This site examines the shooting on Lexington green at dawn on the 19th of April. Many other confrontations took place that day, as well as over the previous ten years. But if we covered all those topics, it would take you ten years to read the result! So we’re focusing on what different documents say about what happened in Lexington.
On Lexington green, all witnesses agreed, British soldiers fired at the local militia, killing eight men. But what led up to that event? Specifically—
• Did any provincials shoot at the British troops before those soldiers fired?
• Did any Lexington men fire back afterwards?
• What did officers on both sides order their men to do?
• Why did the British soldiers march into Lexington in the first place?
• Why were the militiamen lined up on the green when the soldiers arrived?
• How many armed militiamen were in Lexington?
You’ll find answers to all those questions in the documents. In fact, in many cases you’ll find different answers to the same questions. What really happened in Lexington on 19 April? Or is it more useful to understand the different perspectives that people brought to that town green that morning?
This site offers a look at only a few of the sources that have come down to us. This selection is not supposed to be complete. We chose these accounts because they provide an interesting range of viewpoints, including testimony from British and Americans, from April 1775 and from years later.
In many cases, the testimony has been edited for length, but all edits are marked. We kept the original spelling and punctuation, irregular as it was.
Overviews
• Boston News-Letter, 20 April 1775
• Gen. Thomas Gage to Viscount Barrington, Secretary at War, 22 April 1775
• London Gazette, 10 June 1775
• Massachusetts Provincial Congress report, 26 April 1775
Citizens of Lexington
• Elijah Sanderson
• Simon Winship
• John Parker, captain of the Lexington company
• 34 men of the Lexington company
• John Robbins
• Ebenezer Munroe, corporal of the Lexington company
British Army Officers
• Ens. Jeremy Lister, 10th Regiment of Foot
• Lt. William Sutherland, 38th Regiment of Foot
• Lt. John Barker, 4th Regiment of Foot (King’s Own)
• Lt. Edward Thoroton Gould, 4th Regiment of Foot
(King’s Own)
In 1775 The Boston News-Letter was the oldest continuously published newspaper in North America. Its owner was Margaret Draper, the daughter and widow of printers. What did her paper report in its first issue after Lexington, printed on April 20th?
“Last Tuesday Night the grenadier and Light Companies belonging to the several Regiments in the Town were ferried in Long boats from the bottom of the Common over to Phip’s Farm in Cambridge, from whence they proceeded on their way to Concord where they arrived early yesterday. The first Brigade commanded by Lord Percy with two pieces of Artillery set off from here Yesterday Morning at Ten o’clock as a Re-enforcement, which with the Grenadiers and Light companies made about Eighteen Hundred Men. Upon the people’s having notice of this Movement of Tuesday night alarm guns were fired through the country and Expresses sent off to the different Towns so that very early yesterday morning large numbers were assembled from all parts of the Country. A general Battle ensued which, from what we can learn, was supported with great Spirit upon both Sides and continued until the King’s troops retreated to Charlestown, which was after sunset. Numbers are killed and wounded on both sides. The reports concerning this unhappy Affair and the Causes that concurred to bring on an Engagement are so various that we are not able to collect anything consistent or regular and cannot therefore with certainty give our readers any further Account of this shocking Introduction to all the Miseries of Civil War.”
Source: Boston News-Letter, also called The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter. Entire run available on microfilm at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, the Boston Public Library, and other research libraries.
• Draper and her printers were shut up in Boston, which was besieged by provincial forces starting on the night of 19 April.
• Draper had tried to steer a middle course during most of the political disputes in the previous decade, but by 1775 was leaning in favor of the Crown. She kept her newspaper running in Boston through the siege and then left for Canada with the British troops in March 1776.
Overviews
• Gen. Thomas Gage to Viscount Barrington, Secretary at War, 22 April 1775
• London Gazette, 10 June 1775
• Massachusetts Provincial Congress report, 26 April 1775
Citizens of Lexington
British Army Officers
Gen. Thomas Gage was both royal governor of Massachusetts and commander of the British army in North America. Three days after the fighting, he wrote to his two bosses: the Secretary of State, the Earl of Dartmouth, and the Secretary at War, Viscount Barrington. Here’s what he told Lord Barrington:
“I have now nothing to trouble your Lordship with, but of an Affair that happened here on the 19th Instant. I having intelligence of a large quantity of Military Stores, being collected at Concord, for the avowed purpose, of Supplying a Body of Troops, to act in Opposition to his Majesty’s Government; I gott the Grenadiers, and Light Infantry out of Town, under the Command of Lieut. Colonel Smith of the 10th Regiment, and Major Pitcairn of the Marines, with as much Secrecy as possible, on the 18th at night; and with Orders to destroy the said Military Stores, and Supported them the next Morning, by Eight Companies of the 4th the same number of the 23d 47th and Marines Under the Command of Lord Percy. It Appears from the firing of Alarm Guns and Ringing of Bells, that the March of Lieut Coll. Smith was discovered, and he was Opposed, by a Body of Men, within Six Miles of Concord: Some few of whom first began to fire upon his Advanced Companys, which brought on a fire from the Troops, that dispersed the Body opposed to them, and they proceeded to Concord, where they destroyed all the Military Stores they could find. . . . The whole Country was Assembled in Arms with Surprizing expedition, and Several Thousand are now Assembled about this Town, threatning an Attack; and getting up Artillery; and we are now very busy making preparations to Oppose them.”
Source: The Correspondence of General Thomas Gage with the Secretaries of State, and with the War Office and the Treasury, 1763-1775. Clarence Edwin Carter, editor. 2 volumes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1933.
• The previous fall, Gage had told his superiors that he needed more force—up to 20,000 soldiers—to pacify New England. Their response, which he received shortly before sending troops to Concord, was an order for him to take action with the 5,000 soldiers he had.
• In writing to his superiors, Gage had to do more than report facts; he also had to assure those men that he was doing the best possible job.
• Gage and his officers were also writing for the public back home in England. He therefore had reason to create an orderly narrative of what happened on April 19th that depicted the other side as the aggressors.
• Gage focused on Concord as he planned and looked back on the mission; Lexington was simply a town along the way.
Overviews
• Boston News-Letter, 20 April 1775
• London Gazette, 10 June 1775
• Massachusetts Provincial Congress report, 26 April 1775
Citizens of Lexington
British Army Officers
The reports from Gen. Gage and his top officers were big news when they arrived in London. This is one of the first newspaper stories on those reports.
“Lieutenant Nunn, of the Navy, arrived this morning at Lord Dartmouth’s and brought letters from General Gage, Lord Percy and Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, containing the following particulars of what passed on the nineteenth of April between a detachment of the King’s troops in the Province of Massachusetts Bay and several parties of rebel provincials. . . . Lieutenant-Colonel Smith finding, after he had advanced some miles on his march, that the country had been alarmed by firing of guns and ringing of bells, dispatched six companies of light infantry, in order to secure two bridges on different roads beyond Concord, who, upon their arrival at Lexington, found a body of the country people under arms, on a green close to the road; and upon the King’s troops marching upon them, in order to inquire the reason of their being so assembled, they went off in great confusion, and several guns were fired upon the King’s troops from behind a stone wall, and also from the meeting house and other houses, by which one man was wounded, and Major Pitcairn’s horse was shot in two places. In consequence of this attack by the rebels, the troops returned the fire and killed several of them. After which, the detachment marched on to Concord without any further happening.”
• The newspaper printers in London did not know the geography of Middlesex County, and apparently did not grasp the goal of the British march.
• It took seven weeks for Gage’s report to get across the Atlantic.
• This was not the first London newspaper report on the outbreak of war in Massachusetts. Read more here.
Overviews
• Boston News-Letter, 20 April 1775
• Gen. Thomas Gage to Viscount Barrington, Secretary at War, 22 April 1775
• Massachusetts Provincial Congress report, 26 April 1775
Citizens of Lexington
British Army Officers
The Provincial Congress was the de facto government of most of Massachusetts. More towns sent delegates to this unofficial legislature than to the last official General Court under Gen. Gage. After the battle on 19 April, the Provincial Congress ordered local magistrates to gather testimony about what had happened and assembled a report on the start of the war. Here is its opening.
“To the inhabitants of Great Britain:
“Friends and fellow subjects: Hostilities are at length commenced in the Colony by the troops under command of General Gage; and it being of the greatest importance that an early, true and authentic account of this inhuman proceeding should be known to you, the Congress of this Colony have transmitted the same. . . .
“By the clearest depositions relative to the transaction, it will appear that on the night proceeding the nineteenth of April instant…the Town of Lexington…was alarmed, and a company of the inhabitants mustered on the occasion; that the Regular troops, on their way to Concord, marched into the said town of Lexington, and the said company, on their approach, began to disperse; that notwithstanding this, the regulars rushed on with great violence and first began hostilities by firing on said Lexington Company, whereby they killed eight and wounded several others; that the regulars continued their fire until those of said company, who were neither killed nor wounded, had made their escape.
“These, brethren, are the marks of ministerial vengeance against this colony, for refusing, with her sister colonies, a submission to slavery. But they have not yet detached us from our Royal Sovereign. We profess to be his loyal and dutiful subjects, and so hardly dealt with as we have been, are still ready, with our lives and fortunes, to defend his person, family, crown and dignity. Nevertheless, to the persecution of tyranny of his cruel ministry we will not tamely submit; appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free.”
Source: A Narrative of the Excursion and Ravages of the King’s Troops. Worcester, Mass.: Isaiah Thomas, 1775.
• The Provincial Congress wrote for the British (and British-American) public, and therefore tried to create an orderly narrative that cast all the blame on the royal authorities in Massachusetts.
• Even though war had broken out, most Americans were not ready for independence from Britain. For over a decade, American Whigs had argued that they were still loyal to the British king and nation, and opposed only the corrupt ministers in London who were imposing oppressive and unconstitutional laws.
• Gathering depositions—sworn statements in writing about what witnesses saw—was a common strategy during the political disputes of the previous decade. After the Boston Massacre in 1770, officials took at least four sets of depositions: two supporting the position of Boston and two supporting the royal authorities. The Provincial Congress’s report on the battle of 19 April contained over 100 depositions.
• After approving this report, the Provincial Congress took steps to ensure that it would influence public opinion in England. Read about that effort.
Overviews
• Boston News-Letter, 20 April 1775
• Gen. Thomas Gage to Viscount Barrington, Secretary at War, 22 April 1775
• London Gazette, 10 June 1775
Citizens of Lexington
British Army Officers
Sanderson was a 24-year-old yeoman farmer living with his family in Lexington in 1775. After the battle, magistrates interviewed him and two other local men about their experience on the night of 18 April, creating this deposition.
“We, Solomon Brown, Jonathan Loring, and Elijah Sanderson, all of lawful age, and of Lexington, in the County of Middlesex, and the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay, in New England, do testify and declare, that on the evening of the eighteenth of April instant, being on the road between Concord and Lexington, all of us mounted on horses, we were, about ten of the clock, suddenly surprised by nine persons, whom we took to be regular officers, who rode up to us mounted and armed each having a pistol in his hand; and after putting pistols to our breasts, and seizing the bridles of our horses, they swore that if we stirred another step we should be all dead men; upon which we surrendered ourselves. They detained us until two o’clock the next morning, in which time they searched and greatly abused us; having first inquired about the magazine at Concord, whether any guards were posted there, and whether the bridges were up; and said four or five regiments of Regulars would be in possession of the stores soon. They then brought us back to Lexington, cut the horses’ bridles and girths, turned them loose, and then left us.”
Source: A Narrative of the Excursion and Ravages of the King’s Troops. Worcester, Mass.: Isaiah Thomas, 1775.
• British officers on horseback left Boston during the day on 18 April in order to scout the roads to Concord and try to stop news of the march from spreading.
• Sanderson and his colleagues said nothing in their deposition about the reason they were riding along the road from Lexington to Concord about 10:00 at night.
• Elijah Sanderson left another account of his experiences on the night of 18 April 1775. Read from that later deposition.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
• Simon Winship
• John Parker, captain of the Lexington company
• 34 men of the Lexington company
• John Robbins
• Ebenezer Munroe, corporal of the Lexington company
British Army Officers
Nearly fifty years after the Revolutionary War broke out, a minister in Lexington collected a second set of depositions from survivors about what had happened on the town green in 1775. In December 1824, Elijah Sanderson was aged 73 and living in Salem. This is a portion of the deposition he gave that year.
“On the evening of the 18th April, 1775, we saw a party of officers pass up from Boston, all dressed in blue wrappers. The unusually late hour of their passing excited the attention of the citizens. I took my gun and cartridge-box, and, thinking something must be going on more than common, walked up to John Buckman’s tavern, near the meeting-house. After some conversation among the citizens assembled there, an old gentleman advised, that some one should follow those officers, and endeavour to ascertain their object. I then observed, that, if any one would let me have a horse, I would go in pursuit. Thaddeus Harrington told me, I might take his, which was there. I took his, and Solomon Brown proposed to accompany me on his own horse. Jonathan Loring also went with us. We started, probably, about nine o’clock; and we agreed, if we could find the officers, we would return and give information. . . .
“We set out in pursuit. Just before we got to Brooks’s in Lincoln, while riding along, we were stopped by nine British officers, who were paraded across the road. They were all mounted. One rode up and seized my bridle, and another my arm, and one put his pistol to my breast, and told me, if I resisted, I was a dead man.”
Source: Elias Phinney, History of the Battle at Lexington. Boston: Phelps & Farnham, 1825.
• Many provincials, including Sanderson, recognized the British officers on horseback and were suspicious about those men’s activities.
• Later in this 1824 deposition, Sanderson mentioned how the same officers who captured him also captured Paul Revere, and tried to stop William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott. None of those alarm riders were mentioned in the Provincial Congress report of 1775. In fact, Paul Revere supplied a deposition, but the Congress never published it.
• Eventually the British officers let Sanderson go, and he returned to Lexington. In 1824 he described more of his experiences there. Read more of Sanderson’s account.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
• Simon Winship
• John Parker, captain of the Lexington company
• 34 men of the Lexington company
• John Robbins
• Ebenezer Munroe, corporal of the Lexington company
British Army Officers
After being released by the British officers, Sanderson walked back to Lexington, where he served in the militia company. Here is what he recalled seeing when the British arrived.
“I went into the tavern, and, after a while, went to sleep in my chair by the fire. In a short time after, the drum beat, and I ran out to the common, where the militia was parading. The captain ordered them to fall in. I then fell in. ’Twas all in the utmost haste. The British troops were then coming on in full sight. I had no musket, having sent it home, the night previous, by my brother, before I started for Concord; and, reflecting I was of no use, I stepped out again from the company about two rods, and was gazing at the British, coming on in full career. Several mounted British officers were forward; I think, five. The commander rode up, with his pistol in his hand, on a canter, the others following, to about eight or ten rods from the company, perhaps nearer, and ordered them to disperse. The words he used were harsh. I cannot remember them exactly. He then said, ‘Fire!’ and he fired his own pistol, and the other officers soon fired, and with that the main body came up and fired, but did not take sight. They loaded again as soon as possible. All was smoke when the foot fired. I heard no particular orders after what the commander first said. I looked, and, seeing nobody fall, thought to be sure they couldn’t be firing balls, and I didn’t move off. After our militia had dispersed, I saw them firing at one man, Solomon Brown, who was stationed behind a wall. I saw the wall smoke with the bullets hitting it. I then knew they were firing balls.”
Source: Elias Phinney, History of the Battle at Lexington. Boston: Phelps & Farnham, 1825.
• In 1824, there was no longer any reason to minimize how the provincials had prepared to defend themselves against the British army. There was also no longer any reason to leave out the messy bits of real life: falling asleep, lining up in the ranks but with no gun, not realizing the enemy is firing real musket balls.
• Sanderson thought Solomon Brown was a target of the soldiers’ shots. He was one of the three men who had tried to ride to Concord. Brown had ridden “his own horse,” Sanderson recalled, and British officers had taken this horse away at gunpoint. Other witnesses in the 1820s said they had seen Brown near the green with his gun as the British marched through town.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
• Simon Winship
• John Parker, captain of the Lexington company
• 34 men of the Lexington company
• John Robbins
• Ebenezer Munroe, corporal of the Lexington company
British Army Officers
Winship was a young man from Lexington. He was old enough to serve in the militia, but as the British approached the town he was actually in their ranks.
“Simon Winship, of Lexington, in the county of Middlesex, and Province of Mass-Bay, NE, being of lawful age, testifieth and saith, that on the nineteenth of April instant, about four o’clock in the morning, as he was passing the publick road in said Lexington, peaceably and unarmed, about two miles and a half distance from the meeting-house in said Lexington, he was met by a body of the King’s Regular troops, and being stopped by some officers of said Troops, was commanded to dismount. Upon asking why he must dismount, he was obliged by force to quit his horse, and ordered to march in the midst of the body; and being examined whether he had been warning the Minute-Men, he ansered no, but had been out, and was then returning to his father’s. Said Winship further testifies that he marched with said Troops until he came within about half a quarter of a mile of said meeting-house, where an officer commanded the Troops to halt, and then to prime and load.”
Source: A Narrative of the Excursion and Ravages of the King’s Troops. Worcester, Mass.: Isaiah Thomas, 1775.
• Simon Winship did not leave a later account, as Elijah Sanderson did. Therefore, we don’t know if he rode out from Lexington to look for the British column. In the 1820s surviving witnesses said that several men rode east from Lexington to look for the British at different times in the night, and most of them were captured.
• Both Winship and Ens Jeremy Lister stated that the British soldiers did not load their weapons until they approached Lexington green.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
• Elijah Sanderson
• John Parker, captain of the Lexington company
• 34 men of the Lexington company
• John Robbins
• Ebenezer Munroe, corporal of the Lexington company
British Army Officers
John Parker had some military experience from the French & Indian War (though not as much as is sometimes said about him). As was traditional in New England militias, though officers held their commissions from the government, the men of the company had actually chosen him to lead them.
“I, John Parker, of lawful Age, and Commander of the Militia in Lexington, do testify and declare, that on the 19th Instant in the Morning, about one of the Clock, being informed that there were a Number of Regular Officers, riding up and down the Road, stopping and insulting People as they passed the Road; and also was informed that a Number of Regular Troops were on their March from Boston in order to take the Province Stores at Concord, ordered our Militia to meet on the Common in said Lexington to consult what to do, and concluded not to be discovered, nor meddle or make with said Regular Troops (if they should approach) unless they should insult or molest us; and, upon their sudden Approach, I immediately ordered our Militia to disperse, and not to fire:—Immediately said Troops made their appearance and rushed furiously, fired upon, and killed eight of our Party without receiving any Provocation therefor from us.”
Source: A Narrative of the Excursion and Ravages of the King’s Troops. Worcester, Mass.: Isaiah Thomas, 1775.
• Though Parker recognized that the British column aimed “to take the Province Stores at Concord,” he nevertheless blamed officers on the road for “stopping and insulting People.”
• Parker gathered his Lexington troops at first “to consult what to do”; the provincial militias seem to have done a lot by consensus.
• Neither Robbins nor Parker nor the other Lexington men said anything in 1775 about what happened after the British troops fired.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
• Elijah Sanderson
• Simon Winship
• 34 men of the Lexington company
• John Robbins
• Ebenezer Munroe, corporal of the Lexington company
British Army Officers
“We Nathaniel Mulliken, Philip Russell, [and 32 other men], All of lawful age, and inhabitants of Lexington, in the County of Middlesex…do testify and declare, that on the nineteenth in the morning, being informed that…a body of regulars were marching from Boston towards Concord…we were alarmed and having met at the place of our company’s parade, were dismissed by our Captain, John Parker, for the present, with orders to be ready to attend at the beat of the drum. We further testify and declare that about five o’clock in the morning, hearing our drum beat, we proceeded towards the parade, and soon found that a large body of troops were marching towards us, some of our company were coming to the parade, and others had reached it, at which time, the company began to disperse, whilst our backs were turned on the troops, we were fired on by them, and a number of our men were instantly killed and wounded, not a gun was fired by any person in our company on the regulars to our knowledge before they fired on us, and continued firing until we had all made our escape.”
Source: A Narrative of the Excursion and Ravages of the King’s Troops. Worcester, Mass.: Isaiah Thomas, 1775.
• The Lexington company’s “parade” ground was their town green. It was a triangle of land where the road from Boston split, with the road to Concord leading off to the left and another road leading right.
• Two buildings near Lexington green were particularly important on this morning. On the green itself was the town meeting-house; it stood between where the men formed up in ranks and the fork in the road from Boston. North of the fork was Buckman’s tavern, where many of the men seem to have spent the hours between when Parker dismissed them and when they formed again on the green.
• When gathering evidence, it’s a good rule to separate witnesses, take separate stories, and see how their accounts match. A deposition from thirty-four people doesn’t adhere to this basic rule. It instead represents what the signers have agreed to say; each might be sincere, but the result is less convincing.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
• Elijah Sanderson
• Simon Winship
• John Parker, captain of the Lexington company
• John Robbins
• Ebenezer Munroe, corporal of the Lexington company
British Army Officers
John Robbins was a Lexington militiaman. He gave a deposition on April 24th, one day before his captain and most of his comrades testified together. His story was therefore not influenced by theirs.
“I, John Robbins, being of lawful Age, do Testifye and say, that on the Nineteenth Instant, the Company under the Command of Captain John Parker, being drawn up (sometime before sun Rise) on the Green or Common, and I being in the front Rank, there suddenly appear'd a Number of the Kings Troops, about a Thousand, as I thought, at the distance of about 60 or 70 yards from us Huzzaing, and on a quick pace towards us, with three Officers in their front on Horse Back, and on full Gallop towards us, the foremost of which cryed, throw down your Arms ye Villains, ye Rebels! upon which said Company Dispersing, the foremost of the three Officers order'd their Men, saying, fire, by God, fire! at which Moment we received a very heavy and close fire from them, at which Instant, being wounded, I fell, and several of our men were shot Dead by one volley. Captain Parker's men I believe had not then fired a Gun. And further the Deponent saith not.”
Source: A Narrative of the Excursion and Ravages of the King’s Troops. Worcester, Mass.: Isaiah Thomas, 1775.
• Because Robbins had been wounded, he might have had particular reason to blame the British troops and see their actions as hostile.
• Neither Robbins nor Parker nor the other Lexington men said anything in 1775 about what happened after the British troops fired.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
• Elijah Sanderson
• Simon Winship
• John Parker, captain of the Lexington company
• 34 men of the Lexington company
• Ebenezer Munroe, corporal of the Lexington company
British Army Officers
In 1775, Munroe was a 22-year-old yeoman farmer and militia corporal. Fifty years later, he was living in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. A minister from Lexington tracked him down and asked him about the fight on the green.
“Some of our men went into the meeting-house, where the town’s powder was kept, for the purpose of replenishing their stock of ammunition. When the regulars had arrived within eighty or one hundred rods, they, hearing our drum beat, halted, charged their guns, and doubled their ranks, and marched up at quick step. Capt. Parker ordered his men to stand their ground, and not to molest the regulars, unless they meddled with us. The British troops came up directly in our front. The commanding officer advanced within a few rods of us, and exclaimed, ‘Disperse, you damned rebels! you dogs, run!—Rush on my boys!’ and fired his pistol. The fire from their front ranks soon followed. After the first fire, I received a wound in my arm, and then, as I turned to run, I discharged my gun into the main body of the enemy. As I fired, my face being toward them, one ball cut off a part of one of my ear-locks, which was then pinned up. Another ball passed between my arm and my body, and just marked my clothes. The first fire of the British was regular; after that, they fired promiscuously. . . . When I fired, I perfectly well recollect of taking aim at the regulars. The smoke, however, prevented my being able to see many of them. . . . When the British came up in front of the meeting-house, Joshua Simonds was in the upper gallery, an open cask of powder standing near him, and he afterward told me, that he cocked his gun and placed the muzzle of it close to the cask of powder, and determined to ‘touch it off,’ in case the troops had come into the gallery.”
Source: Elias Phinney, History of the Battle at Lexington. Boston: Phelps & Farnham, 1825.
• Lexington was a small town with a single meeting-house on the eastern corner of the green. That building was where townspeople worshipped, held town meetings, occasionally sent their children to school, and, in April 1775, stored their gunpowder.
• The Lexington minister published new depositions in 1825 with the goal of showing that the Lexington militia fought back against the British attack. In 1775 there was political value in showing that they were peaceful victims of an army attack. Fifty years later, that image no longer sat well with the people of Lexington, and their minister emphasized how the town militia was prepared to resist the British army if attacked.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
• Elijah Sanderson
• Simon Winship
• John Parker, captain of the Lexington company
• 34 men of the Lexington company
• John Robbins
British Army Officers
Jeremy Lister was a twenty-two-year-old ensign, the lowest level of commissioned officer. He volunteered for the march on 18 April when another officer said he was too sick to go. Starting in 1782, as the war was winding down, Lister wrote a memoir of his experiences for his family and friends.
“We got all over the bay and landed on the oposite shore betwixt twelve and one OClock and was on our March by one, which was at first through some swamps and slips of the Sea till we got into the Road leading to Lexington soon after which the Country people begun to fire their alarm guns light their Beacons, to raise the Country. . . . To the best of my recollection about 4 oClock in the morning being the 19th of April the 5 front Compys. was ordered to Load which we did.”
Source: Jeremy Lister, Concord Fight. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1931.
• Beacons lit on tall poles and firing guns in the air, as well as ringing bells and sending messengers on horseback, were the standard way to spread news of a military emergency. Other army officers wrote of seeing men respond to these alarms on the night of 18 April, hurrying over the distant hills with their muskets.
• The British soldiers were not ordered to load their firelocks at the start of the march, but only after they were miles into the countryside.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
British Army Officers
• Lt. William Sutherland, 38th Regiment of Foot
• Lt. John Barker, 4th Regiment of Foot (King’s Own)
• Lt. Edward Thoroton Gould, 4th Regiment of Foot
(King’s Own)
Sutherland was one of the mounted officers accompanying the British column. Later he was at the North Bridge in Concord. On April 27th, a week after the battle, he wrote a long letter to Gen Gage describing what he saw throughout the day, probably at the general’s request. Here Lt. Sutherland describes what he experienced when the British column was several hundred yards before Lexington.
“Here we saw shots fired to the right & left of us, but as we heard no Whissing of Balls I Conclude they were to Alarm the body that was there of our Approach On Coming within Gun shot of the Village of Lexington a fellow from the Corner of the road on the right hand Cock’d his piece at me, burnt primeing I immediatly called Mr. Adair & the party to observe this Circumstance & I acquainted Major Pitcairn of it immediatly.”
Source: Allen French, General Gage’s Informers: New Material Upon Lexington and Concord, Benjamin Thompson as Loyalist and the Treachery of Benjamin Church, Jr. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1932.
• Maj. Pitcairn of the Marines was second-in-command on the march, the senior officer at the front of the column. Adair was another officer in the vanguard.
• Sutherland was careful about exactly what he saw and heard. “Burnt primeing” meant the fellow on the right-hand corner pulled the trigger on his musket. Sutherland could not say that the man’s gun had been loaded, but he had reason to believe a provincial had just fired the first shot at him.
• Things got even hotter for the lieutenant on Lexington green. Read more of Sutherland’s account.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
British Army Officers
• Ens. Jeremy Lister, 10th Regiment of Foot
• Lt. John Barker, 4th Regiment of Foot (King’s Own)
• Lt. Edward Thoroton Gould, 4th Regiment of Foot (King’s Own)
Sutherland came to Lexington green on horseback, believing that just outside of town a man had shot at him.
“When we came up to the main body which appeared to me to Exceed 400 in & about the Village who were drawn up in a plain opposite to the Church, several Officers Called out throw down your Arms & you shall come to no harm, or words to that Effect, which they refusing to do, instantaneously the Gentlemen who were on horseback rode in amongst them of which I was one, at which instant I heard Major Pitcairns voice Call out Soldiers dont fire, keep your Ranks, form & surround them, instantly some of the Villains who got over the hedge fired at us which our men for the first time returned, which sett my horse a going who Galloped with me down a road to the right above 600 yards among the middle of them before I turned him & in returning a vast number who were in a Wood at the right of the Grenadiers fired at me, but the distance was so great that I only heard the Whistling of the Balls, but saw a great number of people in the Wood, in consequence of their discovering themselves by firing. . . . Our men now kept up the fire and on my coming up Colonel Smith turned to me, asked me, do you know where a Drum is, which I found, who immediatly beat to Arms, when the Men ceased firing, during this time there was 3 Shot fired at Col. Smith from the Gavel Garrett Window of a house within 50 yards of us, & it was from the end of that house the first 3 Shot were fired upon us. Col. Smith and Major Pitcairn regretted in my hearing the too great Warmth of the Soldiers in not attending to their Officers & keeping their ranks & in recommending a more steady Conduct to them for the future.”
Source: Allen French, General Gage’s Informers: New Material Upon Lexington and Concord, Benjamin Thompson as Loyalist and the Treachery of Benjamin Church, Jr. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1932.
• When Sutherland’s horse panicked and galloped him along the wrong road, they headed toward the Lexington parsonage where John Hancock and Samuel Adams had been staying. Many provincials thought that the British army wanted to capture those political leaders. (Gen. Gage had no plan to do so.)
• Sutherland had never been in combat before. Historians think that he was accurate in most details but consistently overestimated the number of the enemy.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
British Army Officers
• Ens. Jeremy Lister, 10th Regiment of Foot
• Lt. John Barker, 4th Regiment of Foot (King’s Own)
• Lt. Edward Thoroton Gould, 4th Regiment of Foot
(King’s Own)
Barker kept a diary while he was stationed in Boston in 1774-76. This comes from his entry for 30 March, almost three weeks before the mission to Concord.
“The 1st. Brigade marched into the Country at 6 oclock in the morning; it alarmed the people a good deal. Expresses were sent to every town near; at Watertown about 9 miles off, they got 2 pieces of Cannon to the Bridge and loaded ’em but nobody wou’d stay to fire them; at Cambridge they were so alarmed that they pulled up the Bridge. However, they were quit for their fears, for after marching about the Country for five hours we returned peaceably home.”
Source: Barker, John. The British in Boston: Being the Diary of Lieutenant John Barker of the King’s Own Regiment from November 15, 1774 to May 31, 1776. Notes by Elizabeth Ellery Dana. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1924.
• Gen. Gage had ordered a series of short marches into the countryside in the late winter of 1775. He later said they were meant to exercise the soldiers and accustom the locals to seeing troops on the march so they would react more slowly to a real mission.
• When Barker embarked for Concord, he (and his colleagues) knew the provincial militias had at least some cannons. But he also had reason to believe that they provincials wouldn’t stay to fight. Read Barker’s account of Lexington.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
British Army Officers
• Ens. Jeremy Lister, 10th Regiment of Foot
• Lt. William Sutherland, 38th Regiment of Foot
• Lt. Edward Thoroton Gould, 4th Regiment of Foot
(King’s Own)
”At 2 o’clock we began our march by wading through a very long ford up to the middles; after going a few miles we took three or four people who were going off to give intelligence; about five miles on this side of a town called Lexington, which lay in our road, we heard there were some hundreds of people collected together intending to oppose us and stop our going on; at 5 o’clock we arrived there, and saw a number of people, I believe between 200 and 300, formed in a common in the middle of town; we still continued advancing, keeping prepared against an attack through without intending to attack them; but on our coming near them they fired on us two shots, upon which our men without any orders, rushed upon them, fired and put them to flight; several of them were killed, we could not tell how many, because they were behind walls and into the woods. We had a man of the 10th light Infantry wounded, nobody else was hurt. We then formed on the Common, but with some difficulty, the men were so wild they could hear no orders; we waited a considerable time there, and at length proceeded our way to Concord.”
Source: The British in Boston: Being the Diary of Lieutenant John Barker of the King’s Own Regiment from November 15, 1774 to May 31, 1776. Notes by Elizabeth Ellery Dana. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1924.
• Barker’s diary is wonderfully cranky about most things, including both the people of Boston and Gen. Gage. So his assessment of the troops fit right in that pattern.
• Barker seems to describe not what he personally saw on Lexington green, but what he heard from fellow officers that “we” had experienced.
• We have many first-person reports from British officers, but very few eyewitness accounts from British privates or non-commissioned officers. (The handful that survive are mostly concerned with whether soldiers were scalped in Concord.) One factor in explaining this is that average New Englanders were more likely to be literate than people anywhere else in the British Empire.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
British Army Officers
• Ens. Jeremy Lister, 10th Regiment of Foot
• Lt. William Sutherland, 38th Regiment of Foot
• Lt. Edward Thoroton Gould, 4th Regiment of Foot
(King’s Own)
Lt. Gould was captured on his way back to Boston after being wounded at the North Bridge in Concord. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress report included a deposition from him, taken at Medford on 25 April 1775, about what happened in Lexington.
“I, Edward Thornton Gould, of his Majesty's own Regiment of Foot, being of lawful Age, do testify and declare, that on the Evening of the 18th. Instant, under the Orders of General Gage, I embarked with the Light infantry and Grenadiers of the Line, commanded by Colonel Smith, and landed on the Marshes of Cambridge, from whence we proceeded to Lexington; On our arrival at that place, we saw a Body of provincial Troops armed, to the Number of about sixty or seventy Men; on our Approach, they dispersed, and soon after firing began, but which party fired first, I cannot exactly say, as our Troops rush'd on shouting, and huzzaing, previous to the firing, which was continued by our Troops, so long as any of the provincials were to be seen. From thence we marched to Concord. . . . I myself was wounded at the Attack of the Bridge, and am now treated with the greatest Humanity, and taken all possible Care of by the provincials at Medford.”
Source: A Narrative of the Excursion and Ravages of the King’s Troops. Worcester, Mass.: Isaiah Thomas, 1775.
• As a prisoner, Gould may have felt pressure to say what the Provincial Congress wanted to hear. However, he gave much the same testimony about Lexington in 1777 during a trial in London.
• In his 1777 testimony, Gould also described hearing alarm cannon go off as the army column marched west. The Provincial Congress would not have wanted to publicize that detail.
Source: A Complete Collection of State-Trials, and Proceedings for High-Treason, and other Crimes and Misdemeanors. 4th edition. London: T. Wright, 1776-81.
Overviews
Citizens of Lexington
British Army Officers
• Ens. Jeremy Lister, 10th Regiment of Foot
• Lt. William Sutherland, 38th Regiment of Foot
• Lt. John Barker, 4th Regiment of Foot (King’s Own)
Gen. Gage was the first official to send reports on the battle of 19 April 1775 to London. He chose the usual route for such news: a military officer, Lt. Nunn of the Royal Navy, carried the general’s letters and reports from the battlefield commanders on the next available merchant vessel. This ship, a brig called the Sukey, left Boston on 25 April. Gage’s package arrived in London on 9 June. By the standards of 1775, that was a long passage, but not terribly long.
In contrast, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress started later but took steps to send their report as quickly as possible. The day after Gage’s ship had sailed, the legislature hired sea captain John Derby of Salem and his family’s ship, the Quero, to speed their report to London.
The Quero left Marblehead on 29 April, but took only twenty-nine days to cross the Atlantic. It sailed “in ballast,” meaning Derby had not waited to load any goods to defray the costs of the trip. He also disembarked at Southampton in southern England and hurried to London over land rather than sail up the Thames.
Derby arrived in the capital on 28 May, bringing the Provincial Congress report with all its depositions and newspapers from Salem offering the same story. Naturally, his news was a sensation. Opponents of the government who already supported the American cause seized on the hostilities as further evidence of the ministry’s bad policy. On 31 May, Massachusetts’s agent and lobbyist in London arranged for the report to be reprinted there.
Lord Dartmouth and other British officials urged the public to wait for Gage’s dispatches. But by the time they arrived in June, many Englishmen had already read the Provincial Congress’s version of events.
Source: Robert S. Rantoul, “The Cruise of the ‘Quero’: How We Carried the News to the King.” Essex Institute Historical Collections, 36 (1900), 1-30.