Chapter V: Part 5

And let us not forget that from that time on, Percy was in supreme command of the united British forces, amounting to nearly eighteen hundred men. To him belongs the credit of a masterly retreat, for his loss in killed and wounded was surprisingly small considering the number of American riflemen in pursuit. To him belongs the blame also for the burned homes of inoffensive non-combatants, for the killing of such helpless old men as Raymond; for the summary removal of Hannah Adams and her infant from child-bed; for the killing of feeble-minded William Marcy; for the killing of fourteen-year old Edward Barber. His entire march back to Charlestown was thickly dotted with just such incidents, unrelieved by any conspicuous merciful action, or by any deed of bravery. It was a masterly retreat, indeed,--and it was a brutal one, too. Happily for the American patriots in succeeding contests, no other British commander seemed inspired by such revengeful instincts. Happily for the British historian he has no other such brutal events to apologize or blush for. Percy occupies his one page in history, uniquely, at least. His services in America, terminated soon thereafter, and at his own request, and for some reason which we know not of. Possibly he was satisfied with the fame, such as it was, which he won on that glorious day.[276]

The next Lexington home to be destroyed by the incendiary belonged to the widow Lydia Mulliken and her son. It stood not far from Loring's, on the main road to Boston, nearly opposite the present Munroe School. The clock shop connected with the same estate was also burned. As in the previous cases such personal effects as were desired by the soldiers were first removed and subsequently carried away. The works of a valuable musical clock were found in the knapsack of a wounded Briton, when he was subsequently captured.[277] The Mulliken loss was £431.[278]

John Mulliken, cabinet-maker, son of the widow, and living in Concord, joined in the pursuit, and came as far as Lexington. There he saw his mother's house in flames, which affected him so deeply that he could proceed no farther.[279]

A modest little home and shop belonging to Joshua Bond, standing northwesterly from Munroe Tavern, and very near the present beginning of "Percy Road," were first looted, and then burned. His loss was £189, 16s. 7d.

The greater part of these happenings were within that first half hour after Percy took command of the united British forces, and before he began his retreat. This energetic destroyer of American homes had selected Munroe Tavern as his temporary headquarters, and ordered his wounded conveyed there also. While their wounds were being dressed his men demanded such refreshments as the place could provide, and unlike Smith's subordinates in Concord, were not considerate enough to pay for them. So landlord William Munroe's loss was £203, 11s. 9d., of which £90 was in the "retail shop," presumably of a liquid nature. As he was orderly sergeant in Captain Parker's Company, he was naturally absent on duty, and left a lame man, John Raymond, in charge, who waited upon the unbidden guests because he was compelled to. His last service was to mix a glass of punch for one of the red-coats, after which he essayed to escape through the garden. He was not alert enough, for two soldiers fired, and one of their bullets readily overtook him as he hobbled away.[280] Thus one more was added to the list of American dead, one of the easiest victims, of course, for he was simply an unarmed cripple. This probably happened at the rear of the Tavern.

A few rods from the Tavern, down the road towards Boston, were two more Lexington homes, on opposite sides of the street, and so quite near to each other. They are still standing (1912). In the one on the westerly side lived Samuel Sanderson, a member of Capt. Parker's Company. He was not at home, so they killed his cow instead, not for food, but for the pure pleasure of killing something. Evidently landlord Munroe's liquor was having some effect, if not in making men braver, then in making them more brutal. Sanderson did not report the amount of his loss to the Legislature. On the easterly side of the road lived John Mason and family. All were absent so the soldiers permitted themselves to carry away property to the value of £14, 13s. 4d.[281]

Many other homes in Lexington were ransacked, mostly during Percy's halt. The total loss, as reported to the Legislature in 1783, amounted to £1761, 1s. 5d.; nearly $9,000 as computed in money of to-day. Undoubtedly many minor losses were not reported at all.

While these events were happening, the American riflemen were not idle. From Mt. Vernon to the westward, and from the Munroe meadows to the eastward, came many leaden messengers, some of them effective. Among the British officers wounded, and probably most of them during the halt, were Lieut. Hawkshaw, Lieut. Cox, and Lieut. Baker, of the Fifth, Ensign Baldwin and Lieut. McCloud of the Forty-seventh; and Capt. Souter and Lieut. Potter of the Marines. Many privates were killed and wounded.[282]

Shortly after the meeting of Percy and Smith, Gen. William Heath of Roxbury arrived in Lexington, and endeavored to effect the organization of the American forces into the semblance of an army. Dr. Joseph Warren arrived on the scene at the same time. Heath's efforts were hardly successful, as the patriots chose to fight as they had from the beginning, singly and self-commanded. It appears that Heath had first gone to Cambridge, to meet the Committee of Safety, and from there intended to go to Lexington, but fearing the British were in possession of the road in that direction had taken one across to Watertown. Finding there some of the militia of the town awaiting orders, he directed them to Cambridge to take up the planks of the Boston bridge, barricade its southerly end and dispute the passage of the retreating British on their way home to Boston. Then he proceeded to Lexington and upon his arrival there was generally recognized as the commanding officer of the American forces. He found the people there aroused to great excitement caused by the bombardment of the meeting-house and the burning of so many homes.[283]

It must have been half past three, or perhaps nearly four o'clock, when Percy gave the order to march. He realized the distance to Boston, and the dangers along the way. "As it now began to grow pretty late," he says in his official report, "and we had 15 miles[284] to retire, and only our 36 rounds, I ordered the Grenadiers and Light Infantry to move off first,[285] and covered them with my Brigade, sending out very strong flanking parties."

The imposing display and the vigilant flankers had the desired effect of keeping the Americans at a comparatively safe distance, and so Percy and his little army marched down through East Lexington in safety.

The looting section picked up considerable plunder from the abandoned homes along the way, evidently without protest from the commander. The march was a slow one, for Smith's weary and wounded soldiers had to be considered. Many of them were on the verge of collapse and quite a few dropped out of the ranks for good. De Bernicre in his account places the "missing" at twenty-six. One of these, a German, was discovered by the roadside in East Lexington soon after Percy had passed out of sight. He was well treated by the Americans, and made his home among them for many years.[286]

The Americans killed in Lexington during the afternoon were Jedediah Munroe, and John Raymond. The British loss was much greater, for the Americans were being reinforced constantly by minute-men from the remote towns. Three companies from Newton entered the battle at Lexington, under the command respectively of Lieut. John Marean, thirty-eight men; Capt. Amariah Fuller, one hundred and six men; and Capt. Jeremiah Wiswell, seventy-six men. Together these numbered two hundred and nineteen men, making the total enrolment of the Americans in pursuit of Percy as he passed out of Lexington, two thousand and thirteen men.

FOOTNOTES:

[257] Frothingham's History of the Siege of Boston.

[258] William Gordon's History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the United States of America. N. Y., 1794. Vol. I, page 312.

[259] Rev. Isaac Mansfield, Jr., Chaplain of Gen. Thomas's Regiment, in a Thanksgiving Sermon in Camp at Roxbury, Nov. 23, 1775. See Thornton's Pulpit of the American Revolution, page 236.

[260] Edward Everett Hale in Memorial History of Boston. Vol. 3.

[261] West Cambridge on the Nineteenth of April, 1775, An Address by Samuel Abbot Smith, Boston, 1864, page 27.

[262] Frothingham's Siege of Boston.

[263] Edward Everett Hale in Memorial History of Boston, Vol. 3.

[264] Brown's Beneath Old Roof Trees.

[265] Smith's Address.

[266] Smith's Address. Some of the opposition newspapers in England were quite merry and some quite sarcastic over the surrender of six lusty soldiers to one old woman, and inquired, on that basis, how many British troops would it take to conquer America?

[267] Smith's Address.

[268] He signed his official report to Gen. Gage, "Percy, Acting Brig. Gen." So that was his title for April Nineteenth.

[269] See the rough or preliminary draft of his report to Gage.

[270] Smith's Address, pages 31, 32.

[271] To be exact, for I have measured the route over which he marched, it was 15-74/88 miles.

[272] In his report he states that he "drew up the Brigade on a height." Only Mount Vernon was easily accessible for such a movement. See also Doolittle's "A View of the South Part of Lexington," for confirmation.

[273] Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass. in 1775, page 686.

[274] Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass. in 1775, page 688.

[275] Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass. in 1775, page 688.

[276] A majority of the voters of Lexington in town meeting assembled have re-named a near-by street, "Percy Road," in commemoration of his visit on that Nineteenth of April. Almost any other foeman's name would have been better, if it is thus necessary to mark a growing feeling of respect and kindliness between two nations of kindred blood. Its older name was Mt. Vernon Street!

The town has many street names in memory of that battle day, such as Adams, Clarke, Hancock, Muzzey, Revere. Percy Road starts from near the old Munroe Tavern. What better name could there be for this thoroughfare than Munroe Avenue, in memory of Sergeant William Munroe, or of his grandson James S. Munroe, who has generously left the Tavern to be forever open to the public for inspection.

[277] Lexington Historical Society Proceedings, III, 135.

[278] See Doolittle's "A View of the South Part of Lexington," for an idea of those burning Lexington homes.

[279] Lexington Historical Society Proceedings, III, 135.

[280] A carefully written newspaper clipping evidently from a Boston periodical, dated April 19, 1858, preserved in a scrap book once belonging to the Thomas Waterman collection of American History.

[281] Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass. in 1775.

[282] De Bernicre's Report.

[283] Heath's Memoirs, page 201.

[284] Then he had in mind to return by way of Roxbury, a longer march than to Charlestown.

[285] De Bernicre says the Light Infantry was in front, then the Grenadiers.

[286] Told to me by the venerable Charles Brown still living (1911) in East Lexington. His grandfather, Capt. Edmund Munroe, was an active participant in the events of April 19th.

PERCY'S RETREAT THROUGH ARLINGTON.

1. Capt. Benj. Locke. 2. Tuft's Tavern. 3. Adams. 4. Russell. 5. Percy's Baggage Wagons Captured. 6. Adams. 7. Cooper Tavern. 8. Lieut. Solomon Bowman. 9. Black Horse Tavern. 10. Whittemore. 11. Watson. 12. Tufts. 13. Whittemore Wounded.]

It was not far from half past four when the British crossed the Lexington line and entered into Arlington. Their retreating march in Lexington measured about two and one quarter miles. Along the road they had striven to kill in honorable battle. They had succeeded but slightly, and paid an unusual price with a much larger number of their own dead and wounded. Percy's aim seemed to have been to terrorize his opponents at whatever cost. The life of Raymond was not taken in battle, nor can rapine and incendiarism add glory to his military renown. Lexington's highway to Arlington ran between pillaged and burning homes, and his soldiers staggered along under heavy burdens of property stolen from those whose King was his King. Concord and Lincoln have none of Percy's deeds related in their chronicles, but Lexington, and Arlington, and Cambridge, and Somerville, and Charlestown have good reason to remember his terrible conception of warfare.

Gen. William Heath, as the commanding officer of the Americans, endeavored to organize his forces into something like an army. He did not greatly succeed, but re-formed some of the forces that had been scattered by Percy's cannonade, directed towards the meeting-house on Lexington Common.[287]

Descending the high lands in the upper part of Arlington by the road, now known as Appleton Street, that skirts along the base of Arlington Heights, and drops to the "Foot of the Rocks," the Americans pressed in greater numbers and greater courage on Percy's rear guard. The bravery of individuals at this point became conspicuous and often foolishly hazardous. Percy, in his report, speaks of some concealed in houses by the wayside, who would emerge therefrom and approach within ten yards to fire at him and his officers--though sure of a fatal fire in return. He seemed surprised at their enthusiasm, as he called it, evidently forgetting how much he had excited their anger. It is almost beyond belief that he could have escaped through such a gauntlet, mounted as he was, on his beautiful white horse, a conspicuous mark from the hillsides along the way. But he did,--for such is occasionally the fortune of war as granted to brave men. His personal courage was beyond question.

The forces of the Americans were greatly augmented during the pursuit through Arlington. Minute-men from the nearby Middlesex towns, and from Essex and Norfolk counties, arrived at the time and disposed themselves along a line parallel to the highway as their individual fancies dictated, and independent of any commander-in-chief. Along the hillside to the south, behind the walls, and even within buildings adjacent to the road, they were posted, singly and in squads, among them many unerring marksmen, who added greatly to the British loss in killed and wounded. Percy would have been dismayed had he known the number of reinforcements he must then contend with, but they were not paraded for his inspection. His own army at the highest had not numbered over eighteen hundred men, but now considerably depleted, by his losses along the way, it is doubtful if it would equal fifteen hundred really effective soldiers.

The Americans entering the contest at Arlington were from Brookline, Capt. Thomas White and ninety-five men, and possibly two other companies under Col. Thos. Aspinwall and Major Isaac Gardner, number of men unknown;[288] Watertown, Capt. Samuel Barnard, one hundred and thirty-four men; Medford, Capt. Isaac Hall, fifty-nine men; Malden, Capt. Benjamin Blaney, seventy-five men; Roxbury, Capt. Lemuel Child, thirty-five men, Capt. William Draper, fifty men, Capt. Moses Whiting, fifty-five men; Dedham, Capt. Eben Battle, sixty-six men, Capt. Wm. Bullard, fifty-nine men, Capt. Daniel Draper, twenty-four men, Capt. William Ellis, thirty-one men, Capt. David Fairbanks, fourteen men, Capt. Aaron Fuller, sixty-seven men, Capt. George Gould, seventeen men, Capt. Joseph Guild, fifty-nine men; Needham, Capt. Aaron Smith, seventy men, Capt. Robert Smith, seventy-five men, Capt. Caleb Kingsbery, forty men; Lynn, Capt. Nathaniel Bancroft, thirty-eight men, Capt. William Farrington, fifty-two men, Capt. Rufus Mansfield, forty-six men, Capt. Ezra Newhall, forty-nine men, Capt. David Parker, sixty-three men; Beverly, Capt. Caleb Dodge, thirty-two men, Capt. Larkin Thorndike, forty-eight men, Lieut. Peter Shaw, forty-two men; Danvers, Capt. Samuel Epes, eighty-two men, Capt. Samuel Flint, forty-five men, Capt. Israel Hutchinson, fifty-three men, Capt. Caleb Lowe, twenty-three men, Capt. Jeremiah Page, thirty-nine men, Capt. Asa Prince, thirty-seven men, Capt. Edm. Putnam, seventeen men, Capt. John Putnam, thirty-five men; Menotomy, Capt. Benjamin Locke, fifty-three men. Undoubtedly some of Locke's men were engaged earlier in the day, particularly those who lived in Arlington, for twenty-six of them assembled on the Common at daybreak, and must have gone up to Lexington, at least. Of the other members, eleven were from Charlestown, seven from Boston, three from Stoneham, two from Lexington, one from Newton, and one residence unknown. Together these reinforcements at Arlington numbered seventeen hundred and seventy-nine men.

Under the combined efforts of Gen. Heath and Dr. Warren the minute-men were encouraged to rally and draw nearer the rear guard of Percy's column, to harass and destroy them. The two British field pieces were often turned on the Americans but were too cumbersome for effective use against the elusive minute-men. The cannon balls went tearing up the road, smashing trees and shrubs, toppling over stone walls, pushing jagged holes through buildings, striking terror into the hearts of women and children, and presumably many of the men, who were unused to war.

This renewal of activities commenced in Arlington where the road comes in from Lexington, and skirts along the northerly base of Peirce's Hill, now called Arlington Heights. The descent from there to the plain is by a steep grade and the lower end of that part of the highway was then, and is now, known as Foot of the Rocks. This skirting, curved road around Peirce's Hill still exists. Its westerly end is now called Paul Revere Road, and its easterly end, Appleton St. Since that time a straight road with gentler grade has been made to connect the two ends of that part of Battle Road, and forms a part of the new Massachusetts Avenue from Boston to the Concord line.

It was at the Foot of the Rocks that Dr. Warren, brave even to recklessness, exposed himself to some vigilant British marksman, who could not fail to notice his enthusiasm and influence. The bullet came dangerously near the doctor's head, so near, in fact, as to strike a pin from his ear-lock.[289] Here, also, Dr. Downer of Roxbury engaged in single combat with a British soldier, whom he slew with a bayonet thrust.[290]

Towards the summit of Peirce's Hill was the Robbins home. The family had fled. Percy's flank-guard ransacked the house, built a fire on the kitchen floor, which burned off a line full of wet clothes hanging over it, letting them fall into the flames which were thereby extinguished.[291]

Down this road a little farther stood the Tufts Tavern, once occupied by Mr. Cutler, the rich farmer and butcher, but at that time by John Tufts, previously of Medford, whose wife was Rebecca, a daughter of Mr. Cutler. It will be recalled that Tufts had been aroused in the early morning by the British, and when they returned the family had fled. Soldiers broke into the upper end of it, loaded themselves with such plunder as they could carry away, and maliciously destroyed some that they were obliged to leave behind. One thrust his bayonet through the best mirror, the frame of which was long preserved.[292] While others, thinking to serve their King, opened the taps of the casks containing molasses and spirits, allowing them to escape. Then they set fire to the building, and left in haste to rejoin their retreating companions. A faithful colored slave of Mr. Cutler's watching from a distance, entered soon after their departure and extinguished the fire.

Richer plunder awaited the looters at the home of Joseph Adams, a venerable deacon of the Second Precinct Church. He had remained at home with his family until Percy's troops came into sight up the road. Then fearing his outspoken views, strongly antagonistic to the British ministry, might subject him to abuse by Percy and his soldiers, he determined to make his way across the fields to the Rev. Mr. Cook's barn. He was seen, and a volley of bullets followed, but he reached the barn, and hid in the hay. Some of the soldiers followed, even into the barn, and pierced the hay with their bayonets, but he was not exactly there. Some of them burst open the door of his home, and three broke into the chamber, where lay his wife and their infant child, but a few days old. The mother was too ill to arise, even. One of the soldiers opened the bed-curtains and with fixed bayonet, pointing to her breast, seemed about to slay her. She begged him not to kill her, but he only angrily replied:

"Damn you!"

Another soldier, with a more humane heart, interceded, and said,

"We will not kill the woman if she will go out of the house, but we will surely burn it."

Inspired by the threat, Mrs. Adams then arose, drew a blanket about herself and little infant,[293] and painfully made her way to the corn-house close by. It was the first journey since her illness, as far as her chamber door even. Other children were left within the house, but she was too weak to be of any assistance to them. They had hidden under a bed, but curiosity getting the better of Joel, aged nine years, the little folks were all discovered, but not harmed. They saw the sheets stripped from the beds and household valuables dumped into them, even including the works of an old clock, an heirloom in the family. Most valuable of all the booty, was the silver tankard belonging to the communion service given to the church in 1769, by Jonathan Butterfield. It was subsequently pawned by the thief, to a Boston silversmith, Austin by name, who read the engraved inscription thereon and notified Deacon Adams. After the evacuation of Boston by the British, the two deacons redeemed the tankard at their own expense, and returned it to the church, where it is still in use.

The soldiers of Lord Percy, then emptied a basket of chips on the floor, set them on fire with a brand from the hearth, and went on their way. The Adams children put out the blaze with a quantity of home-brewed beer, but not until the floor was badly burned, the ceiling smoked and a quantity of pewter plates on the dresser melted.[294]

A little farther along, on the westerly side of the road, lived Jason Russell, aged fifty-eight years.[295] Somewhat helpless because lame, he had started with his family at noontime for refuge at George Prentiss's on the hill. After going a little way he felt impelled to return and look after the safety of his home. He barricaded his gate with bundles of shingles and from behind them took his position to fire upon the enemy as they should come along and pass by in the road a rod away. Rather a feeble fortress from any military standpoint, and one that proved to be a death trap for its builder. Northerly across the road and across the brook lived Ammi Cutter, a kindly neighbor, who came and pleaded with Russell to abandon his door-yard for a place of greater safety. Russell replied that "An Englishman's house is his castle." Cutter remained by his side until the advancing British were seen up the road, and then started on the run across the road, over the wall and through the fields towards his home. Reaching the old mill-yard, and still running, he stumbled and fell between two logs, and the enemy's bullets scattered bark over him as he lay. They thought him dead because he fell as they fired, and so left him. But he was entirely uninjured.

Back of the Russell house in a southerly direction, the land slopes gently upward for a little way, and then rises to a considerable height. Near the foot of this hill a goodly number of Americans were posted, among them the men from Danvers. Approaching along the slope of the hill, and parallel to the highway, was a strong British flanking party driving all before it. The Americans at that point were too few to openly resist, so retreated and entered the Russell house. Down the road came the main body under Percy, and perceiving the minute-men, advanced and opened fire. Russell being lame, was the last to reach the door-way, where two bullets felled him. The soldiers rushed in and pierced him, as he lay, with eleven bayonet thrusts. Then they entered the house, and within that little home enacted the bloodiest tragedy of the day. Here, the seven men from Danvers were killed. The other Americans retreated to the cellar, and from the foot of the stairs threatened death to any Briton who should come down. One attempted to, and died on the way. Another died in the struggle overhead. Then the house was plundered in accordance with Percy's method of warfare.

After the British had passed, the Americans gathered at the home of Jason Russell. The dead from the yard, and within the house, were laid, side by side, in the little south room. There were twelve of them, and the blood from their wounds mingled in one common pool upon the floor.[296]

The highway from Jason Russell's house, to the centre of Arlington village, proved to be the bloodiest half mile of all the Battle Road. Within this little stretch were killed twenty or more Americans, and as many or more Britons. And here, on the northerly side of the road, not far from where the British convoy was captured, in the forenoon, stood another Adams home. It was punctured with bullets and it was stained with blood, for the dead and dying and wounded were carried there after the combatants had passed on.[297]

One of the most unequal duels of any war was fought near here, between the venerable Samuel Whittemore, aged eighty years, and a number of British soldiers, acting as a flanking party, on the easterly side of the road.

Whittemore lived with a son and grandchildren near Menotomy River, and had been aroused early in the morning by the passing of Smith's forces on their way to Concord. Mrs. Whittemore then commenced her preparations for flight, to another son's house, near Mystic River, towards Medford. She supposed that her husband intended to accompany her, but was surprised to find him engaged in the warlike occupation of oiling his musket and pistols, and sharpening his sword. In his younger days he had been an officer in the militia. She urged him to accompany her and the children. He refused, with the excuse that he was going "up town" as he expressed it. He did so, arriving there before the British had returned. When they reached the neighborhood of the present railroad crossing they halted, some of them opposite Mystic Street. Whittemore had posted himself behind a stone wall, down Mystic Street about four hundred and fifty feet, near the corner of the present Chestnut Street. The distance seemed an easy range for him, and he opened fire killing the soldier he aimed at. They must have discovered his hiding-place from the smoke-puff, and hastened to close in on him. With one pistol he killed the second Briton, and with his other fatally wounded a third one. In the meantime the ever vigilant flank-guard were attracted to the contest, and a ball from one of their muskets struck his head and rendered him unconscious. They rushed to the spot, and clubbed him with their muskets and pierced him with their bayonets until they felt sure that he was dead. Soon after they left him, he was found by the Americans, and as he seemed to still live they bore him to the Cooper Tavern. Dr. Tufts of Medford was summoned, but declared it useless to dress so many wounds as the aged man could not possibly survive. However, he was persuaded to try, and Whittemore lived eighteen more years, dying in 1793, at the age of ninety-eight. When he was recovering, his wife could not forbear asking him if he did not regret he had not remained with the rest of the family from the first. But the old hero, still suffering from his many wounds, replied:

"No! I would run the same chance again."[298]

Four hundred feet farther along, at the corner of the Medford road, now Medford Street, stood the Cooper Tavern, Benjamin Cooper, landlord. He and his wife, Rachel, were mixing flip at the bar. Two of their guests, and possibly those two were all at the time, were Jason Winship, about forty-five years old, and his brother-in-law, Jabez Wyman, in his fortieth year.[299] Evidently they were non-combatants, and as such expected to remain unmolested. But the soldiers were lashed to a fury by the reception they had met along the road, particularly that of the last half mile. So many houses along back had concealed minute-men, that about all were freely riddled with bullets, then ransacked, and then set on fire. Cooper Tavern was not considered by them as a privileged exception. More than a hundred bullets were fired into it through the doors and windows. Then the soldiers entered for their finishing strokes. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper escaped to the cellar, but Wyman and Winship, both unarmed, were stabbed in many places, their heads mauled until their skulls were broken, and brains scattered about on the floor and walls.[300]

The death of these two unarmed men, formed the climax of Arlington's part of the battle, for Percy's troops passed through the rest of the town, and crossed Menotomy River into Cambridge without further bloody incident.

The Americans who were killed in Arlington, were Jason Russell, Jason Winship and Jabez Wyman of Arlington; Reuben Kennison, of Beverly; Samuel Cook, Benjamin Daland, Ebenezer Goldthwait, Henry Jacobs, Perley Putnam, George Southwick, and Jotham Webb, of Danvers; Elias Haven of Dedham; William Flint, Thomas Hadley, Abednego Ramsdell, and Daniel Townsend, of Lynn; William Polly and Henry Putnam, of Medford; Lieut. John Bacon, Nathaniel Chamberlain, Amos Mills, Sergt. Elisha Mills, and Jonathan Parker of Needham; Benjamin Peirce of Salem; and Jacob Coolidge of Watertown. These numbered twenty-five, and constituted half of all the Americans killed during the day.

The wounded in Arlington were Samuel Whittemore, of Arlington; Nathaniel Cleaves, Samuel Woodbury, and William Dodge, 3rd, of Beverly; Nathan Putnam, and Dennison Wallace of Danvers; Israel Everett of Dedham; Eleazer Kingsbury, and a son of Dr. Tolman, of Needham. They numbered nine out of the thirty-nine Americans wounded during the day.

The British killed in Arlington were at least forty, more than half of all their loss during the day.

The patriot dead of old Menotomy and her sister towns were gathered, and twelve of them placed on a sled and drawn by a yoke of oxen to the little village church-yard. There they were laid away in one large grave, side by side, in the same bloody garments they wore when they fell. One monument marks the place. In the meeting-house close by, friends and relatives met on the following Sabbath, and, we are told that among them were Anna, infant grand-daughter of Jason Russell, born on the day of the battle, and the little son of Jason Winship, who was brought to the altar for baptism. It must have been a sacred and patriotic consecration for all.[301] Some of the other slain from distant towns, were borne by their comrades back to their own homes.[302]

In Arlington, then, as the casualties show, the battle reached its climax. The savage ferocity of the personal encounters show to what a maddening frenzy the King's troops had been wrought. As in Lexington, Percy attempted the wholesale destruction of the American homes by the torch, but so closely had he been followed by the ever-increasing minute-men, that his efforts were futile. His soldiers had the time to start the fires, but not the time to fan them into conflagrations, and thus old Menotomy escaped the fate of Lexington.

Percy continued his march through the town of Arlington, crossing Menotomy River into Cambridge between five and six o'clock. The minute-men hovered dangerously near his rear guard so that he paused often long enough to wheel his two six-pounders about and prevent them from coming too near. They were entirely without fatal effect, but inspired at all times a wholesome respect, and kept the Americans farther away.

FOOTNOTES:

[287] Heath's Memoirs.

[288] Bolton's Brookline. White's was the only company to file claim for pay, however. See Mass. Archives.

[289] Heath's Memoirs.

[290] Heath's Memoirs.

[291] Mrs. Lydia Peirce's statement in Smith's Address, page 33.

[292] Mrs. Almira T. Whittemore in Parker's Arlington, page 194. The tavern is still standing, or part of it, numbered 965 Massachusetts Ave., opposite Mt. Vernon Street.

[293] This little child lived into womanhood and became the wife of James Hill.

[294] Mrs. Adams's Deposition and Smith's Address, wherein he quotes Mrs. Thos. Hall, grand-daughter of Mrs. Adams, Rev. Mr. Brown's Sermon on James Hill, and S. G. Damon's article in The Christian Register, Oct. 28, 1854. The building, or part of it, is still standing (1912) being the ell of a building on the southerly side of Massachusetts Avenue, third house westerly from Bartlett Avenue.

[295] Born Jan. 25, 1717. Paige's History of Cambridge. The old grave-stone in the cemetery at Arlington calls him 59 years old.

[296] King's Address and Smith's Address. The old home is still standing though removed a few rods back from its original location.

[297] It stood easterly of the present (1911) Town Hall. When the railroad went through, part of the house blocked the way and therefore the whole had to be demolished. The grand old elm that shaded the yard was destroyed in a gale and a smaller one now takes its place.

[298] Statement of F. H. Whittemore. Smith's Address, pages 43, 44.

[299] Cutter's Arlington and Paige's Cambridge.

[300] Deposition of Rachel Cooper.

[301] Smith's Address, page 52.

[302] King's Address, page 14.

PERCY'S RETREAT THROUGH CAMBRIDGE.

Occasionally the contest narrowed down to personal encounters between two or more. It was near the Menotomy River, on the Cambridge side, that Lieut. Bowman, of Arlington, overtook a straggler from the British ranks, and engaged him in single combat. Both had guns, but neither one was loaded. The Briton rushed at Bowman with fixed bayonet, but the latter warded it off, and with his musket clubbed his antagonist to the ground. Then he took him prisoner.[303]

Cambridge was the home of Capt. Samuel Thatcher's company of seventy-seven men, but it is probable that Smith had encountered them as far back as Lincoln, for the muster roll in the Massachusetts Archives states that most of them marched twenty-eight miles, which would mean up into Lincoln and return, and to Charlestown Neck and return.

Percy's march through Cambridge, from Menotomy River to the Somerville line, measured nearly a mile and a quarter. The provincials expected that he would return to Boston by the route he came out, that is through Harvard Square over Charles River bridge into Brighton, thence through Roxbury, and along Boston Neck and into Boston. Anticipating as much, it was ordered that the bridge should be made impassable. But Percy deemed it wise to hurry on to Charlestown, trusting that Gen. Gage would have an ample force there to receive and protect him. It was several miles nearer, and with no possibility of dismantled bridges to reconstruct, for his troops to pass over. Nor should it be forgotten that Percy's original plan was to remain that night, at least, in Harvard Square, but he had not counted on such intense hostility, from so large an army of minute-men in open rebellion. He deemed it wiser, therefore, to move constantly forward towards the main army.

This mile and a quarter in Cambridge proved to be one of continual battle, also. The Americans were ever on the alert, and growing more and more active as they realized more and more the real meaning of the invasion. The sight of many of the British soldiers loaded down with plunder; the curling smoke and flames from American dwellings; the dying and the dead, some of them horribly mutilated, scattered all along the highway, were at last inspiring an intense feeling of hatred, and a longing for a satisfying vengeance. Percy's army experienced practically the same sensations. Trained as soldiers to the usages of open warfare, they deemed the frontier method of fighting as unfair and cowardly. They held in contempt the man who should remain concealed in safety and shoot down one who was compelled to remain in the open. Undoubtedly, too, the memory of a comrade, lying at the North Bridge with that ugly hatchet death-wound in the head, aroused the most savage instincts, that seemed to cry for brutal retaliation. Whittemore, and Wyman, and Winship seem to have been victims of vengeance rather than of war.

The Americans did not profit much by the lessons which they had received, earlier in the day, for they again fell victims to the British flankers. Quite a number had gathered near the home of Jacob Watson, situated on the southerly side of the highway near the present Rindge Avenue. Their fragile security was a pile of empty casks, not far from the road, from behind which they awaited the oncoming of the British. But the flank-guard came up in their rear, unobserved, and completely surprised them, killing Major Isaac Gardner of Brookline, a favorite son of that town, and the first graduate of Harvard College to fall in the War, and two Cambridge men, John Hicks, nearly fifty years old, and Moses Richardson, fifty-three years old. And near the same place, another Cambridge man, William Marcy, as tradition says[304] of feeble intellect, and a non-combatant. He was sitting on the fence, evidently enjoying the military spectacle, and perhaps good-naturedly cheering on the marching red-coats. His friendly demonstrations were entirely mistaken for shouts of derision. In the midst of his simple pleasure, some Briton esteemed it his duty to kill him as an enemy of the King.

The British loss at this place was but one killed.

On they marched, wheeling to the left, into Beech Street, a thoroughfare about seven hundred feet long, and thence out of Cambridge and into Somerville.

Soon after this, the wife of John Hicks, whose home is still standing (1912) at the corner of Dunster and Winthrop Streets, fearing for his safety, sent her son, fourteen years of age, to look for him. He had been absent since morning, and undoubtedly the noise of battle, a mile and a quarter away, coming across the fields, bore a sad burden of prophecy. Her misgivings were well founded, for the son found his father by the roadside where he fell, and near him the others.

The body of Isaac Gardner was taken to Brookline and there buried the next day. The remains of John Hicks, Moses Richardson and William Marcy, were immediately taken to the little churchyard near the Common, a mile from where they fell. They were buried in one grave, without coffins or shrouds even. A son of Moses Richardson, standing by, realizing that the earth was to fall directly on their faces, jumped down into the grave and arranged the cape of his father's coat, that it might shield him somewhat from the falling earth.

We may wonder now, at that hasty burial, without much, if any, ceremony; but let us associate with it the trail of the invading army, and of what seemed possible for the morrow, if it should return, greatly reinforced, for vengeance. Boston was not far away, and Gen. Gage, even then, might be preparing to move on Cambridge, with a force sufficiently large for its subjection. The Americans did not fully realize their own power or their own courage, not even as well as Gen. Gage did, who wisely decreed to remain in Boston and Charlestown, and decide later whether to pursue an aggressive or a defensive campaign. The spontaneous rousing of the country was an impressive one to the British commander.

It had evidently been Percy's plan to camp on Cambridge Common that night, and while awaiting expected reinforcements, or upon their arrival, lay the buildings of Harvard College, and others, in ruins. Such a course would have been in harmony with his warfare in Lexington and Arlington, and serve as a practical lesson to those in rebellion, of the disposition and readiness of their King to wreak a swift and terrible vengeance upon his enemies.[305] But Percy's plans were rudely disarranged, and he commenced to realize that he was really being driven back to Boston.

FOOTNOTES:

[303] Dr. B. Cutter's Statement in Smith's Address, page 47.

[304] Paige's History of Cambridge, page 414.

[305] See Thanksgiving Sermon in the Camp at Roxbury, Nov. 23, 1775, by Rev. Isaac Mansfield, Jr., Chaplain to Gen. Thomas's Regiment. Mr. Mansfield fully believed such plans to have been made and states that his information came so direct that he could not hesitate to accept it but did not feel at liberty to publish the name of his informer.

PERCY'S RETREAT THROUGH SOMERVILLE.

It was about half past six o'clock when Percy left Cambridge and entered the present city of Somerville, crossing the line at the corner of Beech and Elm Streets. Just about at the Somerville line the battle was hotly renewed. Near the corner of Beech Street, and on the easterly side of Elm Street, stood, and still stands (1912), the house of Timothy Tufts. Here Percy halted his army while his two field-pieces were dragged up the hill back of the Tufts house and discharged towards his pursuers, with the usual result of his cannonading--none killed. From out a grove a little way up the road, came a scattering fire of American sharpshooters and in consequence quite a number of Britons were killed. They fell in the road, just in front of the Tufts house, and a tablet there marks where they were buried.

1. Tufts. 2. Hunnewell. 3. Capen. 4. Kent. 5. Rand. 6. Tufts. 7. A pond. 8. Ireland. 9. Frost. 10. Choate. 11. Piper's Tavern. 12. Shed. 13. Miller Killed. 14. Miller's Home. 15. Revere Stopped by British. 16. Barber.]

Along Elm Street to Oak Street, and then continuing in Somerville Avenue, was their route, when the march was resumed. At the foot of Laurel Street on Somerville Avenue was then a little pond. Into that many weary Britons threw themselves--some for the refreshing plunge, others to quench their thirst.[306]

Their march was continued rapidly now, and in consequence the fatalities on the American side were slight, if any, on the road from the Tufts house through Bow Street, for that was a part of Battle Road then, to Union Square. From the latter place they continued through Washington Street, where the American sharpshooters had a grand opportunity to renew their havoc. Washington Street skirts along the westerly foot of Prospect Hill, the summit of which commands easily a stretch of highway for more than half a mile. Many were killed and wounded, some of the latter of whom were taken into the house then standing at the corner of Washington and Prospect Streets. Here Percy paused long enough to train his two field pieces up the road, and again with his usual lack of fatal results. But he checked the Americans.

A little way farther along on the northerly side of the road, stood the home of Samuel Shed. Percy's troops halted there, for the few moments necessary to turn his field pieces on his pursuers again. While there one of the Britons, ambitious for plunder, entered the Shed home, and finding there a bureau or highboy filled with household effects, commenced the work of selecting what he desired. It took him too long, for his companions passed on, and left him still too busy to notice their departure or the coming of the Americans. Bullets came through the window, one of which killed him, and three riddled the old bureau, spattering his blood over it, and on the floor.[307]

A few rods farther, the grassy slope of Prospect Hill descended in a southerly direction to Washington Street, then called the Cambridge Road. James Miller, about sixty-six years old, stood there awaiting the British. With him was a companion, and both fired with deadly effect, again and again, as the British marched by in the road below. They were discovered finally, and Miller's companion urged him to retreat.

"Come, Miller, we've got to go."

"I'm too old to run," replied Miller, and he remained only to be pierced with a volley of thirteen bullets.[308] His home was but a short distance down the road, and is still standing, next to the house on the easterly corner of Washington and Franklin Streets.

Miller was the only American killed in Somerville, as the British were in too full retreat to act very much on the aggressive. Their loss was considerable, however, and along the entire Battle Road, for the minute-men were exceedingly active in the rear and on the northerly side of the road, particularly.

The policy of property destruction was continued by Percy through Somerville. The limited time at his command did not allow of very thorough work, but he accomplished something. The estate of James Miller whom they killed on the slope of Prospect Hill, was damaged to the extent of £4, 12s. ($23.00). Ebenezer Shed lost his house, barn, and another building, valued at £140 ($700), and the damage to his crop, fences, etc., he estimated at £279, 3s. 2d. ($1395.79). The widow of Abigal Shed suffered to some extent in the same way.[309]

FOOTNOTES:

[306] Booth, in Somerville Journal. April, 1875.

[307] The old highboy was in existence in 1910 and treasured by a Somerville man, Francis Tufts, to whom it descended. I have seen it, with its blood stains and three bullet holes.

[308] E. C. Booth in an article on Somerville in Drake's History of Middlesex County, Vol. 2, page 312.

[309] J. F. Hunnewell, A Century of Town Life, page 153.

PERCY'S ARRIVAL IN CHARLESTOWN.

The sun set at seven o'clock on that nineteenth day of April, in 1775.[310] It never rose again on Middlesex County under kingly rule. Percy must have been in the vicinity of Union Square, Somerville, at that particular moment. The pauses for his artillery demonstration; the destruction of the few buildings; the killing of Miller; and the hurried march to the Charlestown line, did not occupy more than half an hour. It was just dark enough for the musket flashes to be seen across the marshes and across the waters of the Charles River to the Boston shore, where were grouped anxious watchers awaiting the news of battle.

Percy's thirty-six rounds for each of his soldiers had been about all expended. He describes the fire all around his marching column as "incessant," coming from behind stone walls, and from houses that he at first supposed had been evacuated.[311]

Charlestown Common, now Sullivan Square, was soon reached, and his column gladly wheeled to the right and marched up Bunker Hill. As they did so, a mile away, on top of Winter Hill, in Somerville, were just then arriving three hundred more Americans, who had marched from Salem under Col. Timothy Pickering. They were half an hour late to be particularly effective. No blame can be attached to them for that, for there were thousands of other minute-men, from distant towns who were also late, for April 19th, but who were in ample time to join the besieging army on April 20th.

At Charlestown Common, on the corner of the road to the Penny Ferry which crossed the Mystic River to Everett,[312] stood the home of William Barber, sea captain. His family consisted of his wife, Anne Hay, and their thirteen children. One of them, Edward, fourteen years old, sat at the window looking out upon the brilliant pageant of marching soldiers in the road. Many of the soldiers must have seen him, for he was not in hiding. One did, at all events, and with that thirst for killing some one, even though but a boy, shot him and saw him fall back into the room dead. Thus Edward Barber became Charlestown's martyr of April 19th.

While Charlestown did not officially contribute to the organized minute-men who were pursuing Percy, yet many individuals must have been in the American ranks on that day, for in the afternoon Gen. Gage wrote to James Russell of Charlestown that he had been informed people of that town had gone out armed to oppose His Majesty's Troops, and that if a single man more went out armed, the most disagreeable consequences might be expected. The people of Charlestown indeed had reason to be in terror, surrounded as they were by the soldiers, frenzied with their disastrous retreat from Lexington. The Selectmen arranged with Percy an armistice, agreeing that the troops should not be attacked, and that assistance should be given in getting them across the ferry to Boston, provided they would not attack the citizens or destroy their homes. This agreement seems to have been kept in good faith by both parties.[313] British officers walked up and down the streets, directing the women to keep within doors.

Percy's force remained on Bunker Hill until arrangements were completed for their trip across the Charles River to Boston. The wounded were sent over first, being conveyed by the boats of the _Somerset_ man-of-war, which still lay there, as it did when Revere crossed the night before.

Gen. Gage sent pickets from Boston, selected from the Tenth and Sixty-fourth Regiments to do guard duty in Charlestown.[314]

Gen. William Heath, as commander of the American forces, assembled the officers of the minute-men at the foot of Prospect Hill, in Somerville, for a Council of War. Then he ordered the formation of a guard to be posted near, and sentinels along the road now known as Washington Street in Somerville, and Cambridge Street in Charlestown, to Charlestown Neck. The remainder of the force was ordered back to Cambridge,[315] which place was to be for a while the Headquarters of the American Army.

FOOTNOTES:

[310] Low's Almanack, Boston, 1775.

[311] See his report to Gen. Gage.

[312] Everett was then a part of Malden.

[313] De Bernicre's Report.

[314] De Bernicre, and Diary of a British Officer in Boston in 1775.

[315] Heath's Memoirs.

AMERICAN KILLED, WOUNDED AND MISSING.

_Acton._ Killed: Capt. Isaac Davis, James Hayward, Abner Hosmer.
Wounded: Luther Blanchard and Ezekiel Davis.

_Arlington._ Killed: Jason Russell, Jason Winship, Jabez Wyman.
Wounded: Samuel Whittemore.

_Bedford._ Killed: Captain Jonathan Willson. Wounded: Job Lane.

_Beverly._ Killed: Reuben Kennison. Wounded: Nathaniel Cleaves,
William Dodge, 3rd, Samuel Woodbury.

_Billerica._ Wounded: Timothy Blanchard, John Nichols.

_Brookline._ Killed: Major Isaac Gardner.

_Cambridge._ Killed: John Hicks, William Marcy, Moses Richardson.
Missing: Samuel Frost, Seth Russell.

_Concord._ Wounded: Capt. Nathan Barrett, Jonas Brown, Capt.
Charles Miles, Capt. George Minot, Abel Prescott, Jr.

_Charlestown._ Killed: Edward Barber.

_Chelmsford._ Wounded: Oliver Barron, Aaron Chamberlain.

_Danvers._ Killed: Samuel Cook, Benjamin Daland, Ebenezer
Goldthwait, Henry Jacobs, Perley Putnam, George Southwick, Jotham
Webb. Wounded: Nathan Putnam, Dennison Wallis. Missing: Joseph
Bell.

_Dedham._ Killed: Elias Haven. Wounded: Israel Everett.

_Framingham._ Wounded: Daniel Hemenway.

_Lexington._ Killed: John Brown, Samuel Hadley, Caleb Harrington,
Jonathan Harrington, Jr., Jedediah Munroe, Robert Munroe, Isaac
Muzzy, Jonas Parker, John Raymond, Nathaniel Wyman. Wounded:
Francis Brown, Joseph Comee, Prince Estabrook, Nathaniel Farmer,
Ebenezer Munroe, Jr., Jedediah Munroe (killed later), Solomon
Pierce, John Robbins, John Tidd, Thomas Winship.

_Lincoln._ Wounded: Joshua Brooks.

_Lynn._ Killed: William Flint, Thomas Hadley, Abednego Ramsdell,
Daniel Townsend. Wounded: Joshua Felt, Timothy Monroe. Missing:
Josiah Breed.

_Medford._ Killed: William Polly, Henry Putnam.

_Needham._ Killed: Lieut. John Bacon, Nathaniel Chamberlain, Amos
Mills, Sergt. Elisha Mills, Jonathan Parker. Wounded: Eleazer
Kingsbury, ---- Tolman (son of Dr. Tolman).

_Newton._ Wounded: Noah Wiswell.

_Roxbury._ Missing: Elijah Seaver.

_Salem._ Killed: Benjamin Pierce.

_Somerville._ Killed: James Miller.

_Sudbury._ Killed: Josiah Haynes, Asahel Reed. Wounded: Joshua
Haynes, Jr.

_Stow._ Wounded: Daniel Conant.

_Watertown._ Killed: Joseph Coolidge.

_Woburn._ Killed: Asahel Porter, Daniel Thompson. Wounded: Jacob
Bacon, ---- Johnson, George Reed.

_Totals._ Killed: 49. Wounded: 41. Missing: 5. Total loss: 95.

BRITISH KILLED, WOUNDED, PRISONERS AND MISSING.[316]

"Return of the Commission, Non-Commission Officers, Drummers, Rank and File, killed and wounded, prisoners and missing, on the 19th of April, 1775.

"4th or King's Own Regiment, Lieutenant Knight, killed. Lieutenant Gould, wounded and prisoner. 3 Serjeants, 1 Drummer, wounded. 7 Rank and File, killed, 21 wounded, 8 missing.

"5th Regiment, Lieutenant Thomas Baker, Lieutenant William Cox, Lieutenant Thomas Hawkshaw, wounded. 5 Rank and File killed. 15 wounded, 1 missing.

"10th Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, Captain Lawrence Parsons, Lieutenant Wald. Kelly, Ensign Jeremiah Lester, wounded. 1 Rank and File killed, 13 wounded, 1 missing.

"18th Regiment. 1 Rank and File killed, 4 wounded, 1 missing.

"23rd Regiment. Lieutenant Colonel Bery Bernard, wounded. 4 Rank and File killed, 26 wounded, 6 missing.

"38th Regiment. Lieutenant William Sutherland, wounded. 1 Sergeant wounded. 4 Rank and File killed, 11 wounded.

"43rd Regiment. Lieutenant Hull, wounded and prisoner. 4 Rank and File killed, 5 wounded, 2 missing.

"47th Regiment. Lieutenant Donald McCloud, Ensign Henry Baldwin, wounded. 1 Sergeant wounded. 5 Rank and File killed, 21 wounded.

"52nd Regiment. 1 Sergeant missing. 3 Rank and File killed, 2 wounded.

"59th Regiment. 3 Rank and File killed, 3 wounded.

"Marines. Captain Souter, Second Lieutenant McDonald, wounded. Second Lieutenant Isaac Potter, missing. 1 Sergeant killed, 2 wounded, 1 missing. 1 Drummer killed. 25 Rank and File killed, 36 wounded, 5 missing.