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 20
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Before setting fire to the house, they robbed it of all the val- uables which they could carry away -not sparing the communion service of the church, which was kept by Deacon Adams. Various houses were entered, and similar outrages committed.3 These enormities tended to exasperate the Americans and make them more zealous in the pursuit. "Indignation and outraged humanity struggled on the one hand ; veteran discipline and des- peration on the other." 4
1 Deposition of Benjamin and Rachel Cooper, taken May 10, 1775, while the facts were fully known.
2 Hannah Adams's Deposition, May 16, 1775.
3 The amount of property stolen and destroyed in West Cambridge was estimated at £1,202 Ss. 7d.
$ Everett's Address. 27
c
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The loss to the Americans and to the British within the limits of West Cambridge was considerable. One British officer was left wounded at a house near the present railroad station. The approaching night and the constant accessions to the Provincials admonished Percy to hasten his retreat.
The British took the road which winds round Prospect Hill.1 When they entered this part of Charlestown their situation be- came nearly as critical as was Smith's, when he arrived at Lexington and took shelter under the protection of Perey's
1 Colonel Aspinwall, of.Brookline, has kindly furnished the following incidents which he has heard from those who were actors in the scene.
" On the 19th of April, 1775, the militia of Brookline marched towards Lex- ington across the fields as a crow flies. My father, Dr. William Aspinwall, and my maternal grandfather, Isaac Gardner, one of his majesty's Justices of the Peace, went with the rest. Red was in those days a common color for coats, and appearing at the rendezvous, Dr. Aspinwall had on a coat of that color, but being told that he might be shot for an enemy by his own friends, he thought it best to put on another of a different hue. When the Brookline men reached West Cambridge, the British troops were resting at Lexington, and they endea- vored to get within musket range of the British pickets, at least to see them when they came. An irregular fire took place; but when the British began to move towards Boston, the militia scattered, some to a distance, and others to various covers to harrass the retreating enemy.
" Mr. Gardner with a few others posted themselves behind some casks near Watson's corner. While they were intently watching the approaching column, the British flank guard came upon their rear, and shot and bayoneted the whole party. Mr. Gardner was pierced by balls and bayonets in twelve places.
. " Dr. Aspinwall, in the meantime, had regained the college road, where he found a detachment of six or seven score of men under Captain Gridly, drawn up in line across the road. He suggested to the captain, that the enemy would not take the college road, but go directly towards Charlestown as the shortest course ; and if they did come down the road, his company could not stop them. Finding, however, that his remonstrances were unheeded, the doctor mounted the wall just as the head of the British column crossed the northern extremity of the road, and crying out, 'There they go! Now boys, whoever wants to do any good, follow me,' pushed on with about half the detachment, and a number of his Brookline neighbors, and getting within musket shot, he continued to fire with deliberate aim as fast as he could load. In reloading, however, he found it best to shelter himself behind a tree or whatever protection he could find, against the fire of his own party in the rear. On one of the momentary halts, his neighbor, Ebenezer Davis, passing him, pointing out the body of a British soldier, cried out, 'Doctor, that man's arms are yours, for you brought him down.' 'But the doctor thought himself better employed in endeavoring to get another shot as quick as possible.
" After the pursuit was ended, he learned the fate of Mr. Gardner, sought out the body, and had it conveyed home to his bereaved widow, and her eight young children."
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brigade. "The large number of wounded," says Frothingham, " proved a distressing obstruction to their progress, while they had but a few rounds of ammunition left. Their field-pieces had lost their terror. The main body of the Provincials hung closely on their rear ; a strong foree was advancing upon them from Roxbury, Dorchester and Milton ; while Colonel Pickering with the Essex militia, seven hundred strong, threatened to cut off their retreat to Charlestown. Near Prospect Hill the fire again became sharp, and the British again had recourse to their field- pieces. James Miller of Charlestown, was killed here. Along its base Lord Perey, it is stated, received the hottest fire he had during his retreat. General Gage, about sunset, might have beheld his harrassed troops almost on the run, coming down the old Cambridge road to Charlestown Neck, anxious to get under the protection of the guns of the ships of war. 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 indig- mities to the inhabitants. The town had been the scene of great excitement through the day, and on the approach of the retreat- ing 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 majesty'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, of toil, and of 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 Perey's brigade, whose timely arrival alone saved them.
1 Siege of Boston. In this excellent work, Mr. Frothingham has well nigh exhausted 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.
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Nearly the same was true of Percy's command on arriving at Charlestown. If he had been but a trifle later he would inevitably have been cut off by the Essex regiment, and the troops from Dorchester, Milton and other places. The pro- tection 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 endurance, for soldiers laden with their arms, and such other appendages as are necessary for troops, even when reduced to light marching order. But this severe march was performed under the most embarrass- ing 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 · hiding places behind trees, rocks and fences. Nor were the ordinary trappings of war their only incumbrance. 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 suf- ferings 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 regulars, well disciplined and completely armed, before one-half their number of the Provincials, without discipline or organization and poorly armed, must have been mortifying-especially to Lord Percy and the officers in immediate command ; and to General Gage and his advisers, the result of this expedition must have
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cast " ominous conjectures o'er the whole success " of subduing the rebellious Province. And 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 commissioned officers, and two hundred and fifty non-commissioned officers and men. Lieuten- ant 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 Gould, also wounded ,at the bridge, was subsequently taken prisoner, and was exchanged, May 28th, for Josiah Breed, of Lynn. "He had a fortune of £1,900 a year, and is said to have offered £2,000 for his ran- som."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 upon 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, Jonas Parker, Robert Munroe, Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, jr., Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, John Brown, Jedediah Munroe,2 John Raymond, Nathaniel Wyman, 10. Wounded, John Robbins, Solomon Pierce, John Tidd, Joseph Comee, Ebenezer Munroe, jr., Thomas Winship, Nathaniel Farmer, Prince Estabrook, Jedediah Munroe,2 Francis Brown, 10. Making a total loss to Lexington of 19.
Concord. - Killed, none. Wounded, Charles Miles, Nathan Barrett, Abel Prescott, jr., Jonas Brown, George Minot, 5.
Acton. - Killed, Isaac Davis, Abner Hosmer, James Hayward, 3. Wounded, Luther Blanchard, 1.
Cambridge, including West Cambridge. - Killed, William Marcy, Moses Richardson, John Hicks, Jason Russell, Jabez Wyman, Jason Winship, 6. Wounded, Samuel Whittemore, 1. Missing, Samuel Frost, Seth Rus- sell, jr., 2.
Needham. - Killed, John Bacon, Elisha Mills, Amos Mills, Nathaniel Chamberlain, Jonathan Parker, 5. Wounded, Ebenezer Kingsbury, Tolman, 2.
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.
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Sudbury. - Killed, Josiah Haynes, Asahel Reed, 2. Wounded, Joshua Haynes, jr., 1.
Bedford. - Killed, Jonathan Wilson, 1. Wounded, Job Lane, 1.
Woburn. - Killed, Daniel Thompson, Asahel Porter, 2. Wounded, George Reed, Jacob Bacon, - Johnson, 3.
Medford. - Killed, Henry Putnam, William Polly, 2.
Charlestown. - Killed, James Miller, Edward Barber, 2.
Watertown. - Killed, Joseph Coolidge, 1.
Framingham. - Wounded, Daniel Hemminway, 1.
Dedham. - Killed, Elias Haven, 1. Wounded, Isaac Everett, 1.
Stow. - Wounded, Daniel Conant, 1.
Roxbury. - Missing, Elijah Seaver, 1.
Brookline. - Killed, Isaac Gardner, 1.
Billerica. - Wounded, John Nichols, Timothy Blanchard, 2.
Chelmsford. - Wounded, Aaron Chamberlain, Oliver Barron, 2.
Salem. - Killed, Benjamin Pierce, 1.
Newton. - Wounded, Noalı Wiswell, 1.
Danvers. - Killed, Henry Jacobs, Samuel Cook, Ebenezer Goldthwait, George Southwick, Benjamin Deland, 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 Monroe, 2. Missing, Josiah Breed, 1.
Total. - Killed, 49. Wounded, 39. Missing, 5. - 93.
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 Cam- bridge of the six killed, three of them at least were non-com- batants of West Cambridge. Next to Lexington, 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 presump- tive evidence of the position of the troops relative to the posts of danger. And as the men on that day acted on their own respon- sibility, or under their local commanders, the number of casual- ties 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 Provincials did not pursue Percy farther, and attempt to prevent his entering
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Charlestown. Bitter complains were made against Colonel Pickering for his delay in bringing up. the Essex regiment. 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 engagement, for which the Provincials were not prepared ; and as Gage could easily have reënforced 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 Charlestown, 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 practiced in Lexington and West Cambridge that day, would naturally create an appre- hension for the safety of Charlestown, if we should attempt to follow the British within the Peninsula. Such considerations probably occurred to General Heath, and he prudently gave over the pursuit.
The events of the 19th of April produced a profound sensation 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 ; and that though they were at that time without organization or discipline, and but poorly armed, they possessed every requisite for soldiers, and with a little drill and discipline 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 embarrass- ment, but now the restraint was removed. England had been the aggressor ; she had shed the blood of her subjects in America ; she had wantonly commenced a war for the subjugation of her
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colonists ; and they now felt themselves absolved from all alle- giance. 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 con- fidence 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 east 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 tenderest 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 mother and wife, whose grief would otherwise be almost insupportable. Nor is this a vain consola- tion. Patriotism is a Christian virtue ; and he who from a sense of duty lays down his life for his country, acts in humble imita- tion 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 Clark deliv- ered a patriotic sermon in commemoration of the day ; to which was appended a narrative of the battle of Lexington. The discourse
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was published, with the appendix, which furnishes us with one of the most valuable and reliable sketches of the events of that day. 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 Wil- mington ; 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 pub- lished, and they furnish a good specimen of the spirit of the times, and show the independent and patriotic spirit of the clergy of that day ; and so by contrast rebuke that timid and craven spirit, manifested by some of the occupants of the pulpit at this day, who dare not allude to public affairs, lest some of their hear- ers should accuse them of preaching politics. But thanks to the clergy of New England, they have generally on great occasions, been found true to freedom. Not only in the days of the Revolution, but during the late slave-holders' Rebellion, they have spoken out freely, and thrown their influence on the side of truth and righteousness.
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 Monument. On the petition of Joseph Simonds, the General Court in 1797, passed the following Resolve : "That there be allowed and paid out of the Public Treasury, to the Selectmen 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 men, inhabitants of Lexington, who were slain on the
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morning of the 19th of April, 1775, by a party of British troops, together with such other inscription as in the judgment of said Selectmen, and the approbation of the Governor and Council, shall be calculated to preserve to posterity a record of the first effort made by the people of America for the establishment of their freedom and independence. The said Monument to be erected on the ground where the said citizens were slain, and the Monument so erected shall be deemed and taken to be a Public Monument, and entitled to the protection of the law in such cases made and 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 additional 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 Monument aforesaid, and His Excellency, the Governor, is requested to issue his warrant for the same."
It seems that our fathers had not embraced that refined theory of political ethics, which affirms that the true spirit of patriotism is impaired by the erection of visible memorials in honor of noble deeds. Transcendentalism had not impaired their sober sense. They knew that, though men had an intellectual and moral nature, they were at the same time so constituted that most of their im- pressions were received through the senses ; and that thousands are actually moved by visible objects, who could scarcely be reached through any other medium ; and that the enlightened patriot who perceives the intellectual and the moral, will not des- pise the visible which strengthens his impressions, and concen- trates all his powers upon the object of his contemplation.
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 themselves 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.
FLL jc
THE LEXINGTON MONUMENT.
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The following is the inscription upon the Monument :
Sacred to the Liberty and the Rights of Mankind !!! The Freedom and Independence of America, Sealed and defended with the Blood of her Sons.
This Monument is erected By the inhabitants of Lexington, Under the patronage and at the expence of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, To the memory of their Fellow Citizens, Ensign Robert Munroe, and Messrs. Jonas Parker, Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, junr., Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington and John Brown, Of Lexington, and Asahel Porter, of Woburn, Who fell on this Field, the First Victims to the Sword of British Tyranny and 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 and their country Was the Cement of the Union of these States, then Colonies, and 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 and Defend their native Rights. They nobly dar'd to be free !! The contest was long, bloody and affecting. Righteous Heaven approved the solemn appeal, Victory erowned their arms : and The Peace, Liberty, and Independence of the United States of America was their Glorious Reward.
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 com- mensurate with the event it was designed to commemorate. The opening scene of the American Revolution is one of the most important events in the history of the world. The patriotic rising of the people, the cool and undaunted spirit of the citizens, the momentous questions involved 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.
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