Battle of Concord

“ There have been many histories of the Battle of Lexington and of the Battle of Concord, some of them excellent to the extent of that part of the contest to which they were devoted. From time to time gifted orators have gone to the one town or to the other, and eloquently portrayed the heroic deeds of men within that town on the opening day of the American Revolution. No fault should be found with any of those, designed as a healthy stimulus to local pride, and to foster sentiments of national patriotism. ”

“ The British watched the advance keenly, and when the southerly point of the triangle was reached, and the columns wheeled left towards the Bridge, they commenced to pull up the planks. Major Buttrick, in a loud voice, ordered them to desist, whereupon they left the Bridge and hastily formed for action in the road just beyond the easterly end. Then [84] came the report of the first hostile gun in the battle of Concord, fired from the British ranks. ”

“ I die willingly for my country." [243] And so Concord and Lexington, too, reverently treasure the memory of brave Acton men, whose life blood stained the soil of each.
[109]
Up the westerly slope of Concord Hill, an elevation named after her sister town, marched the British. Their ranks were broken and disordered. Many had been wounded, many had been killed, and many had fallen exhausted by the wayside. It was then about half past one o'clock, and they had marched rather more than twenty-three miles. At that time their ammunition began to give out, which added to their discomfiture. ”

“ The month of April has been fateful for Concord, especially its nineteenth day. On that day the military company under Lieutenant Heald marched to Boston to take part in the uprising of the freemen of the colony against Andros. On that same day, in 1775, the minute-men and militia of Concord, promptly reinforced by the soldiers of her daughter and sister towns, marched down to the guarded North Bridge and returned the fire of the Royal troops in the opening battle of the Revolution. ”

“ As the British proceeded to Concord the whole country was rising, and at Concord about 500 minute-men confronted the British regulars who were holding the village and searching for arms and stores. Volleys were exchanged, the British retreated, the minute-men hung on their flanks and from the hillsides shot them down, driving their columns on Lexington. A granite obelisk, erected in 1837, when Emerson wrote his ode on the battle, marks the spot where the first British soldiers fell ”

“ His order was followed by a volley of musketry right into the faces of the Lexington soldiers, killing four and wounding several others. The minute-men dispersed, and the British troops hurried on to Concord. Here they met with an unexpectedly hot reception by several hundred minute-men, who had come through the darkness to defend their supplies and the town. Every hour their number increased by the accession of heroes, who came from even twenty miles away to meet the foe.
The British commander was forced to order a retreat, in which his army suffered even more than it did in the battle. ”

“ The company had spent the previous day in drill, and at the summons the members promptly assembled, and being joined by a few volunteers, about fifty men took up their line of march for Concord, under the command of Captain Ebenezer Bridge, who afterwards became Colonel, and whose regiment, in the battle of Bunker Hill, was engaged in the fiercest of the contest. With the minute men was sent a large wagon loaded with provisions, which followed them to Concord, where they arrived in the evening, too late to take any part in the fight. ”

“ 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 [33] bands, without waiting to march in company file. ”

“ But considering "the great uncertainty of the present times," it was provided, however, that a call might issue for an earlier assembling. Only two days elapsed before apprehensions of immediate danger arose, which grew so intense, that Richard Devens on the 18th, issued a summons for immediate assembling at Concord. Although it was circulated with the greatest dispatch many of the members could not have learned of it before the marching of the British troops on that same night from Boston Common. ”

“ Their enemies seemed to be countless and everywhere. De Bernicre, the spy, who was with them, has left a vivid word picture of how anxious they were getting. "There could not be less than 5,000," he says in his account, "so they kept the road always lined, and a very hot fire on us without intermission.... We began to run rather than retreat in order." Lieut.-Col. Smith, says, in his report, that the firing on his troops, which began in Concord, "increased to a very great degree and continued without the intermission of five minutes, altogether for I believe upwards of eighteen miles." ”

“ They had about 300 men killed, 600 wounded, and near 400 made prisoners.
The loss on the side of his Majesty’s troops amounted to about 100 killed, and 488 wounded. Eight pieces of cannon, and a great quantity of military stores were taken from the enemy.
The army lay this night on the field of battle, and on the 12th Maj. Gen. Grant, with the first and second brigades, marched to Concord. Lord Cornwallis, with the light infantry and British grenadiers, joined him next day, and proceeded to Ash-Town within five miles of Chester. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 [34] a post, bringing the information that the Regulars had gone to Concord. ”

“ The Americans moved forward from Punkatasset Hill to this, their fourth position, at about nine o'clock, as their reinforcements had augmented sufficiently to induce a growing feeling of aggressiveness. Here were assembling the sturdy men of Concord and of Acton; of Bedford, Lincoln, and Carlisle, and of other neighboring towns. Joseph Hosmer acted as Adjutant, forming the soldiers as they arrived, the minute companies on the right and the militia on the left, facing the bridge. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ When traitors tried to destroy the best government that ever existed, and dishonor their country’s flag, I felt if was my duty to enlist and do what I could for my native land, and I have never been sorry that I did so.
My health was always good, and I was fortunate in battle, never being laid off duty until I was wounded, just before the last battle in which my regiment participated. In thirty-eight battles, I shared the dangers with my comrades of company B. But where are the 101 men of my company who left Concord for Fort Warren on that cold morning of December 3rd, 1861? ”

“ Then next, a Concord company under Charles Miles. Then two more Concord companies under Capt. David Brown and Capt. Nathan Barrett. [190] Another company from Acton, then fell into line, the one commanded by Capt. Simon Hunt. They were just turning the corner of the main road when the firing at the bridge took place. [191] By order of Col. Barrett the companies from Bedford and Lincoln next fell into line. The march was by twos, and to the tune of "The White Cockade," played by two young fifers, Luther Blanchard of Davis's Acton company, and John Buttrick of Brown's Concord company. ”

“ One such, Henry C. Wright, an aggressive non-resistant, was specially satirized by him in his Journal for June 17, 1853,—the anniversary of Bunker Hill battle, and perhaps chosen on that account to make a demon stration against war in Concord, whose chief reputation had once been that it opened the war of the Revolution. ”

“ 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, [44] 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. ”

“ They rushed after the retreating British but a few rods, then proceeded to an eminence on the east side of the road back of Elisha Jones's house, taking position there behind a stone wall, and perhaps an eighth of a mile from where the British halted when they were met by their reinforcements. [200]
[86]
Why the Americans turned aside instead of pursuing their enemies into Concord village as they had resolved to do, can only be surmised. Why they gave no heed to the small force still behind them up the river, engaged in destroying American property at Col. ”

“ 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 [26] 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. ”

“ Thus the terrible war, which was almost a civil war, began. The British now marched on to Concord. They had failed to arrest the men they had been sent to arrest at Lexington. So there was all the more reason to hurry on to Concord, and seize the war stores before there was time to spirit them away. But when about seven o'clock in the morning the troops arrived at Concord the stores for the most part had been already safely hidden. A gun or two they found, and a few barrels of flour. The guns were spiked, the barrels staved in, the court house set on fire. ”

“ The old man made no reply, but ascended the stairs, and soon returned with a rusty barrel in his hands. In spite of his wife's incessant din, he went to his shop, made a stock for it, and put it in complete order for use. He then saddled a strong white horse, and mounted him. He gave the steed the rein, and directed his course toward Concord. He met the British troops returning, and was not long in perceiving that there was a wasp's nest about their ears. He dashed so closely upon the flank of the enemy that his horse's neck was drenched with the spouting blood of the wounded soldiers. ”

“ Citizens alarmed by Bells, Guns, and Drums-Militia called on the Green-Skirmish ensues-Captain Parker and seven other Patriots killed, 524; People of Concord in Arms-Assembling of Militia-Town invested by British, 525; Destruction of Property-Rapid Augmentation of Militia-Preparations for Battle, 526; Conflict at Concord Bridge-Captain Davis and Abner Hosmer killed-Patriots victorious-Retreat of Enemy to Village, 527; Colonel Smith returns to Boston with his Troops-Assaulted on the Way by Patriots-Many Regulars slain-Skirmish at Hardy's Hill, 528 ”

“ Certain it is that no individual life is interesting or valuable in which there has not been a severe struggle; and periods of warfare have often proved to be powerful stimulants for human energy and intellect. In one respect, however, the Rev. Peter Bulkley was fully justified, for Concord has become more famous in the arts of peace than if a Marengo or Gravelotte had been fought there. It has a place in the history of literature, and its name is pleasant either to speak or think of. ”