USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lexington > History of the town of Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1868, with a genealogical register of Lexington families > Part 16
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General Gage having obtained all needed information relative to the topography of the country, planned a secret expedition 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 discipline or evolu- tions, 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 patriots ; and Dr. Warren, ever upon the alert, immediately caused information to be commu- nicated to his friends in the neighboring towns ; and a messenger
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was dispatched to Hancock and Adams at Lexington. This timely notice enabled the Committee 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 Con- cord, removed to Sudbury, Stow, and Groton ; and another portion secreted in different places within the town.
On Tuesday, the 18th of April, Gen. Gage detailed a number of his officers, and sent them out of town with instructions to post themselves on the several roads leading from Boston, to prevent, if possible, all intelligence of his intended expedition that night from reaching the country. To prevent suspicion a part of them left Boston in the morning, and dined that day in Cambridge. Late in the afternoon, they proceeded leisurely on horsebaek 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 to spend 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 Wetherby'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 mes- senger took a by-path and arrived safely at Lexington.1 But a verbal message had already communicated to the people of Lex- ington the fact that these officers were on the road.
" Solomon Brown of Lexington, who had been to market at Boston on the 18th, returned late in the afternoon, and informed Col. 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 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,
1 Frothingham's Siege of Boston, p. 57, and authorities there cited.
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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 parties of British officers in the spring of that year, had frequently been seen making excursions into the country, carly in the day, and returning before evening. But the unusually late hour of their passing up at this time, excited the attention of our citizens, and drew together at an early hour in 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 currently reported that the British had threatened that Hancock and Adams should not stay at Lexington ; and it was generally believed to be the object of these officers who had passed up, to return secretly at a late hour in the night and seize them, and carry them to Boston. After some consultation, it was concluded by those present 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 the whole three men were taken prisoners by the British officers, who were paraded across the road."]
Soon after Mr. Devens had arrived at Charlestown, he received intelligence that the British troops in Boston were in motion, and were preparing to leave the town on some secret expedition. A signal had previously been agreed upon. If the British attempted an expedition by the Neck, two lanterns were to be hung out from the steeple of the Old North Church, and if by water, one. Devens, an ardent patriot, and an active member of the Committee of Safety, kept his eye upon the Church ; the lantern soon conveyed the tidings that the troops were leaving Boston, by crossing the river. Believing that Concord was the place of their destination, and fearing for the safety of his friends at Menotomy and Lexington, he immediately prepared to dis- patch messengers with the intelligence. 1
General Gage in the meantime supposed that his movement was unobserved, and that his expedition was known only to him- self and the few officers to whom he had committed the secret. Stedman, the English historian, who accompanied Percy in this expedition, informs us that Gage sent for Percy that evening
1 Phinney's History of the Battle at Lexington.
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about nine o'clock, and communicated to him the contemplated expedition, and congratulated himself upon his success in keeping it from the patriots. But as Percy was crossing the Common a short time after, he saw a group of citizens assembled ; and mingling with them, he found the subject of this expedition to Concord was freely spoken of and well understood ; whereupon he hastened back to Gage's quarters, and gave him the inform- ation.1 Mortified at the intelligence, and to prevent its further spread, he immediately issued orders that no one should be per- mitted to leave Boston.
But it was too late. The intelligence had gone forth from the Old North Church with the rapidity of light ; and Dr. Warren had a few minutes before dispatched Paul Revere and William Dawes into the country to give the information, and alarm the people. A little before eleven o'clock, Revere crossed the river in his own boat, close to the Somerset man-of-war, unobserved, and landed at Charlestown, where he had an interview with Mr. Devens, who informed him that ten British officers, well armed and mounted, were upon the road. A fleet horse was obtained of Deacon Larkin, and Revere started on his perilous mission about eleven o'clock. Soon after passing Charlestown neck, he fell in with two British officers who attempted to arrest him ; but turning his horse back towards Charlestown, he gained the Medford road, and owing to the fleetness of his horse, he escaped from his pursuers, one of whom in attempting to cut him off, rode into a clay-pit.
Relieved from such troublesome company, Revere passed through Medford to Menotomy, alarming the people by the way, and arrived safely at Lexington, where he found Rev. Mr. Clarke's house guarded by sergeant Munroe and eight men. This was a little past midnight; and on requesting to be admitted to Mr. Clarke's house, he was told by the sergeant that the family had just retired, and had requested that they might not be disturbed by any noise about the house. "Noise," exclaimed Revere, "You'll have noise enough before long. The regulars are coming out." He was then per- mitted to pass. On knocking at the door, Mr. Clarke opened a window, and inquired who was there. Revere without answering
1 Stedman's History, Vol. i. p. 119.
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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 Hancock, who had retired to rest, but not to sleep, recog- nizing Revere's voice, cried out, " Come in, Revere, we are not afraid of you." Shortly after, Dawes, who came out through Roxbury, arrived. They both brought the intelligence that " a large body of troops, supposed to be a brigade of twelve or' fifteen hundred men, were embarked in boats at Boston, and gone over to Lechmere's Point in Cambridge ; and it was sus- pected that they were ordered to seize and destroy the stores belonging to the Colony at Concord." 1
After refreshing themselves at Lexington, Revere and Dawes, not knowing the fate of the three men who had been sent up the road from Lexington, set off for Concord to alarm the people. Soon after, they were overtaken by Dr. Prescott, a young gentleman of Concord, who had been spending the evening at Lexington. Being an ardent whig, Prescott entered heartily into their design, and they proceeded towards Concord, alarming the people on the road. Before reaching Brooks's tavern at the Concord line, they were suddenly met by a party of British officers, armed and mounted, who immediately sur- rounded and captured Revere, who was in advance of his companions. Prescott, being a little in the rear, eluded them, and leaping a stone wall, made his escape, and arrived safely in Concord, where he gave the alarm. The same officer's had already taken Sanderson, Brown and Loring of Lexington, and had them then in custody. These prisoners were all subjected to a rigid examination. Presenting their pistols, the officers threatened to blow out the brains of their captives, if they did not give true answers to their questions. They interrogated the Lexington men relative to Hancock and Adams, and inquired where they could be found. They also questioned Revere, who at first gave them rather evasive answers ; but finding himself in their keeping, and seeing no way of escape, he said to them firmly, " Gentlemen, you have missed your aim." One of the
1 Revere's Narrative, Wm. Munroe's Deposition, Clarke's Narrative, and Phinney's History.
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officers said, " What aim ?" Revere replied, "I came out from Boston an hour after your troops left, and if I had not known that messengers had been sent out to give information to the country, and have had time enough to carry it fifty miles, I would have ventured one shot from you, before I would have suffered you to stop me." Startled at this, they pushed their inquiries further, when, on hearing the sound of a distant bell, one of the Lexington prisoners said to them, "The bell 's ringing -the town's alarmed - and you are all dead men." These declarations frightened the British officers, who, after a brief consultation aside, started on their return towards Lexington. They kept possession of their prisoners till they came within about one hundred rods of the meeting-house, when taking Revere's horse from him, and cutting the girths of the saddles, and the bridles of the other prisoners, the officers left them, and rode off at full speed towards Boston. This was about three o'clock on the morning of the 19th.1
While these things were occurring on the road towards Con- cord, the alarm spread rapidly throughout Lexington, and the minute-men were summoned to assemble at their usual place of parade on the Common. At two o'clock on the morning of the 19th, Captain John Parker caused the roll of his company to be called, and ordered every man to load his gun with powder and ball. After remaining some time upon parade, one of the messengers who had been sent towards Boston, returned and reported that he could hear nothing of the regulars, as the
1 Sanderson's Deposition, and Revere's Narrative.
" The Ride of Paul Revere" has been made classic by the poem, "Tales of a Wayside Inn," by Longfellow. We have heard of poetic license, but have always understood that this sort of latitude was to be confined to modes of expression and to the regions of the imagination, and should not extend to historic facts. This distinction Longfellow has not been careful to observe. He says of Revere :
"It was two by the village clock, When he came to the bridge in Concord town."
Now the plain truth, as stated by Revere himself, and by all other authorities, is that he did not even enter the township of Concord, or approach within several miles of Concord bridge. When poets pervert plain matters of history, to give speed to their Pegasus, they should be restrained, as Revere was in his midnight ride.
-
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
British troops were then generally called. This created the impression that the movement of the troops at Boston was a mere feint on the part of General Gage, to call off public atten- tion from some expedition he was about to undertake in some other direction. The evening being cool, the company was dismissed, with orders to assemble again at the beat of the drum. Some who resided in the immediate neighborhood, repaired to their own homes, but the greater part of them went to Buckman's tavern, near the place of parade.1
It may aid the reader in understanding what is to follow, to give a brief description of the village, and of the localities where the principal events occurred. Lexington is about twelve miles north-west of Boston, and six miles south-east of Concord. The immediate village at that time did not contain more than eight or ten houses. "The road from Boston divides near the centre of the village. The branch leading to Concord passes to the left, and that to Bedford to the right of the meeting-house, forming two sides of a triangular green or common, on the south-easterly corner of which stood the meeting-house, facing directly down the road leading to Boston. The road is straight for about one hundred rods below the meeting-house, and nearly level. The common is a pleasant level green, containing about two acres, surrounded by trees, having on the left a gently rising knoll, where the present monument now stands."2 On the right of the meeting-house, nearly opposite, and separated from the common by the road leading to Bedford, stood Buckman's tavern. The house is still standing, and is owned by the Merriams ; and its perforated clapboards are living witnesses of the attack of a ruthless foc. On the north side of the green, in the rear of the meeting-house, at about twenty rods, were two dwelling houses, one the site of the present house owned and occupied by Mr. James Gould, and the other the old house now standing and owned by Mr. Bowen Harrington. These houses, with their out-buildings, and one or two shops, formed the northerly boundary of the common. North of this is a belt of low swampy ground, extending without interruption for a consider- able distance, from the north-east to the south-west. The present Bedford road not then having been constructed, the
1 Gordon's Letter, Phinney's History, and Depositions of 1775. ? Phinney.
SICONCORD
A
E
G
BEDFORD IG
F
B
H
VINE BROOK
-
M
WOBURNIS
LEXINGTON.
1775.
A . . Clarke House.
B . . Bucknam Tavern.
C . . Munroe's Tavern.
. Parker's Company.
D . . Jonathan Harrington's.
E . . Daniel Harrington's.
F . . Nathan Munroe's.
G . . Blacksmith's Shop.
H . . Emerson's House.
I . . Loring's House.
J . . Loring's Barn.
L . . Meeting-House.
M N . Percy's Field Piece.
Z
C
BOSTON CCS
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BATTLE OF LEXINGTON.
travel to Bedford passed by the house of the Rev. Mr. Clarke, on what is now known as Hancock street. There were also houses on the Concord road southerly of the common - the one where Mr. John Hudson now resides, then occupied by - Monroe. The accompanying diagram will show more fully the localities of the events of that day, and the house where Adams and Hancock were staying.
The apprehension which was felt for the safety of Hancock and Adams, was increased by the report of Sanderson, Revere, and others just escaped from the British officers, who had held them as prisoners. Their inquiries where these distin- guished patriots could be found, left no doubt in the minds of the people of Lexington, that one object of the expedition was to seize them. The friends of Adams and Hancock advised them to leave their present lodgings, and repair to a place of greater safety. At first they objected. Hancock declared that " it should never be said of him, that he turned his back upon the British." But they were told that their preservation was of the utmost consequence to the interest of the Colony, and to the great cause of freedom ; and as they were unarmed, they could do but little towards opposing the king's troops. They at last consented, though with great reluctance, to leave the scene of danger, and the patriot priest whose hospitality they had shared, and whose sacred benedictions rested upon their heads. It was decided that they should repair to Burlington. But being un- willing to retire at once to a distant place, where they should be beyond the reach of the earliest intelligence, and having a strong desire to witness with their own senses whatever might occur, they at first retired to the hill south-east of Mr. Clarke's house, which was then covered with wood, where they remained con- cealed till after the British had taken up their line of march for Concord, when they repaired to the house of a Mr. Reed, in the borders of Burlington. Here they remained a short time, when they were induced to retire further from the scene of danger ; and they were conducted to the house of Madam Jones, widow of Rev. Thomas Jones, and of Rev. Mr. Marrett, in Bur- lington.1
1 While they were there, an alarm was given that the British were upon them. Whereupon, Mr. Marrett conducted them along a cartway to Mr. Amos Wyman's house, in a corner of Billerica.
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
Dorothy Quiney, true to the instincts of patriotism and her attachments to Hancock, to whom she was engaged, and whom she married in September of that year, accompanied him on that perilous occasion. It was at this place, in the wood near Mr. Clarke's house, that the venerable Adams, on hearing the firing of the British troops, made that memorable exclamation, " What a glorious morning for America is this !"
Far-sighted patriot ! He was not insensible to the horrors of war. His patriotic soul was fully alive to the agonies of the dying, and the lamentations of the widow and the orphan. But in his prophetic vision, he looked beyond the events of that gloomy morning, to that brighter day which would dawn upon America. He was fully sensible that in politics as in religion, " the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church ; " and that the first guns that were fired, were but the signal for the general rising of the people, which must result in the independence of the colonies. Though a dark cloud overshadowed his beloved country, he plainly saw that its gilded margin betokened a brighter sky, and pointed to the bow of promise. Such pros- pects filled him with rapture, and drew from him that cheering, patriotic exclamation.
While these British officers were playing their part on the road towards Concord, the British troops were on their march to the place of their destination. Colonel Smith, at the head of about eight hundred grenadiers, infantry and marines, the flower of the British army, embarked about ten o'clock in the boats of the ships of war. They landed at Phipps's farm in Cambridge, near where the present court-house stands, just as the moon was rising ; and to prevent discovery, took an unfrequented path across the marshes to the old road leading from Charlestown to Menotomy. This subjected them to considerable delay and inconvenience, as the path was untrodden, and they were compelled in some cases to wade through the water. Being on a secret expedition, their march was silent and noiseless. Gerry, Orne, and Lee, having been apprised of their approach, rose from their beds at Menotomy, to witness their stealthy midnight march. The front of the column passed the house without annoying any one ; but as they proceeded a sergeant's guard was detached to search the house. Gerry, Orne, and Lee, consid-
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BATTLE OF LEXINGTON.
ering themselves in immediate danger, though but partly dressed, escaped from the house to the neighboring fields, where they remained till the overflowing scourge had passed by.1 The soldiers searched the house ; they entered into the chambers where they had been sleeping, but their intended vietims had departed.2
Colonel Smith had not marched far before he found that the country was alarmed. Though General Gage had used the utmost secresy in preparing for the expedition, and his own movements had been cautious and stealthy ; though no martial airs had animated his troops, and their march was silent as the grave to which many of them were hastening, he found that the news of his expedition had preceded him. The light from the Old North Church in Boston, had drawn forth a chime from the bells of the country churches, and the firing of alarm guns in every direction showed that the faithful heralds, sent out by the patriots, had performed their duty ; and if they had not prepared his way before him, they had prepared the people to give him a warm if not cordial reception. Fearing that the country was rising to oppose his progress, he detached six companies of light infantry, under the command of Major Pitcairn, with orders to press forward and secure the bridges at Concord. At the same time, Colonel Smith dispatched a messenger to General Gage for a reënforcement. Soon after, the officers who had been sent forward the preceding night, returned with very exaggerated statements of the numbers of the militia which were collecting- representing that there were five hundred assembled at Lex-
1 Smith, in his West Cambridge Address, says, " Gerry in his perturbation, being on the point of opening the front door in their faces, the landlord cried out to him, 'For God's sake don't open that door !' and led them to the back part of the house, whence they escaped into the cornfield, before the officer had posted his guards about the doors. There was nothing to conceal them from view in the broad field but the corn-stubble which had been left the pre- vious fall a foot or two high, and that was but little protection in the bright moonlight. Gerry stumbled and fell, and called out to his friend, ' Stop, Orne; stop for me, till I can get up; I have hurt myself !' This suggested the idea, and they all threw themselves flat on the ground, and, concealed by the stubble, remained there, half-clothed, as they left their chamber, till the troops passed on. Colonel Lee never recovered from the effects of that mid- night exposure; he died in less than a month from that night."
2 Gage's Account, and Austin's Life of Gerry, p. 169.
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
ington, and that they were constantly coming in from every quarter. The representation so alarmed Pitcairn, that when he had arrived near Lexington Common, he halted till the grena- diers came in sight, that he might be supported in case he should be attacked by an overwhelming force.1
" The march of the British," says Phinney, "was silent and rapid. One of the messengers sent by our people to ascertain if they were coming, was surprised before he was aware of their approach, and taken prisoner in Cambridge.2 Thus they continued their march undiscovered, taking and detaining as prisoners.every person they met with on the road, till they had arrived within a mile and a half of Lexington meeting-house. In order to secure persons traveling upon the road, they would send two soldiers at a considerable distance in advance of the main body, with orders to secrete themselves, one on each side of the road, and when any one approached, they would allow him to pass them, so as to get between them and the troops, and then rise and close upon him. In this way they had taken a number of our men, who had been sent to get information of their approach. Thaddeus Bowman, the last one sent on this business, was riding pretty rapidly down the road, and had pro- ceeded about a mile and a half, when his horse became suddenly frightened, stopped, and refused to go forward. In a moment he discovered the cause. Two British soldiers were perceived just ahead, sitting on opposite sides of the way, close to the fence. It was then daylight. While Bowman was unsuccess- fully endeavoring by all the means of whip and spur to urge his horse forward, not conceiving of their plan to entrap him, he caught a glimpse of the main body of the British troops, then about twenty rods off. He instantly turned his horse and rode with all possible speed to the meeting-house, and gave Captain Parker the first certain intelligence of the approach of the king's troops. About the same time that Bowman discovered them, a flanking party made prisoner of Benjamin Wellington, who was within about ten rods of the main road, on his way to join the company at the Common. They took his arms from him, and on his promise to return home, he was released. Wellington, however, took a cross route to the meeting-house, and reached
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