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.
[Illustration: BATTLE ROAD THROUGH ARLINGTON AND CAMBRIDGE.
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]