1—x Lieut.-Col. Smith's starting place.
2—x His landing place in Cambridge.
3. 3. 3. Earl Percy's route from Boston to Cambridge.
Top of the map is north.
Solomon Brown of Lexington, a young man nineteen years old, was the first to report in that town the unusual occurrence of so many officers along the highways in the night, and it was surmised there that the capture of Hancock and Adams was intended. Brown was returning home from Boston when they passed him on the road. Somehow gaining the front again he rode rapidly into Lexington village and reported what he had seen. Sergeant Munroe and eight men were sent to guard the parsonage where the patriot statesmen were stopping, and Solomon Brown, Jonathan Loring, and Elijah Sanderson, all members of Captain Parker's Company of Minute Men, were despatched to watch the officers after they had passed through Lexington toward Concord. They followed them on horseback into Lincoln, about two and a half miles from Lexington village, where they were ambushed by the ones they were following, and taken prisoners. It was then about 10 o'clock in the evening of April 18th. They were detained until Revere was also captured at the same place a few hours later, early in the morning of the 19th.
The grenadiers and light infantry under command of Lieut.-Col. Francis Smith, of the 10th Regiment, augmented by a detachment of Marines under Major John Pitcairn, assembled at the foot of Boston Common, on the evening of April 18th, and at about half-past ten o'clock embarked for Lechmere Point, or, as it was often called at that time, Phip's Farm, in East Cambridge. They numbered about eight hundred men.[43]
The "Foot of the Common," was not far from the present corner of Boylston and Charles Streets, and just there was the shore line of the Back Bay, a large body of water opening out into the Charles River. Since then the Bay has been filled in and is now an attractive residential district bearing still its ancient aquatic name however.
The transportation was by means of the row boats connected with the British men-of-war and transports, and was thus necessarily slow, and undoubtedly required several trips. It seems probable that their course was westerly a little way, along the present Boylston Street, then northerly along the present Arlington Street, into the Charles River and across to Lechmere Point, a distance of about a mile and a quarter.
They landed in the marshes nearly opposite the Court House on Second Street, for East Cambridge also was much smaller then than now. The water was too shallow to allow the heavily loaded boats to reach dry land, so the troops waded knee deep to the shore. There they were halted in a "dirty road," as one of the British officers present termed it,[44] and detained still longer, that each might receive a day's rations and thirty-six rounds of ammunition.
The invading army safely across the Charles River was now really on its way, but with all its precautions for secrecy, its coming was even at that moment being heralded in every direction. The ever-vigilant Sons of Liberty had noticed the unusual movements of the troops after dark, and so informed Dr. Warren. He quickly summoned William Dawes and Paul Revere. Dawes arriving first was the first to start, and his route to Lexington was through Roxbury. So to him belongs the credit of being the first messenger out of Boston bearing the alarm of the British invasion. Paul Revere came soon after and was carried over the Charles River considerably farther down than the British soldiers were crossing, and landed in Charlestown. His route to Lexington was much shorter than the one through Roxbury.
Dr. Warren had arranged with these two men for this especial work, and so they were ready. Dawes had left home that afternoon, not even confiding to his wife his intention. Immediately after the embarkation he was ready and on his way. He managed to elude the guard at Boston Neck by passing out with some soldiers. His ride was then through Roxbury, Brookline, Brighton, over the Charles River there by bridge into Cambridge, at Harvard Square, and thence directly on to Lexington. So much longer was his route than Revere's, that he did not reach there until half an hour later than Revere did, and then found that Hancock and Adams had been alarmed. The work of William Dawes was efficient over the route he traveled. In Lexington, Revere waited for Dawes, and from there onwards toward Concord they traveled together. It is to be regretted that a more detailed account of the ride of William Dawes cannot be given. But momentary flashes of light reveal his course and his work. Revere left a narrative of his ride, and historians have fallen into the error of supposing him to be the only messenger with the warlike tidings. As we progress with this narrative we shall surmise that William Dawes and Paul Revere were but two out of many, for the exciting news radiated in every direction, and could only have been borne by riders equally as patriotic and fleet as those two.
The previous Sunday evening Paul Revere had been out to Lexington, for a conference with Hancock and Adams, and on his return that same night to Charlestown he had agreed with Col. Conant and some others to display lanterns in the North Church steeple, if the troops should march; one lantern if they went by land, which meant out over Boston Neck, through Roxbury, Brookline, and Brighton, into Harvard Square, Cambridge; and two, if they crossed the Charles River in boats and landed at Lechmere Point in East Cambridge. This arrangement was made because it was surmised that no messenger would be allowed to leave Boston with the news while the troops were leaving.
When Revere left Warren his first duty was to call upon Capt. John Pulling, Jr.,[45] and arrange for the signal lanterns. Then he went to his home in North Square for his boots and surtout, and from there to where his boat was moored beneath a cob-wharf, near the present Craigie Bridge, in the north part of the town. Two friends accompanied him, Joshua Bentley and Thomas Richardson.[46]
Their point of starting was not far from the then Charlestown Ferry, the boats of which were drawn up nightly at nine o'clock. Out in the Charles River was anchored the Somerset, a British man-of-war. It was young flood, and the moon was rising.[47] Fearing that the noise of the oars in the oar-locks might alarm the sentry, Revere despatched one of his companions for something to muffle them with, who soon returned with a petticoat, yet warm from the body of a fair daughter of Liberty who was glad to contribute to the cause.[48] Rowing out into the river and passing to the eastward of the Somerset they looked back and there shining from the tall steeple of Christ Church, the Old North, were two signal lanterns.
Far up into the valleys of the Mystic and the Charles, those twinkling rays gleamed, and their meaning picked up wherever it fell, was carried still farther to the remoter hamlets and villages beyond the hills.
When Capt. Pulling left Paul Revere he proceeded at once to the home of the sexton of Christ Church, Robert Newman, who lived on Salem St., opposite Bennett St. Pulling was vestryman of the church and when he demanded the keys of Newman they were handed to him without question. Pulling proceeded to the church, climbed the belfry stairs, hung two lighted lanterns out of the highest little window, forty-two feet above the sidewalk,[49] descended and made his exit through a window, and so escaped unnoticed.
These lanterns were seen by all who looked, and quickly British soldiers sought out the sexton and placed him under arrest. His denial of any knowledge as to who displayed the lanterns was believed, and he was released. Pulling, disguised as a sailor, escaped from Boston in a fishing vessel, landed in Nantucket, and did not return until after the siege.[50]
Revere and his two companions reached the Charlestown shore in safety. Their landing place was near the old battery at Gage's Wharf, not far from No. 85 of the present Water St., near City Square. They were met by Col. Conant and several others, who reported that the lanterns had been seen and interpreted. While Revere was waiting for his horse, which was furnished by Deacon Larkin, Richard Devens, one of the Committee of Safety, came and told Revere that as he came down the road from Lexington after sundown that evening, he met ten British officers, all well mounted and armed, going up the road.
It was about 11 o'clock when Revere started from the Charlestown shore on his mission to alarm. He had intended to proceed over Charlestown Neck, through Somerville to Cambridge and thence to Lexington. Just such a ride as his had been anticipated, for he had gone but a short distance along the Cambridge road beyond Charlestown Neck, when he perceived two mounted British officers halted under the shadows of a tree in a narrow part of the road.[51] Near by was the gibbet where Mark, the negro slave, executed in 1755 for poisoning his master, hung in chains for about fifteen years.
Revere wheeled his horse and made his escape, retreating along the road to the Neck, then turning into the Mystic road, which runs over Winter Hill into Medford.[52] There he awakened the Captain of the Minute Men, Isaac Hall, and alarmed almost if not every house on the way to Lexington. His road was through West Medford to Arlington Centre, there turning at the Cooper Tavern northwesterly towards Lexington. He reached the parsonage in Lexington at midnight, which then stood on the westerly side of the Bedford Road about a quarter of a mile beyond the Common.[53] Within were sleeping John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Keeping guard outside were eight men under Sergeant William Munroe, who cautioned Revere not to make too much noise, lest he should awaken the family, who had just retired.
"Noise," exclaimed Revere, "You'll have noise enough before long. The regulars are coming out."
But he had already alarmed the inmates, for the window was raised, and the parson, Mr. Clarke, inquired who was there. Revere, without answering the question, said he wished to see Mr. Hancock.
"Come in, Revere," exclaimed Hancock, who also had been awakened, "we are not afraid of you."
Half an hour later Dawes rode up from his longer ride from Boston.[54] They partook of refreshments and together set out for Concord. Not far beyond Lexington Common they were overtaken by a young man, Dr. Samuel Prescott, whose home was in Concord. That evening he had been visiting the young lady to whom he was engaged to be married, Miss Mulliken of Lexington. Revere spoke of the ten officers that Devens had met, and of the probability that they would attempt to stop them before they should reach Concord. It was planned to alarm every house on the way. Dr. Prescott volunteered to remain with the two riders, as his acquaintance with the people along the road might be needed to vouch for the genuineness of the message.
His company was accepted and very welcome. They rode along, alarming each household, a little over two and a half miles from Lexington Common. Dawes and Prescott had stopped at a house to arouse the inmates, and Revere was about a hundred rods ahead, when he saw two men in the highway. He called loudly for Dawes and Prescott to come up, thinking to capture them, but just then two more appeared, coming through the bars from a pasture on the right, or northerly side of the road, where they had been standing in the shadow of a tree. They proved to be officers of the British Army. Dawes wheeled his horse back towards Lexington and escaped. Prescott and Revere attempted to ride towards Concord, but were intercepted and ordered to move through the bars into the pasture or have their brains blown out. They preferred to do as ordered, but when a little way inside, Prescott said to Revere, "put on," and immediately jumped his horse over the stone wall at his left and disappeared down the farm road leading into a ravine where rise the headwaters of the Shawsheen River. He knew the location well, and easily followed the road through the thicket until it comes out on the Concord road again, a half mile or so beyond. Revere, not so well acquainted with the location, headed towards the dense woods on the lower edge of the pasture, thinking to dismount within their shadows and escape on foot. Six more British officers were in hiding there, and they easily seized his horse's bridle and with pistols levelled at his breast ordered him to dismount.
And so there in Lincoln, about two and one-half miles beyond Lexington, ended the midnight rides of William Dawes and Paul Revere. Prescott had gone on to continue the alarm, Dawes had retreated towards Lexington, and Revere was a prisoner. While the latter was being secured, three or four of the officers started up the road in pursuit of Dawes, who galloped his horse furiously up to a farm house, where he reined in so suddenly that he was thrown to the ground. With great presence of mind he shouted loudly for assistance, exclaiming:—
"Hallo, my boys. I've got two of 'em."
The British in pursuit supposing they were ambushed in turn, retreated and made good their escape. Dawes rose from the ground and found himself quite alone, for the house, which might have contained a force of American minute men, was empty and deserted. He mounted his horse and rode leisurely away.[55]
But Revere was not the only prisoner captured by the British officers in Lincoln. Solomon Brown, Jonathan Loring, and Elijah Sanderson, all of Lexington, had been passing along at that place about ten o'clock, the previous evening (for it is now after midnight, April 19th), and were detained and being held as prisoners when Revere was added. A one-handed peddler, Allen by name, was also a prisoner, having been captured after Brown and his two companions. For some reason he was not long delayed, but released, and went his way.
Revere was ordered to dismount and one of the six proceeded to examine him, asking his name; if he was an express; and what time he left Boston. He answered each question truthfully, and added that the troops in passing the river had got aground; that he had alarmed the country on the way up; and that 500 Americans would soon be present. This was rather disturbing news for his captors, and the one who had acted as spokesman rode to the four who had first halted the messengers. After a short conference the five returned on a gallop, and one of them, whom Revere afterwards found to be Major Mitchell of the Fifth Regiment, clapped a pistol to his head, and, calling him by name, said he should ask him some questions, and if they were not answered truthfully, he should blow his brains out. Revere answered the many questions, some of them new ones and some the same as he had already answered. He was then directed to mount, and the whole party proceeded towards Lexington. After riding about a mile Major Mitchell instructed the officer leading Revere's horse to turn him over to the Sergeant who was instructed to blow the prisoner's brains out, if he attempted to escape, or if any insults were offered to his captors on the way.
When within half a mile of Lexington meeting-house, on the Common, they heard a gun fired, and Major Mitchell, beginning to feel alarmed, asked Revere its cause, who told him it was an alarm. The other prisoners were then ordered to dismount, one of the officers cut the bridles of their horses and drove them away. Revere asked to be discharged, also, but his request was not heeded.
Coming a little nearer to the meeting-house, within sight of it, in fact, they heard a volley of gun shots, whereupon Major Mitchell called a halt, and questioned Revere again, as to the distance to Cambridge, and if there were two roads going there, etc. He then ordered him to dismount and exchange horses with the Sergeant, who cut away bridle and saddle from his own, which was a small one and well nigh exhausted, before completing the exchange.[56]
The officers then hastily disappeared down the road towards Lexington meeting-house, and Revere made his way, probably afoot, across the old cemetery and the adjacent pasture near Lexington Common, to the parsonage on Bedford Road, where he had left Hancock and Adams a few hours earlier.
The entire distance that Revere rode, from the Charlestown shore to the spot in Lincoln where he was captured, and back to Lexington Common, was between 18 and 19 miles, and the elapsed time nearly four hours.
The narration of Revere's adventures was eagerly listened to by the patriots assembled at the parsonage. Hancock and Adams were urged to flee by their friends. Hancock was loth to do so, but Adams persuaded him that their duties were executive rather than military, so they prepared for a hasty retreat. Their flight commenced in a chaise driven by Jonas Clarke, son of the minister.[57] Mr. Lowell, Hancock's secretary, and Paul Revere, accompanied them for two miles into Burlington, where they stopped, first at the house of Mr. Reed for a little time, and then continued farther on to the home of Madame Jones, widow of Rev. Thomas Jones and of Rev. Mr. Marrett. Then they sent back to the parsonage for Hancock's betrothed, Dorothy Quincy, his aunt, Mrs. Hancock, and lastly, a "fine salmon," which had been presented to them for dinner, and naturally forgotten as they started on their flight. All of these arrived in due time, and then Revere and Lowell returned to Lexington Common, with the intention of rescuing a trunk and its contents which belonged to Hancock, and which he had left at the Buckman Tavern.
The fugitives were about to sit down to the salmon dinner when a Lexington farmer, in great excitement, rushed in exclaiming, that the British were coming, and that his wife was even then in "eternity." The salmon dinner was abandoned, and the flight continued under the guidance of Mr. Marrett, to Amos Wyman's, where they finally sat down to a dinner, not of salmon, but of cold salt pork and potatoes served on a wooden tray. The last stopping place was just over the boundary line of Woburn into Billerica, easterly from the present Lowell Turnpike, and northerly from the Lexington parsonage about four miles.
Samuel Adams had left behind him somewhere on the road his immortal saying:—
"What a glorious morning for America is this."[58]
Revere and Lowell reached Buckman Tavern, and there learned from a man who had just come up the road that the troops were within two miles. They proceeded to a chamber for the trunk, which they secured, and looking out of the window towards Boston, saw the King's soldiers but a little way off. They quickly made their exit from the Tavern, passed along the Common through Captain Parker's Company, or rather a small part of it, and heard his words:—
"Let the troops pass by and don't molest them without they begin first."[59]
When a little farther along, "not half gun shot off," as Revere expresses it, he heard a single gun, turned and saw the smoke of it rising just in front of the troops, heard them give a great shout, saw them run a few paces, heard irregular firing as of an advance guard, and then firing by platoons.
The American Revolution had indeed commenced.
It must not be imagined that information of the night march of the troops was known only along the highway to their destination in Concord. There were fleet messengers in every direction, through the Counties of Middlesex and Essex and Norfolk. Those lanterns in the North Church steeple meant as much to many others as to those on the Charlestown shore. But few details of their rides have been left to us. Yet everywhere the hoof-beats, the shadowy form of the horseman—his cry of alarm, the drums—the bells—the guns—the assembling of the minute men,—their hurried march towards that one long and thin highway from Boston to Concord; some of these are known, and can be written of, as a part of the record of that day.
Northerly along the coast the alarm went. At Lynn, ten miles away, the inhabitants were awakened in the early morn of the 19th, by the information that 800 British soldiers had left Boston in the night and were proceeding towards Concord. Many immediately set out for the scene of the invasion, singly and in little bands, without waiting to march in company file.[60]
At Woburn, ten miles from Boston, a man rode up to the house of Mr. Douglass, about an hour before sunrise—and knocked loudly at the door, saying:
"There is an alarm—the British are coming out; and if there is any soldier in the house he must turn out and repair to Lexington as soon as possible."[61]
Such is the sworn statement of Robert Douglass, who lived in Portland, Maine, but who was then staying at his father's home in Woburn. He arose and started for Lexington, four miles away, with Sylvanus Wood. And Douglass, upon arrival, paraded with Capt. Parker's Company. Col. Loammi Baldwin resided in Woburn, and entered in his diary some of his experiences of the day. Under date of April 19, he says that in the morning a little before the break of day, they were alarmed by Mr. Stedman's express from Cambridge. With others he hurried to Lexington, but could not reach the Common in time to participate in the opening struggle. They saw the stains of blood on the ground, hurried on to Lincoln, and at Tanner's Brook commenced to harass the British on their return.[62]
In Reading, twelve miles from Boston, alarm guns were fired, just at sunrise. Edmund Foster in a letter to Col. Daniel Shattuck, of Concord, dated March 10, 1825, speaks at length of his personal experiences. Following the guns came a post, bringing the information that the Regulars had gone to Concord.
In Danvers, sixteen miles away, news of the British advance was given at about 9 o'clock, and was communicated to the citizens by bells and drums, who responded by thronging to the rendezvous near the Old South Church at the bend of the Boston Road. Women were there, not with entreaty, but to fasten on the belt, and gird on the sword.[63]
At Andover, twenty-five miles away, the alarm was given at about sunrise, and minute-men were ready to march for Concord at about 10 o'clock. On their way through Tewksbury they learned that eight Americans had been killed at Lexington; and at Billerica, that the British were killing Americans at Concord. Reaching Bedford they learned more definitely that two Americans had been killed at Concord, and that the enemy was falling back.[64]
Lexington lies in a northwesterly direction from Boston, at a distance of about eleven miles. At that time it was the abiding place of John Hancock and Samuel Adams who were stopping at the parsonage of Rev. Jonas Clarke. It was then supposed that one of the objects of Gen. Gage was to effect their capture, and that his other object was the destruction of military stores at Concord. Possibly the first intimation that Lexington had of the proposed hostile visit of Gage's troops was communicated by a young man, Solomon Brown, who had been to Boston, on market business, and on his return had passed a patrol of British officers. There were ten of them, it was late in the afternoon, or early evening of April 18, and they were riding away from Boston towards Lexington, which seemed out of harmony with their ordinary way of riding back to Boston at night. Mr. Brown kept somewhat near them along the road for awhile, that he might the better determine their intentions, allowing them to pass and repass him several times. Having at last satisfied himself that their mission meant more than a pleasure sortie into the country, he gained the lead once more, and when out of their sight rode rapidly to Lexington and reported his observations to Orderly Sergeant William Munroe, proprietor of Munroe's Tavern.[65]
These ten officers riding in advance must have known that actual hostilities were at hand, for they not only detained travelers on the highway, but deliberately insulted a large number of the inhabitants along the road. Three or four of them, at least, went far beyond the behavior of military men in time of peace, for as they rode into Lexington, they stopped at the house of Matthew Mead, entered and helped themselves to the prepared family supper of brown bread and baked beans. Mrs. Mead and her daughter, Rhoda, were within, and Mr. Mead and two sons were absent. This Lexington home was at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Woburn Street, where the Russell House now stands.[66]
Quickly following Solomon Brown's message came a written one, directed to John Hancock, sent by Elbridge Gerry, one of the Committee of Supplies, then sitting at the Black Horse Tavern in Menotomy. It was practically to the same effect, "that eight or nine officers of the King's troops were seen, just before night, passing the road towards Lexington, in a musing, contemplative posture; and it was supposed they were out upon some evil design."[67]
Hancock at once replied to Gerry that it was said the officers had gone to Concord, and that he would send word thither.[68]
But naturally it was surmised that the capture of Hancock and Adams was intended, so a guard of eight men, under Sergeant William Munroe, was stationed around the home of Rev. Jonas Clarke. About forty of the members of Captain Parker's Company gathered at the Buckman Tavern after the mounted officers passed through Lexington,[69] and it was deemed best that scouts should be sent out to follow them. Accordingly Solomon Brown, Jonathan Loring, and Elijah Sanderson volunteered to act,—and they started about 9 o'clock in the evening.[70] As we have previously written, they were ambushed and captured at about 10 o'clock on the road towards Concord, in the town of Lincoln, by the same ones they had set out to follow.
Soon after the arrival of Paul Revere between 12 and 1 o'clock in the morning of April 19, with the intelligence of the starting of the King's troops, Captain Parker assembled his company on the Common. The roll was called and they were instructed to load with powder and ball. One of the messengers who had been sent towards Boston, returned and reported that he could not discover any troops on the way out, which raised some doubts as to their coming. It was between 1 and 2 o'clock when they were dismissed with instructions, however, to remain in the immediate neighborhood, for quick response to the call of the drum. Many of them adjourned to Buckman's Tavern, and the others, living in the immediate vicinity, returned to their homes.
Between daylight and sunrise Capt. Thaddeus Bowman rode up, and reported that the regulars were near. The drum was beat, and Captain Parker's little band assembled on the Common.
The soldiers of the King were but one hundred rods down the road.[71]
Bedford an adjoining town to Lexington, and about fifteen miles from Boston, was alarmed on the evening of the 18th, by Nathan Munroe and Benjamin Tidd, both of Lexington, who had been sent there by Captain Parker because of the suspicious actions of the British officers on their way to Concord. Munroe and Tidd aroused the town, and some of the minute-men rallied at the tavern kept by Nathan Fitch, Jr., and were there served with light refreshments. Captain Willson said:—
"It is a cold breakfast, boys, but we will give the British a hot dinner. We'll have every dog of them before night."[72]
The larger Bedford rally was at the oak tree standing in the little triangle a few rods west of the village, where the road to Concord branches away from the road to Billerica.[73]
Munroe and Tidd continued their alarm to Meriam's Corner in Concord and returned to Lexington in time to hear the first alarm bell in the morning of the 19th, and witness the assembling of Capt. Parker's Company. Munroe, being a member joined the ranks, and Tidd remained on or near the Common and was dispersed with the rest.[74]
Josiah Nelson, living in the northeast part of Lincoln, was awakened on the night of the 18th, by horsemen passing up the road. Rushing out partly dressed, to ascertain who they were, he received a blow on his head from a sword, cutting sufficiently to draw the blood. He was seized and detained a little while by his British captors, and when released had his wound dressed, and hurried to Bedford and gave the alarm in that town also.[75]
Billerica, seventeen miles northwest from Boston, probably received the alarm about two o'clock, and when the encounter on Lexington Common took place few if any families but had heard the call to arms.[76]
Concord, seventeen miles northwesterly from Boston was first aroused by Dr. Samuel Prescott, between one and two o'clock in the morning of the 19th. He had just escaped from the British, in Lincoln, at the time they captured Revere. It was nearly three o'clock when the alarm bell was rung, whereupon several posts were despatched, who returning, brought the news that the regulars were indeed coming; that they had reached Lexington, and killed six Americans, and then started for Concord.[77] Capt. Minot's Company took possession of the hill to the eastward above the meeting house, and Capt. Brown's Company marched up the road to meet the enemy.[78]
Corporal Amos Barrett of Capt. David Brown's Company has left a written statement that he thinks one hundred and fifty minute-men had assembled. His Company resolved to go up the road towards Lexington and meet the British. They accordingly marched a mile or a mile and a half, when they saw them coming. They halted and awaited them, and when they were within one hundred rods were ordered by their captain to about face. They marched back to the village to the music of their fife and drum, the British following, also playing their fifes and drums.[79]
Brown's Company consolidated with Minot's, and both took up a new position, a little farther north on the adjoining hill, back of the town. The British were so many more in number, that it was thought prudent to still farther retire. Accordingly the two companies marched down the hill, over the North Bridge, distance three-quarters of a mile from the village, and took a new and stronger position on Punkatasset Hill, a little more than a mile from the village, but clearly overlooking it. There they welcomed the reinforcements that were arriving from the neighboring towns.
In Tewksbury, twenty miles northwesterly from Boston, the alarm was given at about 2 o'clock in the morning. "The British are on their way to Concord and I have alarmed all the towns from Charlestown to here,"[80] were the words that aroused Capt. John Trull, from his slumber, who in turn fired his gun to arouse Gen. Varnum, across the Merrimack River over in Dracut, a signal previously agreed upon between them. When Capt. Trull reached the village his men were awaiting him and they at once started for Concord. There were two other Tewksbury companies commanded respectively by Capt. Jonathan Brown and Capt. Thomas Clark, who also responded to the alarm.
In Acton, twenty-one miles northwesterly from Boston, and the adjoining town to Concord westerly, the alarm was given early in the morning. Col. Francis Faulkner resided in South Acton. His son, Francis, Jr., was lying awake and listening to the clatter of a horse's feet drawing nearer and nearer. Suddenly he leaped from his bed and ran to his father's room, adjoining, and exclaimed:
"Father, there's a horse coming on the full run, and he's bringing news!"
His father had heard the horseman also, for he was partly dressed with gun in hand. Across the bridge and up to the house came the messenger.
"Rouse your minute-men, Mr. Faulkner, the British are marching on Lexington and Concord." And away he rode to spread the news.
Col. Faulkner, without completing his dress, fired his gun three times as fast as he could load, that being the preconcerted signal. Very quickly a neighbor repeated it, and the boy, still listening, heard a repetition many times, each farther away. Thus was Acton aroused.
At the home of Col. Faulkner very soon assembled Capt. Hunt's Company. Women were there, too, to help as they might. Stakes were driven into the lawn, kettles hung, fires built, and a dinner for the soldiers soon cooked. Some of the older boys were delighted to follow on and carry it in saddle-bags, separately from the minute-men, with instructions to take the field roads if the British should be found occupying the highways. Col. Faulkner marched away with Capt. Hunt's Company, to take command of the Middlesex Regiment, which he supposed to be assembling at Concord.
The home of Capt. Davis, was about a mile westerly from the meeting house in the centre of Acton, and about six miles from the North Bridge in Concord. His Company were assembling rapidly, and when about twenty had reported he was anxious to march. A man of serious mien, he seemed particularly so on the morning of April 19. One of his companions, speaking cheerily, perhaps lightly, was gently reproved by the brave Captain, who seemed to have a premonition of his own fate, and reminded the other of what the day might have in store for them. They were about to proceed when he turned to his wife, as if to speak, but he could only say:
"Take good care of the children."[81]
Then he turned and marched away with his little command. It might have been seven o'clock when he started,[82] to the lively tune of the "White Cockade" played by his fifer, Luther Blanchard, and his drummer, Francis Barker.
When they reached the westerly part of Concord they must have learned what the British were doing at the home of Col. Barrett, for they left the highway and passed into the fields to the northward of the Barrett home, stopping for a while a little way off to watch the King's soldiers in their work of destruction of the military stores. Continuing again, they marched through the fields until they came out into the highway at Widow Brown's Tavern,[83] which was situated across the river from Concord village, a mile away. From there they proceeded by way of the Back Road, so called, to the high ground now called Punkatasset Hill, rising about a quarter of a mile to the westward of the North Bridge.
Other companies of militia and minute-men were already assembled there, and Capt. Davis marched his men, who now numbered about forty, to the left of the line, a position that had been assigned to him at the muster a little while before.
From this position on Punkatasset, they looked down upon the gently flowing Concord River; upon the old North Bridge which crossed just in the immediate foreground; upon the red-coated soldiers who stood grimly on guard at the nearer end; and beyond, up the river to Concord village, three-quarters of a mile away, where curling volumes of smoke seemed to indicate the burning of American homes.
In Chelmsford, twenty-three miles northwesterly from Boston, the alarm was early given by a mounted messenger, upon which guns were fired and drums beat. Minute-men met at the Alarm-post, a rock standing where the hay-scales were placed in after years. Captain Moses Parker's Company, and Captain Oliver Barron's Company, marched, not in regular order, but in squads, and came into Concord at Meriam's Corner and on Hardy's Hill in time for the pursuit.
In Dracut, twenty-five miles from Boston, the alarm was given soon after two o'clock, by the firing of a gun by Capt. Trull across the Merrimac River in Tewksbury, a signal previously agreed upon, which aroused Gen. Varnum. Two companies marched immediately, one under Captain Peter Coburn, and the other under Captain Stephen Russell. They were, however, too remote from the scene of strife to meet the British, but continued their rapid march to Cambridge.
Littleton, twenty-five miles from Boston, was alarmed in the morning by the news of the British march on Concord. The messenger then hurried over Beaver Brook Bridge, and into the towns beyond on his mission.
Even in Pepperell, thirty-five miles northwesterly from Boston, the alarm went, reaching there about 9 o'clock. Gen. Prescott gave orders to the Pepperell and Hollis companies, to march to Groton, there to join others of the regiment.[84]
Roxbury, the adjoining town to Boston, southwesterly, was naturally the first town in that direction to know of the movement of the British. William Dawes, the first messenger out of Boston, as we have seen, passed through the town on his round-about-way to Lexington, and must have delivered his first message there before 11 o'clock on the evening of the 18th. There were three companies under the command of Captain Moses Whiting, Captain William Draper, and Captain Lemuel Child, respectively, who took active parts in the events of the 19th. As they marched for the scene of strife many women and children fled to other towns for greater safety.[85]
The news reached Dedham, ten miles southwesterly from Boston, a little after 9 o'clock in the morning. It came by way of Needham and Dover.[86]
Framingham, eighteen miles southwesterly from Boston, was alarmed before 8 o'clock in the morning. A bell was rung, and alarm guns fired, which assembled many of the two companies of militia and one of minute-men, who started in about an hour. Captain Edget went on foot the entire distance, and carried his gun. Those living in the extreme south and west parts of the town followed on a little later. Not long after the men had left, a report was started that negroes were coming to massacre them all, which seemed the more frightful to the women and children because of the absence of about all of the able-bodied men. For those defenceless ones at home it was a terrible day.[87]
Newton, seven miles westerly from Boston, was alarmed at early dawn by a volley from one of John Pigeon's field-guns, kept at the gun-house in Newton Centre, near the church.[88]
Sudbury, eighteen miles westerly from Boston, received its first news by a messenger from Concord, eight miles away, who reported to Thomas Plympton, a member of the Provincial Congress. Captain Nixon was aroused by a messenger, who shouted:
"Up, up! the red-coats are up as far as Concord."
Captain Nixon started off at once on horseback.[89]
In Worcester, forty miles westerly from Boston, the people were alarmed before noon by a messenger mounted on a white horse dripping with sweat, and bloody from spurring. Driving at full speed through the town he shouted:
"To arms, to arms! the war has begun!"
At the church the horse fell exhausted. Another was procured and the news still went on. The bell rang out the alarm, cannon were fired, and special messengers despatched to every part of the town to summon the soldiers. In a little while 110 men, under Captain Timothy Bigelow were paraded on the Green, and soon marched for Concord. They were met on the way by the intelligence of the British retreat. So they changed their course towards Boston.[90]
It would be interesting to know the full details of that messenger's long ride, and just where in the westward it ended. His exhausted horse, covered with bloody foam, falling in the street before the church, must have been a spectacular sight, and one that spoke loudly of that terrific ride, perhaps the longest one of all the messengers. And we can safely imagine that all along his course, other messengers, drawing their inspiration from him, rode into the north, and into the south, bearing with them the news that he bore; and that in turn their words were echoed by the gun-volley, the clanging bell and the drum-beat.
The reveille had now been sounded in Essex, in Middlesex, in Norfolk, and in Worcester Counties, and the minute-men were on their way to the battle of April 19.
Let us now return to the King's soldiers under the command of Lieut.-Col. Smith, whom we left on the shore of Charles River at Lechmere Point in Cambridge. It was one o'clock on the morning of the 19th, before the column was fully under way.[91]
Lechmere Point then had but one house, which stood on the southern slope of the hill, on the northern side of Spring Street, between Third and Fourth Streets, and facing to the south.[92] Where the troops landed, on Second Street, was sufficiently remote to be out of sight and hearing, evidently the particular aim of the commanding officer.
They proceeded cautiously, following an old farm-road around the northeasterly slope of the hill, sometimes wading in the marshes that bordered Willis Creek, and fording that stream, waist-deep, in the vicinity of Bullard's Bridge.
Smith evidently thought that the noise of his soldiers tramping across the bridge itself might attract attention. His soldiers found the ford a long one, and the waters deep.[93]
Even thus early on the expedition was the British Army betrayed by one of its own soldiers, if the tradition handed down by a Mrs. Moore can be relied upon. Seventy-five years or more ago she related to Rev. J. L. Sibley, who has stated accordingly, that she was then living in Cambridge, a young girl, and that one of the soldiers was taken sick after his landing at Lechmere Point, and accordingly permitted by his commander to return by boat to Boston. He did not immediately return, however, but made his way to the solitary farm-house where Mrs. Moore was living. The occupants gained from him the significance of his midnight presence, and it was considered of sufficient importance to communicate speedily to their fellow townsmen.
Bullard's Bridge crossed Willis Creek, near the present Prospect Street, which runs from Cambridge to Somerville.[94] Later on the Creek was called Miller's River. It was then a little tributary to the Charles River, but has long since been filled in, and modest dwellings, and more pretentious business establishments now cover its upper area.
The invading army emerging from Willis Creek were now in Somerville. They quickly arrived at Piper's Tavern, then standing in what is now Union Square. It was after two o'clock, but the moon was shining sufficiently bright for some of the soldiers to read the sign aloud, which an awakened inmate heard. Up the present Bow Street they marched, passing the Choate and Frost houses, continuing along the present Somerville Avenue to Jonathan Ireland's house, at the southwest corner of the present School Street. None of the inhabitants just along there seem to have been disturbed. A few rods farther lived Samuel Tufts on the westerly side of the road near the present Laurel Street. He was casting bullets in a little hut back of his dwelling, and being assisted by his negro, but neither of them heard the tread of soldiers in the road. But yet a little farther along, however, at the northwest corner of the present Central Street lived the widow Rand. She was disturbed by the unusual noise in the road, and came down stairs in her night-clothes to investigate. A hog had been killed for her the day before, and she feared a midnight thief. Upon opening the door she saw the soldiers, but hid behind the rain-water hogshead until they had passed and then hurried across the road to tell her neighbor Tufts of the unusual sight. At first he could not believe the story, but with his lantern's aid saw the many foot-prints in the road, and became convinced. Springing to his horse's back he took a short cut bridle path to Cambridge, there to spread the alarm.
Then marched the column by Samuel Kent's house on the westerly side of the road, at the corner of the present Garden Court. Kent did not awake. Then by the Capen house, a little farther on the easterly side. No one there awakened. Then by the Hunnewell brothers on the easterly side at the turn of the road. They were both somewhat deaf and did not hear the military tread.
The next house is the home of Timothy Tufts, on the easterly side of the road, nearly opposite Beech Street. Mrs. Tufts heard the soldiers, and saw from her bed the gun-barrels shining in the moonlight. She awakened her husband and they both looked out upon that red-coated column, as it halted long enough for some of the soldiers to drink at the well.
The march was again resumed a few rods farther along the Milk Row road, then wheeling left southwesterly into Cambridge through what is now Beech Street, less than an eighth of a mile in length, then wheeling right into the Lexington and Concord road, towards the northwest.[95] They were then on what is now known as Massachusetts Avenue.
Along this part of Battle Road in Cambridge, were perhaps captured the first prisoners, Thomas Robins and David Harrington, both of Lexington. Robins was carrying milk to Boston, and in company with Harrington when they reached the vicinity of Menotomy River, the present dividing line between Cambridge and Arlington. They were detained, and compelled to return to Lexington with the soldiers, and released at the commencement of hostilities on the Common.[96]
Just after crossing the Menotomy River into Arlington they passed a house where lived the venerable Samuel Whittemore[97] with his sons and grandchildren. Silent as was the march intended to be, it awoke the inmates and preparations for the day commenced.
The troops soon arrived opposite to the Black Horse Tavern, kept by Mr. Wetherby. Thus far their march had not been heralded other than by the flashing lights and fleet and silent messengers. Lieut.-Col. Smith still thought his little army unnoticed, for he rode a little way beyond the Tavern, halted his men, and sent back an officer with a file of men, to surround and guard the house, while others should search the interior for members of the rebel congress whom he thought to be within. His surmise was correct, to some extent, for three members were there, just awakened by the heavy tread, and who heard the low-voiced commands to halt.
The day before, April 18, the Committee of Safety and the Committee of Supplies, had held a joint meeting at the Tavern, and there were present, Col. Azor Orne, Col. Joseph Palmer, Col. William Heath, Col. Thomas Gardner, Richard Devens, Abraham Watson, Capt. Benjamin White, and John Pigeon, of the Committee of Safety, and David Cheever, Elbridge Gerry, Col. Charles Lee, and Col. Benjamin Lincoln, of the Committee of Supplies. At the close of the meeting most of them, being near enough, had departed for their homes. It will be remembered that Richard Devens of Charlestown departed early enough to meet Revere on the Charlestown shore, and acquaint him with the movement of the ten British officers riding up the road. It will also be recalled that Elbridge Gerry had sent from here a messenger to John Hancock at Lexington to the same effect.
However, there were three members of the two committees who chose to remain at the Black Horse Tavern that night. They were Col. Azor Orne, Elbridge Gerry, and Col. Charles Lee.
It was not quite three o'clock when the slumbers of these three men were disturbed by the unusual noise in the road, and they went to the windows and looked out into the moonlight and down on the marching host and its gleaming arms. They watched with eager curiosity. Not for a moment did they connect themselves individually with the movement, but when they heard the command to halt, and saw a file of soldiers leave the ranks for the Tavern they were startled, and then it suddenly occurred to them that possibly they were the objects of those military manœuvres. They hurried down stairs, even clad in their night-clothes as they were, and finally sought a safe exit at the rear. It is said that Mr. Gerry, in his nervous haste to escape, was on the point of opening the front door and rushing out that way, but was prevented by the cry of the landlord:
"For God's sake, don't open that door," and who then conducted the three to the back part of the house, and headed them for a field of corn stubble. Elbridge Gerry stumbled and fell, and cried out to his friend:
"Stop, Orne, for me, till I can get up; I have hurt myself."
His position, flat on the ground, out of sight because of the corn-stubble, suggested that it would be a good hiding-place for all, so the three lay prone on the ground until the King's troops passed on. They returned to the Tavern finally to find that the house had indeed been searched for them, very ineffectively, for even their personal effects including Mr. Gerry's gold watch, left ticking under his pillow, had not been disturbed. The search by the soldiers had not been a very thorough one.
Col. Lee never recovered from the ill effect of his exposure on the damp ground in the night air, too thinly clad as he was, for he died within a month.[98]
The march of the British forces under Lieut. Col. Smith up to this point, was a little over five miles, and it was nearly three o'clock. He continued serenely for a little farther, for unknown to him the inmates of many houses that he passed were aroused by the measured tread of his men.
Solomon Bowman, Lieutenant in Captain Benjamin Locke's Company of Minute-men, lived in Menotomy, now Arlington.[99] He came to the door to witness the unusual sight. A soldier perceiving him, left the ranks and asked for a drink of water. Bowman refused the request, but asked him:—
"What are you out at this time of night for?"
The reply of the thirsty soldier was not recorded, but whatever it was Bowman readily drew his own conclusions, and when the column disappeared up the road, hastened to call out members of his company. They formed at day-break on the Common.[100]
But at the house across the road, with its chimneys painted white, the reception was more gracious. A tory lived there, and white chimneys, it has been said, indicated the owner's politics.[101]
The column halted again, briefly in the centre of the town, and Lieut.-Col. Smith despatched forward six companies of light infantry under Major Pitcairn, for the purpose of earlier securing the two bridges on the roads just beyond Concord village.[102] Scarcely had he done so, when signal guns and alarm bells were heard, which indicated a general awakening to arms of the Provincials. Smith realized the full meaning of those ominous sounds, and from there, in Arlington village, promptly sent back to Gen. Gage for reinforcements. Fortunate for him that he did so, for otherwise the day's climax for his force would have been even more disastrous than it was.
His marching soldiers could now hardly expect to pass any house unseen. A party of young men, playing cards, even at that late hour, in an old shop that stood near the road, lost their interest in the game and gave it up.[103]
At the Tufts Tavern, still standing on the easterly side of Massachusetts Avenue, nearly opposite Mt. Vernon Street, the soldiers halted and some of them proceeded towards Mr. Tufts's barn. He was awake, and saw them, and suspected that their mission might be the confiscation of his favorite white horse. He called for his gun, but his prudent wife informed him that it had been loaned. Opening the door however, he addressed a British officer saying:
"You are taking an early ride, sir!"
"You had better go to bed and get your sleep while you can," replied the officer significantly.[104]
At the corner of the main road and the one leading to Winchester, now Forest Street, "At the Foot of the Rocks," lived a shoemaker. A light glimmering through the shutters caught the attention of an officer, who sent a soldier to investigate its cause, so late in the night. The good wife replied that her "old man" was sick and she was "making some herb tea." That excuse satisfied the officer, for the family was left undisturbed. The "tea" was in fact melted pewter plates being run into bullets. When the rap first came at the door the old man took to his bed, and his wife emptied the molten pewter into the ashes, where it was readily found after the soldiers had passed on.[105] It is probable that ere night some of the leaden tea had hardened into leaden fruit, and was used for other than medicinal purposes.
In the next house, still standing (1912) and numbered 1193 Massachusetts Avenue, lived Capt. Benjamin Locke. He looked out and saw the marching red-coats, and knew what their mission was. He lost no time in arousing such of his command as lived in that neighborhood.
The British continued along the main road, which at that time ran up the hill westerly from Capt. Locke's home, and is now called Appleton Street, into Paul Revere Road, and out again into the present Massachusetts Avenue. At that time there was no highway between the extreme ends of these two.
Through the rest of Arlington the march was uneventful, save the capture of the scouts sent out from Lexington, who were so neatly ambushed and taken. As we have seen, they were permitted to come down the road passing a few soldiers who were out in advance, and who secreted themselves when an approaching horseman was heard. After the unfortunate scout had passed into the stretch of road bounded by the advance guard and the main body he was not permitted to return to Lexington.
Two men from Woburn, Asahel Porter and Josiah Richardson, were thus captured. It has been stated that they were on their way to the Boston market. If they lived in that part of Woburn which adjoins Lexington, then their natural journey would have been into Lexington, and thence through Arlington and Cambridge. But it may be that they were scouting simply, for they were on horseback, and therefore without any apparent market business. They were compelled to dismount, their horses taken, and then forced to walk along as prisoners. Reaching the Common in Lexington they were both released by their kindly disposed guard, with the particular understanding that they were to walk, not run, away. Richardson accepted those conditions, carried them out and so escaped. But Porter, once over Rufus Merriam's garden-wall, twenty rods away from his captors, started into a run. Some other soldier than his guard saw him, and evidently thinking that a prisoner was escaping, promptly shot him through the body. Those captures were probably made in Arlington, and not far from the Lexington boundary line.