Lieut.-Col. Smith's Retreat Through Concord

It was about twelve o'clock when Lieut.-Col. Smith gave the order to march. As the neighboring hills were covered with provincials,[222] he ordered out even larger bodies of flankers, and farther away from the main body in the highway.

The march along the Lexington road for a little more than a mile to Meriam's Corner was uneventful, but at that place, the struggle was renewed. There the men of Concord, Acton, Lincoln, and Bedford, came within rifle shot of the highway. They had passed along the Great Meadow, so-called, northerly from the range of hills near the highway, and reached Meriam's Corner at about the same time that Smith did.

New American forces joined the contest here also. Billerica sent Lieut. Crosby with twelve men; Capt. Edward Farmer, thirty-five men; and Capt. Jonathan Stickney, fifty-four men. Chelmsford sent Capt. Oliver Barron, sixty-one men, and Colonel Moses Parker's company, forty-three men. Framingham sent Capt. Simon Edget, seventy-six men; Capt. Jesse Emes, twenty-four men; Capt. Micajah Gleason, forty-nine men.[223] Reading sent Capt. John Bacheller, sixty-one men; Capt. Thomas Eaton, sixty-three men; Capt. John Flint, seventy-nine men, and Capt. John Walton, eighty-eight men. Some of the Reading companies, at least, marched from home under Major, afterwards Governor, John Brooks. Rev. Edmund Foster accompanied Capt. Bacheller's company, as a volunteer, and has left an interesting narrative of what he saw. Sudbury sent Capt. Nathaniel Cudworth, forty men; Capt. Aaron Haynes, forty men; Capt. Isaac Locker, thirty men; Capt. John Nixon, fifty-four men; Capt. Joseph Smith, fifty men, and Capt. Moses Stone, thirty-five men. Woburn sent Capt. Samuel Belknap, sixty-six men; Capt. Jonathan Fox, seventy-two men; and Capt. Joshua Walker, one hundred and seventeen men.

The American reinforcements coming in at Meriam's Corner numbered eleven hundred and forty-nine, making a total of fifteen hundred and seventy-seven enrolled men in the ranks of the Provincials if all at the North Bridge still remained in the fight.

There were many other minute-men anxious to be in the first struggle, but who lived too far away. Stow sent a company of militia belonging to Col. Prescott's regiment, commanded by Capt. William Whitcomb, numbering eighty-one men. They did not reach North Bridge until about noon, too late to be in the action there, but in ample time to be active in the pursuit. We are told that another company from Stow under Capt. Hapgood also joined, but I find no returns in the Massachusetts State Archives.

Three companies from Westford reached the North Bridge too late but were active afterwards. They were respectively under the command of Capt. Oliver Bates, thirty-six men; Capt. Jonathan Minot, thirty-six men; and Capt. Joshua Parker, forty-one men.

As the Reading men came along the road from Bedford, and nearing Meriam's Corner, they discovered the flank guard of the British just descending the ridge of hills. There were from eighty to one hundred red-coats, and they were marching slowly and deliberately down the hill, without music, and without words. The Americans were but a little over three hundred feet away. They halted and remained in silence watching their foes. The British flankers soon gained the main road, at the Corner, and passed along a few hundred feet towards Lincoln and Lexington, over the little bridge that spans Mill Brook. The Americans gathered around the Meriam house. As the British passed the bridge they wheeled suddenly and fired in volley, but too high, so no one was struck. Then the Americans returned the fire with better aim, and two Britons fell on the easterly side of the little stream, while several were wounded, among them Ensign Lester of the Tenth Regiment.[224]

Less than half a mile along that road, from Meriam's Corner, is the northerly corner of the town of Lincoln. Along on the edge of Lincoln, the highway continues; still in an easterly direction, for less than another half-mile, this stretch being on rather higher ground, the northerly side of the road in Concord, the southerly side in Lincoln. On the Lincoln side is the Brooks Tavern (still standing, 1912). This little elevation is called Hardy's Hill and is about sixty feet higher than Concord village.[225] Along the summit, the skirmishing was actively renewed, and continued down its easterly slope into Lincoln.

This ended the struggle in Concord, but her sons and the others were not mindful of the boundary line. To them it was more than the Battle of Concord; it was the Battle of April Nineteenth.

The patriots who died in Concord were Capt. Isaac Davis, and private Abner Hosmer, both of Acton. The wounded were Luther Blanchard and Ezekiel Davis also of Acton; Jonas Brown of Concord and Joshua Brooks of Lincoln. These were all at the North Bridge. Abel Prescott, Jr., of Concord was wounded while in the village. The British killed were two privates at North Bridge, and two at Meriam's Corner bridge. Their wounded were Lieut. Gould of the Fourth Regiment, Lieut. Kelly of the Tenth Regiment, Lieut. Sutherland of the Thirty-eighth, and Lieut. Hull of the Forty-third, and a number of privates; all at the North Bridge. At the little bridge near Meriam's Corner Ensign Lester of the Tenth Regiment and several privates were wounded.

 

Lieut.-Col. Smith's Retreat Through Lincoln

At the foot of the easterly slope of Hardy's Hill is a little stream crossing the road in a northerly direction. It is in Lincoln, and on most maps is put down as Mill Brook, the same that curves around and crosses the road near Meriam's Corner, rather more than a mile back. At Hardy's Hill it has sometimes been called Tanner's Brook.[226]

The British had now reached this point, and were marching rapidly, keeping their flankers out parallel to the highway.

Over the bridge and up another slight rise and then the road turns at a sharp angle to the left, northeasterly, to still higher ground about eighty feet higher than Concord village. On the northwesterly side of that road was a heavy growth of trees and on the opposite side a younger growth. On each side of the road, in those two forest growths, many American minute-men were posted.[227] They had anticipated the passing of the British, by hurrying across the Great Fields, so called, from the Bedford Road near Meriam's Corner. Among these were the Bedford company under Capt. Willson. This forest lined road was only about a half of a mile in extent before it turned again to the eastward.

When the foremost British reached this location the Americans poured in a deadly volley, that killed eight and wounded many others.

The contest was by no means one-sided. The attention of the Americans here, as all along the line to Charlestown, was too firmly fixed on the ranks of the enemy marching in the road. The British flankers were unnoticed and unthought of. Silently and rapidly they swung along, on their parallel lines, and very often closed in on those little tell-tale puffs of smoke that arose behind the trees and walls, and among the bowlders. Thus were many Americans surprised and slain--more, probably twice or thrice over, than were killed by the soldiers in the highway.

It was at this bloody angle of Battle Road, that Capt. Jonathan Willson of Bedford met his death. And so did Nathaniel Wyman, a native of Billerica, but a member of Capt. Parker's Company. Daniel Thompson, of Woburn, was also killed here. Another son of Bedford, Job Lane, was severely wounded and disabled for life.[228]

The next day five of the British killed were removed to the little cemetery, near Lincoln village several miles away, for burial. Not many years ago the Town of Lincoln caused to be placed over their common grave, a neat and appropriately lettered Memorial Stone.

After the northeasterly angle the road turns again easterly towards Lexington. Half or three quarters of a mile along are the two Hartwell houses, still standing (1912), on the northerly side of the road, and but a few hundred feet apart.

In the westerly, or first one, lived Sergt. John Hartwell, and in the easterly one, Sergt. Samuel Hartwell, both members of Capt. Smith's Lincoln Company. Both were absent on duty then, but the wife of Samuel was at home. She has furnished a vivid narrative of what she saw and experienced, that afternoon and the following morning. Her first alarm of the coming Britons was reports of musketry, seemingly in the vicinity of the Brooks Tavern. Then nearer and nearer, to the bloody angle. Then the hurrying red-coats themselves, anxious and wild in their demeanor, as they hurried along past her house. And how one, in his insane anger, fired into their garret, though he could see no foeman there.[229]

For another mile along the Lincoln road the British must have had some relief, for the country is comparatively level, the fields extending away smoothly on either side. It was not a complete lull in the battle, however, for an American bullet terminated the life of one Briton at least. The remains were uncovered a few years ago when the road builders were widening and grading anew the highway. He was re-interred over the bordering wall in the field to the southwest of the highway, a short distance westerly from Folly Pond.[230]

Then comes an easterly bend in the road, though still continuing nearly level, and for about a quarter of a mile, to the Nelson house.[231] Here lived Josiah Nelson, the Lincoln patriot, who, as we have written, alarmed his neighbors in Bedford the night before. Around it were many picturesque bowlders, large enough to shelter venturesome minute-men. And they were there. William Thorning, one of Capt. Smith's Lincoln company, had fired on the British from some hiding place in this neighborhood, and they had returned his fire and chased him into the woods. As he was thus escaping the main body, he met the ever vigilant flank-guard, and but narrowly escaped them also. Later as they passed along, he advanced to one of the Nelson bowlders and fired again, at the British, probably with fatal effect. Across the road from the house is a little knoll which is called "The Soldiers' Graves,"[232] even to this day, for therein sleep two British soldiers whose summons undoubtedly came from behind the Nelson bowlders.

About a sixth of a mile yet farther along, stood the home of Samuel Hastings, near the Lexington boundary line, yet within the town of Lincoln. Hastings was a member of Capt. Parker's Lexington Company,[233] and was present and in line for action when Pitcairn gave that first order to fire. As the British column swept along, one of the soldiers left the ranks and entered the house for plunder, unmindful of the dangers lurking in the adjoining woods and fields. As he emerged and stood on the door-stone, an American bullet met him, and he sank seriously wounded. There he lay, until the family returned later in the afternoon, and found him. Tenderly they carried him into the house, and ministered to his wants as best they could, but his wound was fatal. After his death they found some of their silver spoons in his pocket. He was buried a short distance westerly from the house.[234]

It was in Lincoln that Captain Parker's Lexington Company, numbering in all one hundred and forty men, again went into the action, probably not far from the Nelson and Hastings homes; and also the Cambridge Company under Capt. Samuel Thatcher, seventy-seven men, joined the pursuit from there.[235]

The American fatalities in Lincoln, as we have seen, were Capt. Jonathan Willson, of Bedford; Nathaniel Wyman of Billerica, who was a member of Capt. Parker's Lexington Company; and Daniel Thompson of Woburn. Job Lane of Bedford was slightly wounded.

The exact British loss in Lincoln cannot be stated. It is known that eight were killed at the Bloody Angle, and at least four more along the road from there to the Hastings house. Many were wounded but no statement or estimate has ever been given. The distance across that part of the town is about two miles, and the fighting severe for more than half the way.

 

Lieut.-Col. Smith's Retreat To Lexington Village

As the British forces again invaded Lexington soil undoubtedly they looked for vengeance from the hands of the little band that stood before them in the early morning. If they did anticipate as much they were not disappointed, for as we have stated Captain Parker and his men had come out into the edge of Lincoln to meet them.

Just over the line into Lexington, and a few rods north of the road, the land rises about fifty feet rather abruptly and with a ledgy face. This little summit commands a grand view up and down the road, for quite a distance, and therefore was an ideal location for the minute-men. Many were there awaiting the passing of the British, and when they were opposite, poured down on them a volley. At least one fell, an officer, for a few years ago a sword was taken up from the depth of about four feet, evidently from his grave. It was almost consumed with rust, but enough remaining to identify it as of British make and of that period. The reports of muskets, and little puffs of blue smoke betrayed the location of the marksmen, and the British at once returned the fire. Their aim was without effect. One of their bullets flattened against the ledge, and was also found by the present owner of the land, buried in the decayed leaves and refuse at the base of the ledge.[236]

Not more than a quarter of a mile farther along the road, stood Bull's Tavern,[237] in later times known as Viles Tavern. Nothing now remains of it but the cellar-hole and that is not so deep as once. The soldiers ransacked the house for food and drink, but left no recompense. A few rods more the road turns northeasterly around a bluff twenty feet high, perhaps. The struggle was renewed there furiously, for the British flankers could not manœuvre to protect the main column so well, and they suffered severely for half a mile or more towards Fiske Hill. Lieut.-Col. Smith was wounded by a bullet passing through his leg.[238] Major Pitcairn's horse becoming unmanageable through fright, threw him to the ground, and escaped into the American lines, where he was captured, together with equipments, including the Major's beautiful brace of pistols.[239]

Many British were wounded, and many killed, along this part of Battle Road. A little way from the bluff, over the wall on the opposite side of the road and in a southerly direction, are graves of two. No memorial stone marks the exact spot, and even the mounds, too, have long since dissolved away.[240]

The contending forces were now climbing Fiske Hill, about sixty feet higher than the bluff.[241] The road at that time passed higher up than at present, and near the summit fighting was more severe again. One Briton, at least, fell there and was buried in the little strip of ground between the old and new road. A heap of small stones once marked the spot, but they have disappeared.[242]

Down the easterly slope of Fiske Hill stands a modest little farmhouse, on the southerly side of the road. It was then the home of Benjamin Fiske. The entire family had fled, and the stragglers from the British columns entered for pillage. One in his greed stayed too long. Brave James Hayward of Acton, willing to fight though exempt from military service because of a partially dismembered foot, met him at the door, laden with booty. The Briton recognized in Hayward an enemy, and raising his gun, exclaimed,

"You are a dead man!"

"And so are you," responded Hayward as he raised his gun also. Both fired--both fell, the British instantly killed and Hayward mortally wounded, the ball piercing his bullet-pouch and entering his side. He lived eight hours and was conscious to the last. Calling for his powder horn and bullet-pouch, he remarked that he started with one pound of powder and forty bullets. A very little powder and two or three balls were all that were left.

"You see what I have been about," he exclaimed, calling attention to the slight remainder. "I am not sorry; I die willingly for my country."[243] And so Concord and Lexington, too, reverently treasure the memory of brave Acton men, whose life blood stained the soil of each.

Up the westerly slope of Concord Hill, an elevation named after her sister town, marched the British. Their ranks were broken and disordered. Many had been wounded, many had been killed, and many had fallen exhausted by the wayside. It was then about half past one o'clock, and they had marched rather more than twenty-three miles. At that time their ammunition began to give out, which added to their discomfiture. Their enemies seemed to be countless and everywhere. De Bernicre, the spy, who was with them, has left a vivid word picture of how anxious they were getting. "There could not be less than 5,000," he says in his account, "so they kept the road always lined, and a very hot fire on us without intermission.... We began to run rather than retreat in order." Lieut.-Col. Smith, says, in his report, that the firing on his troops, which began in Concord, "increased to a very great degree and continued without the intermission of five minutes, altogether for I believe upwards of eighteen miles."

Such was the impression on the minds of Smith, and his weary soldiers as they hurried along down Fiske Hill and up Concord Hill. If he entertained any idea of surrendering, though I have no evidence that he did, he must have realized the hopelessness of that, for no one seemed to be commanding the multitude before him, beside him, and behind him. They constituted a large circle of individuals, but made no attempt to stay his march or guide it in any way. They just followed along, seemingly intent only on hunting down the King's soldiers. Had some master mind been in charge of the patriot army, Smith's entire force could easily have been taken prisoners. But this was the first day of the war, and was only a contest between soldiers and citizens. And so Smith was allowed to march along.

Near the foot of the westerly slope of Concord Hill stood the home of Thaddeus Reed.[244] He was one of Captain Parker's Company. After the British passed along the Americans picked up three severely wounded soldiers and carried them into the house, where they all died. They were buried not far away, a few feet westerly of Wood St., on the northerly side of a stone wall still standing, and but a few rods from Battle Road. Their graves are unmarked and almost unknown.[245]

The British flankers were now so thoroughly tired out that they could hardly act in that capacity, and were of but little use as protectors of the main body. The severely wounded were abandoned to some extent. Many of the slightly wounded were carried along somehow, but they greatly impeded the march. Hopes of reinforcements were practically abandoned.[246]

And so they proceeded up the hill, the summit of which is fully forty feet higher than Fiske Hill and at least eighty feet higher than Lexington Common,[247] now in view less than a mile away. They must have been anxious to reach and pass that little field. Down the easterly slope of Concord Hill they almost ran, in more or less confusion and intense excitement. The Americans were actively keeping up their firing, and so more Britons were killed and wounded, three of the latter so severely that they were abandoned by their fellow soldiers, fell into the hands of the Americans and were taken into Buckman Tavern.[248] One subsequently died and was buried with the British slain in the old cemetery near by. Their graves are unmarked.[249]

The British did not stop to disperse any rebels on Lexington Common, for none were there to oppose their retreat, but passed off the southeasterly point, as the Americans came promptly after them on the northwesterly side. It was between two and three o'clock when they reached the site of the present Lexington High School, a trifle more than half a mile from the Common. There they met the long-wished for reinforcements, under Lord Percy, who opened his ranks, and enclosed them in his protecting care. Many sank immediately into the road where they halted, for their physical condition was pitiful in the extreme. One of the contemporary English historians, an officer in the British Army in America, has described them as lying prone on the ground, like dogs with protruding tongues.[250]

Percy then quickly wheeled about his two field pieces,[251] and opened fire up the road, towards the Common, where he could see the Americans were gathered. It was not fatal in its effect, but served to scatter them and do considerable damage to the meeting-house, one ball passing through it. Col. Loammi Baldwin, of Woburn, was one who had been standing in sight of the British, but he sought shelter behind the sacred edifice when he realized the enemy had opened fire with artillery. When a ball passed through the meeting-house and came out near his head he retreated northwesterly to the meadow.[252]

Not many of the Americans had been killed thus far, in the retreat of the British through Lexington. We have spoken of James Hayward of Acton, killed on the easterly side of Fiske Hill, and must add the name of Deacon Josiah Haynes of Capt. Nixon's Sudbury Company, who met his death somewhere along the road from Fiske Hill to Lexington Common.[253] He was a venerable man, in his seventy-ninth year,[254] and had marched from his home down to Concord village, up through Lincoln, and into Lexington. He was thoroughly in earnest in his work of driving the British back to Boston, and in an unguarded moment exposed himself to one of the King's riflemen.

On the Lexington part of Battle Road, many British were killed and many wounded. Among the latter were Lieut. Hawkshaw, Lieut. Cox, and Lieut. Baker, all of the Fifth Regiment; Ensign Baldwin and Lieut. McCloud, of the Forty-seventh Regiment; and Captain Souter and Lieut. Potter of the Marines.[255] I have previously mentioned the wounding of the commander, Lieut.-Col. Smith, on the westerly slope of Fiske Hill.

After the British had departed from Lexington immediate attention was given to the Lexington patriot dead who were slain on the Common in the early morning. From the field of battle they had been borne to the meeting-house, and there a simple service held over them, consisting of a prayer by Rev. Jonas Clarke. Then they were carried to the little churchyard, where one broad grave received them all. It had been a day of terror in Lexington, and some fear was felt that the enemy might return and wreak yet further vengeance, even upon the dead. So the grave was made in a remote part of the yard, near the woods, and the fresh mound of earth itself hidden beneath branches cut from the neighboring trees.[256] And not forgotten three score years later, their grateful fellow-townsmen removed their remains to the field where they died, and erected a monument to their memory.

FOOTNOTES:

[222] De Bernicre thought there could not have been less than five thousand rebels on the hills about Concord. His anxiety greatly multiplied the real number.

[223] Massachusetts Archives.

[224] Rev. Edmund Foster and Ensign De Bernicre.

[225] U. S. Geological Survey, 1886.

[226] Frothingham's Siege of Boston. Rev. Mr. Foster's Account.

[227] Foster's Account.

[228] Stearns, Jonathan F. Bedford Sesqui-Centennial, page 26. Ripley, page 21, seems to think that Lane was wounded a little farther along at the Hartwell barn.

[229] Beneath Old Roof Trees, by Abram English Brown, page 221.

[230] Statement of Mr. George Nelson, near-by resident, who saw the remains and pointed out to me in 1890 the locations of the old and new graves.

[231] Standing until a few years ago, although in a shattered condition. It had been abandoned as a habitation for many years. A conflagration completed its destruction, and now only the scar of its cellar-hole, and a pile of bricks that formed its mammoth chimney and hospitable hearth, mark where it stood.

[232] Statement to me in 1890, of Mr. Nelson, owner of the old ruins with the surrounding fields, and who pointed out "The Soldiers' Graves."

[233] See his deposition in Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass., but I do not find his name in any other place as a member.

[234] I am indebted to the great-grandchildren of Samuel Hastings, Cornelius and Charles A. Wellington, for this statement. They were residents of Lexington, but since both have died.

[235] See Massachusetts State Archives where twenty-eight miles is the distance charged for by most of his men.

[236] The sword and bullet were found by Mr. John Lannon about 1895, and from whom I obtained them. He was then as now owner of the farm. In removing a bowlder from his garden it was necessary to dig around it and on one side to a depth of about four feet. There he found the sword and a little of its rust-eaten scabbard, and quite likely in the grave by the side of its wearer. The bullet once round, now not half that, had struck the ledge rather than the American on its summit, and fell harmlessly at the base.

[237] Rev. Mr. Foster called it Benjamin's Tavern.

[238] De Bernicre's Account.

[239] The accoutrements were taken to Concord and later sold by auction. Capt. Nathan Barrett bought the pistols, beautiful ones, with elaborately chased silver mountings, with Pitcairn's name engraved thereon. Capt. Barrett offered them to Gen. Washington, who declined them, and then to Gen. Putnam, who carried them through the war. They were brought to Lexington on Centennial Day, April 19, 1875, for exhibition by Rev. S. I. Prime, D.D., on behalf of the owner, a widow of John P. Putnam, of Cambridge, N. Y., who was the grandson of Gen. Putnam and to whom they descended. Later Mrs. Putnam gave them to the town of Lexington and they are now on exhibition by the Lexington Historical Society (See Handbook of Lexington, 1891.) Rev. William Emerson of Concord, requested of the Third Provincial Congress, June 1, 1775, the use of a horse, probably Pitcairn's, which they granted specifying one captured from a regular by Isaac Kittredge, of Tewksbury, Capt. Nathan Barrett, and Henry Flint, of Concord, Mr. Emerson to pay a reasonable price for its keeping up to that time.

[240] Statement to me by the late Rev. Carlton A. Staples.

[241] U. S. Geological Survey, 1886.

[242] Statement of H. M. Houghton to the Rev. Carlton A. Staples, who so informed me. Mr. Houghton lived in that vicinity during his boyhood and furnished a roughly sketched plan to Mr. Staples.

[243] James Fletcher's History of Acton, in Hurd's History of Middlesex County.

[244] See Foster's Narrative.

[245] The exact spot was pointed out to me by the late Rev. Carlton A. Staples, Sept. 11, 1900, who received his information accompanied by a plan from H. M. Houghton.

[246] Diary of a British Officer in Boston in 1775, who was a member of the expedition.

[247] U. S. Geological Surveys, 1898, 1900.

[248] Foster's Account. E. P. Bliss gives the number as two, in Lexington Hist. Soc., I, 75.

[249] E. P. Bliss, in Lexington Historical Society, I, 75.

[250] C. Stedman. History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War. London, 1794.

[251] Percy's Report to Gen. Gage.

[252] The damage to the meeting-house by the cannon ball cost the Town of Lexington to repair £1 1s. Rev. C. A. Staples in Lexington Historical Society, I, 21.

[253] Ripley.

[254] Hudson's History of Sudbury.

[255] De Bernicre.

[256] "Father sent Jonas down to Grandfather Cook's to see who was killed and what their condition was and, in the afternoon, Father, Mother with me and the Baby went to the Meeting House, there was the eight men that was killed, seven of them my Father's parishoners, one from Woburn, all in Boxes made of four large Boards Nailed up and, after Pa had prayed, they were put into two horse carts and took into the grave yard where your Grandfather and some of the Neighbors had made a large trench, as near the Woods as possible and there we followed the bodies of those _first slain_, _Father_, _Mother_, I and the Baby, there I stood and there I saw them let down into the ground, it was a little rainey but we waited to see them covered up with the Clods and then for fear the British should find them, my Father thought some of the men had best Cut some pine or oak bows and spread them on their place of burial so that it looked like a heap of Brush."

I am indebted to the Lexington Historical Society, Proceedings, Vol. IV, page 92, for the above extract from a letter written by Miss Elizabeth Clarke, daughter of Rev. Jonas Clarke. It is dated from Lexington, April 19, 1841, and written to her niece, Mrs. Lucy Ware Allen, whose mother was Mary, another daughter of Rev. Mr. Clarke. The writer, Miss Elizabeth, was then in her seventy-eighth year. I am inclined to think that Asahel Porter, the Woburn man, was buried in his own town. Though killed near the Common he was not one of Capt. Parker's Company.