The following is a literal transcript of a Journal kept by a common
soldier named SAMUEL HAWS, of Wrentham, Massachusetts, who appears to
have been one of the _minute-men_, organized toward the close of 1774
and early in 1775. At that time there were about three thousand
British troops in Boston, under General Thomas Gage, who was also
governor of the colony of Massachusetts. He was popularly regarded as
an oppressor; and act after act of the British government, during a
year preceding, had convinced the American people that they must
choose the alternative to submit or fight. They resolved to fight, if
necessary. During the summer of 1774, the people commenced arming, and
training themselves in military exercises; the manufacture of arms and
gunpowder was encouraged; and throughout Massachusetts, in particular,
the people were enrolled in companies, and prepared to take up arms at
a moment's warning. From this circumstance they were called
"MINUTE-MEN."
With his strong force, Gage felt quite certain that he could suppress
the threatened insurrection, and keep the people quiet. Yet he felt
uneasy concerning the gathering of ammunition and stores by the
patriots at Concord, sixteen miles from Boston; and on the night of
the 18th of April, 1775, he sent a detachment of soldiers to seize
them. They proceeded by the way of Lexington, where they arrived
at dawn of the 19th. The expedition became known, and the country was
aroused. When the British approached Lexington, they were confronted
by about seventy minute-men. A skirmish ensued: eight patriots were
killed, and several were wounded. _That was the first bloodshed of the
Revolution._ The British then went on to Concord, to seize the stores,
where they were again confronted by minute-men. Indeed, they had been
annoyed all the way by them, as they fired from behind buildings,
stone-walls, and trees. They destroyed the stores, and in a skirmish
killed several more American citizens. The country was now thoroughly
aroused, and the minute-men hastened toward Lexington and Concord from
all directions. The British found it necessary to retreat, and nothing
saved the whole troop sent out the night before from utter
destruction, but a strong reinforcement under Lord Percy. The whole
body retreated hastily to Charlestown, and across to Boston, with a
loss, in killed and wounded, of two hundred and seventy-three men.
Intelligence of the tragedy soon spread over the country, and from the
hills and valleys of New England thousands of men, armed and unarmed,
hastened toward Boston, and formed that force (of which our Journalist
was one) that, for nine months, kept the British army prisoners upon
the peninsulas of Boston and Charlestown. By common consent,
Artemas Ward, a soldier of the French and Indian war, was made
commander-in-chief, and he performed the duties of that office with
zeal until he was superseded by Washington, early in July, 1775.