A Tidd Story
NOTE 15 Jan 2024: This retelling of the 1775 Battle of Lexington from the perspective of the four Tidds present is based on Frank Coburn’s 1912 narrative, which contains many errors due to the numerous accounts from British officers that were unavailable at that time. I am currently working on a revision based on original source material (American and British). Meanwhile, I will keep this version alive for any Tidds who remain unaware of this fascinating aspect of our common heritage, as I was until recent years.
THE ALARM:
BY THE SPRING OF 1775, everyone knew there would be blood.
Relations between the colonists in Massachusetts and the British Government had drowned in the wake of the Stamp Act and the Townshend Duties. The Boston Massacre. The Tea Party.
In 1774, Parliament passed the “Intolerable Acts”. The King’s Governor and Army General, Thomas Gage, dissolved the Massachusetts provincial assembly and closed Boston’s commercial port. Merchants became poor overnight. Dock workers lost jobs en masse. Beggars starved.[i]
Perhaps worst of all, the Governor banned town meetings across the colony. Forget representation in Parliament. Forget self-government in the colony. This was the loss of any voice in the simplest of local affairs.
Colonists in the towns outside of Boston, longtime yeomen loyal to the King, turned openly militant. Selectmen raised money to stockpile weapons and supplies. Preachers advocated militia enrollment in their sermons. Townspeople forced courthouses to close. A new shadow government, the Provincial Congress, met in secret and flaunted British rule.
In December 1774, colonists in Portsmouth NH raided the gunpowder stores at Fort William and Mary. The next day they returned for cannons.
More cannon and supplies disappeared from Boston and Charlestown. To the south, the “militia’s powder” was similarly carried off from forts in Newport, Providence, and New London.
In February, British Parliament declared the Massachusetts Bay colony in a state of rebellion. Governor Gage closed every port in Massachusetts. And authorized his Army Regulars to shoot suspected rebels on sight.
In March, Gage tried (but failed) to confiscate the colonials’ gunpowder store in Salem.
By April, Gage learned the colonials were storing gunpowder and supplies in Concord. Everyone knew; the depot’s existence had been reported by newspapers as far away as Philadelphia. Further, the colonists knew Gage knew. The only question was when the Regulars would march out of Boston again.
And how many would come.
Lexington, Evening of April 18th
WILLIAM TIDD [NT1] watched the knot of men leave his house and cross the field toward Revere Street. He had hosted some of the minutemen that evening for the purpose of exercise, “to be better prepared for the town’s defense”. Now, with the sky growing dark, the crisp and cool spring afternoon turned cold.
William was thirty-eight, son of one of the original settlers of Cambridge Farms, as Lexington was originally called. Unlike so many of his contemporaries, William and his wife had only one child, a daughter. A small family gave him more time for town affairs. He served as a town selectman on top of his one-year appointment as lieutenant of Captain Parker’s “Training Band”, Lexington’s militia company.
The Training Band had met frequently of late. They practiced with live weapons and learned battle tactics from the aging veterans of the French and Indians wars, fought two decades before. Unlike other colonies, many Massachusetts militia companies had rifles (not fowling piece shotguns) capable of firing balls as well as shot. Some even had bayonets.
William watched his minutemen reach Revere Street, where they split up. Some returned to their homes. Others walked down Bedford Road toward Lexington Common, about a mile away.
William had known them his whole life. His father-in-law, Robert Munroe, who had been the standard bearer at the taking of Louisburg in 1758, was an Ensign in the Training Band. William’s younger brother, Samuel, was a Private, as were their cousins, Benjamin and John. So were several of Munroe’s sons and nephews. In fact, half the company was either a Munroe or a Smith or a Harrington. Most of the others, like William, had married into one of Lexington’s three largest clans.
More than neighbors or comrades, they were family.
——
JOHN TIDD walked with the other members [NT2] of the Training Band from their cousin’s farm down Bedford Road to Lexington Common.
John was twenty-six years old, unmarried, with only his widowed mother Dorothy to rush home to. His father Joseph had died barely 18 months before leaving a healthy inheritance. He also left a somber reminder, “From death’s arrest no age is free”, chiseled across his tombstone.
At the green they met Robert Munroe, a tavernkeeper and Orderly Sergeant in the Training Band. Munroe had troubling news: A local man, Solomon Brown[NT3] , had spotted a patrol of British officers on the road from Boston.
Patrols were not unusual, but this one rode away from Boston late in the day, at a time when most patrols headed in the opposite direction, toward home. According to Brown, the patrol had detained some travelers, interrogated some about their business while trading insults with others.
And they carried pistols hidden beneath their topcoats.
The Lexington men thought the patrol sought John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were staying at the parsonage of Reverend Clarke on Bedford Road. Benjamin and John had passed it minutes before. Ten British officers: about the number you’d send to take two civilian prisoners, they agreed.
After discussing what to do, one of the militia ran to warn Captain Parker, who lived south of town. Munroe then asked for volunteers to guard the parsonage.
John stepped forward.[ii]
——
SAMUEL TIDD, William’s younger brother, age thirty-three, was still on the Common when the British patrol arrived. The soldiers, who by then had dropped any pretense of peaceful travelers, created a stir as they passed through town. Three or four even barged into Matthew Mead’s home and helped themselves to the family dinner of bread and baked beans.
Samuel watched the officers continue up the road toward Concord, then joined the growing crowd of minutemen[NT4] at Buckman’s Tavern. The tap room, situated across the green from the meetinghouse, had been the site of political meetings and discussions for years. Newspapers read, town gossip shared, personal mail sent and delivered. The tavern’s proprietor, John Buckman, was a member of the Training Band.
After more discussion, Solomon Brown and two others volunteered to follow the patrol. They set off around 9 o’clock.
Sergeant Munroe, still in charge in the absence of any militia officers, kept watch at the parsonage. The British patrol had taken a different road, but possibly only as a ruse. They might be back.
While his wife and infant daughter slept at home, Samuel couldn’t bring himself to leave Buckman’s Tavern.[iii]
He waited hours.
The scouts did not return.
——
MIDNIGHT CAME AND WENT.
John Tidd heard hooves approaching the parsonage on Bedford Road. Only one horse—not the British patrol—but that didn’t mean the rider was friendly. It might be a colonial messenger bearing news, but it could also be a British scout coming in advance of a larger threat.
The rider called out. A messenger, then—he made no attempt at stealth—but John didn’t recognize the man’s voice.
Munroe didn’t appear to know the rider either. “Quiet!” he hissed. “Lest you awaken the family. They have only just retired.”
“Noise!” the rider shot back. “You’ll have noise enough before long. The Regulars are coming out.”
The parsonage window slid up. Reverend Clarke inquired who was there.
“I would speak with Mister Hancock,” the rider called.
Hancock appeared at the window. “Come in, Revere,” he said. “We are not afraid of you.”
Munroe let him pass. Paul Revere was not a local man—not family—but the Patriot messenger had visited Hancock and Adams several times in recent days and was known to many in Lexington. They knew he hailed from Boston, the son of a French Huguenot, a silversmith and occasional dentist and, while the matter was only whispered about, a Boston Tea Party ringleader.
Revere’s news made clear the purpose of the British patrol: Eight hundred Regulars had crossed the Charles and were marching for Concord via Lexington. The patrol was one of several assigned to keep news of the coming army from reaching the militia. Revere himself had barely escaped capture on the Cambridge Road, then came by the longer route through Medford and Arlington. Alerting every house on the way.
While they were talking, another rider, William Dawes, arrived carrying the same message. Eight hundred Regulars.
The meaning was not lost on John Tidd or anyone else in the militia. Capturing Hancock and Adams would be a welcome bonus, but not the primary objective. That many troops had one purpose: to seize the militia weapon stores in Concord.
While Dawes and Revere set out for Concord together, the Lexington men hurried to rouse the town.
——
SAMUEL PRESCOTT, a young doctor riding home to Concord after an evening in Lexington, met Revere and Dawes on the road leaving town. They rode on together.
The did not make it far. The British patrol, which had set up an ambush to stop all communication with Concord, stopped all three of them.
Prescott, who knew the local pathways, escaped through a thicket, but Revere and Dawes were not so lucky. Both found themselves explaining why they were out in the middle of the night, far from their Boston homes.
They were not the first men detained by the British. Revere and Dawes found themselves in the company of Solomon Brown, Elijah Sanderson, and Jonathan Loring, the captured Lexington scouts.
——
WILLIAM TIDD [NT5] was at home when, around two o’clock in the morning, a messenger arrived with the news: British officers discovered on the road to Concord. Citizens insulted, harassed, and detained. And now a army of Regulars on the march from Boston to Lexington on their way to Concord.
More information than William needed. He rushed to the parade ground, where the full company had assembled.
Captain Parker consulted his men on what actions must be taken for the people’s safety and to be ready for whatever service might be necessary on this alarming occasion. After some discussion, they determined to send scouts eastward to confirm the accuracy of Revere’s message. They also decided to send two messengers, Benjamin Tidd and Nathan Munroe, north to rouse the Bedford militia.
Will little more to do but wait, Captain Parker dismissed the remaining members of the company with orders to assemble at the beat of a drum.
——
BENJAMIN TIDD and Nathan Munroe rode north to Bedford. Benjamin was a natural choice. Many of his in-laws lived there and his brother-in-law, Jeremiah Fitch Jr., ran a tavern.
A perfect starting place to rally a town.
Jonathan Wilson, a minuteman captain, was sitting up with his visiting brother-in-law despite the late hour. The relative, Thompson Maxwell, had been to Boston and seen suspicious movements there. Wilson and Maxwell were discussing the condition of affairs when a messenger reached his house with the news.[iv]
The captain rallied some of his minutemen to Fitch’s Tavern, where Jonathan Fitch served them a light meal.
“It is a cold breakfast, boys,” the militia captain said. “But we will give the British a hot dinner[NT6] .”
Satisfied they had accomplished their errand, Benjamin and Nathan rode on to warn Concord.
——
SAMUEL TIDD perked up in his chair next to the fire in Buckman’s Tavern. Elijah Sanderson and Solomon Brown had returned from scouting the Concord Road, where the British had detained them and also Paul Revere and William Dawes.
Had anyone made it to Concord? Nobody knew.
Others came and went. Some who had gone to confirm the British army was marching their way returned saying there was no truth to it. Exhausted, Sanderson took a chair next to Samuel by the fire and fell asleep.[v]
So did Samuel.
——
BENJAMIN TIDD and Nathan Munroe continued their alarm to Meriam’s Corner, a crossroads midway between Lexington and Concord, where they learned Doctor Prescott had already been through to alert Concord.
They galloped back to Lexington.
——
JOHN TIDD was still outside the parsonage when Paul Revere returned. After several hours of questioning, the British patrol had released him and Dawes, under orders that they abandon their plans to reach Concord. After listening to Revere’s report, Tidd’s compatriots urged Hancock and Adams to flee.
Hancock took some convincing, but Adams ultimately persuaded him their role was executive, not military. They left in a carriage driven by the minister’s son. Revere accompanied them initially, but Hancock had left behind his trunk at Buckman’s Tavern. Revere said he would take Hancock’s secretary, Mister Lowell, to fetch it.
On Revere’s way back to Lexington, they passed John and the others who, with no one left to guard at the parsonage, were walking down the road toward Lexington Common.
A drum began to beat on the other side of the trees. The call to arms.
The men broke out running.
——
WILLIAM TIDD heard the drum beat to arms while resting in the home of his brother-in-law Daniel Harrington across from Buckman’s Tavern. He fell out immediately to join the company on the green. Word spread quickly: the British were approaching.
The men quickly assembled. Men he recognized. John Tidd, his young cousin. Robert Munroe, his father-in-law. The faces of family and friends, all welcome, but so few in number.
Standing against eight hundred Regulars.
——
BENJAMIN TIDD rode up to Lexington Green with Nathan Munroe in time to hear the first alarm bell. Munroe hopped off his horse and joined their ranks. Benjamin remained on horseback. He could carry news to neighboring towns more quickly.
——
BRITISH MAJOR JOHN PITCAIRN commanded six companies of light infantry at the front of the main body of Regulars. Approaching Lexington Common, Pitcairn heard the beating of the Lexington drum. Recognizing it as a challenge, he ordered his soldiers to halt.
And load their muskets.
——
PAUL REVERE [NT7] had secured Hancock’s trunk when, looking out of the window towards Boston, he saw the King’s soldiers a little way off. They had no more time.
He and Mister Lowell quickly exited the Tavern. Their path took them along the common, where they passed through the ranks of the assembled minutemen.
Revere heard Parker’s orders: “Let the troops pass by and don’t molest them without they begin first.”
The Training Band officers repeated the Captain’s orders, which went down in history as: “Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they want war, let it begin here.”
——
WILLIAM TIDD stood next to Captain Parker at the tiny band of men assembled on the green. So few.
The Captain said, “Every man of you who is equipped, follow me. Those of you who are not equipped, go into the meeting house and furnish yourselves for the magazine, and immediately join the company.”
He led those who stood ready to the northly end of the Common, where they formed a single line. One of them, Sylvanus Wood, stepped from the ranks long enough to count them. Thirty-eight and no more.
But still growing. Orderly Sergeant William Munroe was forming a second line from the newcomers.
——
PITCARN’S MEN marched double quick for Lexington Common, where they found over sixty men standing in armed defiance.
The Major galloped up to within six rods of Captain Parker’s foremost line, and exclaimed: “Lay down your arms, you damned rebels, and disperse!”
——
WILLIAM TIDD stepped forward. “You won’t get my gun,” he said.[vi]
Captain Parker, seeing the hopelessness of armed resistance, gave the order to disperse. Men began to walk off the field. Parker did not, however, order his men to lay down their arms.
Pitcairn shouted again, “Damn you, why don’t you lay down your arms?”
No answer came back. Each of Capt. Parker’s little band, retiring from the field, carried his gun with him.
Then one of the other mounted officers, about two rods behind Pitcairn, brandished his sword. The Regulars huzzaed in unison. The officer then pointed his pistol towards the minutemen.
Pitcairn heard the discharge, which (some say) he mistook for enemy fire, since he had not authorized it himself.
“Fire!” he ordered.
The British hesitated.
“Fire, damn you, fire!” he repeated.
The first platoon, eight or nine men, fired, over the heads of the minutemen.
Pitcairn shouted, “God damn you, fire at them!”
The second volley flew at the heart of the Lexington line.
——
PAUL REVERE was just off the green when the first gun went off. He turned and saw the smoke of it rising just in front of the troops. He heard a great shout and saw them run a few paces.
Then the irregular firing of an advance guard.
Then whole platoons firing.
——
JOHN TIDD stood in the Lexington line next to Ebenezer and John Munroe, who remarked the first volley appeared to be little more than powder. The second volley hit John Munroe in the arm.
“I’ll give them the guts of my gun,” Munroe said.
The Munroes unloaded on the British, but with so much smoke from the initial discharge, they had little ability to aim. John Munroe retreated ten rods and reloaded. Improperly, it turned out. When he fired again, the front of his muzzle blew off.
Most of the retiring minutemen broke into run.
——
BENJAMIN TIDD, on horseback next to a Lincoln man, Joseph Abbott, saw the British officer fire the first pistol, then more shots from the regulars before any Lexington man returned fire.
By the second volley, their horses had had enough, and bolted.
Benjamin rode off to carry the news to neighboring towns.[vii]
——
MAJOR PITCAIRN and his men responded to the Munroes’ shots with unrestrained fury.
They mortally wounded Jonathan Harrington Jr, who staggered to his home on the north end of the Common, falling dead at his wife’s feet.
They shot down unarmed Asahel Porter as he fled through Buckman’s garden.
They shot the Captain’s cousin, Jonas Parker, then stuck a bayonet through him as he lay on the field trying to load his rifle.
And they shot down William’s father-in-law, Ensign Robert Munroe, in front of a barn facing the Common, within sight of his sons and daughter.
——
JOHN TIDD was among the last to depart the field. Near the edge of the green, a mounted British officer caught up and struck him down with his cutlass.
While John lay senseless from the blow, the Regulars robbed him of his musket, cartridge box and powder horn.
They left him for dead.
——
WILLIAM TIDD saw his father-in-law fall but had no time to grieve. Not with Major Pitcairn galloping after him, saber drawn. William fled from the green up the North Road.
Pitcairn shouted, “Damn you, stop, or you are a dead man!”
William ran a hundred yards before realizing he could not escape the charging officer on the road. He leapt over a pair of bars into a field.
Then turned and made his stand.
Smoke from his rifle filled the air. His ball missed the Major, but one shot was enough.
Pitcairn retreated to the main body.
——
SAMUEL TIDD, who had slept through the drum, was not alone at Buckman’s Tavern when the shooting started. Solomon Brown charged his rifle and opened fire from the tavern’s back door. He then passed through the front door and fired again.
The British retaliated, peppering the tavern with ball and shot, at which point John Buckman began yelling for them to stop using his house as a fort.
Brown moved outside, lying down behind a stone wall at the back of the barn, and opened fire again.
The British responded again. Their leaden bullets spattered against the wall, spouting little clouds of powdered stone in the air in front of the men.
——
MAJOR PITCAIRN gathered his men.
The British suffered minor casualties. One man wounded in the thigh. The Major’s own horse shot twice.
However, the killings created a frenzied pitch among Pitcairn’s men that did not subside until the main body of Regulars arrived. The officers finally managed to calm the troops and reform their lines.
With a loud huzza of victory, they marched for Concord.
Behind them, the sun peeked over the treetops onto the bloody field. Eight men dead. A dozen more wounded.
And the day had only just begun.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author’s Note
Most of this is “factual”. The endnotes below highlight a few areas where the story required dramatic license, most notably the actions of John Tidd the night before the battle and the actions of Samuel Tidd throughout.
All dialogue comes from accounts of the day, not my imagination.
The “factual” parts are based on eyewitness accounts recorded days after the event and other accounts from decades later. Both sets of statements may suffer from narrator biases beyond the usual (e.g. self-aggrandizement).
The first written accounts, sworn affidavits made within days of the fight, had the goal of fixing blame and minimizing the risk of personal penalties. Pitcairn insisted his men didn’t fire first. The colonists claimed the opposite.
Later depositions suffered from decades of memory decay. The accounts of both William Tidd and Elijah Sanderson came in the 1820s, when both were old men. Most likely they could only recall the stories they’d told for years, not the events themselves.
What is known today is only what they wrote then. William Tidd fired his rifle at a mounted officer. John Tidd was severely wounded. Benjamin Tidd watched on horseback and rode off soon after the shooting started. And Samuel Tidd was there somewhere.
Final note: These are all cousins to my direct ancestor, Jonathan Tidd, who lived an hour’s march away in Woburn, served at Lieutenant in the militia that year, and by sunrise was already on the move. . .
Primary Sources
https://www.lexingtonminutemen.com/lt-william-tidd.html
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49742/49742-h/49742-h.htm
http://www.lexingtonhistory.org/uploads/6/5/2/1/6521332/fuhrer_complete_report.pdf
Endnotes:
[i] Sources for state of rebellion:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restraining_Acts_1775
[ii] John’s participation at the parsonage is unknown but plausible. His later actions are documented.
[iii] The names and number of minutemen at Buckman’s Tavern before midnight is unknown. It’s plausible Samuel Tidd was there, but not certain. Of the four Lexington Tidds in Parker’s Company, only Samuel had no documented role that morning. He might have been on the green but, like many others, might have been late to the fight. Either way, he probably fought later in the day.
[iv] Maxwell family tradition cited by Brown in History of the Town of Bedford.
[v] Of all the militia present during this eventful day, Elijah gives us the most complete picture in his 1824 deposition – Elijah Sanderson – 23 years old in 1775, a journeyman woodworker living with his older brother’s family along the main road to Concord – On the night of April 18th, Elijah became part of a small expedition of scouts (Elijah Sanderson, Solomon Brown, Jonathan Loring) who rode out to follow 9 British regulars who had passed by on horseback along the main road o The three were captured along the road between Lexington and Concord and detained by the British soldiers for several hours o In their absence, Paul Revere, 40 years old at the time, alarmed the town about British troop movements to the east, along the road to Boston (visitors to H-C will already know this). Revere was then also captured and detained along with Elijah, Solomon, and Jonathan At this point back in Lexington, Captain Parker has formed his militia on the common. After waiting and having no further word from scouts, Parker dismisses his men but tells them to stay within earshot of the call to arms (drum beat). Some retire to homes along the common, but many gather here at the tavern in this very Tap Room to await further orders o Around 2am, Elijah and his fellow captives are released and return to Lexington – Elijah joins his fellow militiamen here at the Buckman Tavern – In Elijah’s 1824 deposition he recalls the events of that day, he remembers great commotion here as many townsmen (militia) gathered by the fire and anxiously awaited further news o “I went to the [Buckman] tavern. The citizens were coming and going; some went down to find whether the British were coming; some came back, and said there was no truth in it. I went into the tavern, and, after a while, went to sleep in my chair by the fire.” – Elijah Sanderson, 17 December 1824 Deposition – Elijah was soon awoken by the drumbeat (the 2nd call to arms) on the common, without a musket (he had lent it to his brother earlier in the day) Elijah falls out of ranks and watched events unfold from the side.
– http://www.lexingtonhistory.org/uploads/6/5/2/1/6521332/bt_revised_tour_outline_8-24-12_final.pdf
[vi] Whether William Tidd said these words is unknown. However, he utters the line every year in Lexington battle reenactment.
[vii] Benjamin Tidd was never a confirmed scout or messenger, but it makes sense given he remained on horseback while the others fell in line. Here is his sworn affidavit about the day: “We Benjamin Tidd of Lexington and Joseph Abbot of Lincoln in the County of Middlesex Colony of Massachusetts Bay in New England of lawful age do testify and declare that on the morning of the nineteenth of April instant about five o’clock being on Lexington Common and mounted on horses we saw a body of regular Troops Marching up to the Lexington Company Which was then dispersing. Soon after the regulars fired first a few guns which we took to be pistols from some of the regulars who were mounted on Horses and then the said Regulars fired a volley or two before any guns were fired by the Lexington Company our Horses immediately started and we rode off and further say not. –Benjamin Tidd Lexington April 25th 1775 Joseph Abbot Middlesex St April 25th 1775
It’s the “and further say not” that leads me to believe he played an active role in the activities of the day.
[NT1]William Tidd’s deposition, taken many years later, states the company of minutemen “frequently met for exercise, the better to be prepared for defense; that, on the evening previous to the 19th a number of the militia met at my house for the above purpose.”
[NT2]But naturally it was surmised that the capture of Hancock and Adams was intended, so a guard of eight men, under Sergeant William Munroe, was stationed around the home of Rev. Jonas Clarke. About forty of the members of Captain Parker’s Company gathered at the Buckman Tavern after the mounted officers passed through Lexington,[69] and it was deemed best that scouts should be sent out to follow them. Accordingly Solomon Brown, Jonathan Loring, and Elijah Sanderson volunteered to act,—and they started about 9 o’clock in the [37]evening.
[NT3]Solomon Brown, Jonathan Loring, and Elijah Sanderson volunteered to act,—and they started about 9 o’clock in the [37]evening.[70] As we have previously written, they were ambushed and captured at about 10 o’clock on the road towards Concord, in the town of Lincoln, by the same ones they had set out to follow.
[NT4]Lexington lies in a northwesterly direction from Boston, at a distance of about eleven miles. At that time it was the abiding place of John Hancock and Samuel Adams who were stopping at the parsonage of Rev. Jonas Clarke. It was then supposed that one of the objects of Gen. Gage was to effect their capture, and that his other object was the destruction of military stores at Concord. Possibly the first intimation that Lexington had of the proposed hostile visit of Gage’s troops was communicated by a young man, Solomon Brown, who had been to Boston, on market business, and on his return [35]had passed a patrol of British officers. There were ten of them, it was late in the afternoon, or early evening of April 18, and they were riding away from Boston towards Lexington, which seemed out of harmony with their ordinary way of riding back to Boston at night. Mr. Brown kept somewhat near them along the road for awhile, that he might the better determine their intentions, allowing them to pass and repass him several times. Having at last satisfied himself that their mission meant more than a pleasure sortie into the country, he gained the lead once more, and when out of their sight rode rapidly to Lexington and reported his observations to Orderly Sergeant William Munroe, proprietor of Munroe’s Tavern.[65]
These ten officers riding in advance must have known that actual hostilities were at hand, for they not only detained travelers on the highway, but deliberately insulted a large number of the inhabitants along the road. Three or four of them, at least, went far beyond the behavior of military men in time of peace, for as they rode into Lexington, they stopped at the house of [36]Matthew Mead, entered and helped themselves to the prepared family supper of brown bread and baked beans. Mrs. Mead and her daughter, Rhoda, were within, and Mr. Mead and two sons were absent. This Lexington home was at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Woburn Street, where the Russell House now stands.[66]
Quickly following Solomon Brown’s message came a written one, directed to John Hancock, sent by Elbridge Gerry, one of the Committee of Supplies, then sitting at the Black Horse Tavern in Menotomy. It was practically to the same effect, “that eight or nine officers of the King’s troops were seen, just before night, passing the road towards Lexington, in a musing, contemplative posture; and it was supposed they were out upon some evil design.”[67]
[NT5]William Tidd deposition: “About two o’clock on the morning of the 19th, I was notified that, the evening previous, several of the British officers had been discovered riding up and down the road leading to Concord; that they had detained and insulted the passing inhabitants; and that a body of the regulars were then on the march from Boston towards Lexington.”
[NT6]Bedford an adjoining town to Lexington, and about fifteen miles from Boston, was alarmed on the evening of the 18th, by Nathan Munroe and Benjamin Tidd, both of Lexington, who [38]had been sent there by Captain Parker because of the suspicious actions of the British officers on their way to Concord. Munroe and Tidd aroused the town, and some of the minute-men rallied at the tavern kept by Nathan Fitch, Jr., and were there served with light refreshments. Captain Willson said:—
“It is a cold breakfast, boys, but we will give the British a hot dinner. We’ll have every dog of them before night.”[72]
[NT7]Revere and Lowell reached Buckman Tavern, and there learned from a man who had just come up the road that the troops were within two miles. They proceeded to a chamber for the trunk, which they secured, and looking out of the window towards Boston, saw the King’s soldiers but a little way off. They quickly made their exit from the Tavern, passed along the Common through Captain Parker’s Company, or rather a small part of it, and heard his words:—
“Let the troops pass by and don’t molest them without they begin first.”[59]
[32]
When a little farther along, “not half gun shot off,” as Revere expresses it, he heard a single gun, turned and saw the smoke of it rising just in front of the troops, heard them give a great shout, saw them run a few paces, heard irregular firing as of an advance guard, and then firing by platoons.
The American Revolution had indeed commenced.
Wicked Moxie 