single specimen of the sharp strictures these despatches elicited. "Let us," says one of them, "accompany the army in its return, and we find them met by Lord Percy, at Lex- ington, with sixteen companies and the marines, amounting in all to about twelve hundred men, with two pieces of can- non. We have now almost the whole army that was collected at Boston, under so active a leader as Lord Percy, with the assistance of Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, 'doing every- thing (so says the Gazette) that men could do,' and two pieces of cannon. We may expect that not a man of the unheaded poltroon provincials will be left alive. Not quite so bad. The Gazette tells us, dryly, that 'the rebels were for a while dis- persed.' 'They were so dispersed, however, that 'as soon as the troops resumed their march,' (not their flight,) they began again to fire on them, and continued it during the whole of fifteen miles' march, 'by which means several were killed and wounded.' If this was not a flight, and if Lord Percy's activity was not in running away, I should be glad to know where were the flanking parties of this army on its march, with all this light infantry ? Would any commanding officer suffer such an enemy to continue killing and wounding his troops, from stone walls and houses, if it was not a defeat and flight ?"1
Such was the effect, in the colonies and in England, of this manifestation of the resolute spirit that animated the American patriots. Those who stood in the breach at the breaking of this day of blood at Lexington, those who joined in battle and died honorably facing the foe at Concord, those who so gal-
1 One hundred pounds sterling were contributed in England for the relief of those who were wounded in this battle, and of the widows and children of those who were slain. This was paid to a committee of the Massachu- setts Assembly, by Dr. Franklin, in the following October.
Stedman, a British historian, remarks : "The conduct of Colonel Smith, in this unfortunate expedition, was generally censured ; but Lord Percy gained on this occasion, what he afterwards uniformly sustained, great repu- tation as an active, brave, and intelligent officer." A British journal says : " He was in every place of danger, and came off unhurt." He had, how. ever, a narrow escape. A musket ball struck one of the buttons of his waistcoat.
90
LEXINGTON AND CONCORD.
lantly pursued the flying veterans, deserve the tribute of grate- ful admiration.1 Their efforts were in behalf of the cause of the freedom of America, and their success was typical of its final triumph. It is this that clothes their valor on this re- markable day with such beauty and dignity. "In other cir- cumstances," Dr. Dwight writes, " the expedition to Concord, and the contest which ensued, would have been merely little tales of wonder and woe, chiefly recited by the parents of the neighborhood to their circles at the fireside, commanding a momentary attention of childhood, and calling forth the tear of sorrow from the eyes of those who were intimately con- nected with the sufferers. Now, the same events preface the history of a nation, and the beginning of an empire; and are themes of disquisition and astonishment to the civilized world." 2
1 Hon. Edward Everett's Concord Address, 53.
2 Dwight's Travels, I., p. 387.
1
LEXINGTON MONUMENT.
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1
GATHERING OF AN ARMY.
91
CHAPTER III.
Gathering of an Army. Proceedings of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island. The American Army. Skirmishes. The British Army. Resolve to fortify Bunker Hill.
THE intelligence of the breaking out of hostilities was imme- diately followed by circulars from the Massachusetts committee of safety, calling out the militia. One addressed to the towns, dated April 20, urged them " to hasten and encourage, by all possible means, the enlistment of men to form an army," and to send them forward without delay. "Our all," it reads, "is at stake. Death and devastation are the certain conse- quences of delay. Every moment is infinitely precious. An hour lost may deluge your country in blood, and entail perpet- ual slavery upon the few of our posterity that may survive the carnage."1 Another circular, addressed to the other New England colonies, (April 26,) applied for as many troops as could be spared, to march forthwith to the assistance of Massachusetts.ª One spirit, however, animated the country. Companies of minute-men and individual volunteers rushed from every quarter to the seat of hostilities; and, joining the intrepid bands that fought the British troops on their way from Concord, commenced the memorable siege of Boston.3
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