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.
FOOTNOTES:
[43] Frothingham's Siege of Boston.
[44] Diary of a British Officer in Boston in 1775.
THE MESSENGERS OF ALARM.
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.
FOOTNOTES:
[45] Boston Sunday Globe, Apr. 19, 1908. Article on Lanterns Hung in
the Steeple.
[46] Goss, E. H., Life of Paul Revere.
[47] Full moon April 15. Moon rose on April 18, at 9.45 P. M. Low's
Almanack for 1775.
[48] She was an ancestor of John R. Adan, and lived in the
Ochterlong-Adan house at the corner of North and North Centre
Streets. Goss, Life of Paul Revere.
[49] Goss, Life of Paul Revere.
[50] Capt. John Pulling, Jr., was son of John and Martha Pulling.
Born in Boston, Feb. 18, 1737. Resided on corner of Ann and Cross
Streets in 1775. Died in 1787. Goss, Life of Paul Revere.
[51] In Somerville on Washington Street, near Crescent Street.
[52] Now Broadway and Main Street, in Somerville, and Main Street in
Medford.
[53] Bedford Road is now called Hancock Street and a newer road
to Bedford is called Bedford Street. The old parsonage is still
standing, though moved from its original location to a few rods
across the street.
[54] Revere's ride was 12-86/88 miles and Dawes's ride was 16-61/88
miles.
[55] Unfortunately no poet has ever thought the ride of William Dawes
a sufficiently thrilling one for a place in poetic literature. When
he left the farm house he rode into obscurity. For the incidents in
Lincoln that he took part in, I am indebted to his granddaughter,
Mrs. Mehitable May Goddard, as narrated in Henry W. Holland's book,
William Dawes and his Ride With Paul Revere.
[56] Tradition says that Deacon Larkin's horse died from the effects
of the strenuous ride of Revere, but it is probable that his second
rider may have been equally or more of a contributory cause, as
Revere's ride was not long and fast enough to kill a horse in sound
condition.
FLIGHT OF HANCOCK AND ADAMS.
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.
FOOTNOTES:
[57] Holland.
[58] It has sometimes been written that Hancock and Adams first went
to a little wooded hill southeasterly from the parsonage overlooking
Lexington Common, and perhaps half a mile away, and where they
remained concealed until after the British had passed, and that
Adams, looking down upon that first scene of bloodshed expressed
himself as above quoted. But I cannot reconcile that statement with
Revere's own version of the flight wherein he speaks of going with
them two miles and then returning for Hancock's trunk at the Buckman
Tavern, and which he succeeded in getting just before the British
arrived there at five o'clock. Thus Adams could not have witnessed
the opening scene on Lexington Common.
[59] Revere's Narrative. Otherwise quoted as "Don't fire unless fired
upon, but if they want war, let it begin here." Lexington Hist. Soc.
I, 46.
ALARMS IN OTHER PLACES.
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]