Military History. 281 



Hingham still has, by a fortunate circumstance, the proud dis- 

 tinction of being among the towns represented on that memorable 

 day. Joseph Thaxter, a great-grandson of Col. Samuel Thaxter, 

 and a graduate of Harvard College, was preaching as a candidate 

 for the ministry at Westford, when he heard of the approach of 

 the British troops towards Lexington. Hastening to Concord on 

 horseback, armed with a brace of pistols, he was among those who 

 received the enemy's fire at Concord Bridge. He was subsequently 

 appointed a chaplain in the army, and was attached to Colonel 

 Prescott's regiment at the time of the battle at Breed's Hill, 

 which is known in history as the battle of Bunker Hill, and in 

 which he is said to have participated. Later he was chosen 

 as a representative in the General Court from Hingham, but 

 resigned for active service in the army, where we shall here- 

 after meet him. Mr. Thaxter participated in the ceremonies 

 of the 17th of June, 1825, at the laying of the corner-stone of 

 the Bunker-Hill monument, being at that time the only surviv- 

 ing chaplain of the Revolutionary army. He died at Edgartown 

 in^l827. 



Althouoh but a short time in the field, the value of the ser- 

 vice rendered by these and other companies which responded 

 to the Lexington alarm, can scarcely be over-estimated. Com- 

 paratively few were able to reach the battle-ground and partici- 

 pate in the glory and renown of the victory, but its fruits were 

 yet to be secured, and to the men who marched on that memor- 

 able morning and then remained patiently on duty until an army 

 could be raised and posted, is due much of the credit for the ulti- 

 mate success. In the mean time the British were to be watched, 

 and any aggressive movement on their part to be met and frus- 

 trated. These companies were encamped near and about Boston, 

 virtually commencing even then its siege, and effectually guard- 

 ing the military stores in the towns near by. Within a very few 

 days after the battle of Lexington, the Provincial Congress of 

 Massachusetts met at Watertown, and took measures to raise a 

 large permanent army composed of twenty-eight regiments num- 

 bering between thirteen and fourteen thousand men. To each 

 soldier, as a bounty, there was promised a coat upon his enlist- 

 ment, and the towns were ordered to furnish thirteen thousand 

 coats. In vols. 56 and 57 at the State House, and known as the 

 " Coat Rolls," are to be found the names of the officers and men 

 composing this force, which was enlisted for eight months, and 

 served from early in May to January of the following year ; the 

 enlistment of some of the companies is said to have dated from 

 the 19th of April. These with a few regiments from Connecti- 

 cut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, composed the greater 

 part of the army which maintained the siege of Boston. It was 

 stationed at Dorchester, Roxbury, Cambridge, Watertown, and 

 other places near the base of operations. General Ward was in 



