April 19, 1775

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#006633" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="175d6c00ddvuru.jpg"> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="725807b0.jpg" border=0 width="128" height="379" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#0066FF" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>Colonial Acton</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#333399" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>    </B></FONT><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Colonial Acton"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id100.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Acton Genealogies"><U>Acton Genealogies</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Town of Acton"><U>Town of Acton</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Landmarks"><U>Landmarks</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id141.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="1774 Prelude to War"><U>1774 Prelude to War</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Acton Minutemen and Militia Companies "><U>Acton Minutemen and Militia Companies </U></A>   |   <B>April 19, 1775</B>   |   <A HREF="id140.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Isaac Davis Trail"><U>Isaac Davis Trail</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id170.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Davis Monument"><U>Davis Monument</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id135.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="History of Patriots Day"><U>History of Patriot's Day</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id176.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Acton Cemeteries"><U>Acton Cemeteries</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id177.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Town Clerks Report"><U>Town Clerk's Report</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id173.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stories, Poems and Songs"><U>Stories, Poems and Songs</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id175.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Footprints of Acton Patriots"><U>Footprints of Acton Patriots</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Related Links"><U>Related Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id174.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Me"><U>Contact Me</U></A></div> <div> April 19, 1775</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><IMG SRC="7075ff70.jpg" border=0 width="351" height="247" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Prelude to Battle</B></div> <bR> <div> The Committee of Safety hoped to be able to train the minutemen in regimental size maneuvers, but exercise on a large scale were difficult to arrange, and paying for joint maneuvers was a problem. However a few field days were held, and on Sunday March 13, 1775, the militia and minutemen companies from Concord, Acton and surrounding towns mustered on Punkatasset Hill, overlooking the North Bridge in Concord. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B> </B></FONT><I>Charles R. Husband: History of the Acton Minuteme</I><I>n a</I><I>nd</I><I> </I><I>Militia Companies. pg.6</I></div> <div> <I><B>Click on topic:</B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="#trip_to_north_bridge" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">TRIP TO NORTH BRIDGE</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#men_of_acton_april_19_1775_1" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Men of Acton April 19 1775</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#capt__isaac_davis_1" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">CAPT. ISAAC DAVIS</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#an_embattled_farmer_or_trained_solider" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">An Embattled Farmer Or Trained Solider</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#the_first_to_die" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The First To Die</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#the_concord_fight" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Concord Fight</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id170_remembering_the_events_of_april_19_1775.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Davis Monument"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Remembering the events of April 19 1775</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#letter" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><I><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">LETTER</B></I></U></A><I><B> </B></I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I>To Lemuel Shattuck, Equ. of Boston  from Josiah Adams. Esq. of Framingham</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Depositions of the events of April 19th 1775</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#first_deposition_of_solomon_smith" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">First Deposition of Solomon Smith</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#second_deposition_of_solomon_smith" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Second Deposition of Solomon Smith</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#first_deposition_of_thomas_thorp" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">First Deposition of Thomas Thorp</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#second_deposition_of_thomas_thorp" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Second Deposition of Thomas Thorp</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#hannah__brown__davis_jones_leighton_1" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Hannah (Brown) Davis Jones Leighton</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#letter_requesting_a_federal_pension" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Letter Requesting a Federal Pension</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#deposition_of_charles_handley" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Deposition of Charles Handley</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#bradley_stone_s_deposition" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Bradley Stone's Deposition</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#deposition_of_seth_brooks" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Deposition of Seth Brooks</B></U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <A NAME="trip_to_north_bridge"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Baskerville Old Face" ><B>TRIP TO NORTH BRIDGE</B></FONT></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="21042a20.jpg" border=0 width="322" height="162" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>"The North Bridge"painted by Arthur F. Davis</B></div> <div> <B>SOME HISTORICAL PLACES</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#start_at_isaac_davis_house" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B>START AT ISAAC DAVIS HOUSE</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#rev__john_swift_house" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B>REV. JOHN SWIFT HOUSE</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#fair_grounds" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B>FAIR GROUNDS</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#old_church" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B>OLD CHURCH</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#conant_s_pasture" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B>CONANT'S PASTURE</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#peters__mansion" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B>PETERS' MANSION</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#flagg_corner" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B>FLAGG CORNER</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#strawberry_hill_road" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B>STRAWBERRY HILL ROAD</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#widow_brown_s_tavern" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B>WIDOW BROWN'S TAVERN</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#concord_battle_ground" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B>CONCORD BATTLE GROUND</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#robbins_house_and_return_trip" TITLE="April 19, 1775"><U><B>ROBBINS HOUSE AND RETURN TRIP</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="start_at_isaac_davis_house"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>START AT ISAAC DAVIS HOUSE</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>      The alarm started by Paul Revere and brought to Concord by Dr. Prescott was carried to Acton by an unknown horseman, who, riding at a furious pace, banged with a club on the side of Captain Joseph Robbins and shouted, “Captain Robbins!  Captain Robbins! Up! Up! The regulars have come to Concord! Rendezvous at Old North Bridge quick as possible! Alarm Acton!”</div> <bR> <div>      Captain Robbins at once dispatched his son John on horseback to alarm Captain Davis and then Simon Hunt at West Acton, who commanded the West Company as Lieutenant Francis Faulkner had been recently promoted from Captain of this Company to be Major of the Regiment and the vacancy of Captain had not been filled. It is also probable that young Robbins was the one who alarmed Thomas Thorp and Solomon Smith. The alarm was repeated by other riders further up into the back towns of Middlesex County.</div> <bR> <div>      Isaac Davis sent word to Colonel Faulkner at South Acton that he would start as soon as thirty men came in. It is presumed from dispositions of Thomas Thorp and Solomon Smith that the start was made before that number had arrived, as they say that others of the Company joined them on the march and most of them before the fight at the bridge. The total number in this Company commanded by Captain Davis was thirty-nine men.</div> <bR> <div>      Thomas Thorp says, “I was a member of Captain Isaac Davis Company, which was formed in November of 1774. We usually met twice a week to drill. Captain Davis was a gunsmith. He was esteemed, a man of courage and prudence, and had the love and veneration of all his Company. On the morning of the 19th of April 1775, I had notice that the regulars were coming to Concord. I took my equipment and proceeded to Captain Davis' house. I passed the house of Rev. John Swift; his son, Dr. Swift, made me a present of a cartridge box as he saw I had none. Several of the Company had arrived before me. About half of the Company formed there and the remainder, as many as forty in the whole, joined us early in the day and most of them before the fight.”</div> <bR> <div>      Solomon Smith says, “The Company was raised by voluntary enlistment. The town paid us eight pence every half-day. John Hayward was Lieutenant and John Heald the Ensign. They were both good officers and had the confidence of their men. I was alarmed on the 19th of April about daybreak. I gave notice to several of the Company and went to Captain Davis' house and found several of the Company there. His family was sick. He had four children, some of whom had the canker rash and the others were unwell. Captain Davis appeared to be heavy hearted. One of the men used some light language and was reproved by Captain Davis. We set out for Concord when the sun was more than an hour high. Other members of the Company joined us on the road, and the remainder in the course of the forenoon, most of them before the fight.”</div> <bR> <div>      The start was delayed slightly to enable Captain Davis to turn back and take leave of his family, saying to his wife as he turned away, “Take good care of the children.” Captain Davis' wife Hannah Brown had been born and lived at the point directly opposite where we now are. The house has long been gone, although the cellar is still to be seen.</div> <bR> <div> Marching with the Company of Captain Davis went James Hayward as a volunteer. He was not a member of the “Minute Men” but was one of the militia. He was one of the earliest at Captain Davis' house that morning.  He was born and bred in the same school district, their fathers being next-door neighbors.  He was twenty-eight years olds, one of the most athletic, fine looking, well informed, well-bred young men in town. He had been a schoolmaster, he knew the crisis, he knew what he was fighting for, what was to be gained. He grounded his bayonet here, as he said, “ I expect before night we shall come to a push with the and I want my bayonet sharp.” A stone tablet, with suitable inscription, has been erected by the Town of Lexington at the well in that town where he fell. The powder horn through which he was shot is one of the most prized relics of the Concord Fight, owned by the Town of Acton and is now in the Memorial Library.</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="rev__john_swift_house"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>REV. JOHN SWIFT HOUSE</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> IN 1738, THREE YEARS AFTER Acton was incorporated as a town, the Rev. John Swift was called to be pastor of the First Church. He came to this town from Framingham, Mass. And was settled at a salary of L 250 as a settlement and annually the sum of L 150 which was calculated in Massachusetts bills. This L150 rose and fell in amount with the varying prices of the necessaries of life. History records that much of the salary was received in provisions and other articles of household needs.</div> <bR> <div> He preached to this town for thirty-seven years, lacking only one day, and died in November 1775, about seven months after the Concord Fight. This house before us is on the site of his residence. Here his son made the presentation of the cartridge box to Thomas Thorp as he was passing to join Captain Davis' Company. This cartridge box has an ornament on it of a heart shaped piece of red cloth.</div> <div>      </div> <div>      When Captain Davis' body was brought home that afternoon the Rev. Swift consoled and sustained the widow and conducted the funeral of the three victims who were buried in one funeral from Captain Davis' house.</div> <bR> <div>      The Rev. John Swift was one of a large number of the colonial clergymen who helped to inspire their townsmen, and by word and deed forwarded the American Revolution.</div> <bR> <div>      While a man of peace, he was no weak character, a fact that in his case is very well brought out in the presentation of the cartridge box by the son in his father's presence - and undoubtedly by his suggestion. Cartridge boxes are not made and presented by people not in sympathy with the cause they advocate.</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="fair_grounds"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>FAIR GROUNDS</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>      At these Fair grounds, the old road crossed in a easterly direction, back of buildings on the Common, to a point near to the present schoolhouse, through the grounds now owned by Mr. Braman and Mr. Rogers The traces of this road were visible for a good many years but have now been practically obliterated in the reconstruction of the Fair Grounds property and by the owners beyond. It made a straight line from the turning point at the old Church to the Rev. John Swift's House as can be seen by looking back over the route we have just covered.</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="old_church"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>OLD CHURCH</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> In front of the present schoolhouse, near the turn of the present road, was placed the First Church over which Rev. John Swift presided, the building, which was the cause of the beginning of our town. The great distance the colonial inhabitants of Concord Village were from the Church at Concord made the erection of this quaint edifice, necessary.  Besides the growing population of Concord Village, as this territory was called, made it desirable to create out its territory a new town. In that day the town was practically the combined grouping of the Church members, so that the Town may be considered the Church or the Church, the Town.</div> <bR> <div> South of this Church, but on the opposite side of the small square Common, was Brooks Tavern, presumably erected before the Church, and in the social life of that day, an indispensable part of the Town.</div> <bR> <div> The location of this first church was the subject of warm debate but it was at length located on this hill, a short distance south of the present school building, not far from the two big elms. In size it was 46 feet long and 38 feet wide and 21 feet high. The deed of the land on which it was built was signed by Anne Cummings as attorney for her husband Alexander Cummings, who was abroad at the time. It is dated January 25, 1737.</div> <bR> <div> There is a tradition that Lord Acton of England, for whom the town may possible have been named, offered a bell for the house of worship, but having no tower and the people feeling too poor to erect one, the present was declined.</div> <bR> <div> The house was furnished in 1747. The windows were built to suit the fancy of the individual owners of the pews and were odd in both size and location and were paid for by those who caused them to be built. This is certainly a very unique feature. At the southwest end of the church stood the great stepping-stone near to the road. This is now in the wall on the roadside back of the house of Mr. T. Condon, Acton Center.</div> <bR> <div> This church was not simply used for religious worship but for town meetings. Here the money was voted for the first public schools; here the roads laid out; here the poor provided for; here Acton took its municipal action preliminary to the Revolutionary War; here the first vote was passed recommending the Continental Congress to put forth the Declaration of Independence.</div> <bR> <div> The building stood and was used for these public purposes until 1808, when it was forsaken. After standing empty and unused for many years, was torn down. There was no longer need for it as a new Church has been built on Acton Common on the site of our present Town Hall.</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="conant_s_pasture"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>CONANT'S PASTURE</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> At this point the old route was up the hill through the woods a half mile to Nashoba Brook. For many years Mr. Luther Conant, the owner of this land had allowed the old way to remain usable for foot passengers, and for long it was so used, until now in later years the fast growing woods have practically closed it up to further travel.</div> <bR> <div> The lower end of the this road was straightened in 1807 and the new stone bridge built across the Nashoba Brook, which is still standing, though unused, near Peter's mansion in East Acton, and quite near to the State Road, Route 2. At this point it is in open land and easy to be seen from State Road.</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="peters__mansion"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>PETERS' MANSION</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> At this point we have a fine view of the course of the old road from where it comes over the wooded hill down to Nashoba Brook through the Conant land. At the Brook was the old bridge then standing at the same point now occupied by the railroad bridge. Crossing over the brook the course was up the hill toward were we are standing and near to the house now occupied by Mr. Peters. The stone bridge was seen on the left of the old road site in 1807, long after the Revolution, at a time when repairs made it necessary to straighten the road and to build a permanent stone structure thus discarding the old way and bridge.</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="flagg_corner"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>FLAGG CORNER</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>      At this corner of the old road we are at the point where the new road begins. The old way going to the right several hundred feet by the home of Mr. Flagg, turned sharp to the left and passed up over the rising land directly east. It passed the ancient Braybrook house. Traces of this old road may still be found in the fields and where it passed near the old chestnut tree on the land now owned by Robert Bowen, the line of stonewall forming the north side is still in place. The Braybrook house just mentioned was built in 1751 and was twenty-four years old the day the “Minute Men” passed it. It is still in its original condition except for a few minor alterations on the north side.</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="strawberry_hill_road"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>STRAWBERRY HILL ROAD</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> At this point on the road, or near to it, the “Minute Men” left the road and with broken ranks took their way over the field trough the woods towards Concord, going north of the Barrett Mill on the road below. The reason for this is plain, in that it cut off a considerable distance, and also took them off the Barrett Mill road, along which that morning a company of regulars passed to the home of Colonel Barrett to search for military stores. It may have been that the Acton Company had been informed of this Company, and so avoided it them before they had tine to join the whole regiment of “Minute Men”, which they knew were mustering in Concord near to the North Bridge. If not they were fortunate in the change of direction for it saved them an unexpected encounter with the British. We are now certain that they left the road at or near this point, as Charles Handley in his deposition say, “I saw Captain Davis' Company as they came from Acton. I first saw them coming through the fields of Barrett's Mill, and they kept the fields till they came to the road at Mrs. Brown's Tavern.</div> <bR> <div>      Solomon Smith also says, “Our Company marched to Concord by Strawberry Hill Road; when we arrived near Colonel Barrett's, we left the road and went partly in a crossroad and partly across the field in a nearly straight course to the Widow Brown's Tavern.”</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="widow_brown_s_tavern"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>WIDOW BROWN'S TAVERN</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> The Acton “Minute Men”, under Captain Isaac Davis, arrived at this point from over the fields, north of the Barrett Mill Road in broken formation. Here they paused long enough to reform their ranks and resume their march over the back road to North Bridge. Charles Handley says in his deposition. “They marched quite fast to the music of a fife and drum. I remember the tune, but am not sure of its name; think it was called the White Cockade.”</div> <bR> <div> We know now that that was the tune and it seems that its spirited notes proved to be the inspiration to their brave commander in the fight that followed.</div> <bR> <div> Widow Brown's Tavern appears to have been a gathering place of the British. Also when they made the raid up to Colonel Barrett's house and on returning, stopped for drink. This is made clear by Charles Handley in the deposition we have before referred to, when he says, “I Charles Handley of Acton, testify that I am a native of Concord. At the time of the Concord fight, I was in my thirteenth year and lived at the tavern kept by Mrs. Brown, nearly a mile northwest of the North Bridge. At the time of the fight, the British, consisting of about 100, had returned from Colonel Barrett's as far as the tavern and three or four of the officers were in the house taking some drink. The soldiers were sitting by the roadside and some drink was carried to them. The officers offered to pay and Mrs. Brown declined. They told her not to be afraid for they should do her no harm, and paid for their drink. I heard the guns at the bridge, but the British did not appear to hear them. They marched on very soon but were in no haste.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div>  <A NAME="concord_battle_ground"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>CONCORD BATTLE GROUND</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> On the tablet there is a full and eloquent statement of what took place here on the east slope of this hill on April 19, 1775. Here our Acton  “Minute Men”, arriving after the gathering “Minute Men” had left the safe heights of Punkatasset Hill, joined the line on its left. Here after consultation of officers, Isaac Davis had said, “I haven't a man who is afraid to go”; and had placed his troops on the right of the line and marched upon the British at the bridge below.</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="robbins_house_and_return_trip"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>ROBBINS HOUSE AND RETURN TRIP</B></FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><IMG SRC="43ff8a10.jpg" border=0 width="248" height="161" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> By the roadside, is a big boulder with the side facing the highway inscribed:</div> <bR> <div> SITE OF HOUSE FIRST ALARM WAS </div> <div> GIVEN IN ACTON! MORNING OF 19TH OF APRIL 1775.</div> <div>   <A NAME="capt__robbins_capt__robbins"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>CAPT. ROBBINS! CAPT. ROBBINS! THE REGULARS ARE COMING</div> <bR> <div>              The marked boulder in front of the site of Captain Robbins  house bears a portion of the words of alarm shouted by the unknown horseman that April morning. Here it is presumed that the members of Captain Robbin's Company assembled and later departed for Concord, as did those of  Isaac Davis and Simon Hunt. While the Company, which assembled at South Acton, at Colonel Faulkner, appears to have been militia, the Company, which was commended by Joseph Robbins, was “Minute Men”. Israel Heald was First Lieutenant and Robert Chaffin, Second Lieutenant. History fails to dive us more details concerning this Company.</div> <bR> <div> This land where we are now was part of the land was a part of the land of the first settler of Acton, Thomas Wheeler. His house stood opposite, near the brook, and the Tercentenary marker stands at the entrance to the lane that led to his house. This is plain to see and read on the roadside. </div> <bR> <div> On this morning John, a lad of thirteen, the son of Captain Robbins was sleep in the garret. That furious rap on the corner boards of the house, and loud commands from the unknown horseman, brought him to his feet wide awake and roused every living soul in the house as well.</div> <bR> <div> Lightening in 1830 burned the barn of this farm; the old house stood for years unoccupied but at last was burned by carelessness or intentions by transient occupants</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <A NAME="men_of_acton_april_19_1775_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>Men of Acton, April 19, 1775</B></FONT></div> <div> The Battle Road: Expedition to Lexington and Concord</div> <div> by Charles H. Bradford, M.D.</div> <div> Originally published The Rotary Club of Boston 1975</div> <div> reprinted 1986,2000 by Eastern National</div> <div> pages 64-66</div> <bR> <div> If the British mood on reaching Lexington was one of dejected exhaustion, there is no doubt that the Yankees were bounding with confidence and elation. We should not forget that these farmers, most of whom had never seen battle before, had been called in the middle of the night from their peaceful homes to fight well-disciplined troops, fully equipped under experienced commanders, and now reinforced by artillery. The patriots could not have escape from some deep misgiving over the encounter. Much as they drilled on their musterfields, nothing as yet had exposed them to the bitter taste of real combat: to the reverberating crash of musketry, to the zing of live bullets pelting past their ears, and to the sight of fresh blood pouring from fatal wounds. Now, by the time the Minutemen had fought their way back to Lexington, the novelty of battle had worn off, and the vaunted superiority of British regulars had vanished. Combat had become a routine. Shooting grenadiers, or shooting at them, which was all most of the militia were doing, was simply a knack, like felling a tree or shoeing a horse, In this unorthodox view of soldiership, the Yankee farmers were beginning to settle down like old hands; and however unorthodox their outlook might be, they had come to realize beyond all their previous hopes that it was they, not the British, who possessed combat-superiority under the local conditions where they were fighting.</div> <bR> <div>      We do not need to speculate on the mood of the Yankee, for we happen to have a firsthand account of this from Francis Faulkner, Jr., a sixteen-year-old Acton boy who had come in the footsteps of his father regiment, bringing food for the fighters. An interview with him years later tells us, “To the great surprise of the boy, he found the Acton men in the highest spirits. They had made the redcoats run for their lives. They had shot them down. They had seen them fall….. The minutemen were coming in from all sides. They ridiculed the cannon that hurt nobody, and the marksmanship of the soldiers who they said, fired by guess. They only wished they had powder and the ball the redcoats wasted. The boy wondered greatly to find his father and all the Acton men full of confidence and fight. The colonel was organizing his regiment to work on the flank of the enemy as soon as he should move again for Boston. The boys, having delivered the dinners, were all sent back to tell the anxious families the news, every one of them wishing he could get a shot at the murderous British. Indignation filled every heart.” These farmers it should be remembered, were fellow-townsmen of Isaac Davis, killed in the first firing at Concord Bridge.</div> <bR> <div>      We should follow the narrative of the young Francis Faulkner, Jr., a little farther for in it we get a picturesque recapitulation of what might be called the “homeside” of this battle, as it looked to an adolescent boy, suddenly thrust into the turmoil's of war. This previous night, he had been slumbering in the quiet repose, the undiluted silence, and the utter peace of the countryside. We who live amidst interminable City noise, hardly know what silence means; but we would have found it here where no sound of any sort broke the stillness, but for rare calls of a screech owl, waking the shadows, or perhaps the soughing of wind, as poets have termed it back to the time of Beowulf, and the responsive murmur of pine trees. Subconsciously, Francis became aware of the clatter of hooves reverberating far down the roadway. He woke with a start. “Suddenly, he leaped from his bed, and ran to his father's room, and cried out `Father, there's a horse coming on a full run, and he's bringing news.' His father Col. Francis already had on his pantaloons, and a gun in his hand. The fleet horseman wheeled across the bridge and up to the house and shouted: `Rouse your minutemen, Mr. Faulkner, the British are marching on Lexington and Concord.' And away he went to speed on the news. Mr. Faulkner without stopping to dress fired three times as fast as he could load and fire, the preconcerted signal to call out the minutemen. As chairman of the Committee of Safety and Colonel of the Middlesex Regiment of Militia, the men were to assemble at his house. Almost immediately, a neighbor repeated the signal, and the boy Francis listened with breathless interest to hear the signal guns getting fainter and fainter in the distant farmhouses. Signal fires were also lighted and every farmhouse awoke from its slumber to the terrors of war. By this time families were all up in the great commotion, the younger children crying the British would `come and kill them all.'”</div> <bR> <div>      What a picturesque description this gives us of the Alarm and equally so, had we space for it, of the minutemen gathering, “every one with his gun, powderhorn, pouch of bullets, and a piece of bread and cheese - the only breakfast he proposed to make before meeting the enemy.” But it is the home scene we want to emphasize here, on this dark night of desperate defiance. “Some came hurrying in with their wives and children in the greatest excitement to get more certain news and to know what was to be done…. In the meantime, they were busy driving stakes down on the lawn, and hanging kettles for cooking the soldiers' dinner…every women wanted to prepare the dinner complete and separate for her husband or sons. But after much discussion it was agreed to pack all the beef, pork, bread and vegetables in quantity, each kind by itself and let the men divide it. At length, after some hours of talking and boiling and packing the horses were loaded and the boys started off.” Apparently the food was carried in saddlebags by various youngsters riding together, but not in a cart, as young Francis subsequently related to his nephew when in later years, he told the story. Individually. On horse, they could avoid meeting the enemy. “If we saw a redcoat we were told to give him a wide berth or he might get us and our dinners. We could quickly topple over a stonewall or take down a few rails and escape through the fields.” As soon as the boys reached Concord they learned that their neighbors, “Captain Davis and Mr. Hosmer were killed, and Mr. Heywood mortally wounded, all of them Acton men, but the British were on the run and the minutemen were pressing them on both sides of the road and would kill or capture them all.”</div> <bR> <div>      A strange adventure, it was for the boys, to ride across the deserted countryside, looking for their fathers. They found a dead Yankee propped against a wall, and poor Francis, who had never seen “bloody and ghastly death,” cried in alarm, thinking it might be his father; but fortunately for him it was another.</div> <bR> <div>      “Pursuing their way towards Lexington, they found the road deserted…the women and children had run away and the men had gone after the British. Confusion, destruction and signs of rapid flight everywhere. Again and again did they see a dead body with fear and trembling. As they approached Lexington they heard report of cannon, and learned that British reinforcements had come out from Boston and stopped the flight. Here, after wandering to right and left and making many enquiries, they found the Acton men, who were glad of their dinner. They were watching the British, out of range of their muskets, and the cannon the ceased to fear. The balls did no execution except upon the earth, and the minutemen avoided exposing themselves….”</div> <bR> <div>      All of this gives us a dramatic picture of how a sixteen-year-old boy, over night, became a man. Yes, and it also shows us how an unsophisticated countryside, people by Neighborly farmers, overnight became a nation.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>   <A NAME="capt__isaac_davis_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Baskerville Old Face" ><B>CAPT. ISAAC DAVIS</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> The First Officer Killed in the Revolutionary War</div> <div> Rev. George F. Clark</div> <bR> <div> A Paper</div> <div> Read before the Worcester Society of Antiquity </div> <div> Sept. 1, 1896 </div> <div> By Rev. George F. Clark</div> <bR> <div>       The story of Captain Isaac Davis, who fell in the Concord fight at the old North Bridge on April 19, 1775, has been frequently told, especially in Middlesex County. But it never grows old, and will not grow old so long as the love of liberty shall animate the hearts of American citizens. It needs to be told to coming generations until throughout the entire world the inalienable rights of men of every race and clime shall be guaranteed. It needs indeed, to be rehearsed until “man's inhumanity to man” shall no longer “make countless thousands mourn,” but instead be the ties of universal brotherhood that shall everywhere be acknowledged.</div> <bR> <div>   Of the events leading to the opening scenes of the Revolutionary War, we need not speak in this presence, for they are familiar to every American.</div> <bR> <div>   The state of affairs, however, had become so alarming, and the belief so general, that a conflict might soon take place that the Provincial Congress of the 16<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> of October 1774, recommended the formation of military companies, who would be ready at a moment's warning to meet any exigency that might arise. In compliance with this recommendation, a company of minutemen was raised in November following, by volunteer enlistments, in the town of Acton. It consisted of about forty young men, most of whom were unmarried, and Isaac Davis, a stalwart yeoman, in the prime of life, was chosen commander. It was then decided to meet for drill and discipline twice each week during the winter and spring.</div> <bR> <div>   The town, in January, 1775, voted to pay each man eight pence for every meeting until the first of May, provided he should be on duty at least three hours each day, and should be present within half an hour of the time of assembling.</div> <bR> <div>   The men comprising the company were enthusiastic in their opposition to the encroachments upon their rights by the British crown. They also had a most implicit confidence in their commander.</div> <bR> <div>   Besides these minutemen there were two regular military companies, one at the east, the other at the west part of the town, who occasionally met for drill during the winter.</div> <bR> <div>   Not many days before the raid of the British, during the absence of Capt. Davis and his wife from home, a large owl, a seeming messenger of misfortune, came and roosted on his gun hanging in its accustomed place and it did not seem disposed to leave when the occupants of the house returned. It was allowed to remain for two or three days. This strange visit of the ill-omened bird had a depressing influence upon Capt. Davis, and could not be dismissed from his mind yet or he said little about it.</div> <bR> <div>   At length the time of action came, and the men were suddenly aroused from sleep to meet the invading foe. At early dawn of the 19<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> of April an unknown horseman rapped with great vehemence upon the house of Capt. Joseph Robbins, the commander of the east military company, who lived nearest to Concord, with the announcement that the British were coming and the town must be alarmed. He then, without stopping, went on to arouse the others.</div> <bR> <div>   Capt. Robbins' young son rode at full speed to Capt. Davis', a mile and a half distant, about three-fourths of a mile southwest of the meeting-house, and aroused him. Here the minutemen hastily assembled to prepare for the work. Those not having breakfasted were fed and then spent some time in making cartridges. It is probable, however, that but few of the men had cartridges or cartridge-boxes. Most of their ammunitions were carried in powder horns and bullet-pouches.</div> <bR> <div>   Mrs. Davis assisted the men in powdering their hair, that they might meet the red coats in a respectable condition.</div> <bR> <div>   Capt. Davis felt the responsibility resting upon him. He was unusually reticent and grave, feeling that the momentous events might hang upon the transactions of the day. Especially the recent visit of the owl had doubtless awakened the presentiment that he might not survive the conflict that seemed inevitable. (I also read someplace that when he and his family were riding along past the family cemetery, that they saw white doves flying over their family plots, and Isaac took that as an omen that he might die soon.) His children were sick, some of them with the canker-rash and this, probably, had also its depressing influence. But when all was ready he resolutely gave the order to “march,” and with a gun in one hand and a sword in the other, he led the way. But having gone a few rods, he called a “halt,” and returned to the house. Then bidding his wife an affectionate good-bye, he said, “Take good care of the children.”</div> <bR> <div>   Tender and affectionate, with a sincere love for his wife, it was from no distrust that she would neglect the sick children that he said this, for no genuine mother, like Mrs. Davis, needed such an exhortation. His words were doubtless prompted by his solicitude for them when he should be no longer near, and they might be fatherless, for he instinctively felt that blood would be shed, and that he might fall in the fray. With this foreboding in his heart, he cast a last lingering look upon his cherished home, so soon to become desolate.</div> <bR> <div>   With such feelings we do not wonder that he rebuked some of his men on the march for their seeming levity. And they must have felt before night the events of the day were no joke.</div> <bR> <div>   As rapidly as possible they wended their way towards the North Bridge, some four miles distant. On leaving the town, an hour or more after sunrise, Capt. Davis said, “I have a right to go to Concord on the king's highway, and I intend to go if I have to meet all the British troops in Boston.” This shows the spirit of the man.</div> <bR> <div>   On arriving, about 9 o'clock AM, at the rendezvous of the Americans on the hillside near Major Buttrick's, about sixty rods from the bridge, he proceeded to Lieut. Joseph Hosmer, acting as Adjutant, and reported that his company was ready for duty. He then took his place at the left of the two Concord companies of minutemen, where he properly belonged, as the youngest Captain, for at a muster of the troops a short time previously that position had been assigned to him. </div> <bR> <div>   When the Acton Company arrived, the officers there gathered were holding a council of war a short distance from the assembled forces, and Davis and his officers immediately joined the council. In its results it proved to be one of the most important and momentous consultations during the war. </div> <bR> <div>   Previous to his coming there seems to have been hesitancy and doubt as to what should be done. But the presence of the Acton Company and its resolute commander infused new courage into their hearts. Still none seemed ready to lead in the movement towards the bridge, where a company of regulars were posted to guard the bridge for the safe return of another company who had gone some two miles beyond to destroy the war materials at Col. Barrett's.</div> <bR> <div>   But when Capt. Davis exclaimed, “I haven't a man that's afraid to go,” he was assigned to the post of danger, and immediately led his men from the left to the right of the Concord minutemen.</div> <bR> <div>   The order to march was given by Col. Barrett. Major Buttrick of Concord, and Lieut. Col. Robinson of Westford, acting as volunteer aid to Major Buttrick, marched by the side of Capt. Davis, Col. Barrett remaining behind. It seems strange, indeed, that an officer of lower rank than the commanders of the Concord minute men, who had almost everything at stake in their own town, should lead the forces against the enemy. But so it was. The minutemen took the right of the line, probably, because they were better drilled, and also because many of them had bayonets, which it might be necessary to use.</div> <bR> <div>   The Acton military company, under the command of Lieut. Simon Hunt, followed next to the Concord minute men. Seeing their approach the British fired two or three random shots, probably as a signal to those at Col. Barrett's to return.</div> <div>  </div> <div>   As the Americans came near one of the regulars discharged his gun, slightly wounding Luther Blanchard, the fifer of Davis' company. This was followed by a volley from the raiders, instantly killing Capt. Davis and Abner Hosmer, one of his company. (There seems to be a little uncertainty as to which party fired the first deadly volley. The British clam it was the Americans. But Rev. William Emerson, of Concord, who witnessed the fight, says that the provincials had “special orders not to fire upon the troops unless fired upon. These orders were so punctually observed that we received the fire of the enemy in three several and separate discharges of their places before it was returned by our commanding officer.”)</div> <bR> <div>   The ball, passing through the heart of Davis, and entirely through his body, made a fearful wound, from which his blood flowed profusely. He leaped two or three feet into the air and fell dead upon the causeway without uttering a word. When he fell he was in the act of raising his gun to fire upon the enemy, and it was so tightly clasped with both hands that when he was raised from the ground it was with some difficulty that the gun could be loosed from his clutch.</div> <bR> <div>   Thus perished in the prime of life the heroic officer who first led an armed attack upon the king's troops at the commencement of the Revolutionary war.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> “That blood stain, on the vernal sword,</div> <div> Hallowed to freedom all the shore;</div> <div> In fragments fell the yoke abhorred---</div> <div> The footsteps of a foreign lord</div> <div> Profaned the soil no more.”</div> <bR> <div>   After the firing the British retreated towards the village and were followed a short distance by the patriots who soon, however, returned to the west side of the bridge, and no further firing seems to have taken place until the regulars, about noon, began their retreat towards Boston. Then from sheltered places, without discipline or orders, the Americans poured there deadly shot upon the retreating forces.</div> <bR> <div>   Within the limits of Lexington, James Hayward of Acton and a British soldier met face to face and each fired at the same instant; the latter fell dead, and Hayward war mortally wounded, the ball passing through his powder horn into his body. He died in about eight hours. He left home with a pound of powder and forty bullets, but only three of them were left when he fell.</div> <bR> <div>   The bodies of Davis and Hosmer were carried to the house of Major Buttrick, and later in the afternoon were taken to Acton.</div> <bR> <div>   Capt. Davis seems to have been the animating spirit and the most resolute officer of the occasion. If not, how can we account for the fact that when he fell, a sort of paralysis seized upon “the embattled farmers,” and no one stepped forth as their leader? Had Davis lived there is every reason to believe that the results of the conflict would have been somewhat different. Col. Barrett, Major Butterick and Lieut. Col. Robinson, so far as we are informed, were heard of no more that day, and no officer appears to have assumed command.</div> <bR> <div>   Truly has it been said, “The soul of action on that morning was the soul of Isaac Davis, and when that soul was fled the action was over.” Indeed, when the company of regulars returned from Col. Barrett's, soon after Davis was killed, they were allowed to pass within a few rods of the Americans and over the bridge without molestation, to join their comrades in the village.</div> <bR> <div>   In this affair the position of Davis seems very unique. In fact it has been eloquently said it was without a parallel, and was so considered by the Legislature and by Congress when they granted aid to his widow. There can never be another. There never can be but one man who headed the first column of attack on the king's troops in the Revolutionary War. And Isaac Davis was that man. Others fell, but not exactly as he fell.”</div> <div>                                                            </div> <div>   The funeral services of Davis, Hosmer and Hayward were held at the late residence of Capt. Davis, on Sunday, the 23<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >rd</FONT> of April, and were attended by a large concourse of people from miles around, and were conducted by Rev. John Swift, the minister of the town.</div> <bR> <div>   Here we may very properly introduce the deposition of Capt. Davis' widow, taken August 14, 1835. It is one of the most touching recitals we have ever read. It is in these words: </div> <bR> <div>   “I, Hannah Leighton, of Acton, testify that I am eighty-nine years of age. Isaac Davis, who was killed at the Concord fight in 1775, was my husband. He was then thirty years of age. We had four children, the youngest about fifteen months old. They were all unwell when he left me in the morning, some of them with the canker-rash. The alarm was given early in the morning, and my husband lost no time in making ready to go to Concord with his company. A considerable number of them came to the house and made their cartridges there. The sun was from one to two hours high when they marched to Concord. My husband said but little that morning. He seemed serious and thoughtful, but never seemed to hesitate as to the course of his duty. As he led the company from the house, he turned himself round and seemed to have something to communicate. He only said, `Take good care of the children,' and was soon out of sight. In the afternoon he was brought home a corpse. He was placed in my bedroom till the funeral. His countenance was pleasant and seemed little altered. The bodies of Abner Hosmer, one of the company, and of James Hayward, one of the militia company, who was killed in Lexington in the afternoon, were brought by their friends to the house, where the funerals of the three were attended together.”</div> <bR> <div>                                                                                        <I> Hannah Leighton</I></div> <bR> <div>   The following is the inscription upon Davis' gravestone:</div> <bR> <div>   “In memory of Capt. Isaac Davis, who was slain in battle in Concord, April ye 19, 1775, in defense of ye just rights and liberties of his country, civil and religious. He was a loving husband and a kind neighbor, and ingenious craftsman, and serviceable to mankind. Died in the prime of life, aged 30 years, 1 month and 25 days.”</div> <bR> <div>   In the language of another, slightly altered, </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Brave was his life, its tragic close</div> <div> Hath place him with the sons of light,</div> <div> Among the noble host of those</div> <div> Who perished in the cause of right?</div> <bR> <div>   Capt. Davis was born Feb. 23, 1745, at what is now West Acton, a few rods westerly of where the Baptist meetinghouse stands. He was the son of Ezekiel Davis, and his mother was Mary Gibson, of Stow. He was a gunsmith by trade, and made the gun he carried to the fight, and was also a farmer, in connection with his trade. He married Hannah Brown, of Acton, Oct. 24, 1764, and at the time of his death, as we have stated had four children-two sons and two daughters. His widow married July 30, 1782, Samuel Jones, and had by him two children. Her third husband was Francis Leighton, of Westford, married Nov. 21, 1802. She died a widow, in 1841, aged 95 years. </div> <bR> <div>   The town of Acton, wishing to perpetuate the names of Capt. Davis and the two privates, Hosmer and Hayward, who fell in the fight, voted in 1850 to erect a monument to commemorate their deeds of patriotism. The state was asked to assist in this work. Under the lead of Rev. James T. Woodbury, the minister of the town, a brother of Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Navy under President Jackson, and a member of the General Court in 1851, who made a most eloquent plea in favor of the project, the Legislature voted an appropriation of $2000.</div> <bR> <div>   The monument was erected in 1851, and was dedicated Oct. 29 of that year, Gov. George S Boutwell giving the address to an assembly of about 5000 people.</div> <bR> <div>   The remains of the three patriots, Davis, Hosmer, and Hayward, were disinterred and placed beneath the monument, which is 75 feet high, about fifteen feet square at the base, and 4 feet, 4 inches at the top. From the apex rises a flagstaff 25 feet in length, from which on all-public days the beautiful flag of our country gracefully floats. It bears this inscription: </div> <bR> <div>   “The Commonwealth of Massachusetts of the town of Acton, co-operating to perpetuate the fame of their glorious deed of patriotism, have erected this monument in honor of Capt. Isaac Davis and Privates Abner Hosmer, and James Hayward, citizen soldiers of Acton, and Provincial Minute Men, who fell in the Concord fight the 19<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> day of April, AD, 1775. On the morning of that eventful day the Provincial officers held a council of war near the old North Bridge in Concord and, as they separated, Davis exclaimed, `I haven't a man that is afraid to go,' and immediately marched his company from the left to the right of the line, and led in the first organized attack upon the troops of George III in that memorable war which by the help of God made the thirteen colonies independent of Great Britain and gave political being to the United States of America.” Acton, April 19, 1851</div> <bR> <div>   In the spring of 1895, Mr. Charles Wheeler, the owner of the Davis homestead, very generously erected, nearly in front of the house, a granite tablet bearing this inscription:</div> <bR> <div>   “This farm was the home of Capt. Isaac Davis, who was killed in battle by the British at the old North Bridge in Concord, April 19, 1775.”</div> <bR> <div>   On “Patriot's Day,” the 19<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> of April 1895, this memorial tablet was publicly dedicated, the writer of this paper giving the address. After recounting the valor and the virtues of the heroic captain, he said in closing: “To the memory of such a man, a tender-hearted father, a kind and loving husband, an honored citizen and an ardent friend of freedom, we now dedicate this monumental stone, to tell to all passers-by and to coming generations that from this spot went forth the first commissioned officer who dared to meet face to face the hired minions of a tyrannical king seeking to crush to the dust three millions of intelligent freemen, and in so doing laid his life upon the altar of his beloved country. We dedicate it to the love of liberty, justice and the inalienable rights of humanity. We dedicate it to the cause of universal freedom, which will yet prevail through the entire world. We dedicate it also to the memory of an event that broke the oppressor's arm, convulsed the American colonies, and eventually gave independence to the United States. And finally we have only to say that among all the many illustrious officers who perished in the great conflict between the 19<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> of April, 1775 and the 19<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> of October, 1781, when the last great battle of the Revolution was fought, no one of them was truer, braver or more patriotic that Captain Isaac Davis.”</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ---------------------------------------------------------</div> <div> *I would like to thank Betty L. Martin, 4th great granddter of Isaac Davis,<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>for sharing this article </div> <div> “CAPT. ISAAC DAVIS - The First Officer Killed in the Revolutionary War” with us. </div> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="the_first_to_die"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>The First To Die</B></div> <div> By Jeanne Munn Bracken</div> <div> 1996</div> <bR> <div> Minuteman Isaac Davis, shot by the British at Concord Bridge in April 1775,</div> <div> was one of the first to die in the cause of American Independence.</div> <div>      </div> <div> "There can never be but one man who headed the first column of attack on the King's troops in the Revolutionary War. And Isaac Davis was that man." So spoke Reverend James Trask Woodbury of Acton, Massachusetts, in 1851. The occasion was a debate in the Massachusetts House of Representatives "upon the question of granting two thousand dollars to aid the Town of Acton in building a monument over the remains of Captain Isaac Davis, Abner Hosmer, and James Hayward, Acton Minute Men killed at Concord Fight, April 19, 1775." </div> <bR> <div> Strictly speaking, Davis was not the first to die in the struggle for American independence. He was not even the first to die that bright April morning when the king's troops, marching to Lexington and Concord to seize the rebel leaders and destroy the arms and ammunition stockpiled there, fired what poet Ralph Waldo Emerson immortalized as the "shot heard 'round the world." </div> <bR> <div> The colonists had been keeping an eye on the British troops quartered in Boston. They had noticed unusual activity that suggested the king's men planned to strike out into the villages to capture those who would lead their neighbors into open revolt and to seize the guns, field pieces, powder, and flour they had hidden around the countryside. </div> <bR> <div> Samuel Adams and John Hancock, staying with Reverend Jonas Clarke at Lexington, had to be warned. That difficult chore fell to Paul Revere and William Dawes, joined later by young Doctor Samuel Prescott, who was returning home from a visit with his lady friend in Lexington. </div> <bR> <div> After the alarm carried by the three reached Lexington, then Concord, messengers fanned through the countryside warning the scattered farmers that the British were on the march. An unknown rider, perhaps Prescott himself, arrived at the home of Captain Joseph Robbins, leader of one of Acton's two troops of militia--soldiers supposedly under allegiance to the king, although that had ceased to be the case. </div> <bR> <div> The messenger did not dismount, but banged on the corner of the house, shouting "Captain Robbins! Captain Robbins! Up! Up! The regulars have come to Concord! Rendezvous at old North Bridge quick as possible! Alarm Acton!" </div> <bR> <div> Aroused from his bed, Robbins fired three shots with his musket to warn the town. Then he sent his 13-year-old son John to alert Isaac Davis and others. When he received the news, Davis sent word that he would leave for Concord as soon as thirty men had mustered in his yard. </div> <bR> <div> The call echoed around Acton and the minutemen rushed to Davis's yard, where they made bullets and prepared for a battle that some, making jokes about finally "getting a hit at old [General Thomas] Gage," relished. Davis rebuked his men, reminding them that the day had brought "a most eventful crisis for the colonies. Blood would be spilt, that was certain; the crimson fountain would be opened; none could tell when it would close, nor with whose blood it would overflow. Let every man gird himself for battle and be not afraid, for God is on our side." </div> <bR> <div> As certain as Davis was about the righteousness of their cause, he was equally pessimistic about his own chances for survival. Several days before that fateful dawn, he and his wife had returned home from an excursion to discover that a large owl, a symbol of death, had flown into the house and perched on Davis's favorite gun, which hung over the mantel. No one was allowed to disturb the brooding presence, which stayed for days and was interpreted by the captain as an omen that, if the struggle became a full-pitched battle, he would not survive. </div> <bR> <div> What kind of man was this Isaac Davis, and how did he come to lead the group of men who would march down the Concord path and into the history books? </div> <bR> <div> The thirty-year-old son of Ezekial and Mary Gibson Davis, Isaac was a gunsmith by trade and lived with his wife Hannah and children in the small farming village of Acton, a town that had broken away from Concord four decades earlier. A "thoughtful, sedate, serious man, a genuine Puritan like Samuel Adams," Davis was said to have been so moved by a Sunday sermon on the state of the colonies that he applauded at its conclusion and asked the minister to repeat it. </div> <bR> <div> Some months before this April day, Davis had been elected captain of Acton's company of minutemen. Thomas Thorpe--one of his men--would later swear in a deposition that the captain was "esteemed, a man of courage and prudence and had the love and veneration of all his company." </div> <bR> <div> Thanks to his trade as a gunsmith, Davis's troops were fully equipped with guns, cartridge boxes, and bayonets. They drilled regularly, assembling twice a week (their efforts were noted by their fellow townsmen, who voted to pay them for their training). </div> <bR> <div> Now, in response to the messenger's call to arms, Davis rallied about thirty men in his yard. Some of them had floured their hair while they waited so that they might meet the king's troops as gentlemen. Finally, Davis ordered his company into line and stepped off down the path. </div> <bR> <div> As they reached the road, he halted his men and turned back toward his wife, who was watching from the doorway of the house where their four young children lay sick. Taking one last look at Hannah, he admonished her to "Take good care of the children." Then he was gone. </div> <bR> <div> The company marched up the lane and over Nashoba Brook by an old stone bridge to Strawberry Hill and then into neighboring Concord. Their thoughts must have been sobering, for they knew that if their cause failed, their defiance would brand them as traitors. Undeterred, Davis was heard to say as they walked: "I have a right to go to Concord on the king's highway, and I will go to Concord." Fifer Luther Blanchard and drummer Francis Barker struck up the company's signature tune, "The White Cockade," as they strode along. </div> <bR> <div> Shortly after entering Concord, they paused near Colonel James Barrett's farm, where a contingent of redcoats was breaking up gun carriages and setting the pieces afire in the yard. But Davis's orders had been to rendezvous at the bridge, so the Acton men passed by, marching between newly-plowed fields planted with a strange crop indeed--hidden cannon and muskets! </div> <bR> <div> When the Acton company arrived at the colonial forces' gathering place on Punkatasset Hill above the bridge, the men took their places at the extreme left of the line (the company's place dictated by the fact that Davis was the most junior officer present). While the men waited, their captain hurried farther up the hill to a meeting with fellow officers to decide on a course of action. </div> <bR> <div> As Colonel Barrett and the others conferred, they were unaware that when General Gage's British troops arrived at Lexington Common earlier that day during the pre-dawn hours, they had found several dozen defiant rebels waiting for them. Although commanders on both sides later insisted that their men had been ordered not to fire first, blood had been shed. The finger that first pulled the trigger remains shrouded in mystery. But there is little doubt that the colonials, being outnumbered by three to one, obeyed the order to disperse. The British fired into the breaking ranks, killing eight and wounding ten more. </div> <bR> <div> The several hundred colonials already mustered at Punkatasset Hill when the Acton men arrived were being augmented by troops from communities such as Bedford, Lincoln, and Westford. Surely, they thought, this force could take the bridge, guarded only by a small troop of redcoats, and drive the British forces back toward Boston. But if they did not act now, British reinforcements were certain to arrive, and the colonists might be dangerously outnumbered. </div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile, a troop of British soldiers, which had stayed behind in Concord village searching for hidden munitions and other stores, found and set fire to more gun carriages. In the excitement, the blaze accidentally spread to the "town house." An elderly widow living nearby, realizing that several residences were sure to burn as well, begged the British to help put out the fire. At her urging, the troops joined the bucket brigade to douse the flames. </div> <bR> <div> When the colonials massing on Punkatasset Hill saw the smoke, they mistakenly concluded that the British were on a rampage. "Will you let them burn the town?" cried adjutant Joseph Hosmer of Concord. Answering with a resounding "No," the officers decided upon a defiant show of strength. One account states that the lead was offered to a Concord officer, who declined it, but historians have questioned whether a local man would have refused to march to save his own town. </div> <bR> <div> Whatever the preamble, Isaac Davis was then proffered the lead. This honor may have been offered because his men were fully equipped with bayonets, an advantage in hand-to-hand combat. In any event, Davis accepted, declaring that "I haven't a man that is afraid to go." The colonial forces formed up, with Davis's company in the lead, and advanced down the hill to the strains of "The White Cockade." Their orders were to hold their fire unless fired upon. </div> <bR> <div> Seeing the colonials coming, the British retreated over the bridge. The last men across began to tear up planks in order to stop the advancing force in its tracks. Major John Buttrick, the British commander, called out, ordering the colonists to halt. His soldiers, meanwhile, assumed battle formation. When the colonists neared the bridge, the redcoats fired a random volley that wounded fifer Luther Blanchard and Jonas Brown of Concord. </div> <bR> <div> The next British volley fell short, but served as proof that they meant to fight. As the colonists prepared to fire their muskets, the British fired again. Davis, just then raising his gun at the king's men, fell dead, shot through the heart. A private in his company, Abner Hosmer, received a mortal bullet wound in his head. </div> <bR> <div> Buttrick, seeing blood flow, shouted to the troops. "Fire, fellow soldiers! For God's sake, fire!" As the British scattered, the colonials returned fire, striking two and putting the rest to rout. The fray lasted only three minutes. But the shots fired that day would echo for all time. </div> <bR> <div> The king's troops straggled into Concord, then gathered with reinforcements for the march back to Cambridge. Along that route, they were harried every step of the way by the colonials. The British mission was a failure--the rebel leaders were safe and the colonists had salvaged most of the stores. And most important, the war was on; the American colonies' march to independence--one that would only find its end with the Treaty of Paris eight years later--had begun. </div> <bR> <div> The 1783 treaty may have ended the war, but the controversy over what happened at Concord on April 19, 1775 raged on for more than a century. One disgruntled historian wrote that Davis had usurped the lead. Another retorted that he was the heart and soul of the Concord fight and that when he died, the fight was over. A latter-day wag, mindful of the wrangling, quipped that "it was a Lexington battle, fought in Concord by Acton men." History seems finally to have settled on the matter by concluding that there is enough glory to go around. </div> <bR> <div> Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer were carried home that afternoon, and Hannah remembered many years later that Isaac's "countenance was little altered." But his courage had helped to change the course of history; as Woodbury pointed out, the highway over which his body was carried was not the king's any longer. </div> <bR> <div> Today, Davis himself is well revered in Acton. The local chapters of the Minutemen, of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and many other groups bear his name. His line of march from Acton to the bridge is now a National Historic Site, retraced each April 19 by swarms of ordinary citizens. Near the site where he fell, now within Minutemen National Historic Park, stands Daniel Chester French's statue of the Minuteman. Since no image of Davis is known to exist, the artist fashioned the figure after studying the likenesses of some of Davis's descendants who were said to favor him. President Ulysses S. Grant was guest of honor when the statue was dedicated at the centennial of the fight in 1875. </div> <bR> <div> The monument in the town of Acton, for which the Reverend Woodbury pleaded so eloquently, was erected in 1851. The bodies of Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer--as well as that of James Hayward, who was killed at Fiske Hill in Lexington later that April day--were moved from the old burying ground to the base of the monument on the town Common. </div> <bR> <div> Isaac's widow Hannah married twice more, both husbands also preceding her in death. In 1818, when she was 71 years old and impoverished, she sought a pension from the federal government. Her first attempt failed, and it was not until more than twenty years later that Hannah, then in her nineties, finally was granted a pension. Some senators, notably John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, objected, fearing a torrent of similar claims. </div> <bR> <div> But Hannah's cause found an eloquent champion in no less a statesman than Senator Daniel Webster, who declared that her husband Isaac had fallen "in his early manhood, one of the very first martyrs in the cause of liberty, and, if I mistake not, the first American officer who sealed his devotion to the cause with his own blood. . . . An early grave in the cause of liberty has secured to him the long and grateful remembrance of his country." </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div> <div> <I><B>A</B></I><I><B> freelance writer based in Littleton, Massachusetts, Jeanne Munn Bracken is a contributor to the 1996 issue of Women's History magazine.</B></I></div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="the_concord_fight"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Baskerville Old Face" ><B>The Concord Fight and A Fearless Isaac Davis </B></FONT></div> <div> By D. Michael Ryan, company Historian with the Concord Minute Men,</div> <div> an 18th Century volunteer historic interpreter with the National Park Service</div> <div> and Associate Dean of Students at Boston College. - May 1999</div> <bR> <div> "<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Baskerville Old Face" ><B>No, I am not and </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>I haven't a man that is!"</B></div> <bR> <div> Thus on 19 April 1775 did Capt. Isaac Davis respond to the query if he was afraid to lead his Acton minute company and the colonial column "into the middle of the town (Concord) for its defense or die in the attempt". </div> <bR> <div> Details of the moments just preceding the eventful Bridge fight are limited or shrouded in the silence of time and report. It is certain that upon sighting smoke rising from Concord, Col. Barrett ordered Maj. Buttrick to march the assembled force into the town. How and why the Acton minute company led this expedition have been debated and interpreted for years even to the point of tirades in support of Acton by the Hon. Josiah Adams in 1835 and 1850. </div> <bR> <div> Several explanations of Acton's activities at the Bridge have been set forth. Rev. Ezra Ripley wrote that upon arriving at the muster field, Davis' company "... passing by the other companies, took the right of the whole, which placed him nearest the Bridge, and in front, when they marched toward the enemy." Was this an act of brashness or military ignorance? Davis and his company were junior in rank and the place of senior honors was on the right. </div> <bR> <div> Lemuel Shattuck and several others claim that the colonials were in the process of marching when Acton arrived on the west road, passed in front of the column, moving toward the Bridge and halted. Capt. Brown's Concord minute company then moved two abreast up the north side of the road equally in front. This might indicate that both the Acton and Concord units advanced to the Bridge alongside each other. Indications exist that discrepancies in the manner of march might have been due to the way in which the old roads meandered to the Bridge. Yet even Shattuck admits that precise positions of each company present could not be fully ascertained. </div> <bR> <div> What most likely occurred can best be surmised through participant depositions, first hand accounts, letters and other documents. Upon receiving the alarm, Davis mustered his company noting, "I have a right to go to Concord on the King's highway and I will go to Concord." His men were perhaps the best trained and equipped each with a musket, cartridge box (to facilitate rapid firing) and bayonet supplied by gunsmith Davis. Since November 1774, they had trained twice weekly including marksmanship at a firing range behind Davis' house.</div> <bR> <div> Acton's route of march took it over the Strawberry Hill Road near Barrett's farm where they turned east, passing the Widow Brown's tavern. Charles Handley, age 13, watched them disappear up the back road (upper or east) to Buttrick's farm and the Bridge. Upon reaching the high ground, Davis noted the troops aligned as they had been at the 13 March regimental muster (minute companies on the right, militia on the left facing the Bridge) and thus took his assigned position on the appropriate left of the line. He then joined the officer's conference in progress. </div> <bR> <div> Barrett listened as officers and supposedly civilian representatives nervously discussed the situation and possible courses of action. It was a tense moment for citizen soldiers making military decisions. What should be done about the stores at Barrett's farm? Would the British attack? If so, would they fire or charge bayonets? As smoke rose from town, the decision was made to march. Capt. Smith volunteered his Lincoln minute company to dislodge the British from the Bridge. Buttrick, commander of the column, supposedly offered the lead to a Concord captain who allegedly noted that he would rather not. As bayonets had been discussed and only Acton was so equipped and best trained, Davis was asked if he was afraid to go and gave his famous answer. </div> <bR> <div> Tales have circulated that the veteran warrior Barrett, not Buttrick, selected the energetic, respected, thoughtful, fearless Davis for the task since trouble was expected. Suspected frictions (maybe political and/or church related) among the officers has been put forth as a basis for decisions. Regardless, Davis drew his sword, wheeled his company from the line to the right and proceeded down the hill to the causeway leading to North Bridge. With him marched Buttrick and LTC Robinson of Westford. During the insuring fight, Davis was killed immediately, perhaps snatching the spirit from the colonial troops. </div> <bR> <div> In April 1875, Rev. Grindall Reynolds stated that to debate the position of units belittles and insults a great event and those who participated. Whether Acton led or marched alongside Concord; whether it was chosen due to courage or bayonets, will never fully be known. The courage of Concord's men and their captains (3 of 4 would be wounded by day's end) cannot be doubted. </div> <bR> <div> It is enough that in fact Acton men joined forces with fellow citizens of Old Puritan Concord to which they had once belonged and that their captain "sealed devotion to liberty as the first officer to shed blood" because neither he nor his men were afraid to go. </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="letter"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Baskerville Old Face" ><B>LETTER</B></FONT></div> <div> to </div> <div> Lemuel Shattuck, Equ. of Boston</div> <div> from Josiah Adams. Esq. of Framingham</div> <div> in vidication of the claims of</div> <div> CAPTAIN ISAAC DAVIS, OF ACTON</div> <div> to his just share in the honors of the </div> <div> CONCORD FIGHT.</div> <bR> <div> Damrell & Moore, Printers, </div> <div> 16 Devonshire Street, Boston </div> <div> 1850</div> <bR> <div> To Lemuel Shattuck, Esq., member of the Massachusetts Historical</div> <div> Society.</div> <bR> <div> SIR:-In the year 1827, a pamphlet was published, entitled " A History of the Fight at Concord, on the 19th of April, 1775. By Ezra Ripley,</div> <div> D. D., and other citizens of Concord."</div> <bR> <div> In 1835, was published a " History of Concord, Bedford, Acton,</div> <div> Lincoln, and Carlisle. By Lemuel Shattuck, member of the Massachusetts</div> <div> Historical Society."</div> <bR> <div> That you were one of the other citizens, and had the principal agency in furnishing materials for the History of the Fight, is inferred from the fact that you had been, for some years preceding, an inhabitant of that town, and was preparing materials for your History of Concord, &c., which also contained a particular account of the Fight; and also from the fact that in the Appendix to my Centennial Address at Acton, published in 1835, you were treated as the principal author, and charged, in both your books, with misstatements, without having made any disclaimer. Until you do so, I shall take the liberty to hold you responsible for both.</div> <bR> <div> In both publications there are gross misstatements, derogatory to the character and services of Captain Davis of Acton, who commanded the Minute Company of that town; obviously made for the purpose of having more room to extol the services and conduct of the officers belonging to Concord. Had you not done this at the expense of Captain Davis, I might perhaps have spared myself any trouble in the matter. As it is, I propose to show, by evidence, and by your own published statements, not only that Captain</div> <div> Davis was the principal actor in all that was done in the forenoon, but that after he fell, neither Col. Barrett, nor Major Buttrick, both belonging to Concord, who rightfully took the command in the morning, made their appearance during the day. I shall notice this and some other facts either misstated or studiously concealed in your books, not only because of the right and the duty, which belong to me, in common with all others, to correct historical errors, but for the purpose of showing that your statements, relating to Captain Davis and his Company, are not worthy of credit, on the principle that a witness, who willfully falsifies in one particular, or knowingly conceals a material fact, is to be discredited for the whole. I proceed notice some of the misstatements and omissions referred to.</div> <bR> <div> I.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > In the History of the Fight, (p. 15) having described the ground on which the Americans formed, as they arrived in the morning, on the hill near the North Bridge, you assert that “when in this position, Captain Davis of Acton arrived and brought on his Company, and, passing by all the other Companies, took the right of the whole, which placed him nearest to the bridge, and in front, when they marched toward the enemy.”</FONT></div> <bR> <div> It was necessary, for your purpose, to account, in some way, for the well-established fact that Captain Davis was killed, leading his Company in front; though he was the junior officer both of Captain Brown and Captain Miles, the Commanders of the two Concord Minute Companies. And, to make it the more clear that Captain Davis assumed the most honorable, without knowing that it was also the most dangerous place, the word “right" was in Italics, and was again so printed, in a second edition in 1832.</div> <bR> <div> II.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > In your History of Concord, you do not pretend that Captain Davis was on the hill at all. But, without any allusion to your first misstatement you proceed to another, (page 111,) to wit, that Captain Brown led his Company in front, from the hill till be came to the main road leading by his house to the bridge; that Captain Davis there arrived, on that road, with a part of his Company, and passing him in front, marched a short distance towards the bridge, and halted till Captain Brown brought up his Company on the “north side, equally in front”! These two contradictory statements are equally untrue, and are equally entitled to go in front of all the others. They are reckless stories, made without any pretence of proof; and were proved to be so by the depositions of Thomas Thorp and Solomon Smith, members of Davis's Company, which were published with the Acton Centennial, in 1835, You have never made any answer to that proof, though you had a Concord newspaper at your service, and the deponents lived, some years after, within five miles of Dr. Ripley and his secret advisers. You have permitted your libels on the character and memory of Isaac Davis to remain unretracted for fifteen years; and if, at first, they might have passed merely as gross mistakes, they must now be Bet down as studied fabrications. Thorp and Smith testify that they marched from Acton under Captain Davis that they arrived on the hill, by the eastern or back road, after most of the companies had formed;(and in this they are confirmed by Charles Handley, who lived at the house where the two road met, and saw them take that road); -that Captain Davis placed his Company, where it had been placed a short time before, at a muster, on the left of the Concord Minute Companies; that the officers of the other Companies were in consultation near by, and were immediately joined by Captain Davis and his officers. The conversation could not be heard by them, but in about five minute he returned to his Company, drew his sword, and said, I haven't a man that's afraid to go! MARCH! " Thorp could not swear to the words, but they both testified that the Company immediately marched, in front, towards the bridge, Major Buttrick and Col. Robinson walking with Captain Davis, and that the other Companies fell in, and followed after. If you had sought information from these witnesses, known to be lining in Acton, you might have seemed more desirous of furnishing Dr. Ripley with truth in regard to Captain Davis and his Company, Or if you had inquired of your neighbor, William Parkman, Esquire, one of Dr. Ripley's deacons, you would have obtained evidence resting on the very best authority. </FONT></div> <bR> <div> He was known, in Concord, as having been one of the town's Committee of Vigilance, and he lived two or more years after your first book was published. Mr. Bradley Stone, now of West Acton, had a conversation with him, which was reduced to writing and sworn to in 1845. The affidavit may be seen at the office of the town clerk of Acton. He testified that in 1829 or 1830, while he lived in a part of Deacon Parkman's house in Concord, having read the History of the Fight, he had a desire to know more of the particulars, and asked the deacon some questions. In reply, he said he was one of the Committee of Vigilance, and was on the hill in consultation with the officers and citizens when Captain Davis arrived; that he placed his Company on the left, and joined in the consultation; that it was supposed the British at the bridge were about to make an attack, and Major Buttrick ordered the Captain of one of the Concord Companies to march to meet them; and the Captain replied, he should rather not I that the Major turned to Captain Davis, and asked if he was afraid to go; and that Captain Davis replied, " .No, I am not; and there isn't a man in my Company that is; " that Captain Davis immediately led his Company toward the bridge, and that he heard the firing, soon afterwards. Mr. Stone further testified that he asked Deacon Parkman how it was that Concord had taken all the praise; and that he replied with emphasis and feeling, "It is wrong; Acton ought to have the credit of it."</div> <bR> <div> III. <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >In the History of the Fight, (page 19,) it is told that " two were killed, and several wounded;" and, on the next page, it is said that " the two British soldier" that were killed near the bridge, were buried near the spot where they fell, both in one grave. Two rough stones mark the spot where they were laid." At page 19, we are informed that, " When the British returned from Col. Barrett's, they saw two of their fellow soldiers dead, near the bridge." In the History of Concord, (page 349,) Bradbury, Robinson, and three others are named as deposing. " We returned the fire, which killed two of them, and wounded several." And yet in the same book, (page 112) without allusion to any former statements, and, without giving any authority, you coolly make known that " three were killed! " and that " two of them were left on the ground, where they were afterwards buried by Zachariah Brown and Thomas Davis, Jr.; " and that " the spot deserves to be marked by an ever-enduring MONUMENT, as the place where the first British blood was spilt, where the life of the first</FONT></div> <div> British soldier was taken."</div> <bR> <div> There are some questions, which suggest themselves here; but the testimony of the Acton witnesses, as to the killed, should be first given. They both say that two were killed, but only one of them in the engagement. Thorp says " Two of the enemy were killed; -one with a hatchet after being wounded and helpless. This was a matter of horror to us all. I saw him sitting up and wounded as we had passed the bridge." Smith swears, " two of the British were killed there. One of them was left on the ground, wounded, and in that situation was killed by an American with a hatchet. This act met with universal disapprobation, and was excused only by the excitement and inexperience of the perpetrator."</div> <bR> <div> " They," (the detachment from Col. Barrett's,) " passed the two of their number who had been killed, and saw that the head of one of them had been split open. It was said that this circumstance gave them the impression that the Americans would give no quarter."</div> <bR> <div> Charles Handley, of Acton, testified, " I heard at the time, and many times since, that one of the two British, who were killed at the bridge, was killed with a hatchet after be was left wounded. The young man, who killed him, told me, in 1807, that it had worried him very much, but he thought he was doing right at the time."</div> <bR> <div> It has been intimated that, in taking Handley's deposition, I suppressed the name of the young man, because he belonged to Davis's Company. I could have inserted the name, but did not think it right to make it public. It shall be given, however, to anyone who shall request it. Mr. Handley said he belonged to Concord at the time, and was afterwards a painter in that town, and was painting on the new meetinghouse in Acton at the time of the conversation. I mention this only to repel the unworthy motive imputed to me for withholding the name.</div> <bR> <div> Let me now ask how you acquired the knowledge that three were killed. How did you ascertain that Zachariah Brown and Thomas Davis, Jr, buried but two of the three? They swear (see your own book, page 350) that they " buried the dead bodies of the king's troops," without saying how many: yet you assert positively that they buried two of the three. Why did they not bury the third? How was he disposed of? Was it accidental, or not, that you first disclosed that three were killed, on the same page where you suggest the erection of a monument over the two? Where is the soldier whose head was split open? Near the monument unquestionably. And your assertion that " three were killed " can never remove him, nor add to the propriety of the erection of a monument to perpetuate the fame of the place where the first BRITISH blood was shed. If several depositions published in 1825, by the late Mr. Phinney, in his History of the Battle of Lexington, contain truth, the first British blood was shed there, in the morning. No one can read them and the other authorities cited by Frothingham, in his Siege of Boston, (pages 62, 63, 64, without being satisfied that such was the fact. But suppose the assertion to the contrary about a matter of comparatively very small importance, but which you make the burden of your song of praise to Concord, were true; would it not have, been better to have placed the monument on the other side of the river, where the first AMERICAN officer and one of his men fell? - especially as his Company was in front, and probably shed the blood of the only one of the enemy who was killed in the fight. That spot being also Concord territory, is it not possible that the monument might have been placed there if Major Buttrick had been killed, and Captain Davis had lived, without being again seen or heard of during the day? I ask you this question because you were active in the erection of the monument, after having seen the published depositions of Thorp, Smith and Handley; and also, (it must be presumed,) the accounts of the day given by historians, especially Gordon and Botta, the first of whom had conversation about the hatchet with the Rev. Mr. Emerson, whose manuscripts " aided you in the work; " and the latter of whom (Vol. I., page 267,) after describing the manner of killing the soldier, as he had learned it, says, " We dare not affirm the truth of this abominable fact, though we find it related by authors worthy of credit."</div> <bR> <div> It is proper to state here, for the credit of an concerned in the erection of the monument, that it was not placed over the grave, as you proposed, but some forty feet nearer to the river, where the bodies were found dead; and the difficulty is, to some extent, avoided, by wording the inscription so as not to state the number of the slain. The following is an extract: " Here stood the invading army; and on this spot, the first of the enemy fell, in the war of that Revolution," &c.; all of which is true, if one hundred men can be called an army. The Americans were four hundred and fifty. -See History of Concord, page 347, and History of the Fight, page 15.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" >IV.</FONT> In both publications you represent the Concord officers as acting conspicuous part-s. I will name but few of the many instances. Major Buttrick and Captain Davis are said to declare (History of the Fight, p.15, ) that they would. , march into the middle of the town for its defense, or die in the attempt." You proclaim that ., the Companies were commanded by Col. James Barrett, and led on by Major John Buttrick." And, at page 18, it is said of Major But trick, that " his situation gained him distinguished celebrity and honor " But, in neither of your books, in relating the events of the pursuit in the afternoon, do you mention him or Col. Barrett, though you give particulars as to many others. Where do you expect they were after Davis fell? Thorp and Smith, who pursued in the afternoon, both testified that they had no recollection of seeing either of them afterwards; that the detachment; which returned from Col. Barrett's soon after the fight, passed back over the bridge, " and might easily have been taken prisoners, if they had not been in such confusion; that there was no one who assumed any command." You say, in your History of the Fight, that " a part rushed over the bridge, and apart returned to the high ground, conveying and taking care of the deed"! This may account for the absence of both the Colonel and the Major, as the dead were two in number; viz., Davis and Hosmer.</div> <bR> <div> V.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > Col. Barrett is represented as giving orders " not to fire unless fired upon; " and you state that resolutions were passed, on the hill, to the same effect, just before the fight; and that they resolved also that " they would do no violence unless violently opposed." That is, if the enemy would fire no guns at them, nor violently oppose their “march the village for its defense, or die in the attempt," they might continue the destruction of he military stores, and the burning of their houses, and carry off Col. Barrett to Boston, in welcome; at least, they would 6.re no guns, nor do any violence to prevent it.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> It is not believed that any such silly resolutions were passed, though it seems well established that orders were given " not to fire unless fired upon." And, in yours first publication, the order is attempted to be justified by the assertion that, at the time of the fight, it was not known that men had been killed at Lexington! In your second book, you only pretend that it was not known, when the British first arrived, which was at about half past seven o'clock in the morning, (pages 103 to 106). But in the same book (page 348,) you published, for another purpose, the depositions of Captain Nathan Barrett, and fifteen others of Concord, and eight others of Lincoln, all taken a few days after the fight, who testify: " On Wednesday, the 19th instant, about an hour after sunrise, we assembled on a hill near the meeting house in Concord aforesaid, in consequence of an information that a number of regular troops had killed six of our country men at Lexington, and were on their march to Concord; and in about an hour afterwards, we saw them approaching"</div> <bR> <div> VI.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > In the History of the Fight, (page 19,) it is alleged " the firing on each side lasted but a minute or two. The British immediately retreated. When the Americans bad fired, most of the forward Companies leaped over a wall on the left and fired from behind it." Thorp and Smith both negative this last fact, and they both swear they immediately retreated in great haste, and tab no guns were fired, on either side, after the return fire of the British, till they left the village." A part of the Americans rushed over the bridge, and pursued the British till they saw a large reinforcement advancing, when they turned to the left and ascended a hill east of the main road." And, on the next page, the bloody conflict at the bridge being over, and the Americans fatigued and hungry having had no regular, if any, breakfast, many of them improved this interval to take refreshment."****" After a little respite, Col. Barrett and others rallied, and encouraged their armed brethren to pursue their retreating enemy " He did not, however, go himself; and whether Major Buttrick was active or passive in that operation, or whether he “gained any distinguished celebrity and honor" about that time, is not told. " Most of the armed Americans took a nearer route across the fields, and overtook the enemy as they passed the road from Bedford. They there met a body of minutemen, commanded by Major John Brooks. Col. Wm. Thompson of Billerica, with a body of militia from that town and vicinity, came up to the contest on the Bedford road. About this period and place, the Company from East Sudbury, and individuals from that quarter, came up to the attack, on the south side of the road. A little below the Bedford road, on Merriam's Corner, so called, there was a sharp action, and several of the British were killed." </FONT></div> <bR> <div> In your History of Concord, you attempt to connect the transactions at the bridge with the events of the afternoon, so as to make all tell as the" Battle of Concord." You retract nothing of your first account, and do not even allude to it. You say (page 112.) “About 150 went immediately across the Great Field to intercept the enemy on their retreat, at. Merriam's Corner; and, (page 114.) " They had followed the retreating party between the bridge and the village, and fired single-handed from the high ground, or from behind such shelter as came in their way! "-a fact never before pretended, and contrary to all the evidence. In the next sentence, “The king's troops retreated, &c. On arriving at Merriam's Corner, they were attacked by the provincials, who had proceeded across the Great Field, in conjunction with a company from Reading, under the late Governor Brooks. Several of the British were killed, and several wounded." And where were the body of militia from Billerica and vicinity, under Col.Thompson, (to say nothing of the East Sudbury Company) who came up to the contest the Bedford road (above Merriam's Corner)? -Where the Americans, from the North Bridge whom " took a nearer route across the fields, and overtook the enemy? " Which of these statements do you now say is true? Both cannot be. To say that the first is most probable would be but feeble approbation. If you have not chosen to offer any evidence, and do not regard that produced by others, you should, at least, pay some respect to your own statements.</div> <bR> <div> You admit, in both publications, that the enemy left the village not far from twelve o'c1ock, though they " hastily collected their scattered parties." It was a delay of more than two hours, though you assert (History of Concord, p.113,) that the firing took place between ten and eleven o'clock." But in a Record-book kept by David Brown, Captain of one of the Concord Minute Companies, it is noted: - April 19, 1775, the skirmish at Concord North Bridge. Captain Davis of Acton killed, and one Hosmer of Acton, between nine and ten of the clock in the forenoon; and it lasted till dusk, when the enemy got down to Charlestown." The resolution to “march into the middle of the town for its defense, or die in the attempt, "seems to have been forgotten. Major Buttrick and Captain Davis (History of the Fight, p. 15,) are said to have used the same expression. But words are not actions; and I repeat, in the language of my Address, " The soul of action, on that morning was the soul of Isaac Davis; and when that soul fled, the action was over.”</div> <bR> <div> In the Introduction to the History of the Fight, you profess to give “A fair, unvarnished statement of facts respecting the Fight at Concord, without evasion or false coloring." You allege that “some minutes were made in after years, some facts were noted, and many are remembered by living witnesses." And in your History of Concord, you inform us that “I the Rev. William Emerson and several others left matters in manuscript, which has aided me in this work." But you do not state even the substance of any such minutes, facts noted, or matters in manuscript, nor do you refer to the recollection of any living person, or any other authority, to support any of the statements which have been controverted.</div> <bR> <div> Fortunately for the memory of Captain Davis and his Company, some of its members lived to read your fabrications, ,and to record their testimony to the truth. That testimony is a matter of record on the town book of Acton. It is fortunate too that circumstances occurred, in 1835, which made it my duty to visit the old veterans, and secure their testimony. The present and coming generations will be able to judge between the depositions of witnesses present at the memorable scene, on the one hand, and the unsupported, contradictory, though unretracted assertions of " Lemuel Shattuck, member of the Massachusetts Historical Society," on the other.</div> <bR> <div>              As a native of Acton, whose earliest recollections are most favorably associated with the character of Captain Davis, as a patriot, a soldier, and a man-whose widow was my father's neighbor and parishioner, and my mother's particular friend, and whose children were my schoolmates, I have been impelled to the attempt to rescue his character from the obloquy which you have cast upon it, and restore it to its just place in the history of the Revolution. If his memory shall, nevertheless, suffer from your misrepresentations, (as to some extent, it must,) I shall have the satisfaction of feeling, during the short period of life remaining, that I have done all in my power to prevent it.</div> <bR> <div> JOSIAH ADAMS.</div> <div> Framingham, July, 1850.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="first_deposition_of_solomon_smith"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Baskerville Old Face" ><B>First Deposition of Solomon Smith</B></FONT></div> <div> History of the Town of Acton</div> <div> By Harold R. Phalen - copyright 1954</div> <div> Middlesex Printing, Inc. Cambridge, Mass. </div> <div> Pages 400-403</div> <bR> <div>      I Solomon Smith of Acton testify that I am now in my eighty-second year. I have lived in Acton from about 1760 to the present time. I was a member of Captain Isaac Davis Company of minutemen and was in the fight at Concord in 1775. We turned out to drill and exercise twice a week from November preceding. I think the company consisted of about forty. The company was raised by voluntary enlistment. The town paid us eight pence for every half day. John Hayward was lieutenant and John Heald the ensign. They were both good officers and had the confidence of their men. I was alarmed on the 19<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> about daybreak. I gave notice to several of the company went to Capt. Davis's house and found several of the company there. His family were sick. He had four children some of whom had the canker rash and the others were unwell. Capt. Davis appeared to be heavy hearted. One of the men used some light language and was reproved by Capt. Davis.</div> <bR> <div>      We set out for Concord when the sun was something more than an hour high. Other members of the company joined us on the road and the remainder in the course pf the forenoon most of them before the fight. We made some delay near Col. Barrett's and then proceeded to the high ground of the bridge. There were a considerable number of men from Concord and other towns assembled there are others were fast joining them. Immediately after our arrival the officers of the companies including ours went by themselves a few rods and held a consultation for a few minutes. Capt. Davis the came to the head of his company, and drew his sword and said “I haven't a man that is afraid to go” and gave the word “march”. We proceeded towards the bridge in double file. Major Buttrick and Col. Robinson marched with Capt. Davis. I do not know the order the other companies fell in. When we came on the ground Capt. Davis took the left of the Concord minute men as he had done weeks before at a muster and he went from this position when he took the front as above stated.</div> <bR> <div>      After we began to move the British were beginning to take up the bridge. Someone. I believe it was Major Buttrick, remonstrated in a loud voice and about the same time they desisted and formed for action. I next saw a ball from the enemy strike in the river and heard the report of two others directly after which were thought not to be aimed us. A volley immediately followed by which Luther Blanchard our fifer was slightly wounded and hearing him cry out Major Buttrick exclaimed “Fire, for God's sake fire”. The order was obeyed and the British returned the fire and killed Capt. Davis and Abner Hosmer a private of his company and wounded Ezekiel Davis, a brother of the Captain, on the head. They then retreated towards the village. Two of the British were killed there. One was left on the ground and in that situation was killed by an American with a hatchet. This act met with universal disapprobation and was excused only by the excitement and inexperience of the perpetrator. The enemy retreated until they met reinforcement near the village. I do not know what proportion of the Americans followed over the bridge but our company and the Concord minute company very many others proceeded to an eminence on the east side of the road back of Elisha Jones' house behind a wall. It was perhaps forty rods from where the enemy had halted. After a short time we dispersed and without any regularity went back over the bridge. While we were there the detachment which had been to destroy stores at Col. Barrett's returned and passed without molestation. It was owing to our want of order and our confused state that they were not taken prisoners.</div> <bR> <div>      They passed the two of their number who had been killed and saw that the head of one had been split open. It was said that this circumstance gave them the impression that the Americans would give no quarter. It was soon after ascertained that the British were leaving the village and we followed after them without any order firing when we could see the last of them for that day on Bunker Hill. Capt. Davis was a man of great firmness and energy of character, an excellent officer and had the respect and esteem of who knew him. Lieutenant Hayward did all that could be done but it was felt at the time that the loss of our captain was the cause of the confusion that followed.</div> <bR> <div>           Signed           SOLOMON SMITH</div> <bR> <div> Middlesex Co. July 10, 1835. The Solomon Smith who is well known to me as a man of veracity subscribed the foregoing affidavit and made that the same is true according to the best knowledge and belief.</div> <bR> <div>      Before me Francis Tuttle, Justice of the Peace</div> <div>           Copy Attested Joseph W. Tuttle, Town Clerk</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="second_deposition_of_solomon_smith"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Baskerville Old Face" ><B>Second Deposition of Solomon Smith</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>      I Solomon Smith testify that according to the best of my recollection and judgment the number of the enemy at the bridge at the time of the fight at Concord was only one company, perhaps about eighty. The detachment, which went to Col. Barrett's, was about the same number. They passed near me as they returned. The reinforcement from the village appeared to me consisted of about the same number. I saw them from the hill of Elisha Jones' house. I did not notice that there were troops on Lee's Hill but heard of it soon after. </div> <bR> <div>      There were no guns fired on either side after the British returned our fire till the troops left the village.</div> <bR> <div>      I have no remembrance of seeing or hearing from Col. Barrett or Major Buttrick after the fight. The enemy left the village about noon. </div> <bR> <div>      I was in the Revolutionary Army thirteen months and am now a pensioner.</div> <div>      </div> <div>      Our company marched to Concord by the Strawberry hill road; when we arrived near Col Barrett's we left that road and went partly in a crossroad and partly across the field in nearly a straight-line course to the widow Brown's tavern. We took the back or east road to the high ground.</div> <bR> <div>      The bodies of Davis and Hosmer were carried as I was told to the house a major Buttrick very soon after they were killed and before the detachment returned from Col. Barrett's.</div> <bR> <div>      I did not see any Americans leap over the wall on the north side of the road to fire at the bridge nor did I ever hear so till of late. There was no time nor occasion to do so as the enemy retreated with a quickstep immediately on returning our fire. </div> <bR> <div>      I may have been mistaken in saying in my former deposition that Davis and Hosmer were killed by return fire and not by the volley, there was but very little time intervened between them.</div> <bR> <div>                     SOLOMON SMITH</div> <bR> <div> Middlesex Co., Dec. 2, 1835. Then Solomon Smith who is known to me as a man of truth made oath that the above affidavit is true according to his best knowledge and belief.</div> <bR> <div>           Before me Simon Hosmer, Justice of the Peace</div> <div>                Copy Attested Joseph W. Tuttle, Town Clerk</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="first_deposition_of_thomas_thorp"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Baskerville Old Face" ><B>First Deposition of Thomas Thorp</B></FONT></div> <div> History of the Town of Acton</div> <div> By Harold R. Phalen - copyright 1954</div> <div> Middlesex Printing, Inc. Cambridge, Mass. </div> <div> Pages 398-400</div> <bR> <div> I, Thomas Thorp of Acton testify that I am in my eightieth year and have lived here ever since I was fifteen years old. I was a member of Capt. Isaac Davis's Company, which was formed in November 1774. We met twice a week for drill. Capt. Davis was a gunsmith. He was esteemed a man of courage and prudence and had the love and veneration of all his company. On the morning of the 19<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> of April, 1775 I had noticed that the regulars were coming to Concord. I took my equipment and proceeded to Capt. Davis's house. I passed the house of the rev. Mr. Swift. His son, Doctor Swift, made me a present of a cartridge box as saw I had none. I well remember that there was on the outside a piece of red clothe in the shape of a heart. Several of the company before me and some of then were putting powder flour on their hair. About half the company formed there and the remainder, as many as forty in the whole, joined us early in the day and most of them before the fight. We made a short stay near Col Barrett's and proceeded to the North Bridge where we formed a great collection of armed men from Concord and other towns - there were several hundreds - cannot say how many. The officer seemed to be talking by himself or herself and the British were at the Bridge. Our officers joined the others; and in a few minutes, not exceeding five, Capt. Davis returned to his company and said something, which I do not recollect and gave the word “march”. It seemed to have been agreed that Capt. Davis should go in front. He has not taken the right of the other companies as has been stated. The Concord minute company was the oldest and as such had taken its place at muster a short time before. Our Company, however, marched in front and Major Buttrick and Col. Robinson were with Capt. Davis.</div> <bR> <div>      As we were advancing the British began to take up the bridge; on which we quickened our pace and ran towards them. The desisted and joined their ranks.</div> <bR> <div>      I saw a ball strike the water on my right and some guns were fired over our heads. A volley was the discharged at us and Luther Blanchard, our fifer was wounded. We were then ordered to fire and did so. The fire was returned and Capt. Davis and Abner Hosmer, one of his men, were killed and Ezekiel Davis, a brother of the captain, has a ball pass through his hat. I did not understand that he was injured but have since understood that his head was slightly touched by the ball.</div> <bR> <div>      Two of the enemy were killed - one with a hatchet after being wounded and helpless. This act was a matter of horror to us all. I saw him sitting up and wounded as we had passed the bridge. Our company and most of the others perused but in great disorder went to an eminence back of Elisha Jones' and stood behind a wall forty rods or more from where the British had joined a reinforcement. In a short time we returned over the bridge but did not form in any order. As we stood there detachment from Col. Barrett's returned and passed us and might easily have been taken prisoners if we had not been in such confusion. I do not remember that anyone there assumed command.</div> <bR> <div> About this time the troops left the village and after some delay to take refreshments the Americans pursued and various skirmishes took place till the British encamped on Bunker Hill a little before sunset. It was impossible for me to know that all our company pursued; but I did not know at the time nor since that any one deserted.</div> <bR> <div>      I cannot say how many were at the bridge in the morning but I should say not more than forty or fifty at most. I could see a great number on Lee's Hill about a mile distant. I should judge there were three or for hundred. I saw them in the morning at the time of the fight.</div> <bR> <div>           Signed               THOMAS THORP</div> <bR> <div>      Middlesex Co. July 10, 1835. Then Thomas Thorp who is and long has been personally known to me as a man of truth subscribed the forgoing affidavit and made oath that the same is true according to his best knowledge and belief.</div> <bR> <div>           Before me Francis Tuttle, Justice of the Peace</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="second_deposition_of_thomas_thorp"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Baskerville Old Face" ><B>Second Deposition of Thomas Thorp</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> I Thomas Thorp testify that according to the lest of my recollections and judgments the number of the British at and near the north bridge before the fight was about eighty but they were scattered about so that I cannot be certain; there might be more. It was supposed to be one company. I saw the detachment returns from Col. Barrett's. It consisted of one company as I judged by appearance.</div> <bR> <div>      I should think the reinforcements that came out from the village consisted of about the same number but of this I am not certain. The British retreated from the bridge immediately after returning our fire and there were no guns fired afterwards till they had left the village. I have no remembrance of seeing or hearing Col, Barrett or major Buttrick after the enemy retreated from the Bridge. The British left the village about noon without any interruption from the Americans.</div> <bR> <div>      I remained in the army during the whole war and am now a pensioner. I never knew or heard till lately that any of our men leaped over the wall on the north side of the causeway to fire at the British at the bridge. We had no time to fire but once as the British retreated in great haste.</div> <bR> <div>      I may have been mistaken in stating in my first deposition that Davis and Hosmer were killed by the return volley; it might have been otherwise as there was very little time between volley and the return fire.</div> <bR> <div>                                         THOMAS THORP</div> <bR> <div> Middlesex Co. Dec. 2, 1835. The Thomas Thorp who is known to me as a man of truth made oath that the above affidavit is true according to his best knowledge and belief.</div> <div>           Before me Simon Hosmer, Justice of the Peace</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="deposition_of_seth_brooks"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Baskerville Old Face" ><B>Deposition of Seth Brooks</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> I, Seth Brooks of Acton in the County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts testify and say that I was a non-commissioned officer in the company by commanded by Isaac Davis of said Acton in the year 1775. That on the ninetieth day of April in said year, said Davis marched his company to meet a party of the British troops just from Boston to Concord. That said Davis with his company met the British troops in Concord, when the British troops fired on said Davis Company, and killed said Davis while he was leading on his company and in the discharge of his duty as captain of the same. I saw when he breathed his last and gave orders to have his body carried to a neighboring house</div> <bR> <div>                               SETH BROOKS</div> <bR> <div> Commonwealth of Massachusetts, </div> <div> Middlesex; Concord March 7, 1818</div> <div> Then the above names Seth Brooks personally appeared and made oaths that the above affidavit by him subscribed is true.</div> <bR> <div> Before me, </div> <div> John Vesyn, Justice of the Peace</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" > <A NAME="__deposition_of_the_wife_of_capt__davis"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></FONT><B>Deposition of the wife of Capt. Davis</B><B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >   </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >                 </FONT></div> <div>  <A NAME="hannah__brown__davis_jones_leighton_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Baskerville Old Face" ><B>Hannah (Brown) Davis Jones Leighton</B></FONT></div> <div> History of the Town of Acton</div> <div> By Harold R. Phalen - copyright 1954 </div> <div>  Middlesex Printing, Inc. Cambridge, Ma.</div> <div>   Pages 403-404</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> I Hannah Leighton of Acton testify that I am eighty-nine years of age. Isaac Davis who was killed in Concord Fight in 1775 was my husband.</div> <bR> <div>      He was then thirty years of age. We had four children, the youngest about fifteen months old.</div> <bR> <div>      They were all unwell when he left me in the morning some of then with the canker rash.</div> <bR> <div>      The alarm was given early in the morning and my husband lost no time making ready to go to Concord with his company. A considerable number of then came to the house and made their cartridges there. The sun was from one to two hours high when they marched for Concord.</div> <bR> <div>      My husband said little that morning. He seemed serious and thoughtful but never hesitated as to the course of his duty. As he led the company from the house he turned round and seemed to have something to communicate. He only said take good care of the children and was soon out of sight. In the afternoon he was brought home a corpse. He was placed in my bedroom till the funeral. His countenance was pleasant and seemed little altered. The bodies of Abner Hosmer one of the company and of James Hayward one of the militia company who was killed in Lexington in the afternoon were brought by their friends to the house where the funeral of the three were attended together.</div> <bR> <div>                          HANNAH LEIGHTON</div> <bR> <div> Middlesex Co.  August 14, 1835. Then the above named Hannah Leighton who has long been known to me as a respectable and credible woman made oath that the forgoing affidavit by her subscribed is true according to her best knowledge and belief.</div> <bR> <div>           Before me Francis Tuttle, Justice of the Peace</div> <div>           Copy Attest Joseph W. Tuttle, Town Clerk</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Hannah Brown Davis Jones Leighton </B></div> <div> <B> <A NAME="letter_requesting_a_federal_pension"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Letter Requesting a Federal Pension</B></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >Hannah Brown Davis Jones Leighton Letter Requesting a Federal Pension based on her marriage to Captain Isaac Davis. (first copy sent to Congress, second copy has minor changes). Taken from pension file located in Washington DC (file contains about 36 pages). </FONT></div> <bR> <div> To the Senate & House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled. </div> <div> The Petition of Hannah Leighton of Acton in the County of Middlesex Commonwealth of Massachusetts widow respectfully represents. </div> <bR> <div>      That on the nineteenth day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred + seventy five. She was the wife of Isaac Davis, who was the Captain of a company of minute men, raised in that town, and who was killed on that day in advancing at the head of his Company which was in the front of the militia, at the north bridge in Concord. Though the conduct of Capt Davis on that occasion has been honorably mentioned in history, yet she asks leave to state some particulars, which till lately have never been published, + which are substantiated by the Depositions of two of his company. </div> <bR> <div>      As soon as the alarm was given which was about day break. Captain Davis lost no time in preparing for the march, and went directly with his Company, a distance of six miles, to the scene of action. When he arrived within sight of the bridge, about nine o’clock, he found that between four and five hundred of the militia had collected there from Concord and the vicinity, he immediately joined the officers who were consulting whether they should pass the detachment of the enemy, which guarded the bridge, and attempt to save the village from the fires which were seen to be kindling, and the public stores from the ravages of the enemy. As soon as he had to learn the subject of the consultation, Capt Davis returned to his Company; though he received no orders, was the junior of the Captains present, he said to his Company "I haven’t a man that’s afraid to go march." On which he advanced with his company toward the bridge, with Major Buttrick and Colonel Robinson at his si! de and the other companies followed. When Captain Davis arrived within a few rods of the bridge, a single shot followed by a volley from the enemy wounded one of his musicians; on which the Americans fired by order of Major Buttrick, the fire was returned. Two only of the Americans were killed - those two were the husband of your petitioner and Abner Hosmer a member of his Company. The enemy retreated immediately to the village without pursuit. </div> <bR> <div>      There was no further firing on either side, the enemy were no further molested till after they had left the village, two hours afterward. During that time, no one assumed command or gave any orders. The detachment of one hundred men who had been destroying the military stores at Col. Barretts, were permitted to repair the bri