[1] “There, at about two in the morning, a peal from the belfry of the
meeting-house” called the inhabitants.—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch.
27, p. 290. “There, in the morning hours, men ... were hiding what was
left of cannon and military stores.”—_Idem_, ch. 28, p. 297.
[2] “The attempt had for several weeks been expected; ... in consequence,
the committee of safety removed a part of the public stores and secreted
the cannon.”—_Idem_, ch. 27, p. 288.
[3] “Red-coats,” a nickname given to the British soldiers, who wore red
coats.
[4] “About seven o’clock the British marched ... under the brilliant
sunshine into Concord.... The Americans ... therefore retreated ... till
... they gained high ground about a mile from ... the town.... There they
waited for aid.... Between nine and ten the number had increased to more
than four hundred ... from Bedford, ... Westford, ... from Littleton,
from Carlisle, and from Chelmsford.”—_Idem_, ch. 28, pp. 298, 299.
[5] “The Americans had as yet received only uncertain rumors of the
morning’s events at Lexington.”—_Idem_, p. 300.
[6] “The Americans saw before them ... British troops ... occupying their
town.”—_Idem._
[7] “Sixty barrels of flour were broken in pieces; ... five hundred
pounds of ball were thrown into a mill-pond. The liberty-pole and
several carriages for artillery were burned; and the court-house took
fire.”—_Idem._
[8] “At the sight of fire in the village, the impulse seized them ‘to
march into the town for its defence.’”—_Idem._
[9] This is literally true. See description of the circumstances.—_Idem._
[10] “James Hosmer urged to dislodge the enemy at the North Bridge....
Capt. Isaac Davis, of Acton, said: ‘I have not a man that is afraid to
go.’”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. i., pp. 526, 527.
[11] “Barrett, the colonel, ... then gave the order to advance, but
‘not to fire’ unless attacked.... Davis, looking at the men of Acton,
... cried: ‘March.’ His company ... led the way towards the bridge, he
himself at their head, and by his side Major John Buttrick, of Concord,
with John Robinson, ... lieutenant-colonel, ... but on this day a
volunteer without command.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 28, p. 302.
[12] “In double file with trailed arms.”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_,
vol. i., p. 527.
[13] “The British began to take up the planks.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol.
vii., ch. 28, p. 302.
[14] “Major Buttrick called on them to desist.”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field
Book_, vol. i., p. 190.
[15] “A volley followed, and Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer ... fell
dead.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 28, p. 303.
[16] “Buttrick ... cried aloud: ... ‘Fire, fellow-soldiers, for God’s
sake, fire!’... Two of the British fell.”—_Idem._
[17] “The British retreated in disorder toward the main body.”—_Idem._
[18] “In ... Concord, Smith ... showed by marches and counter-marches,
his uncertainty of purpose. At last ... he left the town, to retreat the
way he came.”—_Idem_, p. 304.
[19] “The minute-men and militia ... ran over the hills, ... placed
themselves in ambush, ... reinforced by men who were coming in from all
around, and ... the chase of the English began. Among the foremost were
the minute-men of Reading, ... of Billerica, ... the ... Sudbury company.
The men from Woburn came up in great numbers and well armed.”—_Idem_, pp.
304, 305.
[20] “Of the Americans, there were never more than four hundred
together at any one time; but, as some grew tired, others took their
places.”—_Idem._, p. 308. The first detachment of British troops numbered
“not less than eight hundred.”—_Idem_, ch. 27, p. 288.
[21] “Every piece of wood, every rock ... served as a lurking-place ...
‘the road was lined’ by an uninterrupted fire from behind stone walls and
trees.”—_Idem_, p. 305.
[22] “Two waggons, sent out to them with supplies, were waylaid and
captured by Payson, the minister of Chelsea. From far and wide minute-men
were gathering. The men of Dedham, ... from Essex, and the lower
towns, ... The company from Danvers, ... lost eight men.... Below West
Cambridge, the militia from Dorchester, Roxbury, and Brookline came
up.”—_Idem_, pp. 307-9.
[23] Lord Percy reinforced them with “about twelve hundred men.”—_Idem_,
ch. 28, p. 306.
[24] “West Cambridge, where Joseph Warren and William Heath, ... the
latter a provincial general officer, gave ... organization to the
resistance, and the fight grew sharper.”—_Idem_, p. 308.
[25] “The Americans pressed upon the rear of the fugitives, whose retreat
could not have been more precipitate ... had Pickering with his fine
regiment from Salem and Marblehead been alert enough to have intercepted
them in front ... they must have surrendered.”—_Idem_, p. 309.
[26] See _Lossing’s Field Book_, vol. 1, p. 528, etc.; also _Bancroft’s
U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 28, p. 308.
[27] According to Lossing, the British lost sixty-five killed, one
hundred and eighty wounded, and twenty-eight prisoners; the Americans
fifty-nine killed, thirty-one wounded, and fifty missing.—See
_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. 1, p. 530. “The loss of the British
in killed, wounded, and missing was two hundred and seventy-three....
Forty-nine Americans were killed, thirty-nine wounded, and five
missing.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 28, p. 309.
[28] “The guns of the ships of war ... saved them ... while they were
ferried across Charles River.”—_Idem._
[29] Mrs. Moulton extinguished the fire at the Concord
court-house.—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. i., p. 526.
[30] “Heedless of his own danger, Samuel Adams ... exclaimed: ‘Oh! what
a glorious morning is this!’ for he saw that his country’s independence
was ... hastening on.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 27, p. 296.
“Adams and Hancock, whose proscription had already been divulged ... were
compelled by persuasion to retire toward Woburn.”—_Idem_, p. 292.