90 



&l)c farmer's ittontljl g fotgitor. 



°ut, " Ye villains, ye rebels, disperse ; damn yon, 

 disperse!" or words to ibis effect. One of them 

 (whether tlie same or not is not easily determin- 

 ed) said, " Lay down your arms ; damn you, why 

 don't yon lay down your arms !" The second of 

 these "officers about this lime fired a pistol to 

 wards the militia, as they were dispersing. The 

 foremost, who was within it t\:w rods of our 

 men, brandishing his sword, and then pointing 

 toward them, with a loud voice said to the 

 troops, "Fire! by God! lire!"— which was in- 

 stantly followed by a discharge of arms from the 

 said lioops, succeeded by a very heavy and close 

 fire upon our party dispersing so long as any of 

 them were within reach. Eight were left dead 

 upon the ground. Ten were wounded. The 

 rest of the company, through divine goodness 

 were (to a miracle) preserved unhurt in this mur- 

 derous action ! 



As to the question "who fired first?" if it can 

 be a question with any, we may observe, that 

 though General Gage hath been pleased to tell 

 the world in his account of this savage transac- 

 tion "that the troops were fired upon by thp re- 

 bels out of the meeting house and the neighbor- 

 ing houses, as well as by those that were in the 

 field; and that the troops only returned the fire, 

 and passed on their way to Concord" — yet no- 

 thing can he more certain, than the contrary, and 

 and nothing more false, weak, or wicked than 

 hiich a representation. 



To say nothing of the absurdity of the suppo- 

 sition, "that filty, sixty or even seventy men 

 should in the open field commence hostilities 

 with twelve or fifteen hundred of the best troops 

 of Britain,* nor of the known determination of 

 (his small party of Americans upon no conside- 

 ration whatever to begin the scene of blood ;f a 

 cloud of witnesses, whose veracity cannot be 

 justly disputed upon oath have declared, in the 

 most positive and express terms, that the British 

 troops fired first. [See narrative and depositions 

 published by authority.] And I think we may 

 safely add, without the least reason, or provoca- 

 tion. Nor was there opportunity given for our 

 men to have saved themselves either by laying 

 down llieir arms or dispersing as directed, had 

 thev been disposed to, as the command to fire 

 upon lliein was given at almost the same instant 

 that they were ordered by the British officers to 

 disperse, to lay down their arms, &c. 



In short, so far from firing first upon the king's 

 troops, upon the most careful inquiry it appears, 

 that very few of our people fired at all ; and even 

 they did not fire till after being fired upon by the 

 troops they were wounded themselves or saw 

 others killed or wounded by them, and looked 

 upon it next to impossible for them to escape. 



As to any firing from the meeting house, as 

 Gage represents it, it is certain that there were 

 but four men in the meeting house when the 

 troops came lip; and they were getting some 

 ammunition from the town stock, and had not so 

 much as loaded their guns (except one who 

 never discharged ii) when tlie troops fired upon 

 the militia. And as to the neighboring houses, 

 it is equally certain, that there was no firing from 

 them, unless afier the dispersion of our men 

 some who hail fled to them lor shelter might fire 

 from them upon the troops. 



One circumstance more before the brigade 

 leli Lexington. J beg leave to mention, as what 

 may give a further specimen of the spirit and 

 character of the officers and men of this body of 

 troops. After the militia company were dispersed 

 and the firing ceased, the troops drew up and 

 formed in a body on the common, fired a volley 

 and gave three huzzas by way of triumph, and 

 as expressive of the joy of victory and glory of 

 conquest! Of this transaction 1 was witness, 

 having at that time, a lair view of their motions, 

 and being at the distance of not more than sev- 

 enty or eighty rods from them. 



Whether this step was honorary to the detach- 

 ment or agreeable to the rules of war, or how far 



* Twelve hundred or lifteen hundred we then supposed 

 the brigade to consist of; though, afterwards by the best 

 accounts it appeared that there were but about eight hun- 

 dred. 



+ from a most intimate acquaintance with the senti- 

 ments of the inhabitants of this town then collected in 

 arms I think 1 in ly boldly assert that it was their known 

 determination not to commence hostilities upon the 

 king's troops; though they were determined to Hand by 

 their rights to the last. 



it was expressive of bravery, heroism and true 

 mililary glory for eight hundred disciplined 

 troops of Great Britain, without notice or provo- 

 cation, to fall upon sixty or seventy undisciplined 

 Americans, who neither opposed or molested 

 them, and murder some, and disperse the rest, 

 and then to give the shout and make the triumph 

 of victory, is not for me to determine, but must 

 be submitted to the impartial world to judge. — 

 That "there is a God, with whom is the. power 

 and the glory, and the victory," is certain ; hut 

 whether he will set his seal to the triumph made 

 upon this most peculiar occasion by following it 

 with further successes, and finally giving up ibis 

 people into the hands of those that have thus 

 cruelly commenced hostilities against them, must 

 be left to time to discover. But to return from 

 this digression, if it may be called digression : 



Having thus vanquished the party at Lexing- 

 ton, the troops marched on lor Concord to exe- 

 cute their orders in destroying the stores belong- 

 ing to the colony deposited there. They met 

 with no interruption oil their march to Concord: 

 but by some means or other the people of Con- 

 cord had notice of the approach and designs, 

 and were alarmed about break of day, and col- 

 lecting as soon and as many as possible, improv- 

 ed the time they had before the troops came upon 

 them to the best advantage both for concealing 

 and securing as many of ihe public stores as 

 they could, and in preparing for defence. By 

 the stop of the troops at Lexington many thou- 

 sands were saved to the colony, and they were 

 in a jrieat measure frustrated in their design. 



When the troops made their approach to the 

 easterly pari of the town, the provincials of Con- 

 cord and some neighboring towns were collected 

 and collecting in an advantageous post on a hill 

 at a little distance from the meeting house north 

 of the road to the number of about one hundred 

 and fitly or two hundred ; but finding the troops 

 lo be more than three times as many, they wisely 

 retreated, first to a hill about eighty rods further 

 north, and then over the north bridge (so called) 

 about a mile from the town, and there they wail- 

 ed the coming of the militia of the towns adja- 

 cent to their assistance. 



In the moan time the British detachment 

 marched into the centre of the town. A party 

 of about two hundred was ordered to take pos- 

 session of said bridge : other parties were 

 dispatched to various parts of the town in search 

 of public stores, while the remainder were em- 

 ployed in seizing and destroying whatever they 

 could find in the town house and other places 

 where stores had been lodged. But before they 

 had accomplished their design they were inter- 

 rupted by a discharge of arms at said bridge. 



It seems that of the parly above mentioned as 

 ordered to take possession of ihe bridge, one 

 half were marched on about two miles ill search 

 of stores at Col. Barren's and that part of the 

 town, while the other half, consisting of towards 

 one hundred men under Capt. Lawrie, were left 

 to guard the bridge. The provincials w ho were 

 in sight of the bridge observing the troops at- 

 tempting to take up the planks of said bridge, 

 thought it necessary lo dislodge them and get 

 possession of the bridge. They accordingly 

 inarched, but with express orders not lo fire un- 

 less fired upon by the king's troops. Upon their 

 approach towards the bridge, Capt. Lawrie's 

 party fired upon them, killed Capt. Davis and 

 another man dead upon the spot and wounded 

 several others. Upon this our militia rushed on 

 with a spirit becoming freehorn Americans, re- 

 turned the fire upon Ihe enemy, killed two, 

 wounded several, and drove them from the 

 bridge, and pursued ihem towards the town un- 

 til they were covered by a reinforcement from 

 the main body. The provincials then took post 

 on a hill at some distance north of Ihe town, 

 and as their numbers were continually increas- 

 ing, they were preparing to give the troops a 

 proper discharge on their departure from the 

 town. 



In the mean time the king's troops collected, 

 and having dressed their wounded, destroyed 

 what stores they could find, and insulted and 

 plundered a number of the inhabitants, prepared 

 for a retreat. 



" While at Concord ihe troops disabled two 

 24 pounders, destroyed their two carriages anil 

 seven wheels for tlie same with their limbers, 

 sixteen wheels for brass three pounders and two 



carriages with limber and wheels for two four 

 pounders. They threw into the river, wells, &c, 

 about five hundred weight of ball, and slove 

 about sixty barrels' of flour; but not having lime 

 to perfect their work, one half of ihe flour was 

 afterwards saved." — jRcr. Mr. Gordon's account. 



The troops began a hasty retreat about the 

 middle of ihe day, and were no sooner out of the 

 town but they began to meet the effects of the 

 resentments of this injured people. The pro- 

 vincials fired upon them from various quarters, 

 and pursued them (though without any mililary 

 order) with a firmness and intrepidity beyond 

 what could have been expected on the first onset 

 and in such a day of confusion and distress. 

 The fire was returned for a time with great fury 

 by the troops as they retreated, though, through 

 Divine goodness, with but litile execution. This 

 scene continued with hut litile intermission till 

 ihey returned to Lexington, when it was evident, 

 that having lost numbers in killed, wounded and 

 prisoners that fell into our hands, they began to 

 he not only fatigued but greatly disheartened. — 

 And it is supposed ihey must have soon surren- 

 dered at discretion had they not been reinforced. 

 Bui Lord Percy's arrival with another brigade of 

 about one thousand men and two field pieces 

 about half a mile from Lexington meeting house 

 towards Cambridge gave them a seasonable 

 respite. 



The coming of reinforcements with the can- 

 non, (which our people were not so well acquain- 

 ted with then as they have been since) put the 

 provincials also to a pause for a time. But no 

 sooner were the king's troops in motion but our 

 men renewed the pursuit with equal and even 

 greater ardor and intrepidity than before, and 

 ihe firing on both sides continued with but little 

 intei mission lo the close of the day, when the 

 troops entered Charlestown, where the provincials 

 could not lollow them without exposing the in- 

 habitants of that truly patriotic town to their 

 rage and revenge. That night and the next day 

 they were conveyed in boats over Charlestown 

 to Boston, glad to secure themselves, under 

 cover of the shipping and by strengthening and 

 perfecting ihe fortifications at every part against 

 the further attacks of a justly incensed people, 

 who upon intelligence of the murderous trans- 

 actions of this fatal day, were collecting in arms 

 round the town in great numbers and from eve-y 

 quarter. 



In the retreat of the king's troops from t-on- 

 cord to Lexington they ravaged and plundered 

 as they had opportunity, more or less, in post or 

 the houses that were upon ihe road. W alter 

 they were joined by Percy's brigade, in LV'S'on, 

 it seemed as if all the little remains of/"manity 



had left them, and rage and 



nad taken 



the reins and knew no bounds. Clojr"& furni- 

 ture, provisions, goods plundered, hir e "> carried 

 oft' or destroyed ! Buildings (espe«% dwelling 

 houses) abused, defaced, ha!tere<L /,l;11,e, ' efl and 

 almost ruined ! And as if thi/ larl " ot been 

 enough, numbers of them doou/ 10 ,Me flames! 

 Three dwelling houses, two/°l' s allfl a '"'ill 

 were laid in ashes in Lexing/' Many others 

 were set on fire in this town/ 1 La'm>ndge, &<"•. 

 and must have shared Ihe /? ,a,e > Umi "ot the 

 close pursuit of the prov/"' 3 prevented, and 

 the flames seasonably (/" ' le,1 j A,| d to all 

 this, the unarmed, the a/",'"' "'"''ni, who were 

 hie to flee, are inh/ ,n, J , Jl ,anbed ■«»«• '"or- 

 is! iea, even women 

 in child-bed, with til' l ,e, P'«s babies in their 

 arms, do hot escape? ' ,0 '' n ' 1 alternative of be- 

 ing either cruelly , ' ered ,"! ,bel , r bt '''*- '"""t 

 in their habitatim/'",""'" ' 1 ■"*? " ,e greets to 

 perish with col,l7" l,leSS ?" d . '}' slre " ! t But I 

 forbear: words/ tn ° '" s 'gn'ficant to express 



una 

 dered 



the horrid bar 



Our loss it 

 forty-nine jf£' er ' e 



les of that distressii 

 several acti 



lay I 



ions of that day, was 

 thirty-four wounded, and two 

 lake., prisoners and have 

 since bee/ hanged. 1 he enemy's loss, se- 

 cording ^ 1 ' < ;f' ; ; rco,, . ms ' J' 1 Y ,Ued > *«"""«e«l 

 andmis/° b h "' t l ^ ree,,u . ndrad - 



As t|/T begun with savage cruelty in 



^ors, so it has been carried on with 

 temper and spirit by the enemy in but 



. Loring's house and barn, Mrs. Lydia Mulliken'a 

 id her son s shop, and Mr. Joshua Bond's house 



ie dep. published by authoril 





