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Battles of Lexington and Concord
First military engagements of the American Revolutionary War (1775) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, were the first major military actions between the British Army and Patriot militias from British America's Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolutionary War. The opposing forces fought day-long running battles in Middlesex County in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge.
After the Boston Tea Party (1773), the British Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts (early 1774), including the restrictive Massachusetts Government Act. Patriot (Colonial) leaders in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, adopted the Suffolk Resolves in resistance to the acts. The leaders formed a Patriot provisional government, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and called for local militias to train for possible hostilities. The Provincial Congress effectively controlled the colony outside of Boston. On September 17, the First Continental Congress endorsed the Suffolk Resolves. In response, in February 1775, the British government declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion.
On April 18, 1775, about 700 British Regulars in Boston, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, received secret orders to capture and destroy colonial military supplies reportedly stored at Concord. Through effective intelligence gathering, Patriot leaders received word weeks before the British expedition that their supplies might be at risk and had moved most of them to other locations. On the night before the battles, several riders, including Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, warned area militias of the British plans and approaching British Army expeditionfrom Boston.
The first shots between Patriot militiamen and Regulars at Lexington were fired at sunrise on April 19. Eight militiamen were killed and ten wounded.[9] Only one British soldier was wounded. The outnumbered militia quickly fell back and the Regulars proceeded to Concord, where they split into companies to search for supplies. At the Old North Bridge in Concord, approximately 400 militiamen engaged 100 Regulars at about 11:00 am, resulting in casualties on both sides. The outnumbered Regulars fell back and rejoined the main body of British troops in Concord.
Then the British forces began a return march to Boston after a mostly unsuccessful search for military supplies. Meanwhile, more militiamen from neighboring towns arrived along the return route. The two forces exchanged gunfire at many places along the march throughout the day. Lieutenant Colonel Smith's troops were reinforced by Brigadier General Earl Percy's force at Lexington at a crucial time during their return. The combined British force of about 1,700 men returned to Boston under heavy fire and eventually reached the safety of Charlestown after incurring heavy losses. The militias then blockaded the narrow land accesses to Charlestown and Boston, starting the siege of Boston.
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Background
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The British Army occupied Boston in 1768. Royal Navy units and Royal Marines were added to enforce the Coercive Acts of 1774, as colonists named them (later renamed by historians the Intolerable Acts). The British Parliament enacted these measures to punish the Province of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party and other acts of protest.[10] In response, in the summer 1774, colonial leaders in Suffolk County, Massachusetts adopted the Suffolk Resolves declaring the Coercive Acts unconstitutional, recommending sanctions against Britain, urging Massachusetts residents to form their own government and to fight in its defense.[11] The First Continental Congress endorsed the Resolves on September 17, 1774.[12] General Thomas Gage, the military governor of Massachusetts, effectively dissolved the existing provincial government pursuant to the Massachusetts Government Act. Then, in line with the Suffolk Resolves, the colonists formed the Massachusetts Provincial Congress.[13]
Gage also was commander-in-chief of the roughly 3,000 British military men garrisoned in Boston. He lost control over Massachusetts outside of Boston due to the colonial resistance where the Patriot Whigs were a majority and the pro-British Tories were a minority. Gage planned to avoid open conflict with the Patriots by removing military supplies from Patriot militias outside Boston through use of small, secret, and rapid military strikes. In one such strike, the British seized supplies but the Patriots succeeded in hiding supplies from other searches in a series of nearly bloodless events known as the Powder Alarms.[14]
Colonial militias were formed from the beginning of colonial settlements to defend against Indian attacks. These forces also saw action in the French and Indian War between 1754 and 1763 while fighting alongside the British. Under New England colonies' laws, towns were required to form militia companies of all males 16 years of age and older (exemptions existed) and to ensure that the members were properly armed. Massachusetts militias operated under the jurisdiction of the provincial government but militia companies elected their own officers, as they did throughout New England.[15]
_-_Lieutenant_Colonel_Francis_Smith_(1723–1791),_10th_Regiment_of_Foot,_1764_-_NAM._1969-09-33_-_National_Army_Museum.jpg)
In a February 1775 address to King George III, both houses of Parliament declared that a state of rebellion existed in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Parliament reported that some of the Massachusetts subjects had encouraged unlawful combinations and engagements in other colonies. They noted that these rebellious actions were unnecessary because Parliament would pay attention to any "real grievances" of the colonists (without further explanation). Parliament requested the king to enforce obedience to the law and authority of Parliament and the king.[16]
British preparations
On April 14, 1775, Gage received instructions from Secretary of State William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, to disarm the rebels and to imprison their leaders.[17] Gage's decision to act promptly may have been influenced by the information he received on April 15 from an unidentified spy in the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, who told Gates that Congress was divided on the need for armed resistance. He also advised that the Congress had sent delegates to other New England colonies asking for cooperation in raising a New England army of 18,000 soldiers.[18]
On the morning of April 18, Gage ordered a mounted patrol of about 20 men under the command of Major Mitchell of the 5th Regiment of Foot into the surrounding country to intercept messengers who might be out on horseback.[19] This patrol behaved differently from past patrols out of Boston, staying out after dark and asking travelers about the location of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. This had the unintended effect of alarming many residents and increasing their preparedness. The Lexington militia, in particular, began to muster early that evening, hours before receiving word directly from Boston.[19]
British Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith received orders from Gage on the afternoon of April 18 that he was not to read until his troops were underway instructing him to conduct an expedition. Gage told Smith to proceed quickly and secretly from Boston to Concord, seize and destroy all military supplies there but to take care that soldiers not plunder or hurt private property. Gage decided not to issue written orders for the arrest of rebel leaders, fearing that might spark an uprising.[20]
American preparations
The Massachusetts militias had gathered a stock of weapons, powder, and supplies at Concord and further west in Worcester.[22] After a large contingent of Regulars alarmed the countryside by an expedition from Boston to Watertown on March 30, The Pennsylvania Journal, a newspaper in Philadelphia, reported speculation that the Regulars had been going to Concord, seat of the Provincial Congress and storage site for military stores and provisions. The story further speculated that British troops intended another expedition to Concord to seize the stocks soon.[23]
On March 30, 1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress resolved that any march out of Boston by Gage's command numbering 500 men or more, with artillery and baggage[24] ought to be considered an attempt to carry out the late acts of Parliament by force. The resolution stated the attempt ought to be opposed under the recent resolution of the First Continental Congress and that the Patriots should form a military force to act solely on the defensive.[25]
Patriot leaders except Paul Revere and Joseph Warren had left Boston by April 8. The Patriots had received word of Dartmouth's secret instructions to General Gage from sources in London before they reached Gage himself.[26] Adams and Hancock had fled Boston to Hancock–Clarke House, home of one of Hancock's relatives, Jonas Clarke, to avoid the immediate threat of arrest.[27]
Militia assemble
Between 9 and 10 pm on the night of April 18, 1775, Joseph Warren told Paul Revere and William Dawes that British troops were about to embark in boats from Boston bound for Cambridge and the road to Lexington and Concord. Warren's intelligence suggested that the Regulars' most likely objective would be the capture of Adams and Hancock. The Patriots initially did not worry about a possible march of Regulars to Concord, because the supplies at Concord were safe, but they were concerned that their leaders in Lexington were unaware of the potential danger that night. Revere, along with Warren and Dawes first sent a signal to Charlestown using lanterns hung in the steeple of Boston's Old North Church. They used the signal "one if by land, two if by sea", one lantern if the British were moving solely by land, two lanterns if they were starting with a shorter water transfer.[28] Revere and Dawes then went on Paul Revere's Midnight Ride to warn Adams and Hancock and to alert colonial militias in nearby towns to muster to oppose the expedition.[29]
The colonists knew that April 19 was the date of the planned expedition, despite Gage's efforts to keep the details hidden from all the British rank and file and even from the officers commanding the mission. Reasonable speculation suggested that the confidential source of this intelligence was Margaret Gage, General Gage's New Jersey-born wife, who had sympathies with the colonial cause and a friendly relationship with Warren.[30]
After Revere and Dawes arrived in Lexington, they discussed the situation with Hancock, Adams and militia leaders. They believed that the approaching British forces were too large solely to arrest two men and that Concord was their main target. Lexington men then dispatched riders to surrounding towns, while Revere and Dawes continued along the road to Concord, accompanied by Samuel Prescott. In Lincoln, the riders encountered a British patrol led by Major Mitchell. Revere was captured, Dawes was thrown from his horse, and only Prescott escaped to reach Concord.[31] More riders were sent to other towns from Concord.[32] Upon hearing Prescott's news, the townspeople of Concord decided to remove remaining stores and send them to other towns nearby.[28]
Revere, Dawes, and Prescott's ride triggered a flexible system of "alarm and muster" that the Patriots carefully developed months before because of the colonists' feeble response to the Powder Alarms. In addition to sending express riders with messages, the colonists used bells, drums, alarm guns, bonfires and a trumpet for rapid communication from town to town. They notified Patriots in dozens of eastern Massachusetts villages to muster their militias because over 500 Regulars were coming from Boston. This system was so effective that people in towns 25 miles (40 km) from Boston were aware of the British movements while they were still unloading their boats in Cambridge.[33] These early warnings were crucial for assembling a sufficient number of militiamen to inflict severe casualties on the British troops later in the day. Adams and Hancock were moved to safety, first to the town now called Burlington and later to Billerica.[34]
The total colonial force over the day included some 4,000 militiamen from local militia and minuteman companies.[35] Although the Provincial Congress had organized local companies into regiments and brigades with designated commanders, units turned out piecemeal throughout the day. Thirty towns from the surrounding area sent men into combat. By afternoon, many regimental commanders were present and acted in a coordinated manner. Several provincial generals were en route to the fighting during the day but not in a position to assert overall command. Brigadier General William Heath of Roxbury, Massachusetts, took command of a phase of the fighting toward the day's end.[36]
British advance
Around dusk on April 18, General Gage met with his senior officers at the Province House. He told them that Lord Dartmouth had ordered him to take action against the colonials. Gage informed them that the senior colonel of his regiments, Lieutenant Colonel Smith, would command an expedition, with Major John Pitcairn as his executive officer. The meeting adjourned around 8:30 pm. Then, Brigadier General Earl Percy mingled with townspeople on Boston Common. According to one account, the people there were discussing the unusual movement of British soldiers in town. When Percy questioned one man, the man said the Regulars would not succeed in capturing the cannon at Concord.[37][30] Percy quickly returned to Province House and told a stunned General Gage about this comment. Gage then issued orders to prevent messengers from leaving Boston. Revere and Dawes, however, had already left.[38]
The Regulars, around 700 infantrymen, were drawn from 11 of Gage's 13 occupying infantry regiments. Major Pitcairn commanded ten elite light infantry companies, and Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Bernard commanded 11 grenadier companies, under the overall command of Smith.[39]
The soldiers assigned to the expedition, including 350 from grenadier companies, were from the 4th (King's Own), 5th, 10th, 18th (Royal Irish), 23rd, 38th, 43rd, 47th, 52nd and 59th Regiments of Foot, and the 1st Battalion of His Majesty's Marine Forces. Protecting the grenadier companies were about 320 light infantry from the 4th, 5th, 10th, 23rd, 38th, 43rd, 47th, 52nd, and 59th Regiments, and the 1st Battalion of the Marines. Each company had its own lieutenant, but the majority of the captains commanding them were volunteers drawn from all the regiments in Boston and attached to the companies randomly. The lack of familiarity between commanders and company would cause problems during the battles.[40]
The British woke their men at 9 pm on the night of April 18 and assembled them on the water's edge at the western end of Boston Common by 10 pm. Colonel Smith was late in arriving. Confusion resulted at the staging area because there was no organized boat-loading operation. Naval barges (transport and amphibious landing craft) were packed so tightly that there was no room for men to sit down. The troops disembarked near Phipps Farm in Cambridge into waist-deep water at midnight. After a lengthy halt to unload their gear, the Regulars began their 17 miles (27 km) march to Concord at about 2 am.[39] During the wait they were given extra ammunition, cold salt pork, and hard sea biscuits. Because they would not be encamped, they carried no knapsacks. They carried their haversacks (food bags), canteens, muskets, and accoutrements and marched off in wet, muddy shoes and soggy uniforms. As they marched through Menotomy, sounds of the colonial alarms throughout the countryside caused the few officers aware of their mission to realize they had lost the strategically significant element of surprise.[41]
At about 3 am, Colonel Smith ordered Major Pitcairn ahead with six companies of light infantry to quick march to Concord. At about 4 am Smith made the wise but belated decision to send a messenger back to Boston asking for reinforcements.[42]
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Battles
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Lexington
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Although often styled a battle, the Lexington engagement was only a minor brush or skirmish.[43] As the Regulars' advance guard under Pitcairn entered Lexington at sunrise on April 19, 1775, about 80 Lexington militiamen emerged from Buckman Tavern and stood in ranks on Lexington Common watching them. Between 40 and 100 spectators watched from the side of the road.[1][44] The militiamen were part of Lexington's "training band", a local militia organization method dating back to the Puritans, and not a minuteman company.[45] The militia leader, Captain John Parker, a veteran of the French and Indian War, was at times difficult to hear because of his tuberculosis. After waiting most of the night with no sign of any British troops (and wondering if Paul Revere's warning was accurate), at about 4:15 a.m., Parker got confirmation.[46] Thaddeus Bowman, the last scout sent out by Parker, rode up and notified Parker that Regulars were coming in force and were close.[47]
Captain Parker positioned his company in parade-ground formation, on Lexington Common. They were in plain sight (not behind walls), but not blocking the road to Concord. The militia made a show of determination, but no effort to prevent the Regulars' march.[48] Parker was aware that his company was outmatched and did not intend to sacrifice his men for no purpose. He knew that most of the colonists' powder and military supplies at Concord had been hidden and no war had yet been declared. He also knew the British had gone on such expeditions before, found nothing, and marched back to Boston.[49]
Many years later, Isaiah Thomas, one of the militiamen, recalled Parker's words as those now engraved in stone at the battle site: "Stand your ground; don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."[50] According to Parker's sworn deposition after the battle, he concluded after consulting others that the militia gathered on the Common should not engage with the Regulars. When the Regulars approached, he ordered the militia to disperse and not fire. He testified that when the British appeared, they immediately rushed the militia and fired without provocation, killing eight of his men.[51][52]
British Marine Lieutenant Jesse Adair, leading the advance guard, decided to protect the British column's flank by first turning right and then leading the companies onto the Common itself, in a confused effort to surround and disarm the militia. Major Pitcairn arrived from the rear of the advance force. Pitcairn led his three companies to the left and halted. The remaining companies under Colonel Smith were further down the road from Boston.[53] Although Pitcairn probably ordered the Regulars to advance on the militiamen, at least one account states that the officer in the lead was Lieutenant William Sutherland, who ordered the Patriots to disperse and "lay down your arms, you damned rebels!" A different Patriot account stated that three British officers led the charge with the foremost giving an order to fire. Amid the confusion caused by considerable yelling, some Patriots did not hear Parker's raspy command to leave the field and left slowly as the British charged. None threw down their arms.[54]
First shot: Conflicting accounts
British and Patriot soldiers' accounts from Lexington, and analyses by later historians, differ on who fired the first shot and whether any definite conclusion can be made. Modern historian David Hackett Fischer wrote that both British commander, Major John Pitcairn, and Patriot commander, Captain John Parker, ordered their men to hold their fire yet a shot was fired from an unknown source.[55] Some witnesses (on each side) claimed that someone on the other side fired first; however, many more witnesses claimed to not know the side which fired the first shot.[56] Some men on both sides stated that the initial shot did not come from the men immediately facing each other at the Common.[57] Fischer has proposed the possibility of multiple near-simultaneous shots.[58] He also wrote that while a few militiamen thought the Regulars were only firing powder but not ball, that when they realized the Regulars were in fact firing ball, few if any of the militia managed to load weapons and return fire. The others ran for their lives.[59] Historian Mark Urban wrote that the British soldiers cheered and ran at the militiamen who lowered their weapons instead of moving in at an orderly walk to disarm them as Pitcairn ordered. According to Urban, one or two villagers opened fire and then, without orders from Pitcairn, one formed British company levelled its weapons and let fly a crashing volley.[60]
Some witnesses among the Regulars said that the first shot was fired by a colonial onlooker from behind a hedge or around the corner of a tavern. Lieutenant John Barker of the 4th Regiment of Foot, claimed that when his regiment came upon his estimate of 200 to 300 militiamen (rather than the 80) formed up in the middle of town, his regiment advanced without intending to attack the militia formation. He wrote that the militia fired two shots at the regiment. Then the regiment rushed upon the militia, fired and put them to flight.[61]
In a later deposition, militiamen Nathaniel Mulliken, Philip Russell and 32 others testified that at about 5:00 a.m. on April 19, after hearing their drum beat, the militiamen went to the parade ground and found large numbers of British troops marching toward them. They testified that some men of the militia company were still coming to the parade ground when the militia began to disperse and that the British fired on them while their backs were turned. The militiamen noted that a number of their men were instantly killed and wounded, but that not a gun was fired by any person in the militia company before the British fired on them and that the British continued firing until all militiamen had made their escape.[51]
British advance to Concord
After the shots were fired, the Regulars charged forward with bayonets. Eight Lexington men were killed, and ten were wounded. The only British casualty was a soldier who was wounded in the thigh. One wounded man, Prince Estabrook, was a Black slave serving in the militia.[62]
The companies under Pitcairn's command got beyond their officers' control in part because they were unaware of the actual purpose of the day's mission. They fired in different directions and prepared to enter private homes. Colonel Smith, who was just arriving with the remaining Regulars, heard the musket fire and rode forward to see the action. He found a drummer and ordered him to beat assembly. The grenadiers arrived on the scene shortly thereafter. Order was restored among the British soldiers, the light infantry was permitted to fire a victory volley and the column reformed and marched toward Concord.[63]
Concord
Upon receiving the alarm, militiamen of Concord and Lincoln mustered in Concord. They received reports of shots fired at Lexington. Initially, they were not sure whether to wait for reinforcements and to stay and defend the town or to move east and engage the British from superior terrain. A column of militia did march toward Lexington to meet the British, traveling about 1.5 miles (2 km) until they met the approaching column of Regulars. As the Regulars numbered about 700 and the militia only numbered about 250, the militia column turned around and marched back to Concord, about 500 yards (457 m) ahead of the Regulars.[64] Then the militia retreated to a ridge overlooking the town and their officers discussed what to do next. They decided to be cautious. Colonel James Barrett withdrew from the center of town and led the men across the Old North Bridge to a hill about a mile north, where they watched the British movements and activities in the town center. This step proved advantageous, as the militia's ranks grew before becoming engaged while minuteman companies arrived from the western towns.[65]
Search for militia supplies
When the British troops arrived in Concord, Colonel Smith divided them to carry out Gage's orders. The 10th Regiment's company of grenadiers secured South Bridge under Captain Mundy Pole, while about 100 men from seven companies of light infantry under Captain Parsons secured the North Bridge. There they were visible across the cleared fields to the assembling militia companies. Captain Parsons took four companies from the 5th, 23rd, 38th, and 52nd Regiments up the road 2 miles (3.2 km) beyond the North Bridge to search Barrett's Farm, where intelligence indicated supplies would be found.[66] Two companies from the 4th and 10th Regiments were stationed to guard their return route, and one company from the 43rd remained to guard the bridge itself. These companies, under the relatively inexperienced command of Captain Walter Laurie, were significantly outnumbered by the 400-plus militiamen and the concerned Captain Laurie sent a messenger to Smith requesting reinforcements.[67]
Using detailed information provided by Loyalist spies, the grenadier companies searched the small town for military supplies. When they arrived at Ephraim Jones's tavern, by the jail on the South Bridge road, they found the door barred shut, and Jones refused them entry. According to reports provided by local Loyalists, Pitcairn knew cannon had been buried on the property. Jones was ordered at gunpoint to show where the guns were buried. These turned out to be three massive pieces, firing 24-pound shot, that were much too heavy to use defensively, but very effective against fortifications.[68] The grenadiers smashed the trunnions of these three guns so they could not be mounted. They also burned some gun carriages found in the village meetinghouse. When the fire spread to the meetinghouse itself, local resident Martha Moulton persuaded the soldiers to help in a bucket brigade to save the building.[69] During the search for Patriot provisions, most of the barrels of confiscated flour were thrown into a local millpond, rather than smashed. Also thrown in the millpond were 550 pounds of musket balls. Only the damage done to the cannon was significant. All of the shot and much of the food was recovered; the flour on the edges of the barrels thrown into the pond had effectively caulked the barrels, preserving the rest of the flour. The Regulars were generally scrupulous in their treatment of the locals during the search, including paying for food and drink. This excessive politeness was used to advantage by the locals, who were able to misdirect searches from several smaller caches of militia supplies.[70]
Barrett's Farm had been an arsenal weeks before, but few weapons remained now. According to family legend, these were quickly buried in furrows to look like a crop had been planted. The troops sent there did not find any supplies of consequence.[71]
North Bridge
Colonel Barrett's troops saw seeing smoke rising from the village square as the British burned cannon carriages. Seeing only a few light infantry companies directly below them, Barrett ordered the men to march back toward the town from their vantage point on Punkatasset Hill to a lower, closer flat hilltop about 300 yards (274 m) from the Old North Bridge. As the militia advanced, the two British companies from the 4th and 10th Regiments that held the position near the road retreated to the bridge and yielded the hill to Barrett's men.[72]
Five full companies of minutemen and five more of militia from Acton, Concord, Bedford and Lincoln occupied the hill. At least 400 militiamen confronted Captain Laurie's light infantry companies, totaling 90–95 men. Barrett ordered his men to form one long line two abreast on the highway leading down to the bridge. Then, while overlooking North Bridge from the top of the hill, Barrett, Lt. Col. John Robinson of Westford[73] and the other captains discussed advancing on the bridge. Barrett asked Captain Isaac Davis, who commanded a company of minutemen from Acton, if his company would be willing to lead the advance. Davis responded, "I'm not afraid to go, and I haven't a man that's afraid to go."[74][75]
Barrett told the men to load their weapons but not to fire unless fired upon, and then ordered them to advance. Laurie ordered the British companies guarding the bridge to retreat across it. One officer then tried to pull up the loose planks of the bridge, but militia Major Buttrick yelled at the Regulars to stop harming the bridge. The minutemen and militia from Concord, Acton, Lincoln and a handful of Westford minutemen, advanced in column formation, two by two, led by Major Buttrick, Lt. Col. Robinson,[76] then Capt. Davis,[77] on the light infantry, keeping to the road, since it was surrounded by the spring floodwaters of the Concord River.[78]
Not having received reinforcements, Captain Laurie ordered his men to form positions for "street firing" behind the bridge in a column running perpendicular to the river. This formation was appropriate for sending a large volume of fire into a narrow alley between the buildings of a city, but not for an open path behind a bridge. Confusion reigned as Regulars retreating over the bridge tried to form up in the street-firing position of the other troops. Lieutenant Sutherland, who was in the rear of the formation, saw Laurie's mistake and ordered flankers to be sent out. But as he was from a company different from the men under his command, only three soldiers obeyed him. The remainder tried as best they could to follow the orders of the superior officer.[79]
A shot rang out. According to Captain Laurie's report to his commander after the fight, it was likely a warning shot fired by a panicked, exhausted British soldier from the 43rd. Two other Regulars then fired immediately after that, shots splashing in the river, and then the narrow group up front, possibly thinking the order to fire had been given, fired a ragged volley before Laurie could stop them.[80]
Two of the Acton Minutemen at the head of the line marching to the bridge, were hit and killed instantly. Four more men were wounded. Major Buttrick then yelled to the militia, "Fire, for God's sake, fellow soldiers, fire!"[81] At this point the lines were separated by the Concord River and the bridge but were only 50 yards (46 m) apart. The few front rows of colonists, bound by the road and blocked from forming a line of fire, managed to fire over each other's heads and shoulders at the Regulars massed across the bridge. Four of the eight British officers and sergeants, who were leading from the front of their troops, were wounded by the volley of musket fire. At least three privates from the 4th were killed or mortally wounded, and nine more were wounded.[82]
The British at the bridge found themselves both outnumbered and outmaneuvered. Lacking effective leadership and terrified at the superior numbers of the enemy, with their spirit broken, and likely not having experienced combat before, they abandoned their wounded. They then fled to the safety of grenadier companies coming from the town center. This isolated Captain Parsons and the companies searching for arms at Barrett's Farm.[81]
After the fight at the bridge
At this stage of the fighting at Concord, some colonists advanced; more retreated; some went home to see to the safety of their homes and families. Colonel Barrett eventually began to recover control. He moved some of the militia back to the hilltop 300 yards (274 m) away and sent Major Buttrick with others across the bridge to a defensive position on a hill behind a stone wall.[83]
Colonel Smith heard the exchange of fire from his position in the town moments after he received the request for reinforcements from Laurie. He quickly assembled two companies of grenadiers to lead toward the North Bridge himself. As these troops marched, they met the shattered men of the three light infantry companies running towards them. Smith was concerned about the four companies that had been at Barrett's since their route to town was now unprotected. When he saw the minutemen in the distance behind their wall, he halted his two companies and moved forward with only his officers to take a closer look. One of the minutemen behind that wall observed, "If we had fired, I believe we could have killed almost every officer there was in the front, but we had no orders to fire and there wasn't a gun fired."[84]
Then, the detachment of Regulars sent to Barrett's farm marched back from their fruitless search of that area. They passed through the now mostly-deserted battlefield and saw dead and wounded comrades lying on the bridge. There was one who looked to them as if he had been scalped, which angered and shocked the British soldiers. They crossed the bridge and returned to the town by 11:30 a.m., under the watchful eyes of the colonists, who continued to maintain defensive positions. The Regulars continued to search for and destroy colonial military supplies in the town, ate lunch, reassembled for marching, and left Concord after noon. This delay in departure gave colonial militiamen from outlying towns additional time to reach the road back to Boston.[85]
Return march
Concord to Lexington
Colonel Smith sent flankers to follow a ridge and protect his forces from the roughly 1,000 colonials now in the field as the British marched east out of Concord. This ridge ended near Meriam's Corner, a crossroads about a mile (2 km) outside the village of Concord. There the main road came to a bridge across Elm Brook, a tributary of Mill Brook. To cross the narrow bridge, the British had to pull the flankers back into the main column and close ranks to a mere three soldiers abreast. Colonial militia companies arriving from the north and east had converged at this point and held a clear numerical advantage over the Regulars.[86] As the last of the British column marched over the narrow bridge, the British rear guard wheeled and fired a volley at the colonial militiamen, who had been firing irregularly and ineffectively from a distance but now had closed to within musket range.[87] The colonists returned fire, this time with deadly effect. Two Regulars were killed and perhaps six wounded, with no colonial casualties. Smith sent out his flanking troops again after crossing the small bridge.[88]
On Brooks Hill (also known as Hardy's Hill) about 1 mile (1.6 km) past Meriam's Corner, nearly 500 militiamen had assembled to the south of the road, awaiting an opportunity to fire down upon the British column.[89] Smith's leading forces charged up the hill to drive them off, but the colonists did not withdraw, inflicting significant casualties on the attackers. Smith withdrew his men from Brooks Hill, and the column continued on to another small bridge into Lincoln. There, at Brooks Tavern, more militia companies intensified the attack from the north side of the road.[90]
The Regulars soon reached a point in the road, now referred to as the "Bloody Angle", where the road rises and curves sharply to the left through a lightly wooded area.[91] At this place, the militia company from Woburn had positioned themselves on the southeast side of the bend in the road in a rocky, lightly wooded field. Additional militia flowing parallel to the road from the engagement at Meriam's Corner positioned themselves on the northwest side of the road, catching the British in a crossfire. Other militia companies on the road closed from behind to attack. Some 500 yards (460 m) further along, the road took another sharp curve, this time to the right, and again the British column was caught by another large force of militiamen firing from both sides. In passing through these two sharp curves, the British force lost thirty soldiers killed or wounded. Four colonial militia were also killed, including three officers. The British soldiers escaped by breaking into a trot, a pace that the colonials could not maintain through the woods and swampy terrain. Colonial forces on the road itself behind the British were too densely packed and disorganized to mount more than a harassing attack from the rear.[92]
As militia forces from other towns arrived, the colonial forces rose to about 2,000 men. The road then straightened to the east, with cleared fields and orchards along the sides. Colonel Smith sent out flankers, who succeeded in trapping some militia from behind and inflicting casualties. British casualties also mounted from these engagements and from persistent long-range fire from the militiamen. The exhausted British now were running out of ammunition.[93]
When the British column neared the boundary between Lincoln and Lexington, it encountered another ambush set by Captain John Parker's Lexington militiamen, including some bandaged from their earlier encounter, from a hill overlooking the road. Colonel Smith was wounded in the thigh and knocked from his horse during this encounter. Major John Pitcairn assumed effective command of the British column and sent light infantry companies up the hill to clear the militia forces.[94]
The light infantry cleared two additional hills as the column continued east—"The Bluff" and "Fiske Hill"— and took still more casualties from ambushes set by fresh militia companies joining the battle. In one of the musket volleys from the colonial soldiers, Major Pitcairn's horse bolted in fright, throwing Pitcairn to the ground and injuring his arm.[95] Now both principal leaders of the expedition were injured or unhorsed. Their men were tired, thirsty, and exhausting their ammunition. A few surrendered or were captured; some now broke formation and ran forward toward Lexington. A British officer wrote that officers got to the front, presented bayonets and told men they would die if they advanced. At this, the men formed up under heavy fire.[96]
Only one British officer remained uninjured among the three companies at the head of the British column as it approached Lexington Center. He understood the column's perilous situation, noting that few men had ammunition left and men were so fatigued that flankers could not be kept out.[97] He then heard cheering further ahead. A full brigade, about 1,000 men with artillery under the command of Earl Percy, had arrived to rescue them. It was about 2:30 p.m., and the British column had now been on the march since 2 o'clock in the morning.[98]
In their accounts afterward, British officers and soldiers alike noted their frustration that the colonial militiamen fired at them from behind trees and stone walls, rather than confronting them in large, linear formations in the style of European warfare.[99] Despite this description being fostered in myth, from the beginning at the North Bridge and throughout the British retreat, the colonial militias repeatedly operated as coordinated companies, even when dispersed to take advantage of cover. Reflecting on the British experience that day, Earl Percy understood the significance of the American tactics when he wrote that the "Rebels" had attacked in a very scatter and irregular manner but with perseverance and resolution. He wrote that they should not look at them as an irregular mob because they knew what they were doing as they had been employed as Rangers against the Indians and Canadians. He noted that the country was covered with woods and hills and was very advantageous to their method of fighting. [100]
Percy's rescue
General Gage had anticipated that Colonel Smith's expedition might require reinforcement, so Gage drafted orders for reinforcing units to assemble in Boston at 4 a.m. But in his obsession for secrecy, Gage had sent only one copy of the orders to the adjutant of the 1st Brigade, whose servant then left the envelope on a table. Also at about 4 a.m., the British column was within three miles of Lexington, and Smith now realized that all element of surprise had been lost and that alarm was spreading throughout the countryside. So he sent a rider back to Boston with a request for reinforcements. At about 5 a.m., the rider reached Boston, and the 1st Brigade was ordered to assemble: the line infantry companies of the 4th, 23rd, and 47th Regiments, a battalion of Royal Marines, two 6-pounder guns from 4th Battalion, Royal Artillery and battalion companies from 7 regular companies, all under the command of Brigadier General His Grace Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland.[35] Once again only one copy of the orders was sent to each commander, and the order for the Royal Marines was delivered to the desk of Major John Pitcairn, who was already on the Lexington Common with Smith's column. After these delays, Percy's brigade, about 1,000 strong, left Boston at about 8:45 a.m., headed toward Lexington.[101]
Percy took the land route across Boston Neck and over the Great Bridge, which some quick-thinking colonists had stripped of its planking to delay the British.[102] His men then came upon an absent-minded tutor at Harvard College and asked him which road would take them to Lexington. The Harvard man, apparently oblivious to the reality of what was happening around him, showed him the proper road without thinking.[103] Percy's troops arrived in Lexington at about 2:00 p.m. They could hear distant gunfire as they set up their cannon and deployed lines of Regulars on high ground with commanding views of the town. Colonel Smith's men approached like a fleeing mob with colonial militia in close formation pursuing them. Percy ordered his artillery to open fire at extreme range, dispersing the colonial militiamen. Smith's men collapsed with exhaustion when they reached the safety of Percy's lines.[104]
Against the advice of his Master of Ordnance, Percy had left Boston without spare ammunition for his men or for the two artillery pieces. Percy thought the extra wagons would slow him down. Each man in Percy's brigade had only 36 rounds, and each artillery piece was supplied with only a few rounds carried in side-boxes.[105] After Percy had left the city, Gage directed two ammunition wagons guarded by one officer and thirteen men to follow. This convoy was intercepted by a small party of older, veteran militiamen still on the "alarm list", who could not join their militia companies because they were well over 60 years of age. These men rose up in ambush and demanded the surrender of the wagons, but the Regulars ignored them and drove their horses on. The old men opened fire, shot the lead horses, killed two sergeants, and wounded the officer. The British survivors ran, and six of them threw their weapons into a pond before they surrendered.[106]
Lexington to Menotomy
Percy assumed control of the combined forces of about 1,700 men and let them rest, eat, drink, and have their wounds tended at field headquarters (Munroe Tavern) before resuming the march. The British set out from Lexington at about 3:30 p.m., in a formation emphasizing defense along the sides and rear of the column.[107] Wounded Regulars rode on the cannon and were forced to hop off when they were fired at by militiamen. Percy's men were often surrounded, but they had the tactical advantage of interior lines. Percy could shift his units more easily to where they were needed, while the colonial militiamen were required to move around the outside of his formation. Percy placed Smith's men in the middle of the column, while the 23rd Regiment's line companies made up the column's rearguard. Because of information provided by Smith and Pitcairn about how the Americans were attacking, Percy ordered the rear guard to be rotated every mile or so, to allow some of his troops to rest briefly. Flanking companies were sent to both sides of the road, and a powerful force of Marines acted as the vanguard to clear the road ahead.[107]
During the British respite at Lexington, Brigadier General William Heath arrived and took command of the Patriot militia. Earlier in the day, he had traveled to Watertown to discuss tactics with Joseph Warren, who had left Boston that morning, and other members of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety. Heath and Warren reacted to Percy's artillery and flankers by ordering the militiamen to avoid close formations that would attract cannon fire. Instead, they surrounded Percy's marching square with a moving ring of skirmishers at a distance to inflict maximum casualties at minimum risk.[108]
A few mounted militiamen would dismount on the road, fire muskets at the approaching Regulars, then remount and gallop ahead to repeat the tactic. The unmounted militia would often fire from long range, hoping to hit British soldiers on the road without taking fire. The effective combat range of both British and colonial muskets was about 50 yards (46 m). Colonial infantrymen attacked the British column's flankers. When the column moved out of range, the infantrymen would move around and forward to re-engage the column later. Heath sent messengers to arriving militia units, directing them to places along the road to engage the Regulars. Some towns sent supply wagons with food, arms and ammunition to the militia. Heath and Warren themselves led skirmishers in small actions during the battle. Fischer noted that effective leadership overall probably made the greatest contribution to tactical success.[108]
Fighting grew more intense as Percy's forces moved into Menotomy. Fresh militiamen poured gunfire into British ranks while individual homeowners fought from their own property. Marksmen concealed in some homes, forced the British to clear their path house by house. A total of 11 colonial combatants, plus the barely ambulatory owner Jason Russell, were killed in the Jason Russell House or on its grounds, as were two British attackers.[109]
During this fighting, Percy and Smith lost control of their men. Many junior officers in the flank parties had difficulty stopping their exhausted, enraged men from killing everyone they found inside these buildings.[110] A few Regulars committed atrocities such as killing two drunk men at Coopers Tavern to repay for the supposed scalping at the North Bridge and for their own casualties from an often unseen enemy.[111][112] Although colonists later exaggerated many of the accounts of British ransacking and burnings for propaganda value (and to get financial compensation from the colonial government), taverns along the road definitely were ransacked and liquor stolen by the troops. Many houses were plundered by British soldiers. Some who stayed too long were killed by concealed minutemen.[111][112]
Percy had learned from Pitcairn and other wounded officers that the militiamen used stone walls, trees and buildings to hide behind and shoot at the British column in these more thickly settled towns closer to Boston. He ordered flank companies to clear colonial militiamen out of such places.[113] Far more blood was shed in Menotomy and Cambridge than elsewhere that day. The colonists lost 25 men killed and nine wounded there, and the British lost 40 killed and 80 wounded, with the 47th Foot and the Marines suffering the highest casualties. About half the day's fatalities for each side were suffered at those places.[114]
Menotomy to Charlestown
The British troops crossed the Menotomy River (today known as Alewife Brook) into Cambridge, and the fight grew more intense. Fresh militia arrived in close array instead of in a scattered formation, and Percy used his two artillery pieces and flankers at a crossroads called Watson's Corner to inflict heavy damage on them.[115]
Earlier in the day, Heath had ordered the Great Bridge to be dismantled. Percy's brigade was about to approach the broken-down bridge and a riverbank filled with militia when Percy directed his troops down a narrow track (now Beech Street, near present-day Porter Square) and onto the road to Charlestown. The militia (now numbering about 4,000) were unprepared for this movement, and the circle of fire was broken. An American force moved to occupy Prospect Hill (in modern-day Somerville), which dominated the road, but Percy moved his cannon to the front and dispersed them with his last rounds of ammunition.[113]
A large militia force arrived from Salem and Marblehead, which might have cut off Percy's route to Charlestown. These men halted on nearby Winter Hill, allowing the British to escape. The commander of this force, Colonel Timothy Pickering, was accused of permitting the British to pass because he hoped to avoid war by preventing their total defeat. Pickering later claimed that he had stopped on Heath's orders, but Heath denied this.[113] Near dark, Pitcairn's Marines defended a final attack on Percy's rear as they entered Charlestown. The Regulars took up strong positions on the hills of Charlestown. Some of them had been without sleep for two days and had marched 40 miles (64 km) in 21 hours, eight hours of which had been spent under fire. But now they held high ground protected by heavy guns from HMS Somerset. Gage quickly sent over line companies of two fresh regiments—the 10th and 64th—to occupy the high ground in Charlestown and build fortifications. The fortifications were never completed and would later be a starting point for the militia works built in June before the Battle of Bunker Hill. General Heath studied the British position of and decided to withdraw the militia to Cambridge.[116]
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Aftermath
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Perspective
The British expedition was a failure as the resulting battles and aftermath caused the fighting they were intended to prevent, while few weapons were seized.[117]
In the morning, Boston was surrounded by a large militia army, numbering over 15,000 men from throughout New England.[118] General Artemas Ward, arrived on June 20th and replaced William Heath in command.[119] The militia then formed a siege line extending from Chelsea, around the peninsulas of Boston and Charlestown, to Roxbury, effectively surrounding Boston on three sides. During the following days, the colonial forces grew larger, as militias from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut arrived on the scene.[120] The Second Continental Congress adopted these men into the beginnings of the Continental Army. Even after this open warfare had started, Gage refused to impose martial law in Boston. He persuaded the town's selectmen to surrender all private weapons in return for promising that any inhabitant could leave town.[121]
A war for British political opinion followed the battle. Within four days, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress had collected scores of sworn testimonies from militiamen and from British prisoners. When word leaked out a week after the battle that Gage was sending his official description of events to London, the Provincial Congress sent a packet of these detailed depositions, signed by over 100 participants in the events, on a faster ship. The documents were presented to a sympathetic official and printed by the London newspapers two weeks before Gage's report arrived.[122][123] Gage's official report was too vague to influence opinions. George Germain, no friend of the colonists, wrote, "the Bostonians are in the right to make the King's troops the aggressors and claim a victory".[124] Politicians in London tended to blame Gage for the conflict instead of their own policies and instructions. The British troops in Boston variously blamed General Gage and Colonel Smith for the failures at Lexington and Concord.[125]
The day after the battle, John Adams left his home in Braintree to ride along the battlefields. He became convinced that "the Die was cast, the Rubicon crossed".[126] Thomas Paine in Philadelphia had previously thought of the argument between the colonies and the Home Country as "a kind of law-suit", but after news of the battle reached him, he "rejected the hardened, sullen-tempered Pharaoh of England forever".[127] George Washington received the news at Mount Vernon and wrote to a friend, "the once-happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be drenched in blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?"[127]
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Legacy
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It was important to the early American government that an image of British fault and American innocence for this first battle of the war be maintained. Reportedly unfavorable activities and depositions were not published and were returned to the participants (including Paul Revere). Paintings portrayed the Lexington fight as an unjustified slaughter.[128]
The issue of which side was to blame for the first shot grew during the early nineteenth century. Older participants' testimony in later life all said the British fired first at Lexington whereas many said they were unsure who fired first at the time. The "Battle" took on an almost mythical quality in the American consciousness. A complete shift occurred, and the Patriots were portrayed as actively fighting for their cause, rather than as suffering innocents. Later paintings of the Lexington skirmish began to portray the militia standing and fighting back in defiance.[129]
Ralph Waldo Emerson immortalized the events at the North Bridge in his 1837 "Concord Hymn".[130] For much of the 19th century it was a means by which Americans learned about the Revolution, helping to forge the identity of the nation.[131] After 1860, several generations of schoolchildren memorized Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Paul Revere's Ride". Historically it is inaccurate (for example, Paul Revere never made it to Concord), but it captures the idea that an individual can change the course of history.[132] In the 20th century, popular and historical opinion varied about the events of the historic day, often reflecting the political mood of the time.[133]
By the rude bridge that arched the flood
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.
— First verse of Emerson's "Concord Hymn"
The site of the battle in Lexington is now known as the Lexington Battle Green. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark. Several memorials commemorating the battle have been established there.[134]
The lands surrounding the North Bridge in Concord, as well as approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) of the road along with surrounding lands and period buildings between Meriam's Corner and western Lexington are part of Minute Man National Historical Park. There are walking trails with interpretive displays along routes that the colonists might have used that skirted the road, and the Park Service often has personnel (usually dressed in period dress) offering descriptions of the area and explanations of the events of the day.[135] The American Battlefield Trust and its partners have saved one acre of the battlefield at the site of Parker's Revenge.[136]
Four current units of the Massachusetts National Guard units (181st Infantry,[137] 182nd Infantry,[138] 101st Engineer Battalion,[139] and 125th Quartermaster Company[140]) are derived from American units that participated in the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Several ships of the United States Navy, including two World War II aircraft carriers, were named in honor of the Battle of Lexington.[141]
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Commemorations
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Patriots' Day, an observed legal holiday is celebrated annually in honor of the battle in Massachusetts. It is recognized by that state, as well as by Connecticut, Maine, and by the Wisconsin public schools, on the third Monday in April.[142][143][144] Re-enactments of Paul Revere's ride are staged, as are the battle on the Lexington Green, and ceremonies and firings are held at the North Bridge.[145]
On April 19, 1875, President Ulysses S. Grant and members of his cabinet joined 50,000 people to mark the 100th anniversary of the battles. The sculpture by Daniel Chester French, The Minute Man, located at the North Bridge, was unveiled on that day. A formal ball took place in the evening at the Agricultural Hall in Concord.[146] The Town of Concord invited 700 prominent U.S. citizens and leaders from the worlds of government, the military, the diplomatic corps, the arts, sciences, and humanities to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battles. On April 19, 1975, as a crowd estimated at 110,000 gathered to view a parade and celebrate the Bicentennial in Concord, President Gerald Ford delivered a major speech near the North Bridge, which was televised to the nation.[147][148]
President Ford laid a wreath at the base of The Minute Man statue and then respectfully observed as Sir Peter Ramsbotham, the British Ambassador to the United States, laid a wreath at the grave of British soldiers killed in the battle.[149]
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See also
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
Newspaper articles published near the time of the battles
External links
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