USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lexington > History of the town of Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1868, Volume I > Part 15
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and during the service greatly disturbed the worshippers by their drums, fifes, and other noises. Colonel Madison was present with them a part of the time. On the 17th, in the evening, Colonel Hancock's house, near the Common, was attacked by a party of British officers, who cut and hacked the fence in front of the house and otherwise behaved very abusively, breaking windows, and insulting almost every person they met. On the 18th, the guard at the Neck seized 13,425 musket cartridges with balls, and about three hundred pounds of musket balls, the property of private persons, which the General refused to give up to the owners. They also abused the teamster, pricking him with their bayonets, and assaulted the Providence stage, breaking the windows and insulting the passengers. On the 19th, a party of officers and soldiers again insulted Colonel Hancock, entering upon his premises and refusing to retire, boasting that his house, stable, and other property would soon be theirs, when they would use it as they pleased.1 Though these aggressions were of a private charac- ter and related to the rights of individuals, they served to irri- tate the people, and showed at the same time a haughtiness on the part of the British officers which would naturally lead to a collision with the inhabitants.
While General Gage was employed in making preparation for excursions into the country to destroy the military stores that the Provincials had collected together, the patriotic in- habitants were not inactive. The Second Provincial Congress, which held its first session at Cambridge, had adjourned, on the 16th of February, to meet at Concord on the 22d of March. On coming together at that time, and being fully impressed with the critical state of public affairs, they adopted the most efficient means in their power to meet the crisis, which they knew could not be far distant. They adopted a code of Rules and Articles for the regulation of the army of the Province, elected committees from the several counties to see that the recommendations of the Congress were fully carried out, and renewed their recommendation for exercising and drilling the militia. Having received certain intelligence that large rein- forcements were on their way to Boston, they sent delegates to New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, to ap- prise them of the common danger, and if possible to enlist them in the common cause. They assured their sister Colo-
1 Force's Archives, Vol. II, p. 211.
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nies "that we are determined to take effectual measures for our security and defence by raising an army"; and requested them "to cooperate with us by furnishing their respective quotas for the general defence." They also voted to raise six companies of artillery, to be organized, disciplined, and in "constant readiness to enter the service of the Colony" when- ever it should become necessary. And as they appealed to Heaven for the justice of their cause, and trusted in the God of battles to carry them successfully through the contest which they feared was approaching, they appointed a day of fasting and prayer. On the 15th of April, they adjourned to meet on the 10th of May, unless sooner called together on an emer- gency by a committee which they had designated for that purpose.1
In the mean time the Committees of Safety and of Sup- plies, which generally met together, were in session almost daily, using the most efficient means in their power to put the Province in a proper state of defence. On the 14th of March, being in session at the house of Captain Stedman, in Cam- bridge, and anticipating some movement on the part of Gen- eral Gage, they voted "that watches be kept constantly at places where the Provincial magazines are kept." They also requested the Committees of Charlestown, Cambridge, and Roxbury "to procure at least two men for a watch every night, to be placed in each of these towns, and that the said members be in readiness to send couriers forward to the towns where the magazines are placed, when sallies are made from the army by night." Pursuant to this request, on the day following the Committees directed Colonel Barrett, of Concord, "to engage a sufficient number of faithful men to guard the colony maga- zines in that town, and to keep a suitable number of teams in constant readiness by day and by night, on the shortest notice to remove the stores; and also to provide couriers to alarm the neighboring towns, on receiving any information of any movement of the King's troops." The Committees were in session at Concord on the 17th of April and adjourned to meet at Menotomy, now Arlington, at Wetherby's Tavern the next day.2
Preparatory to any attempt to make a descent upon Worces- ter or Concord, for the purpose of destroying the military
1 Journals of the Provincial Congress.
2 Journals of the Committees of Safety and of Supplies.
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stores, General Gage sent out detachments of his troops into the neighboring towns, probably with the design of exercising his men and of habituating the inhabitants to these excur- sions, so that no apprehension might be felt in case the troops should be seen leaving Boston. On the 30th of March, the First Brigade, under Lord Percy, marched out to Jamaica Plain, in Roxbury. They were narrowly watched by the people, who collected in large numbers; but as they were with- out artillery or baggage, it was inferred that their excursion was but a short one; and as they did not interfere with the inhabitants, they were permitted to pass without molestation. They did, however, commit depredations upon private prop- erty by throwing down a considerable quantity of stone wall.1 Whether this was done as wanton mischief, or whether they thought that these walls would afford a rampart for the militia in case they should attempt an expedition in that di- rection, it is impossible to say.
The day of debate had now passed, and the day of action - open, efficient action - had come. Active efforts were now making in all parts of the Province. Not only were the Committees of Safety and of Supplies adopting efficient meas- ures, but almost every town was resounding with "awful notes of preparation." The towns were furnishing arms and munitions of war to the utmost extent of their ability. The minute-men and the alarm-lists, as they were called, the latter being composed of the aged and the young, were out almost daily for exercise and drill. The people felt the awful responsi- bility which rested upon them. They knew that to resist the King's troops would be treason, which they might be called upon to expiate upon the gallows; but to submit to the arbi- trary and unjust requisitions of Great Britain would be court- ing a chain and entailing slavery upon themselves and their children. The feeling which pervaded the community was one of the purest patriotism, sanctified and hallowed on the altar of religion. Their sense of justice and of right, their regard for the welfare of their children, their love for their country, and their devotion to their God prompted them to action and inspired them with confidence in their ultimate success.
No class in the community contributed more to produce this state of feeling and to animate and sustain the people as
1 Force's Archives, and Warren's Letter to Arthur Lee.
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the danger approached than the pious and patriotic clergy of New England. Their appeals were ardent and touching. They recurred to the causes which had brought us to this country, and recounted the instances in which our fathers had been brought out of a wilderness of dangers and through scenes of blood. They pointed to that Canaan of rest which awaited us, if we would put our trust in the Lord and rely upon his outstretched arm. They taught their people that the Gospel was a self-sacrificing system, that patriotism was a Christian duty, and that he who refused to suffer for his coun- try in such a holy cause was false to Him who died that we might live. And among those who animated and encouraged the people, and thus kindled the fires of patriotism upon the altars of religion, none was more active or successful than the distinguished and pious priest who ministered to the people of Lexington. His intimacy with Adams and Hancock made him minutely acquainted with the affairs of the Colony, his clear and far-reaching perception enabled him to judge with great accuracy, and his noble and manly independence gave him a controlling influence over the minds of men. "Mr. Clarke was a man of high rank in his profession - a man of practical piety, - a learned theologian, - a person of wide general reading, - a writer perspicuous, correct, and pointed beyond the standard of the day, - and a most intelligent, resolute, and ardent champion of the popular cause. He was connected by marriage with the family of John Hancock. To this circumstance, no doubt, may properly be ascribed some portion of his interest in the political movements of the day; - while on the mind of Hancock an intimacy with Mr. Clarke was calculated to have a strong and salutary influence." 1
Mr. Clarke took a broad and enlightened view of the duties and obligations of the citizen. With him patriotism was a virtue of religious growth. In his estimation love to God in- volved a love of country, and devotion to religion implied devotion to the state. Describing the true patriot, he says, "Inspired with the principles of piety, governed by the laws of God, encouraged and supported with motives of religion, such men in the court or in the field, in peace and in war, in private and in public stations, look with a generous contempt, a sacred abhorrence upon every advantage they might make to themselves at the expense of their virtue. No self-interest, 1 Everett's Address at Lexington in 1835.
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no venal motive can countervail with them the public good, the safety and happiness of society - of mankind. The frowns of the great and the flatteries of the vulgar are equally despised; the greatest trials are cheerfully endured, the most self-denying services are with pleasure engaged in, in the cause of God. In honor to God they wait upon the King, in devotion to him they serve their country, and for the glory of his name stand ready cheerfully to submit to every hardship, firmly to face every danger, and for the support of his cause, and the defence of the liberties and lives of his people, freely to make their own a sacrifice, and shed their dearest blood." 1
Such were the sentiments of Mr. Clarke, uttered seven years before hostilities commenced; and they had become more deeply seated and had taken a more active form as the crisis approached. Such sentiments and feelings had ex- tended in a good degree throughout all the Colonies, - though in Massachusetts they had well-nigh ripened into action. The town of Lexington, as we have already seen, had from the first taken a deep and lively interest in the contro- versy between the parent country and the Colonies, and had made every effort to prepare her sons for any emergency which might arise. In 1774, she had "voted to increase the town's stock of ammunition," "to encourage military disci- pline, and to put themselves in a posture of defence against their enemies"; she had voted to supply the "training sol- diers" with bayonets and had distributed, at the expense of the town, arms and ammunition to the "training-band" and "alarm-list" of her citizens. Such was the liberality of the town to her patriotic sons, who in the day of trial stood firmly by the cause of freedom, and nobly "showed that they were worth their breeding." 2
The Second Provincial Congress, of which John Hancock was President and Samuel Adams one of its most distin- guished members, having closed its session at Concord on the
1 Artillery Election Sermon, 1768.
? As a specimen of the spirit which prevailed at that day, we subjoin the follow- ing: "At a meeting of the people of the Alarm List of the third Company in Danvers, held in said Danvers, the 6th of March, 1775, for the purpose of electing officers for said Alarm List Company, Rev. Benj. Balch, Chairman; said people unanimously made choice of Dea. Edmund Putnam for Captain; Rev. Benj. Balch for Lieutenant, and Mr. Tarrant Putnam for Ensign. The said gentlemen being present, declared their acceptance." American Archives, Vol. II, p. 37.
This fact is well worthy of a town, which, though distant, nobly joined the affair of the 19th of April, 1775.
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15th of April, these champions of freedom, instead of return- ing to Boston, had taken up their abode with Rev. Jonas Clarke at Lexington. This they were induced to do in conse- quence of the impression which had become quite prevalent that General Gage had meditated their seizure. It was well known that Hutchinson, the predecessor of General Gage, had used his influence to have Adams arrested and sent to England to be tried for treason; and the subsequent course of Adams had been still more offensive to the royal Governor. General Gage had, by his proclamation of November, 1774, pronounced the Provincial Congress over which Hancock had presided "an unlawful assembly, tending utterly to sub- vert " government, and to lead directly "to sedition, treason, and rebellion," and had held up "the pains and penalties of the law," to prevent their reassembling or their measures from being carried into effect. There was reason, therefore, to apprehend that these distinguished patriots, after attend- ing another session of this unlawful assembly and adopting measures still more odious to His Majesty's Government, would not be safe in Boston; abounding, as it did at that time, in a large number of inveterate Tories from all parts of the Province, who were constantly urging the Governor to deeds of violence and desperation. This impression was strength- ened by various other causes. Gordon, the historian, informs us that an intercepted letter from Mr. Mauduit to Commis- sioner Hollowell, brought over by a vessel from England which arrived here on the 2d of April, contained distinct intimations that some of the leading patriots were to be seized and sent to England as traitors. A letter from London, under date of February 24, 1775, contained this passage, "those Lords who advised the King to declare you rebels, and apprehend Messrs. Hancock and Adams, &c., &c., have gone so far as to say that Chatham shall fall a sacrifice to their designs." 1 Another letter from London says, "Orders are certainly sent to seize particular persons." 2 Another letter, subsequently received, declares that "the Administration, on Friday, received advices from General Gage to the 18th of March, wherein he acknowledges the receipt of the King's order to apprehend Messrs. Cushing, Adams, Hancock, &c., and send them over to England to be tried; but that the sec- ond orders, which were to hang them in Boston, he said the
1 Force's Archives, Vol. II, p. 345. 2 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 319.
-
SAMUEL ADAMS 1 PAUL REVERE
DOROTHY QUINCY
JOHN HANCOCK WILLIAM DAWES
Guests at the Hancock-Clarke House April 19, 1775 1 Copyright by A. W. Elson & Co.
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General had not then received." 1 General Gage, as we have already seen, in his letter to Dartmouth, of the 18th of Janu- ary, had suggested the propriety of seizing "the most ob- noxious leaders," and offering pardon to all others; and his Proclamation of the 12th of June, 1775, offering "His Maj- esty's most gracious pardon to all persons who shall forth- with lay down their arms, and return to their duties of peace- able subjects, excepting only from the benefit of such pardon, Samuel Adams and John Hancock, whose offences are of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other consideration than that of condign punishment," 2 shows that such a measure was premeditated. Lord Dartmouth in his letter to General Gage, under date of April 15, expressly declares that the seiz- ure of the most obnoxious leaders is " already provided for." 3 These facts prove most conclusively that one object of the stealthy movement of the British officers on the evening of the 18th of April was to seize these illustrious patriots, that they might suffer the full penalty of treason. This fact was admitted at the time, and has since been acknowledged by foreign 4 as well as by American writers.5
Everything indicated that the crisis was at hand, and a fearful one it was for Massachusetts. General Gage had re- ceived a small accession to his forces, which now amounted to about four thousand men, well armed and equipped, and under the most perfect discipline, they could be brought into the field at any moment. Large reinforcements were on their way from Europe, and Boston was their destination. On the
1 Force's Archives, Vol. II, p. 386.
2 Force's Archives, Vol. II, p. 969. Ed.
3 Force's Archives, Vol. II, p. 336.
4 Botta, Murray, and others.
5 Shattuck, in his History of Concord, declares that one object of this expedition was "to apprehend Hancock, Adams, Barrett, and other distinguished patriots" (p. 101). We have no disposition to detract from the merits of Colonel Barrett. He was undoubtedly a brave and efficient officer, and a true patriot; but we are not aware that he stood so prominent as to be known across the Atlantic, and to be ranked with Adams and Hancock. After a pretty thorough examination of authori- ties, we have found nothing that could, even by implication, include him in the list of the proscribed patriots. He certainly was not exempted from pardon in Gage's proclamation.
The designs of the British, and the belief of the day, are clearly embodied in a Tory ballad of that period - more remarkable for truth than for poetry, we imagine.
"As for their king, that John Hancock, And Adams, if they're taken,
Their heads for signs shall hang up high, Upon the hill, called Beacon."
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side of the Province there was no organized army : not a single company in the field to oppose the march of the King's troops. The whole Province was in a state of comparative disorder. General Gage, by dissolving the Legislature, had left Massa- chusetts without any lawful government. The Provincial Congress, a body almost self-constituted, assumed to act as a sort of legislature, and the Committees of Safety and of Sup- plies were exercising a kind of executive power. And though these bodies, under all the circumstances of the case, acted with great wisdom and efficiency, they had no power to en- force their measures and no adequate means in their hands to procure the necessary troops or munitions of war. Though the Provincial Congress had, as early as October, 1774, rec- ommended the purchase of arms and ammunition to the amount of £20,800, their Treasurer, on the 25th of April, 1775, reported that only about £5000 had come into his hands.1 The poverty of the people and the dearth of military stores within the Province are manifest from the journals of those bodies. Most of the arms in the hands of the people were their old hunting guns, without bayonets; hence votes were passed by Congress earnestly recommending the pur- chase and manufacture of that essential appendage of the musket. The manufacture of saltpetre was also urged upon the people, that they might be able to supply the great de- mand for powder. The towns were earnestly called upon to furnish, as far as possible, a certain quantity of bayonets, powder, and "firelocks."
The records show the great difficulties under which the Committee of Supplies labored. Many of their votes indi- cate the straits to which they were driven.2 They were di- rected to "endeavor to procure" such and such articles. The supply of military stores and of provisions indicated their destitution in both the implements and the sinews of war. The Committee of Supplies were directed to "endeavor to procure" 200 spades, 150 iron shovels, 150 pickaxes, 1000
1 Journals of the Provincial Congress, and of the Committees of Safety and of Supplies.
2 "Voted unanimously by both Committees, that the Committee of Supplies do procure ten tons of brimstone, provided it can be had on this condition: that the Committee of Supplies agree to pay therefor, when the present owner shall have op- portunity to sell the same, or that it shall be returned in six months, if not used; and if used, it shall be paid for." Journal of the Committees of Supplies and of Safety, February 21, 1775.
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six-quart iron pots, 200 bill-hooks, 1000 wooden mess-bowls, 1 tenon-saw, 200 axes, 50 wheelbarrows, and a suitable supply of wooden spoons; also 355 barrels of pork, 700 barrels of flour, 300 bushels of beans, and 20 tierces of rice. Limited as were these amounts and active as were the endeavors of the Committee, these supplies could not be fully obtained. They also secured as many fieldpieces as they could, but so limited was the supply that certain officers were directed, if possible, to borrow of those who possessed them that the men might be instructed in their use. With such com- parative destitution, and with a population of only about three hundred thousand, without any organized government, and almost without money or credit, Massachusetts dared with a small number of undisciplined and half-armed militia to withstand the mighty energy of Great Britain, lately vic- torious on both continents over the most powerful nations of the earth. But great as was the disparity, the patriots stood firm. Animated by the justice of their cause and sustained by a lively faith in an overruling Providence, they were deter- mined to do their duty, and trust the issue to Him "who bringeth the princes to nothing," and "taketh up the isles as a very little thing."
General Gage, having obtained all needed information rela- tive to the topography of the country, planned a secret ex- pedition to Concord for the purpose of destroying the military stores there deposited. On the 15th of April, on the pretence of teaching the grenadiers and light infantry some new disci- pline or evolutions, he detached about eight hundred of them from the main body and marched them to another part of the town. At night the boats of the transport ships, which had been hauled up for repairs, were launched and moored under the sterns of the men-of-war lying in the river. But the object of this movement was suspected by the watchful patri- ots; Dr. Warren, ever on the alert, immediately caused in- formation to be communicated to his friends in the neighbor- ing towns; and a messenger was dispatched to Hancock and Adams at Lexington. This timely notice enabled the Com- mittee of Safety, of which Hancock was chairman, to adopt the precautionary measure, on the 17th and 18th, of having a portion of the cannon and stores at Concord removed to Sudbury, Stow, and Groton; and another portion secreted in different places within the town.
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On Tuesday, the 18th of April, General Gage detailed a number of his officers and sent them out of town, with in- structions to post themselves on the several roads leading from Boston, to prevent, if possible, all intelligence of his in- tended expedition that night from reaching the country. To avoid suspicion a part of them left Boston in the morning, and dined that day in Cambridge. Late in the afternoon they proceeded leisurely on horseback towards Lexington and Concord. The Committees of Safety and Supplies had been in session that day at Wetherby's Tavern at Menotomy, now Arlington; and as they had not completed their business had adjourned over to nine o'clock the next morning. Mr. Gerry, afterwards Vice-President of the United States, and Colonels Orne and Lee remained there for the night. Mr. Richard Devens and Mr. Abraham Watson started in a chaise for Charlestown; but meeting a number of British officers on horseback, they returned to inform their friends at Wether- by's and remained there till the officers had passed, when they returned to Charlestown. Mr. Gerry lost no time in sending an express to Hancock and Adams that "eight or nine officers were out, suspected of some evil design." The messenger took a by-path and arrived safely at Lexington.1 But a verbal message had already communicated to the peo- ple of Lexington the fact that these officers were on the road.
"Solomon Brown of Lexington, who had been to market at Bos- ton on the 18th, returned late in the afternoon, and informed Col. William Munroe, then the orderly sergeant of the militia company, that he had seen nine British officers, dressed in blue greatcoats, passing leisurely up the road, sometimes before and sometimes behind him, armed, as he had discovered by the occasional blowing aside of their greatcoats. Munroe, suspecting their intention 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 about a quarter of a mile from the main road leading to Concord. . .. Small par- ties of British officers in the spring of that year, had frequently been seen making excursions into the country, early in the day, and re- turning before evening. But the unusually late hour of their passing up, at this time, excited the attention of our citizens, and drew to- gether, at an early hour of the evening, about thirty of the militia, well armed, and ready for any emergency, to which the critical and alarming state of things might suddenly call them. It had been cur-
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