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 18
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I Emerson, Ripley and Clark.
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more prudent counsels prevailed, and Colonel Barrett ordered the militia under his command, to retire over the North bridge to a commanding eminence about three-fourths of a mile from the meeting-house, there to watch the movements of the enemy and wait for reënforcements.1
The British troops marched into Concord in two columns ; one in the main road, and the other north of the road on the hill from which the Americans had just retired. Colonel Smith, with the grenadiers, marines, and a portion of the light-infantry, remained in the centre of the town, while Captain Parsons, with six light companies, consisting however of only about two hundred men, was detailed to secure the North bridge, and destroy the stores supposed to be deposited in that part of the town. Pursuant to orders, Captain Parsons posted Captain Laurie with about one hundred men at the bridge, while he pro- ceeded with the remainder, under the guidance of Ensign D' Ber- nicre, who had visited Concord about a month before, to the house of Colonel Barrett, in pursuit of military stores. Captain Pole, with a small detachment, was sent to the South bridge for a similar purpose.2 These bridges were important in a military point of view, as they furnished the only approach to the town from the west and north-west, at this season of the year, when the water is usually high.
In the meantime the Americans, assembled on the hill near the North bridge, were receiving accessions to their numbers from Carlisle, from Chelmsford, from Westford, from Littleton and Acton, and from other towns in that neighborhood. As the militia and minute-men repaired to the scene of action with the utmost haste on the first receipt of the intelligence of the approach of the British, the companies generally were not full at this early hour. About four hundred and fifty however had arrived.3 They were formed in line by Joseph Hosmer of Concord, who acted as adjutant on the occasion. As the men arrived they took their places in their respective com- panies. The gallant Captain Davis, with his Acton minute-men, came upon the field after the line was partly formed, and took his appropriate place - the one which he had occupied a short time
1 Depositions of 1775, Ripley and Emerson. 2 Gage's Letter to Trumbull. 3 Depositions of 1775.
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before at a muster - on the left of the Concord minute compa- nies, commanded by Captains Brown and Miles, both of whom were his seniors.1 From their position on the hill the Americans had a full view, not only of the British troops at the bridge, but also of those near the meeting-house, who were seeking for and destroying military stores. Seeing several fires set by the troops under Colonel Smith, they became alarmed for the fate of the village. A consultation of the officers present and of prominent citizens was held, which resulted in a resolution to pass the bridge, and march to the centre of the town.2
The Americans were at this time about four times as numerous as the British at the bridge ; but the latter were vastly superior in discipline, and in the quality of their arms. Besides, the British had a veteran force of at least five hundred men in the village, on which they could fall back in case of necessity ; and being posted at the bridge which the Americans could approach only by a narrow causeway, they had greatly the advantage of position. Knowing that the British had fired upon the militia at Lexington, and killed several men, the Americans had every reason to believe that they would dispute the passage of the bridge ; and knowing that the front of the column upon the causeway leading directly to the bridge, would be greatly exposed to their fire in case of resistance, it required no ordinary firmness to occupy that position. Who then should head the column ? What company should occupy that post of honor and of danger ? It of right belonged to the Concord companies ; their position on the right of the line would, under ordinary circumstances, give them that post. A consultation of the officers and others was had, at which the subject was considered. We have no full report of what took place there. William Parkman of Concord, who was present acting as one of the vigilance committee, said that Major Buttrick requested one of the Concord companies to meet the British at the bridge, but the Captain replied that he had rather not. Captain Davis of Acton, promptly accepted the honor, dangerous as was the position.3 Captain William Smith of Lincoln, also offered his services to lead the column to the
1 Adams's Address, and Depositions appended. 2 Ripley and Shattuck.
3 Deposition of Bradley Stone, appended to Adams's Letter to Lemuel Shat- tuck, Esq.
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bridge.1 That there was some feeling exhibited on this occasion, and that some of the officers had declined the post of danger, is manifest from the course pursued by the gallant Davis, who, in returning to his company from this consultation, said with emotion and firmness, " I haven't a man in my company that 's afraid to go," and ordering his men to follow him, wheeled them out of the line, and placed them at the head of the column, under the guidance of Major Buttrick.2 Colonel Barrett gave orders to pass the bridge, but not to fire unless fired upon by the king's troops. He designated Major John Buttrick to execute this order. Lieutenant Colonel Robinson, of Westford, volunteered to accompany him. On their march Major Buttrick requested him to act as his superior, but he generously declined.3
It was nearly ten o'clock when the Americans, about three hundred strong,4 commenced their march for the river, the Acton company in front, led by the gallant Davis. Captains Brown, Miles, Smith and others fell into line with their companies.
1 Mass. Archives,-" Lincoln, November, 1776. This may certify that Cap- tain William Smith of Lincoln, in the county of Middlesex, appeared on Con- cord parade early in the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, with his company of minute-men ; was ordered to leave his horse by a field-officer, and take his post on an adjacent hill -- the British troops possessing the North bridge. He voluntarily offered with his company, to endeavor to dislodge them, leaving his horse at the tavern; by which means, on their retreat, the horse, &c., were carried off with one of their wounded men .-- John Buttrick, Major."
This important fact was brought before the public for the first time, we believe, by Frothingham in his Siege of Boston.
2 Smith's Deposition, appended to Adams's Address. Pierpont, in a Poem delivered at Acton, October 29th, 1851, on the celebration of the completion of the monument erected to the honor of Davis, Hosmer, and Hayward, thus describes this consultation :
" But who shall head the column ? Who shall dare Beard first the lion, leaping from his lair ? The chiefs in consultation ask, ' Which corps Of these, who never faced a foe before, Will stand those veterans' fire ? Which will not quail At yonder bayonets, and the leaden hail That lies behind them ? Davis, are there ten Of your command - of Acton's minute men - Who will not waver - will not quit their place, When meeting yonder bull-dogs face to face ? '
' Ten, do you ask me, Buttrick, Robinson, Ten of my minute men that will not run ? Say but the word - march with me down this hill, And you shall see, there is not one that will.' Nor was there one that did."
3 Ripley.
4 Deposition of 1775.
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Their positions, however, are not exactly known.1 They marched in double ranks. The British guard of about one hundred in number, under Captain Laurie, were then on the west side of the river. On seeing the Americans approach, they recrossed the bridge, formed in order of battle, and began to take up the planks. Major Buttrick in a loud voice remonstrated against this, and ordered his men to hasten their march. When they arrived within a few rods of the bridge, they were fired upon by the British. The first guns, only two or three in number, did no execution, the balls, probably by design, striking the water. These were followed by a few other shots, one of which wounded Luther Blanchard, a fifer in the Acton company. These were succeeded by a volley, by which Captain Davis and Abner Hosmer, of the same company, were killed. On seeing this, Major Buttrick exclaimed : "Fire, fellow soldiers ; for God's sake, fire !" This order was instantly obeyed, killing one and wounding several of the enemy. The British immediately retreated in great haste and confusion towards the village, and were soon met by a reënforcement ; when the whole fell back upon the main body, near the meeting-house. The Americans pursued them over the bridge, where one of the wounded British soldiers was cruelly killed by a hatchet, as he was strug- gling to rise from the ground.2 Part of the Americans turned off to the left, and ascended a hill east of the main road, while another portion returned to the high grounds, carrying with them the remains of Davis and Hosmer. Military order was now broken up, and the Americans improved the time in taking refreshments. In the mean time, the detachment which had been sent to Colonel Barrett's to destroy the munitions of war, returning, re-passed the bridge where the skirmish had taken place, and joined the main body under Colonel Smith, without molestation. The localities here referred to, and the movement of the troops, will be better understood by reference to the accompanying diagram.
1 Ripley.
2 This barbarous deed gave rise to the charge made by the British that the Americans scalped the wounded and cut off their cars. The act was com- mitted by a rash young man, acting from the impulse of the moment, who regretted it to his dying day. It was condemned by all parties at the time, and has never been justified by any one. It was an act of an individual, without orders from any in authority.
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10
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1. Lexington Road.
2. Hill and high lands where the liberty-pole stood.
3. Centre of the town, and main body of the British.
4. Road to the South Bridge.
5. Road to the North Bridge and to Colonel Barrett's house, two miles from the centre of the town.
6. High grounds nearly a mile north of the meeting-house where the militia assembled.
7. Road along which they marched to dislodge the British at North Bridge.
8. Spot where Davis and Ilosmer fell.
9. Rev. Mr. Emerson's House.
10. Bridges and roads made in 1793, when the old roads with dotted lines were discontinued.
The Americans, whose numbers were now considerably in- creased, ought, it has been said, to have intercepted this detaeli- ment at the bridge ; but as no declaration of war had taken place, there must have been some hesitancy on the part of the officers as to the wisdom or propriety of such an attempt. Such a step might have exposed the women and children to 25
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
the grossest outrages, and the village itself to destruction. The conduct of the British in the afternoon shows that such apprehensions, if they were entertained, were well founded. Besides, the Provincial troops were unused to strict discipline, and it would have been difficult to rally them, and bring them into the field to act with such efficiency at a single point, as to intercept a hundred veteran soldiers ; and every military man knows that it would have been next to impossible for three hun- dred militia, without discipline and poorly armed, to capture such a force before they could have been relieved by Colonel Smith, who had six or seven hundred men at his command, and who must have been on the alert for the safety of Captain Parsons' detachment. On the whole it was undoubtedly wise that no such attempt was made by Colonel Barrett ; though it must have been a great mistake to permit the militia and minute men to disperse at that critical moment, as they were allowed to do, on the poor plea that they wanted their breakfast.
The British met with but partial success in their destruction of military stores. The delay produced by the affair at Lexington, and the consequent caution which Colonel Smith afterwards observed, gave the people at Concord a better opportunity than they would otherwise have had to secure them; which they so wisely improved, by scattering and secreting them, that most of them escaped destruction. Little or no success crowned the efforts of the detachment, sent to the South bridge. The party sent to Colonel Barrett's were a little more successful. They burnt a number of gun carriages and other implements of war. In the centre of the town, they knocked off. the trunnions of three iron twenty-four pounders, burnt a number of gun carriages, threw a quantity of balls into the mill-pond, broke open some sixty barrels of flour, and destroyed a small quantity of wooden bowls and spoons. They also cut down the liberty-pole, and set the court-house on fire, which however was extinguished by the exertion and address of the patriotic Mrs. Moulton. Gordon sums up the total destruction as follows : "They disabled three twenty-four pounders, destroying their carriages, wheels and limbers ; sixteen wheels for brass three pounders ; two carriages with wheels for two four pounders ; about one hundred weight of balls, which they threw into the river and wells, and about
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sixty barrels of flour, one-half of which was afterwards saved." 1 After the firing at the North bridge, the British fell back to the village, where they were soon joined by the detachments under Captain Parsons and Captain Pole, who had been sent out to destroy the military stores. Here the whole body of the king's troops remained nearly two hours unmolested ; a delay not easily accounted for, unless Colonel Smith was in expectation of a reënforcement- a delay which nearly cost him the loss of his whole detachment. In the meantime the country was alarmed, and the militia and minute-men were pressing to the scene of action. The farmer left his plough in the furrow, the mechanic threw down his tools, and neither returned to his house, save to seize his musket and his powder horn, that he might be prepared to defend his own and his country's rights. The intel- ligence which went forth from Lexington in the morning, had like an electric fire spread rapidly in every direction, and produced a shock of righteous indignation, which brought men from every quarter, and prepared them for vigorous action ; and the scenes which had occurred at the North bridge at Concord, strengthened their hands and their hearts, and rendered them desperate.
About noon the British commenced their retreat. They left the village in the same order in which they entered it - the main body in the road, and a strong flanking party upon the hill to protect their left. For the first mile they were unmolested ; but when they arrived at Merriam's corner, they encountered a party of minute-men from Reading, under Major Brooks, afterwards Governor of the Commonwealth ; Colonel William Thompson
1 "The shrewd and successful address of Captain Timothy Wheeler on this occasion deserves notice. He had the charge of a large quantity of Provincial flour, which together with a few casks of his own, was stored in his barn. A British officer demanding entrance, he readily took his key, and gave him admis- sion. The officer expressed his pleasure at the discovery; but Captain Wheeler with much affected simplicity said to him, putting his hand upon a barrel - 'This is my flour. I am a miller, sir. Yonder stands my mill. I get my living by it. In the winter I grind a great deal of grain, and get it ready for mar- ket in the spring. This,' pointing to one barrel, 'is the flour of wheat ; this,' pointing to another, ' is the flour of corn ; this is the flour of rye; this,' putting his hand upon his own cask, 'is my wheat; this is my rye; this is mine.' " Well,' said the officer, 'we do not injure private property ;' and withdrew, leaving this important depository untouched."-Holmes's Annals.
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with a body of militia from Billerica and the vicinity coming up about the same time. The Provincials on the high grounds near the North bridge, seeing the British leaving the village, went across the " great field," so called, to the Bedford road, and arrived in time to support the troops brought up by Brooks and Thompson. Here may be said to have commenced the battle of the 19th of April. At Lexington Common and at Concord North bridge, but few guns had been fired by the Americans ; and though ten Americans had fallen, only one of the king's troops had been killed by the return fire. But now all restraint seems to have been removed, and every true patriot felt at full liberty to fire without the bidding of any superior. Rev. Edmund Foster, then a young man and a private in the Reading company, gives a graphic account of what occured at this point. " A little before we came to Merriam's hill, we discovered the enemy's flank guard of about eighty or a hundred men, who, on the retreat from Con- cord, kept the height of land, the main body being in the road. The British troops and the Americans, at that time, were equally distant from Merriam's corner. About twenty rods short of that place the Americans made a halt. The British marched down the hill with very slow but steady step, without music or a word being spoken that could be heard. Silence reigned on both sides. As soon as the British had gained the main road, and passed a small bridge near the corner, they faced about suddenly and fired a volley of musketry upon us. They overshot; and no one to my knowledge was injured by the fire. The fire was immediately returned by the Americans, and two British soldiers fell dead at a little distance from each other in the road near the brook. The battle now began and was carried on with little or no military discipline or order on the part of the Americans, during the remainder of the day. Each sought his own place and oppor- tunity to attack and annoy the enemy from behind trees, rocks, fences and buildings as seemed most convenient." 1
A little above, near Hardy's Hill, the Sudbury company, led by Captain Cudworth, came up and attacked them with vigor. There was also a severe skirmish below Brooks's tavern on the old road north of the school house. " We saw a wood at a distance," says Mr. Foster, " which appeared to lie on or near the road
1 See Ripley's History.
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where the enemy must pass. Many leaped over the walls and made for that wood. We arrived just in time to meet the enemy. There was on the opposite side of the road, a young growth of wood filled with Americans. The enemy were now completely between two fires, renewed and briskly kept up. They ordered out a flank guard on the left to dislodge the Americans from their posts behind the trees ; but they only became better marks to be shot at." A short but sharp contest ensued in which the enemy received more deadly injury than at any other place from Concord to Charlestown.
From the bridge below Brooks's, the woody defiles extended a considerable distance ; in passing which the British suffered severely. The character of the country obstructed their flanking parties ; and as the retreat was now approaching a rout, and their flanks were outflanked by the Americans, they were called in,- thus exposing their main body to the direct fire of those who lined the woody borders of the road. Here they were met by a large body of men from Woburn, who, fired by patriotism, had rallied in defence of the common cause. Loammi Baldwin, afterwards Colonel Baldwin, was one of that body. In Lincoln also, Cap- tain Parker, who had collected most of his men, came up with his company, and taking a position in the fields, poured into the retreating enemy a galling and destructive fire as they passed. Nor ceased the efforts of this gallant band with a single discharge. They joined in the pursuit, determined to avenge the outrage of the morning ; and their loss in the afternoon in killed and wounded is conclusive evidence that they did not shun the post of danger. In no part of the retreat were the British more sorely pressed than in passing through Lincoln. Their loss was severe. Eight of their slain were buried in Lincoln grave-yard. The loss of the Americans was comparatively light ; though Captain Jonathan Wilson, of Bedford, Nathaniel Wyman, of Billerica, and Daniel Thompson, of Woburn, fell in this part of the field.
The retreat here became a rout, the British making little resis- tance other than what could be made in their rapid flight. As they entered the town of Lexington, however, they made one more desperate effort to check the pursuers, and restore order in their broken ranks. Near the old Viles tavern, on the border of
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the town, they threw a detachment upon a high bluff on the north side of the road, to hold the Americans in check, till they could form their fugitives on Fiske Hill, about a hundred rods below. But the Americans by this time had acquired so much confidence in their own prowess, that they vigorously attacked the detach- ment on the bluff, and drove them from their commanding posi- tion.
In the meantime Colonel Smith was attempting to rally his men on Fiske Hill, or at least to restore something like order among his fugitives. De Bernicre, who was with the detachment acting as their guide, informs us that after other efforts had failed, the officers placed themselves in front, and threatened every man with instant death, who should leave the line. This desperate expedient partly succeeded, and many of the troops formed under a galling fire. An officer mounted on a fine, spirited horse, with a drawn sword in his hand, was seen actively engaged in rallying the fugitives, directing their movements, and attempting to restore order. A party of the Provincials having passed through the woods, concealed themselves behind a pile of rails near where the British were attempting to form, and poured into their half- formed ranks a deadly volley. The officer was unhorsed, and his affrighted animal leaping the wall, ran directly to those who had relieved him of his rider, and was taken by them. Colonel Smith was here severely wounded in the leg. This unexpected attack upon their flank, the flight of the detachment driven from the bluff, and the hot pursuit of the Provincials, destroyed the last hope of the king's troops, who fled in the utmost confusion.1
At the foot of Fiske Hill on the easterly side, near the present residence of Mr. Dudley, a personal contest took place between Mr. James Hayward, of Acton, and a British soldier. The latter had stopped at the well to obtain a draught of water, and as the ardent Hayward, who was in front in the pursuit, approached, the Briton drew up his gun, and exclaimed, " You are a dead man !" "And so are you," returned the youthful Hayward. They both
1 Ripley, Shattuck, and Frothingham. The horse captured at Fiske Hill was with his trappings taken to Concord and sold at public auction. Captain Nathan Barrett bought the pistols, and afterwards offered them to General Washington, but he not accepting them, they were given to General Putnam.
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fired, and both fell-the former dead, the latter mortally wounded. He died the next day.1
The British were again attacked with great vigor and fatal effect in a wood near the old poor-house in Lexington. Their ammunition began to fail, and the troops were so oppressed with thirst and fatigue, as to be almost unfit for service. Their flight was so rapid that their killed were left where they fell. Their wounded which they attempted to take with them, created great embarassment, and many were left behind. The troops broke, and disregarding all order, each one looked out for himself alone. This was the condition of the British when they passed Lexington Common, on which they had shown such a haughty demeanor, and so much martial pride some eight or nine hours before. They were fatigued, dispirited, and almost exhausted ; and nothing but the timely arrival of Lord Percy with a reenforcement saved the detachment from utter ruin.
The British accounts admit that the condition of Colonel Smith was perilous in the extreme, when Percy joined him. Mahon, an English historian, says of Smith's detachment, "Their utter destruction would have ensued, had not General Gage sent forward that morning another detachment under Lord Percy to support them."2 All accounts agree that the day was unusually warm for that season of the year, and so hotly were the British troops pressed on their retreat, that they were well-nigh exhausted. Stedman, the British historian who attended Percy in this expedi- tion, not only admits that "the British were driven before the Americans like sheep," but he says that when they arrived within the hollow square formed by Percy's brigade to receive them, " They were obliged to lie down upon the ground, their tongues hanging out of their mouths, like those of dogs after a chase." 3
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