USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lexington > History of the town of Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1868, Volume I > Part 21
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? ""'For had they not arrived in Charlestown, under cover of their ships, half an hour before a powerful body of men from Marblehead and Salem was at their heels, and must, if they had happened to be up one hour sooner, inevitably have intercepted their retreat to Charlestown.' That was the conclusion at which Washington ar- rived; and his view, then or since, has never been disputed." Trevelyan, The Ameri- can Revolution, Part 1, 1766-1776. Ed.
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The minute-men closely followed, but when they reached the Charlestown Common, General Heath ordered them to stop the pursuit." 1
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 their 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 Maj- esty'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, toil, and danger. Twice during 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. Nearly the same was true of Percy's com- mand on arriving at Charlestown. If he had been but a trifle later,2 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 the fugitives of Smith and Pitcairn.
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 en-
1 Siege of Boston. In this excellent work, Mr. Frothingham has well-nigh ex- hausted 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.
2 " . . . We retired for 15 miles under an incessant fire all around us, till we arrived at Charlestown, between 7 & 8 in the even, very much fatigued with a march of above 30 miles, & having expended almost all our ammunition." Percy Letters. According to Mr. F. W. Coburn (The Battle of April 19, 1775, p. 161), the total dis- tance covered by Percy's reinforcement from Boston back to the Charles River in Charlestown was about twenty-six miles. According to the same authority the three companies of the main body who went to the home of Colonel Barrett made a total march during the day of nearly forty miles. Ed.
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durance for soldiers laden with their arms and such other ap- pendages 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 hid- ing-places behind trees, rocks, and fences. Nor were the ordinary trappings of war their only encumbrance. 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 with a single regiment. To such men the shameless flight of British regu- lars, well disciplined and completely armed, before one-half their number of the Provincials, without discipline or organi- zation and poorly armed, must have been mortifying - espe- cially to Lord Percy and the officers in immediate command; and to General Gage and his advisers the result of this expedi- tion must have cast "ominous conjectures o'er the whole success" of subduing the rebellious Province. 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.
The actual loss to the British in this expedition was seventy-three killed, one hundred and seventy-four wounded, and twenty-six missing- the greater part of whom were taken prisoners. Of the whole loss, eighteen were commis- sioned officers, and two hundred and fifty non-commissioned officers and men. 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
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Gould, also wounded at the bridge, was subsequently 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." 1 The prisoners taken by us were treated with great humanity, and General Gage was notified that his own surgeons, if he desired it, might attend the wounded.
The loss of the Americans was forty-nine killed, thirty- nine wounded, and five missing. Several lists of the killed and wounded have been published - the fullest of which, found in the Siege of Boston, we here insert :-
Lexington. - Killed, A.M., Jonas Parker, Robert Munroe, Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, Jr., Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, John Brown, P.M., Jedediah Munroe,2 John Raymond, Nathaniel Wyman,3 10. Wounded, A.M., John Robbins, Solomon Pierce, John Tidd, Joseph Comee, Ebenezer Munroe, Jr., Thomas Winship, Nathaniel Farmer, Prince Estabrook, P.M., Francis Brown, 9. Making a total loss to Lexington of 19.
Concord. - Killed, none. Wounded, Charles Miles, Nathan Bar- rett, Abel Prescott, Jr., Jonas Brown, George Minot, 5.
Acton. - Killed, Isaac Davis, Abner Hosmer, James Hayward, 3. Wounded, Luther Blanchard, 1.4
Cambridge, including West Cambridge. - Killed, William Marcy, Moses Richardson, John Hicks, Jason Russell, Jabez Wyman, Jason Winship, 6. Wounded, Samuel Whittemore,5 1. Missing, Samuel Frost, Seth Russell, Jr., 2.
Needham. - Killed, John Bacon, Elisha Mills, Amos Mills, Nathaniel Chamberlain, Jonathan Parker, 5. Wounded, Eleazer Kingsbury, John Tolman, 2.
Sudbury. - Killed, Josiah Haynes, Asahel Reed, 2. Wounded, Joshua Haynes, Jr.,6 1.
Bedford. - Killed, Jonathan Wilson, 1. Wounded, Job Lane,7 1.
Woburn. - Killed, Asahel Porter, 1. Wounded, George Reed, Jacob Bacon, - Johnson, Daniel Thompson, 4.
1 Siege of Boston, p. 82.
2 Jedediah Munroe was wounded on the Common in the morning, and killed while in pursuit of the British, in the afternoon.
3 Belonged in Billerica. Ed.
4 Also, Ezekiel Davis, head grazed. Thomas Thorp's deposition, p. 44. Acton Celebration, 1835. Ed.
Also Josiah Temple, in the shoulder. Temple, History of Framingham, p. 277. 5 Ed.
6 Also, Thomas Bent, non-combatant. E. Chase, Beginnings of American Revolu- tion, Vol. III, p. 221. Ed.
7 Also, Solomon Stearns and Reuben Bacon, said to have died as a result of the day's exertions. Ibid., p. 218. Ed.
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Medford. - Killed, Henry Putnam, William Polly,1 2.
Charlestown. - Killed, James Miller, Edward Barber, 2 2.
Watertown. - Killed, Joseph Coolidge,3 1.
Framingham. - Wounded, Daniel Hemenway, 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.4 - Wounded, John Nichols, Timothy Blanchard, 2.
Chelmsford. - Wounded, Aaron Chamberlain, Oliver Barron, 2.
Salem. - Killed, Benjamin Pierce, 1.
Newton.5 - Wounded, Noah Wiswell, 1.
Danvers. - Killed, Henry Jacobs, Samuel Cook, Ebenezer Gold- thwait, George Southwick, Benjamin Deland, Jr., Jotham Webb, Perley Putnam, 7. Wounded, Nathan Putnam, Dennis Wallace, 2. Missing, Joseph Bell, 1.
Beverly. - Killed, Reuben Kennison, 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 Mon- roe, 2. Missing, Josiah Breed, 1.
Total 6 (as revised by additions made in footnotes). - Killed, 45; wounded, 48; missing, 5, - 107.
It will be seen by the above list that Lexington suffered more severely than any other town. Though her population was much less than that of Concord or Cambridge, her loss in killed and wounded was more than one-third greater than both of those towns together. In Concord, no one was killed, and in Cambridge, of the six killed, three of them at least were non-combatants of West Cambridge. Next to Lexington,
1 Medford Historical Register, January, 1899. Also killed, - Smith, - Francis. Usher, History of Medford, p. 162. Ed.
2 Also, a Negro wounded. Massachusetts Hist. Soc. Proc., March, 1890. Lieu- tenant Mackenzie. Ed.
3 Also wounded, David Smith. E. Chase, Beginnings of American Revolution, Vol. III, p. 222. Ed.
4 Also killed, Nathaniel Wyman. Ed.
5 Also killed, Jolın Barber (family tradition), E. Chase, Beginnings of American Revolution, Vol. III, p. 221. Ed.
6 Also Lincoln. - Wounded, Joshua Brooks. Amos Baker's Deposition, 21. Acton Celebration.
New Salem. - Amos Putnam died of exhaustion. Putnam, Danvers Soldiers' Record, p. 157.
Westford. - Captain Oliver Bates died in July from effects of wound. Hodgman, History of Westford, p. 110.
Natick. - Captain David Bacon, killed by some accounts. Hurd, History of Middlesex County, Vol. I, pp. 393, 523. Ed.
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Danvers suffered the most severely, having seven killed and two wounded. The number of killed and wounded is no sure evidence of the bravery of these companies; but it does afford strong presumptive evidence of the position of the troops rela- tive to the posts of danger. And as the men on that day acted on their own responsibility, or under their local commanders, the number of casualties furnishes some proof of the zeal and bravery of the men and the efforts of the different towns on the occasion.
Some regrets were expressed at the time that the Provin- cials did not pursue Percy farther, and attempt to prevent his entering Charlestown. Bitter complaints were made against Colonel Pickering for his delay in bringing up the Essex regi- ment. It is not our province to pass sentence upon Colonel Pickering, or to intimate that he was at fault in that case. If he could have been earlier upon the ground and could have joined the militia some miles above Charlestown, it would have been well, and might have been the means of cutting off Percy's retreat. But it is perhaps a mercy that the Essex troops did not arrive in season to attack him at the Neck. This would in all probability have brought on a general en- gagement, for which the Provincials were not prepared; and as Gage could easily have reinforced Percy, and the ships in Charles River could participate in such a battle, the fortune of the day would doubtless have turned against us. Besides, there were fears that if we pursued the British into Charles- town, they might lay the town in ashes and so subject our friends to the calamity of being turned houseless into the street. The wanton barbarity they had practised in Lexington and West Cambridge that day would naturally create an ap- prehension for the safety of Charlestown if we should attempt to follow the British within the Peninsula. Such considera- tions probably occurred to General Heath and he prudently gave over the pursuit.
The events of the 19th of April produced a profound sensa- tion throughout the country. They aroused the people to arms, and gave a new impulse to the cause of freedom. This opening scene of the American Revolution foreshadowed the character and result of the great drama and the moral it would teach mankind. It showed that the Americans were alive to a sense of their rights and ready to rally at their country's call; that though they were at that time without
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organization or discipline, and but poorly armed, they pos- sessed every requisite for soldiers; and that with a little drill and discipline they would be equal to any emergency. In fact, that day established their reputation for energy and fortitude, for sagacity and courage, and should have taught their British brethren that the subjugation of such a people was impossible. Up to this period the people acted under a species of embarrassment, but now the restraint was re- moved. England had been the aggressor; she had shed the blood of her subjects in America; she had wantonly com- menced a war for the subjugation of her colonists; and they now felt themselves absolved from all allegiance. England had appealed to the arbitrament of war, and the colonists were ready to try the case in that stern tribunal. And the experience of the 19th of April had given them confidence in themselves. They had seen the disciplined veterans of Great Britain put to an ignominious rout by half their number of bold and determined citizens; and relying upon the justice of their cause and trusting in the great Disposer of events, to whom the appeal had been made, they were ready to abide the issue.
But while that day's sun in its setting cast a halo of glory around the American cause and there was a general rejoicing wherever the result was known, there were those who blended tears with their rejoicings and sighed over the hapless victims of oppression - the willing sacrifices offered on freedom's altar. In Lexington alone, ten of her sturdy citizens, whose bosoms swelled with patriotic ardor in the early dawn of that memorable day, were lying cold in the embrace of death before the evening shades had lulled the world to silence and repose. They slept in peace. But who can describe the anguish which wrung the heart of the lone widow or the orphan child at the sudden bereavement of a husband or a father! or tell the grief of the sad mother who is weeping the loss of a beloved son! Truly there was lamentation and mourning. The ten- derest ties of nature had been broken, and hearts that were made to feel, were bleeding in anguish. But in the bitterness of their anguish they had one consolation - the deceased fell at the post of duty - fell a sacrifice, a willing sacrifice, to the cause of liberty. Such reflections cheered and gladdened many a heart, which had otherwise been desponding. Such reflections are the support and comfort of many a patriotic
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mother and wife, whose grief would otherwise be almost in- supportable. Nor is this a vain consolation. Patriotism is a Christian virtue; and he who from a sense of duty lays down his life for his country, acts in humble imitation of Him "who died that we might live."
The anniversary of the 19th of April was appropriately noticed in Lexington for several years. In 1776, Rev. Jonas Clarke delivered a patriotic sermon in commemoration of the day; to which was appended a narrative of the Battle of Lex- ington. The discourse was published, with the appendix, which furnishes us with one of the most valuable and reliable sketches of the events of that day.1 The next anniversary, Rev. Samuel Cook, of Cambridge, preached the sermon. In 1778, the discourse was delivered by Rev. Jacob Cushing, of Waltham; in 1779, by Rev. Samuel Woodward, of Weston; in 1780, by Rev. Isaac Morrell, of Wilmington; in 1781, by Rev. Henry Cummings, of Billerica; in 1782, by Rev. Phillips Payson, of Chelsea; in 1783, by Rev. Zabdiel Adams, of Lunenburg. These discourses were all published. They fur- nish a good specimen of the spirit of the times, and show the independent and patriotic spirit of the clergy of that day.
The events of the 19th of April, 1775, produced a deep per- sonal feeling in Lexington. The loss of ten of her citizens carried mourning into many families. But the feeling of grati- tude and veneration for the heroic dead had a tendency to assuage their grief and produce a conviction that something should be done to perpetuate the fame of these martyrs of liberty and to hand their names down to after generations. Such feelings led to the erection of a monument to their memories, which was completed in 1799.
But the people of Lexington, knowing that the event to be commemorated was national in its character, and that those who fell offered themselves on the altar of their country, very properly asked the State to assume paternity of the Monu- ment. On the petition of Joseph Simonds, the General Court February 28, 1797, passed the following Resolve: -
"That there be allowed & paid out of the public treasury, to the Selectmen of the Town of Lexington the sum of two hundred dollars for the purpose of erecting in said town a monument of stone on which shall be engraved the names of the eight citizens, inhabitants
1 See also the letter of his daughter, Miss Betty Clarke, in Proc. Lex. Hist. Soc., Vol. Iv, p. 91. Ed.
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of Lexington, who were slain in the morning of the 19th Day of april 1775 by a party of British troops, together with such other inscription, as in the judgment of said Select men, & the approba- tion of the Governor & Council, shall be calculated to preserve to posterity a record of the first efforts made by the people of America for the establishment of their freedom & independence. The said Monument to be erected on the ground where the said Citizens were slain, and the monument so erected shall be deemed & taken to be a public monument, & entitled to the protection of the law in such cases made & provided."
The sum thus appropriated having been found insufficient, the fact was made known to the Legislature; and in 1798, -
"On the petition of the town of Lexington, praying for an addi- tional grant to enable them to erect a Monument, commemorative of the battle of Lexington on the 19th of April, 1775: -
"Resolved, That there be allowed and paid out of the Public . Treasury, the sum of Two hundred dollars, to the Selectmen of the town of Lexington, to enable them to erect and complete the Mon- ument aforesaid, and His Excellency, the Governor, is requested to issue his warrant for the same."
The inscription upon the Monument was furnished by the patriot priest, and breathes that devotion to the cause of America, that love of freedom and the rights of mankind, for which he was distinguished. Nor does he, in his devotion to the cause, overlook the brave men who so nobly offered them- selves on the altar of their country; nor the ruling hand of the great Disposer of events, who makes the wrath of men praise him, and the folly and madness of tyrants subserve the cause of human freedom.
OLD BELFRY
LEXINGTON DRUM
REVOLUTIONARY MONUMENT
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The following is the inscription upon the Monument:
Sacred to Liberty & the Rights of mankind !!! The Freedom & Independence of America, Sealed & defended with the blood of her sons.
This Monument is erected By the inhabitants of Lexington, Under the patronage & at the expence, of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, To the memory of their Fellow Citizens, Ensign Robert Munroe, & Messrs. Jonas Parker, Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington Junr., Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington and John Brown, Of Lexington, & Asahel Porter of Woburn, Who fell on this field, the first Victims to the Sword of British Tyranny & Oppression, On the morning of the ever memorable Nineteenth of April, An. Dom. 1775. The Die was cast !!! The Blood of these Martyrs, In the cause of God & their Country, Was the Cement of the Union of these States, then Colonies; & gave the spring to the spirit, Firmness And resolution of their Fellow Citizens. They rose as one man, to revenge their brethren's Blood, and at the point of the sword, to assert & Defend their native Rights. They nobly dar'd to be free !! The contest was long, bloody & affecting.
Righteous Heaven approved the solemn appeal; Victory crowned their arms; and The Peace, Liberty & Independence of the United States of America, was their Glorious Reward. Built in the year 1799.
Though this Monument was respectable in its day, and reflected honor upon the State and the town, every one must allow that it falls beneath the taste of the present age, and is not at all commensurate with the event it was designed to commemorate.1 The opening scene of the American Revolu-
1 Although this was the feeling at the time when Mr. Hudson wrote, a later judgment has confirmed that of the fathers in erecting a modest shaft. For this reason the ambitious project undertaken in the 50's was abandoned and the money collected was used toward the purchase of the statues now in Memorial Hall. Because of this change of sentiment, a good deal of material which at this point appeared in Mr. Hudson's History has been omitted. Ed.
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tion is one of the most important events in the history of the world. The patriotic rising of the people, the cool and un- daunted spirit of the citizens, the momentous questions in- volved in the issue, and the lasting consequences resulting from the Revolution inaugurated on the 19th of April, 1775, give to the day and the place an importance which can hardly be overrated.
There is a remarkable coincidence between the 19th of April, 1775, and the 19th of April, 1861. On the former day the patriotic citizens of Middlesex met the ruthless bands of freedom's foes, and sanctified the day and the cause of liberty by becoming the first victims in the struggle which made us an independent nation; and on the latter day the citizens of Middlesex, true to the spirit of their fathers, met a lawless horde of slavery's minions, and fell the first martyrs in that desperate struggle which has placed our independence on the most enduring basis. In 1775, the brave sons of Middlesex were the first in the field when they saw their liberty in dan- ger, and in 1861, though far from the scene of action, they were the first in the field when they saw the Capital of the nation in danger. The blood shed at Lexington in 1775, and the blood shed in Baltimore in 1861, were alike offerings in freedom's cause. The victims in both cases should be held in lasting remembrance by the friends of freedom throughout the world, and their names should be handed down from gen- eration to generation; that thousands yet unborn may be taught to lisp the names of LADD and WHITNEY, together with the names of MUNROE and others who fell on the first- named day, and whose noble daring has long adorned our country's history.
Well may Middlesex be proud of her gallant and self-sacri- ficing sons! They have marched at the first call, and nobly have shown "that they were worth their breeding." And well has the city of Lowell erected a Monument in honor of LUTHER CRAWFORD LADD and A. O. WHITNEY.
As there has been an attempt to magnify the importance of the events which occurred at Concord, and thereby to rob Lexington of its due share of the honors of that day, by asserting that the first resistance to the King's troops was made at the North Bridge in Concord, and that no shots were returned by Captain Parker's men at Lexington in the
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morning of that day, we deem it an act of simple justice to Lexington and to the truth of history to present the facts as they exist. This we shall do without that spirit of crimi- nation and recrimination which has heretofore marked this controversy.
No facts connected with the events of the 19th of April are better sustained by evidence than those of the firmness and bravery of Captain Parker's company, and of their return of the fire on the morning of that day. In his History of the Fight at Concord, Ripley, an authority not at all partial to the claims of Lexington, says: "The military company under Captain Parker were prompt, patriotic, and courageous to admiration. That a single company should parade in an op- posing attitude, directly in the face of nearly a thousand of the picked troops of Great Britain, places their courage and firmness beyond all controversy. Some may think they were not so wise in council as fearless in danger - not so prudent in action as zealous in patriotism." Shattuck, in his History of Concord, says : "The inhabitants of Lexington deserve great credit for the stand they took in the morning, and the part they acted during the day. That her militia were slain with arms in their hands, is an important fact, and highly honor- able to their patriotism and valor." These admissions, from the chief advocates of the claims of Concord, ill accord with the insinuation implied in conceding that "some very few of the militia, being in a state of high excitement and confusion, after the British had gone on their way, did fire off their guns," etc.1
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