128 



Mr. Barnard refilled, ho prayed to heaven there zinj;;ht be no oollision ; 

 or words of a similar import. Tlien the Colonel remarked, he should 

 burst into the stores of \Villiam West, and Eben Bickford, and make 

 barracks of them for his troops until he could obtain a passage ; and 

 turning to Captain Felt, said, " By God ! I will not be defeated ; " to 

 which Captain Felt replied, " You must acknowledge you have already 

 been baffled." In the course of the debate between Colonel Leslie and 

 the inhabitants, the Colonel remarked that he was upon the King's 

 highway, and would not be prevented passing over the bridge. Old Mr. 

 James Barr, an Englishman, and a man of much nerve, then replied to 

 him ; " it is 7iot the King's highway, it is a road built by the owners 

 of the lots on the other side, and no king, country or town has anything 

 to do with it." The Colonel replied, ■' there may be two words to 

 that ; " and Mr. Barr rejoined, " Egad, I think that Avill be the best 

 way for you to conclude the King has nothing to do with it." Then 

 the Colonel asked Captain Felt if he had any authority to order the 

 leaf of the draw to be lowered, and Captain Felt replied there was no 

 authority in the case, but there might be some influence. Colonel Les- 

 lie then promised, if they would allow him to pass over the bridge, he 

 would march but fifty rods, and return immediately, without troubling 

 or disturbing anything. Captain Felt was at first unwilling to allow 

 the troops to pass over on any terms, but at length consented, and 

 requested to have the leaf lowered. In this he was joined by Mr. Bar- 

 nard and Colonel Pickering, and the leaf was lowered down. The 

 troops then passsd over, and marched the distance agreed upon Avithout 

 violating their pledge, then wheeled and marched back again, and con- 

 tinued their march though North street, in the direction of Marblehead, 



A nurse, named Sarah Tarrant, in one of the houses near the termi- 

 nation of their route, in Nor thtields, placed herself at the open window, 

 and called out to them : — " Go home and tell your master he has sent 

 you on a fool's errand, and broken the peace of our Sabbath ; what," 

 said sh3, " do you think we were born in the woods, to be frightened by 

 owls ■? " One of the soldiers pointed his musket at her, and she ex- 

 claimed, " fire if you have the courage, — but I doubt it." 



The inhabitants generally, including the women, congregated on 

 Odell's Hill, where they could see all that was passing at the bridge, and 

 waved their handkerchiefs, and cheered the inhabitants in token of 

 encouragement, showing that but one spirit animated the whole mass. 



A company of militia from Danvers, under Captain Samuel Eppes, 

 came into town, and went back of Colonel Sprague's distillery, and sat 

 down, so as to expose their persons as little as possible, watching the 

 movements at the bridge until all was over The account recently pub- 

 lished of Colonel Pickering's being on the North side of the bridge 

 with forty armed militia, Mr. Gavett says "is all poetry," it has no 

 foundation whatever. The Colonel w'as on the south side of the bridge 

 like any other citizen. In Marblehead a company of militia turned out 

 to be ready for any emergency. It was thought that one Colonel 

 Sargent had the principal agency in conveying ihe information about 

 the guns to General Gage. 



Mr. Gavett feels confident of all the facts stated in the preceding 

 account, although in some instances perhaps the exact phraseology may 

 be somewhat uncertain. 



