In 1875, the Naval Academy Library acquired a newly published facsimile of a pamphlet originally published in 1825, entitled History of the Battle at Lexington, on the Morning of the 19th April, 1775. On the verso of the dedication page is a brief explanation for the reprint from C.A. Wellington, dated Lexington, April 1875: "Believing the facts in regard to the first resistance to British tyranny at Lexington on the morning of the 19th of April 1775, may be of interest to the American public at the present time, we publish this facsimile of a little volume faithfully and truthfully prepared by an eminent citizen of the town in conformity with a vote passed Dec. 13, 1824." That citizen was Elias Phinney, who in addition to describing the events of that momentous spring day in 1775, included an appendix containing the affidavits of ten men who had been present at the battle. These documents are important primary sources regarding the events at Lexington.
Title page and dedication page from Elias Phinney, History of the Battle at Lexington, on the Morning of the 19th April, 1775. The pamphlet includes the eyewitness testimony of ten men present on that day, seven of whom served in Captain John Parker's militia company.
On the evening of April 18, Dr. Joseph Warren, chairman of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, had sent Paul Revere and William Dawes to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were staying in Lexington, that British troops had left Boston. As the alarm bell rang from the belfry on Lexington Green, Captain John Parker's militia company began to assemble. Parker sent a scout along the road to Boston to check on the British movement. The scout returned around 2 a.m. and reported that he had not encountered any regulars, so Parker dismissed his men but told them to be ready to reassemble at the beat of the drum.
Royal Navy longboats ferried roughly 900 British regulars from Boston Common to an area near Lechmere's Point. From there, the troops made their way to the road leading through Lexington to Concord, Detail of a map of Boston with its Environs in 1775 & 1776 from Richard Frothingham, History of the Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill (Boston, 1851).
The British column of grenadiers and light infantry advancing from Boston to seize the colony's military stores at Concord had been delayed in their march. The troops had assembled on Boston Common around 10 p.m. to be ferried across Back Bay in longboats manned by sailors from the British Navy. It took about two hours to get the regulars to their landing place. More time passed as they waited for provisions. Around 2 a.m. they began to advance. The sound of bells and alarm guns told Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith of the 10th Regiment of Foot, in overall command of the expedition, that the element of surprise had been lost and that the march was no secret to the countryside. At Menotomy (now Arlington), he decided to detach six companies of light infantry under the command of Major John Pitcairn of the Royal Marines to press on and secure the two bridges over the Concord River. At the same time, he sent a messenger to Boston with a request for reinforcements.
Detail of a map showing the roads around Lexington Green from Frederic Hudson, "The Concord Fight," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 50 (May 1875).
In the early morning light, a scout sent out by Captain Parker spotted the advance column of British troops. Immediately upon learning of the approach of the regulars, Parker ordered the militia company's drummer William Diamond to beat the call to arms, and the men began to reassemble. Captain Parker ranged them in two lines on Lexington Green, a triangular shaped common at which the road from Boston divided. Parker's company, numbering between 60 and 70 men, was on the right of the approaching troops, about 100 yards or more away from the road to Concord. He reputedly told the militia: "Stand your ground! Don't fire unless fired upon! But if they mean to have a war let it begin here!"
Illustrator Edwin Austin Abbey's "Let Us Stand Our Ground" from Frederic Hudson, "The Concord Fight," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 50 (May 1875).
Hearing the drum beat and alarm guns, Major Pitcairn ordered his column of about 240 men to halt, prime and load, and move at double time. Two advance companies of light infantry wheeled from the road toward the militia. The soldiers "came up shouting, and almost upon a run, till within about ten rods of our line." As the redcoats rapidly approached, Captain Parker ordered his men to leave the green. One eyewitness recalled an officer exclaim, "Lay down your arms, you rebels, and disperse!" Some of Parker's company started to leave the common. Suddenly, a shot rang through the air. A number of witnesses said it was a pistol shot; only the British officers had pistols. Major Pitcairn "saw a gun in a peasant's hand, from behind a wall, flash in the pan, without going off; and instantly, or very soon, two or three guns went off, by which he found his horse wounded and also a man near him wounded." While it will never be known who fired the first shot, what happened next is indisputable. After some ragged firing, the light infantry fired a volley into Captain Parker's men, killing seven and mortally wounding one.
Engraving after Amos Doolittle's engraving of the Battle of Lexington from Thomas Dunn English, "The Fight at Lexington: A Ballad of Massachusetts," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 20 (April 1860). Doolittle (1754-1832) arrived in Cambridge in a company of Connecticut militia ten days after the battles at Lexington and Concord. He obtained leave to visit the battle sites with his artist friend Ralph Earl (1751-1801). From eyewitness accounts, Earl recreated the battle scenes, which Doolittle then engraved.
In the early dawn light, there was noise and confusion, and a thick blanket of musket smoke obscured Lexington Green. Pitcairn stated that "without any order or regularity, the light infantry began a scattering fire, and continued in that situation for some little time, contrary to repeated orders both of me and the officers that were present." Pitcairn and his junior officers had lost control of the infantrymen. Some of the dispersing militiamen fired at the British troops. Ebenezer Munroe was wounded in the arm and as he turned to run, he fired his gun at the regulars. As he later recalled, "the balls flew so thick, I thought there was no chance for escape, and that I might as well fire my gun as stand still and do nothing." Jonas Parker, the captain's cousin, said he would never run from the British. Wounded, he had fallen to the ground and was trying to load his gun when an infantryman ran him through with a bayonet. Jonathan Harrington, Jr., shot in the chest, crawled toward his house beside the green and died at his wife's feet.
Colonel Smith, riding up with the main force, was appalled at what he saw. He asked a junior officer to find a drummer to beat to arms. The British troops, trained to respond to the commands of the drum, stopped firing and were prodded back into formation. Smith would later write, "I was desirous of putting a stop to all further slaughter of those deluded people." To help restore order, Colonel Smith allowed the men to fire a volley and give three huzzas for their "victory." The column continued its march to Concord, the news of the bloody confrontation at Lexington spreading like wildfire through the countryside.
Monument erected on Lexington Green on July 4, 1799. The granite obelisk set on a pedestal is the oldest war memorial in the United States. The Reverend Jonas Clarke provided the inscription, which honors the eight men killed on April 19, 1775, "the first victims to the sword of British tyranny & oppression." The illustration, from Richard Frothingham, History of the Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill (Boston, 1851), makes the monument appear larger than it is.
Sources:
Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2019. E230.A84 2019
Fischer, David Hackett. Paul Revere's Ride. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. F69.R43F57 1994
Frothingham, Richard. History of the Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. 2d ed. Boston: Little angd Brown, 1851. E231.F93 1851
Phinney, Elias. History of the Battle at Lexington, on the Morning of the 19th April, 1775. Boston: Phelps and Farnham, 1825. Reprint. Boston: Rand, Avery, & Co., 1875. E241.L6P6 1875
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