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 19
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It has already been stated that Colonel Smith on his way to Lexington from Boston, became alarmed, and sent a messenger to General Gage for a reënforcement. His message was received early in the morning, and about nine o'clock Gage dispatched three regiments of infantry, and two divisions of marines with two field-pieces, under Lord Percy, to support him. Percy marched
1 The powder horn worn by Hayward, and through which the fatal British ball passed, has been carefully preserved by the family.
? History of England, vol. vi. p. 55. 3 American War, vol. i. p. 118.
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out through Roxbury to the tune of Yankee Doodle.1 To pre- vent or impede his march, the selectmen of Cambridge caused the planks of the old bridge, over which he was obliged to pass, to be taken up ; but instead of removing them to any distance, they were unwisely left upon the causeway on the Cambridge side of the river. Hence Percy found no difficulty in replacing them so as to enable his troops to cross. But a convoy of pro- visions under a sergeant's guard was detained, until it was out of the protection of the main body, and measures were taken to cut it off, which was effectually done in Menotomy. Gordon the historian, who visited the scene of action immediately after the events occurred, ascribes the leadership in this movement to
1 As the tune of " Yankee Doodle," was employed by the British in derision, at the commencement of the Revolution, it may be desirable to learn something of its origin and character. Strictly speaking, it is not to be classed with our national airs ; yet it is played so often, is so associated with our national life, and so entwined with our free institutions, that no liberty-loving [American is willing to discard it. Though its faults may be obvious, they are all pardonable. Cynics may snarl, and wits may satirize it, but the people take it to their bosoms. The lovers of scientific music may denounce it, as low and vulgar, and unworthy of a refined and delicate taste; but the truly democratic reply is " the sovereign people do not so understand it." They love the gay old tune, and will not give it up. They hail it as one of our free institutions, and are ready to stand by it. And the singular fact, that it has no acknowledged words, only gives it a versatility, which adapts it to every subject, and fits it for all occasions. The poetry in which it naturally flows, can be composed by almost every rhymester, and the tune luxuriates as freely in low doggerel, as in the sub- lime stanzas of our greatest poets. It is equally at home in
" Jove on high Olympns sat, And awed the world with thunder;"
Or in
" Yankee Doodle eame to town, Riding on a pony ;"
and it is never embarassed in whatever dress it appears. It is also adapted to all occasions, and can with equal grace and propriety, cheer on the brave, or lampoon the laggard. In fact,
" Yankee Doodle 's all the run, With every theme uniting; "Tis fit for marching, frolic, fun, And just the thing for fighting."
Rev. Elias Nason, a distinguished antiquary, in a Lecture on National Music, fraught with instruction and humor, says of Yankee Doodle :
" The tune you know is a ' Daughter of the Regiment,' coming to us by adop- tion. Its parentage is involved in obscurity ; many cities, as in the case of Homer, claiming it. Some consider it an old vintage song of France ; the Span- iards think their voices have echoed to its notes in early days ; the Magyars with
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Rev. Dr. Payson, of Chelsea, while others ascribe it to one David Lamson, a half-breed Indian. Probably both statements are founded in fact. It is admitted that a courier came from Old Cambridge, who informed the people of West Cambridge that these supplies were on the way and urged them to intercept them ; and that the people rallied, and made Lamson their leader at that place, while Payson might have been the instigator, and an active leader at some other point. A few of the citizens of West Cam- bridge assembled, and under the leadership of Lamson, took a position behind a bank wall of earth and stone, and when the convoy made its appearance near the meeting-house in that parish, they demanded a surrender, which being refused, they discharged
Louis Kossuth, recognize in it one of their old national dances. England entertains some shadowy tradition of it, both before and during the times of Cromwell ; and the Dutchman claims it, as a low country song of tithes and Bonnyclabber, giving the original words -
' Tanke didel, doodal, down, Didel, dudel, lanter ; Yanke viver, vover, vown, Buttermilk and tanther (tithes).'
" But whatever may have been the origin, this ' Daughter of the Regiment,' so far as I can learn, first appeared in America, on the banks of the Hudson in June, 1755, and was introduced into the American camp by one roguish Dr. Richard Shuckburg of the British Army, in this amusing way. Our Colonial companies, under Governor Shirley, encamped on the left of the British, meanly disciplined and poorly clad, and marching after music quite two centuries old, increased of course the ridicule of their well equipped and fashionable trans- atlantic brethren. To keep the sport along, this mischievous Dr. Shuckburg, wit, surgeon and fiddler as he was, tells the Americans that the music is too ancient, and that he will get up a tune in the modern style - and so he gave them ' Yankee Doodle.' The American soldiers called it 'mighty fine.' It struck a strong chord in the American heart, and was heard immediately, and nothing else was heard, throughout the camp and throughout the Colonies.
" This tune became our battle-march, through the Revolution ; and though the British gave it to us in June, 1755, we gave it back to them with compound interest in June, 1775, at Bunker Hill; and we baptized the bantling, which they gave us in derision, in the blood of heroes, placed upon it the name of FREEDOM, rocked it in Faneuil Hall, and took it home to dwell with us forever ! ' Independence now and forever' rings through every note of it, and one never feels half so much like '76 itself, as when he hears it rolling. Hence the leaders of the Rebellion, after the pitiful policy of European kings, descend to the mean expedient of ostracising our national songs, in order to keep their wicked cause in countenance with the people. Yankee Doodle must be silenced before our brave old flag can be cut down ; so long as its old rolicsome notes roll out, the stars and stripes must and will float over us."
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a volley killing several of the horses. The affrighted drivers and the guard made their escape as best they could. The wagons were taken possession of by the citizens, and were removed to a place of safety. It is said that six of the men attached to the teams were afterwards taken prisoners.1
Percy met the fugitives some half a mile below Lexington Common about two o'clock. One of his field pieces was placed on a bluff or mound near the present site of the town hall, which has since been levelled for the erection of the building and the repairs of the highways ; and the other upon the high ground above the Munroe tavern and back of the residence of the late Dea. Nathaniel Mulliken. By this accession to the British force, and by the presence of the artillery, the Americans were, for a short period, kept in check. Shots were fired from the field- pieces in every direction where any Provincials could be discov- ered. Several shots were thrown into the village- one of which passed through the meeting-house, and out at the pulpit window. The ball lodged in the back part of the Common ; it was preserved
1 Smith's West Cambridge Address. After stating that six of these grenadiers surrendered to " an old woman digging dandelions," Mr. Smith says, "So to West Cambridge belongs the honor of making the first capture of provisions and stores, and also of prisoners, in the American Revolution." Granting the marvellous achievement of the old lady, which some may be disposed to question, the truth of history compels us to say, that he must have been misled in sup- posing that these were the first prisoners taken that day. . Percy did not leave Boston till about nine o'clock that morning, and coming out over the Neck, through Roxbury and Brighton, could not have reached West Cambridge before about the middle of the day ; as he did not reach the Munroe tavern in Lexing- ton, till nearly two o'clock. His baggage was in his rear and was detained so long at the bridge, or by other misfortunes, as to be separated from the troops. It must have been twelve or one o'clock before they could have reached the centre of West Cambridge. Now, it is a well authenticated fact, that several British soldiers who fell in the rear of their main body, were captured at Lex- ington, soon after the British left for Concord, which must have been as early as seven or eight o'clock that morning. See depositions of Wm. Monroe, John Monroe, Ebenezer Munroe, and James Reed of Burlington, to whose house the prisoners were sent. These deponents were all actors in the scene of that morn- ing and knew what they related.
Gordon, who wrote a History of the Revolution, whose means of information were good, gives the following account of what happened at West Cambridge. " Before Percy's baggage reached the place, a few Americans, headed by Rev. Mr. Payson of Chelsea, who till then had been extremely moderate, attacked a party of twelve soldiers carrying stores to the retreating troops, killed one and wounded several, made the whole prisoners, and gained possession of their arms and stores without any loss to themselves." Vol. i. p. 313.
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for some time, when it was passed over to Harvard College, and by some neglect it was taken away, and as far as we know is lost. Another ball was ploughed up some years after, on the farm owned and occupied by the late Benjamin Fiske, Esq., on Lowell street.
There must have been many cases of extreme bravery, of wise caution, of great exertion and of cruel suffering, which occurred that day. Nor is the glory due to the men alone. The women and children performed and endured their full share of labor and of suffering. We would joyfully give some instances of rare courage or personal foresight ; but the moment you go beyond the record you have such floods of traditionary lore, some prob- able and some improbable, that you cannot distinguish fact from fiction ; and we had rather omit some incidents tolerably well au- thenticated, than to falsify history by inserting the extravagant accounts of some credulous persons, who to magnify the worth of a family, or the honor of the town, would swell mole hills into mountains.
We will state, however, what is true in general, that after the British had passed on to Concord, there was great apprehension for the safety of families ; and many who resided on the line of the great road, left their houses in dismay, and fled to distant neighbors, or in some cases to the woods, taking with them some valuables from their houses ; - and what is still more trying, in some cases mothers with their babes but a few days old, and the sick and infirm, who had been confined to their beds, were hurried away to places of safety.
During this respite the harrassed troops were enabled to rest themselves, and, by entering the houses in the immediate neigh- borhood and seizing whatever they could lay their hands upon, to obtain some refreshment. But after pillaging the houses, not only of what their hunger and thirst required, but of such articles of clothing, &c., as they could comfortably carry away, they wantonly destroyed the furniture and other property in and about the buildings ; and to complete their works of vandalism, they set fire to several buildings which were entirely consumed. Joseph Loring who resided on the place directly opposite the present town house, had his house and barn, valued at £350, laid in ashes, and other property to the amount of £370 was wantonly
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destroyed. Lydia Mulliken had her house and shop, valued at £128, and other property to the amount of £303, destroyed. Joshua Bond lost his dwelling house and shop, and other prop- erty valued at £189 16s. 7d. William Munroe lost in household furniture, goods in retail shop, &c., destroyed, £203 11s. 9d. The whole amount of property in Lexington thus ruthlessly destroyed, was valued at the time at £1,761 2s. 3d.1
The conduct of the king's troops, after they were met by Percy, was marked by a vandalism totally unworthy the charac- ter of a soldier. In addition to a wanton destruction of property, they practiced a system of personal insult, treachery and murder, which reflects disgrace and infamy upon the commanders and the men. A party entered the Munroe tavern, and helping them- selves, or rather compelling the inmates of the house to help them to whatever they wanted, they treacherously and with ruthless- ness shot down John Raymond, an infirm man residing in the family, only because he, becoming alarmed at their roughness and brutal conduct, was about leaving the house to seek a place of greater safety. The brutality here commenced, was continued throughout the remainder of their retreat.
As the events, crowded into the memorable 19th of April, were numerous as well as important, and are naturally divided by the change of commanders, which took place in Lexington, we will, like the fugitives of Smith's command, rest for a short time, and commence our next chapter with the flight of Lord Percy.
1 See original accounts as reported by a committee. The sufferers in Lex- ington were : Joseph Loring £720, Jonathan Harrington £103 7s., Lydia Win- ship £66 13s. 4d , Joseph Mason £14 13s. 4d., Matthew Mead £101, Benjamin Merriam £223 4s., Nathaniel Farmer £46 10s., Thomas Fessenden £164, Ben- jamin Fiske £9 7s., Jeremiah Harrington £11 13s. 11d., Robert Harrington £12, Joshua Bond £189 16s. 7d., Benjamin Brown £42, Hepzibah Davis £5 1s. 6d., Benjamin Estabrook £12, Samuel Bemis £4 8s. 8d., Nathan Blodgett £18, Elizabeth Sampson £10, Jonathan Smith, jr., £13 12s. 8d., John Williams £36 15s., John Winship £12, Margaret Winship £22 10s., Marret Munroe £5 5s., William Munroe £203 11s. 9d., Amos Muzzy £18 4s., Lydia Mulliken £431, Wm. Munroe Jr., £9.
CHAPTER VII.
THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON-CONTINUED.
Percy commences his Retreat - Heath and Warren join the Provincials - The Militia gather at West Cambridge - The Danvers Company - The Zeal and Bravery of Warren - The Barbarities of the British - Aspinwall's Account - Retreat becomes a Rout-British take Shelter in Charlestown -- The Fatigue and Exhaustion of their Troops - The British Loss - The Provincial Loss - The Effect of this Day's Events upon the Public Mind - The Nine- teenth of April celebrated - Lexington Monument - Concord Monument - Danvers Monument - West Cambridge - Acton Monument - Middlesex a Monumental County - A Proposed National Monument at Lexington - The Relative Claims of Lexington, Concord, and other Towns to the Honors of the Nineteenth of April, 1775.
PERCY, as senior officer, assumed the command. He had now under him a force of about eighteen hundred well disciplined troops, and two pieces of artillery - a force four times as large as that of the Americans. But still he manifested no disposition to attack the rebels as he denominated them, or to drive back the undisciplined citizens, which hung upon his rear, and flanked him at every convenient point. Though he left Boston in the morning with as stout a heart as that of his namesake of Nor- thumberland, immortalized in the ballad of " Chevy-Chase," and though his force was superior to that of his prototype, he had no disposition to " spend his dearest blood,". in a contest with the rebels ; but took warning by the fate of his predecessor, and giving over his hunt in woods of old Middlesex, made the best of his way to his headquarters at Boston.
After the weary fugitives of Smith's command were rested and refreshed, Perey commenced his retreat. His field-pieces, which at first kept the Provincials at a distance, soon lost their terror ; and the same undisciplined force which had proved such a scourge to Smith and Pitcairn, hung upon his rear, and assailed him on his right and left from the trees, and rocks, and fences, and ren-
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
dered his movement rather a flight than a retreat. Some of the Americans who had pursued the British from Concord, gave over the chase from time to time on the route ; and, at Lexington, after seeing that Smith was supported by a thousand fresh troops and two pieces of artillery, and decming a further pursuit un- availing, others returned to their homes. The larger portion, however, remained, and being joined by others, united in the pursuit.
It was nearly three o'clock when Percy commenced his retreat. Up to this time there had been no general officer who assumed the command of the Americans. General Heath who had been appointed by the Provincial Congress one of the general officers, to command the militia and the minute-men, in case they were called out, had an interview with the Committee of Safety that morning : after which he repaired to Watertown, where he col- lected a small body of the militia, which he ordered to move to Cambridge, to take up the planks and make a barricade of them at the Great Bridge, so as to intercept the British, if they attempted to return to Boston by way of Roxbury and the Neck. Having given this order, Heath, accompanied by Dr. Warren, passed by a cross road to the scene of action, and arrived at Lexington just before Percy took up his line of march, or rather com- menced his flight. Heath collected the scattered Provincials, and put them in as good order as the nature of the case would permit, and pressed closely upon Percy's rear. For the first two miles nothing of special moment occurred ; but on descend- $ ing from the high lands, at the "foot of the rocks" upon the plain in West Cambridge, the fire became brisk. The topo- graphy of the country, the locality of the population in other towns, and the direction of the roads, would naturally bring together a considerable accesion to the Provincial force at this point. Not only from Cambridge, but from Roxbury and Dorchester, and Brookline and Needham, and Watertown, and Dedham, on the one hand, did the militia and minute-men rally and move to West Cambridge; but they came in freely from Medford, and Charlestown, and Lynn, on the other. Thus strengthened, the Americans made a more formidable resistance here than at any point below Lexington. Here too the youthful Foster brought up his gallant company of minute-men from
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Danvers, which marched in advance of the Essex regiment, and arrived after a rapid march of sixteen miles in four hours, in time to meet the common enemy. The company consisted of one hundred men, and had about ten days before elected Gideon Foster, a brave and ardent young man of twenty-six years of age, as their captain.1 Arriving at West Cambridge, and being as he says, " unused to the artifices of war," he posted a part of his men near the road to intercept the main body of the British. They took post in a walled inclosure, and made a breastwork of bundles of shingles ; others placed themselves behind trees on the side of the hill west of the meeting-house, where they awaited the arrival of the king's troops. But while the main body of the British came down the road, they had thrown forward a large guard, which had flanked and came up in rear of the Danvers men, who found themselves between two fires. In this critical situation they suffered severely - having seven killed and several wounded.
This accumulation of fresh troops in front of the retreating regulars, together with the force which hung upon their rear, made their position uncomfortable, and induced them to assume a more warlike attitude than they had done before. They drew up their men temporarily in order of battle, and in a few instances had recourse to their field-pieces. But this more formal array on their part, was met by a more perfect organization on the part of the Provincials. General Heath assumed the control, and as far as practicable reduced the discordant elements to order ; and the ardent and intrepid Warren by word and deed, by active effort in places of the greatest danger, rallied and inspired the men. As at Bunker Hill in June following, so here, he seemed to rise with the occasion, and take new courage as obstacles pre-
1 Foster's Address at the laying of the Corner Stone of the Danvers Monu- ment, in memory of the members of his company who fell at West Cambridge. He says, " On that morning (April 19, 1775) more than one hundred of my townsmen hastened to the field of battle, unused to the artifices of war; but their hearts were glowing with zeal in their country's cause, and they were ready to offer their lives on the altar of their liberties." - "I was then twenty- six years of age. About ten days before, I had been chosen to command a com- pany of minute-men, who were at all times to be in readiness at a moment's warning. They were so ready. They all went, and in about four hours from the time of meeting, they travelled on foot, half of the way upon the run, sixteen miles and saluted the enemy."
1 King's Address and Frothingham's Siege of Boston.
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sented and as dangers pressed. He was seen everywhere, ani- mating the men and directing their movement.1 But the British were too anxious to gain the cover of their ships, and the Pro- vincials were too ardent in their pursuit to admit of anything like a formal battle.
But there was brisk skirmishing; and bold attacks of small bands, and instances of individual courage occurred at different points. Here General Warren had his temple grazed by a mus- ket-ball, which carried away a pin from his earlock.2 Here Samuel Whittemore was shot and bayoneted and left for dead. Here Dr. Eliphalet Downer in a single combat with a British soldier, killed him with his bayonet.3
Up to the time of the arrival of Percy with his reenforcement, the British troops had, in the main, abstained from pillage, and had confined themselves mostly to the destruction of military stores. But we have already seen that before leaving Lexington, they commenced a system, not merely of plunder but of barbarity - wantonly destroying private property, and butchering the aged and defenceless. If this was not actually ordered, it was permitted by Percy. And this policy, commenced at Lexington, was continued through the remainder of the day. At West Cam- bridge their course was marked by pillage, and by a wanton destruction of private property. Nor was their barbarity con- fined to the destruction of property. They attacked and ruth- lessly butchered the old and infirm, the weak and defenceless. Even women and children were the subjects of their brutal rage. Furniture was destroyed, houses were set on fire, women and children driven from their homes, and peaceable citizens mur-
1 The conduct of Warren on this occasion was a subject of general commen- dation, and probably secured to him the appointment of major-general, which he soon afterwards received. In a poem, published in Boston, 1781, Warren's conduct at West Cambridge is thus described :
"From rank to rank the daring warrior flies, And bids the thunder of the battle rise ; Sudden arrangements of his troops are made. And sudden movements round the plain displayed. Columbia's Genius in her pollslcd shield Gleams bright and dreadful o'er the hostile field ;
IIer ardent troops enraptured with the sight, With shock resistless forec the dubious fight. Britons astonished, tremble at the sight And, all confused, precipitate their flight."
' Ileathi's Memoirs, p. 12-14. 3 Siege of Boston, p. 79.
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dered and mangled in cold blood. Jason Russell, an invalid and non-combatant, was cruelly murdered in his own house. Jabez Wyman and Jason Winship, two aged citizens unarmed, who came to Cooper's tavern simply to inquire the news, " were most barbarously and inhumanly murdered by the British, being stabbed through in many places, their heads mauled, skulls broken, and their brains dashed out on the floors and walls of the house."1 The house of Deacon Joseph Adams was rudely en- tered, and his sick wife driven from her bed, and her young children exposed to the flames of their burning dwelling. We give these facts in the language of Mrs. Adams : "Divers of the king's troops entered our house by bursting open the door, and thirce of the soldiers broke into the room in which I was con- fined to my bed, being scarcely able to walk from the bed to the fire, not having been to my chamber door from being delivered in child-bed to that time. One of the soldiers immediately opened my curtain with his bayonet fixed, pointing the same at my breast. I immediately cried out, 'For the Lord's sake, do not kill me ;' he replied, 'Damn you.' One that stood near said, " We will not hurt the woman, if she will go out of the house, but we will surely burn it.' I immediately arose, threw a blan- ket over me, and crawled into a corn-house near the door, with my infant in my arms, where I remained until they were gone. They immediately set the house on fire, in which I had left five children ; but the fire was happily extinguished, when the house was in the utmost danger of being utterly consumed." 2
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