Part 10

And let us not forget that from that time on, Percy was in supreme command of the united British forces, amounting to nearly eighteen hundred men. To him belongs the credit of a masterly retreat, for his loss in killed and wounded was surprisingly small considering the number of American riflemen in pursuit. To him belongs the blame also for the burned homes of inoffensive non-combatants, for the killing of such helpless old men as Raymond; for the summary removal of Hannah Adams and her infant from child-bed; for the killing of feeble-minded William Marcy; for the killing of fourteen-year old Edward Barber. His entire march back to Charlestown was thickly dotted with just such incidents, unrelieved by any conspicuous merciful action, or by any deed of bravery. It was a masterly retreat, indeed,--and it was a brutal one, too. Happily for the American patriots in succeeding contests, no other British commander seemed inspired by such revengeful instincts. Happily for the British historian he has no other such brutal events to apologize or blush for. Percy occupies his one page in history, uniquely, at least. His services in America, terminated soon thereafter, and at his own request, and for some reason which we know not of. Possibly he was satisfied with the fame, such as it was, which he won on that glorious day.[276]

The next Lexington home to be destroyed by the incendiary belonged to the widow Lydia Mulliken and her son. It stood not far from Loring's, on the main road to Boston, nearly opposite the present Munroe School. The clock shop connected with the same estate was also burned. As in the previous cases such personal effects as were desired by the soldiers were first removed and subsequently carried away. The works of a valuable musical clock were found in the knapsack of a wounded Briton, when he was subsequently captured.[277] The Mulliken loss was £431.[278]

John Mulliken, cabinet-maker, son of the widow, and living in Concord, joined in the pursuit, and came as far as Lexington. There he saw his mother's house in flames, which affected him so deeply that he could proceed no farther.[279]

A modest little home and shop belonging to Joshua Bond, standing northwesterly from Munroe Tavern, and very near the present beginning of "Percy Road," were first looted, and then burned. His loss was £189, 16s. 7d.

The greater part of these happenings were within that first half hour after Percy took command of the united British forces, and before he began his retreat. This energetic destroyer of American homes had selected Munroe Tavern as his temporary headquarters, and ordered his wounded conveyed there also. While their wounds were being dressed his men demanded such refreshments as the place could provide, and unlike Smith's subordinates in Concord, were not considerate enough to pay for them. So landlord William Munroe's loss was £203, 11s. 9d., of which £90 was in the "retail shop," presumably of a liquid nature. As he was orderly sergeant in Captain Parker's Company, he was naturally absent on duty, and left a lame man, John Raymond, in charge, who waited upon the unbidden guests because he was compelled to. His last service was to mix a glass of punch for one of the red-coats, after which he essayed to escape through the garden. He was not alert enough, for two soldiers fired, and one of their bullets readily overtook him as he hobbled away.[280] Thus one more was added to the list of American dead, one of the easiest victims, of course, for he was simply an unarmed cripple. This probably happened at the rear of the Tavern.

A few rods from the Tavern, down the road towards Boston, were two more Lexington homes, on opposite sides of the street, and so quite near to each other. They are still standing (1912). In the one on the westerly side lived Samuel Sanderson, a member of Capt. Parker's Company. He was not at home, so they killed his cow instead, not for food, but for the pure pleasure of killing something. Evidently landlord Munroe's liquor was having some effect, if not in making men braver, then in making them more brutal. Sanderson did not report the amount of his loss to the Legislature. On the easterly side of the road lived John Mason and family. All were absent so the soldiers permitted themselves to carry away property to the value of £14, 13s. 4d.[281]

Many other homes in Lexington were ransacked, mostly during Percy's halt. The total loss, as reported to the Legislature in 1783, amounted to £1761, 1s. 5d.; nearly $9,000 as computed in money of to-day. Undoubtedly many minor losses were not reported at all.

While these events were happening, the American riflemen were not idle. From Mt. Vernon to the westward, and from the Munroe meadows to the eastward, came many leaden messengers, some of them effective. Among the British officers wounded, and probably most of them during the halt, were Lieut. Hawkshaw, Lieut. Cox, and Lieut. Baker, of the Fifth, Ensign Baldwin and Lieut. McCloud of the Forty-seventh; and Capt. Souter and Lieut. Potter of the Marines. Many privates were killed and wounded.[282]

Shortly after the meeting of Percy and Smith, Gen. William Heath of Roxbury arrived in Lexington, and endeavored to effect the organization of the American forces into the semblance of an army. Dr. Joseph Warren arrived on the scene at the same time. Heath's efforts were hardly successful, as the patriots chose to fight as they had from the beginning, singly and self-commanded. It appears that Heath had first gone to Cambridge, to meet the Committee of Safety, and from there intended to go to Lexington, but fearing the British were in possession of the road in that direction had taken one across to Watertown. Finding there some of the militia of the town awaiting orders, he directed them to Cambridge to take up the planks of the Boston bridge, barricade its southerly end and dispute the passage of the retreating British on their way home to Boston. Then he proceeded to Lexington and upon his arrival there was generally recognized as the commanding officer of the American forces. He found the people there aroused to great excitement caused by the bombardment of the meeting-house and the burning of so many homes.[283]

It must have been half past three, or perhaps nearly four o'clock, when Percy gave the order to march. He realized the distance to Boston, and the dangers along the way. "As it now began to grow pretty late," he says in his official report, "and we had 15 miles[284] to retire, and only our 36 rounds, I ordered the Grenadiers and Light Infantry to move off first,[285] and covered them with my Brigade, sending out very strong flanking parties."

The imposing display and the vigilant flankers had the desired effect of keeping the Americans at a comparatively safe distance, and so Percy and his little army marched down through East Lexington in safety.

The looting section picked up considerable plunder from the abandoned homes along the way, evidently without protest from the commander. The march was a slow one, for Smith's weary and wounded soldiers had to be considered. Many of them were on the verge of collapse and quite a few dropped out of the ranks for good. De Bernicre in his account places the "missing" at twenty-six. One of these, a German, was discovered by the roadside in East Lexington soon after Percy had passed out of sight. He was well treated by the Americans, and made his home among them for many years.[286]

The Americans killed in Lexington during the afternoon were Jedediah Munroe, and John Raymond. The British loss was much greater, for the Americans were being reinforced constantly by minute-men from the remote towns. Three companies from Newton entered the battle at Lexington, under the command respectively of Lieut. John Marean, thirty-eight men; Capt. Amariah Fuller, one hundred and six men; and Capt. Jeremiah Wiswell, seventy-six men. Together these numbered two hundred and nineteen men, making the total enrolment of the Americans in pursuit of Percy as he passed out of Lexington, two thousand and thirteen men.

FOOTNOTES:

[257] Frothingham's History of the Siege of Boston.

[258] William Gordon's History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the United States of America. N. Y., 1794. Vol. I, page 312.

[259] Rev. Isaac Mansfield, Jr., Chaplain of Gen. Thomas's Regiment, in a Thanksgiving Sermon in Camp at Roxbury, Nov. 23, 1775. See Thornton's Pulpit of the American Revolution, page 236.

[260] Edward Everett Hale in Memorial History of Boston. Vol. 3.

[261] West Cambridge on the Nineteenth of April, 1775, An Address by Samuel Abbot Smith, Boston, 1864, page 27.

[262] Frothingham's Siege of Boston.

[263] Edward Everett Hale in Memorial History of Boston, Vol. 3.

[264] Brown's Beneath Old Roof Trees.

[265] Smith's Address.

[266] Smith's Address. Some of the opposition newspapers in England were quite merry and some quite sarcastic over the surrender of six lusty soldiers to one old woman, and inquired, on that basis, how many British troops would it take to conquer America?

[267] Smith's Address.

[268] He signed his official report to Gen. Gage, "Percy, Acting Brig. Gen." So that was his title for April Nineteenth.

[269] See the rough or preliminary draft of his report to Gage.

[270] Smith's Address, pages 31, 32.

[271] To be exact, for I have measured the route over which he marched, it was 15-74/88 miles.

[272] In his report he states that he "drew up the Brigade on a height." Only Mount Vernon was easily accessible for such a movement. See also Doolittle's "A View of the South Part of Lexington," for confirmation.

[273] Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass. in 1775, page 686.

[274] Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass. in 1775, page 688.

[275] Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass. in 1775, page 688.

[276] A majority of the voters of Lexington in town meeting assembled have re-named a near-by street, "Percy Road," in commemoration of his visit on that Nineteenth of April. Almost any other foeman's name would have been better, if it is thus necessary to mark a growing feeling of respect and kindliness between two nations of kindred blood. Its older name was Mt. Vernon Street!

The town has many street names in memory of that battle day, such as Adams, Clarke, Hancock, Muzzey, Revere. Percy Road starts from near the old Munroe Tavern. What better name could there be for this thoroughfare than Munroe Avenue, in memory of Sergeant William Munroe, or of his grandson James S. Munroe, who has generously left the Tavern to be forever open to the public for inspection.

[277] Lexington Historical Society Proceedings, III, 135.

[278] See Doolittle's "A View of the South Part of Lexington," for an idea of those burning Lexington homes.

[279] Lexington Historical Society Proceedings, III, 135.

[280] A carefully written newspaper clipping evidently from a Boston periodical, dated April 19, 1858, preserved in a scrap book once belonging to the Thomas Waterman collection of American History.

[281] Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass. in 1775.

[282] De Bernicre's Report.

[283] Heath's Memoirs, page 201.

[284] Then he had in mind to return by way of Roxbury, a longer march than to Charlestown.

[285] De Bernicre says the Light Infantry was in front, then the Grenadiers.

[286] Told to me by the venerable Charles Brown still living (1911) in East Lexington. His grandfather, Capt. Edmund Munroe, was an active participant in the events of April 19th.

PERCY'S RETREAT THROUGH ARLINGTON.

It was not far from half past four when the British crossed the Lexington line and entered into Arlington. Their retreating march in Lexington measured about two and one quarter miles. Along the road they had striven to kill in honorable battle. They had succeeded but slightly, and paid an unusual price with a much larger number of their own dead and wounded. Percy's aim seemed to have been to terrorize his opponents at whatever cost. The life of Raymond was not taken in battle, nor can rapine and incendiarism add glory to his military renown. Lexington's highway to Arlington ran between pillaged and burning homes, and his soldiers staggered along under heavy burdens of property stolen from those whose King was his King. Concord and Lincoln have none of Percy's deeds related in their chronicles, but Lexington, and Arlington, and Cambridge, and Somerville, and Charlestown have good reason to remember his terrible conception of warfare.

Gen. William Heath, as the commanding officer of the Americans, endeavored to organize his forces into something like an army. He did not greatly succeed, but re-formed some of the forces that had been scattered by Percy's cannonade, directed towards the meeting-house on Lexington Common.[287]

Descending the high lands in the upper part of Arlington by the road, now known as Appleton Street, that skirts along the base of Arlington Heights, and drops to the "Foot of the Rocks," the Americans pressed in greater numbers and greater courage on Percy's rear guard. The bravery of individuals at this point became conspicuous and often foolishly hazardous. Percy, in his report, speaks of some concealed in houses by the wayside, who would emerge therefrom and approach within ten yards to fire at him and his officers--though sure of a fatal fire in return. He seemed surprised at their enthusiasm, as he called it, evidently forgetting how much he had excited their anger. It is almost beyond belief that he could have escaped through such a gauntlet, mounted as he was, on his beautiful white horse, a conspicuous mark from the hillsides along the way. But he did,--for such is occasionally the fortune of war as granted to brave men. His personal courage was beyond question.

The forces of the Americans were greatly augmented during the pursuit through Arlington. Minute-men from the nearby Middlesex towns, and from Essex and Norfolk counties, arrived at the time and disposed themselves along a line parallel to the highway as their individual fancies dictated, and independent of any commander-in-chief. Along the hillside to the south, behind the walls, and even within buildings adjacent to the road, they were posted, singly and in squads, among them many unerring marksmen, who added greatly to the British loss in killed and wounded. Percy would have been dismayed had he known the number of reinforcements he must then contend with, but they were not paraded for his inspection. His own army at the highest had not numbered over eighteen hundred men, but now considerably depleted, by his losses along the way, it is doubtful if it would equal fifteen hundred really effective soldiers.

The Americans entering the contest at Arlington were from Brookline, Capt. Thomas White and ninety-five men, and possibly two other companies under Col. Thos. Aspinwall and Major Isaac Gardner, number of men unknown;[288] Watertown, Capt. Samuel Barnard, one hundred and thirty-four men; Medford, Capt. Isaac Hall, fifty-nine men; Malden, Capt. Benjamin Blaney, seventy-five men; Roxbury, Capt. Lemuel Child, thirty-five men, Capt. William Draper, fifty men, Capt. Moses Whiting, fifty-five men; Dedham, Capt. Eben Battle, sixty-six men, Capt. Wm. Bullard, fifty-nine men, Capt. Daniel Draper, twenty-four men, Capt. William Ellis, thirty-one men, Capt. David Fairbanks, fourteen men, Capt. Aaron Fuller, sixty-seven men, Capt. George Gould, seventeen men, Capt. Joseph Guild, fifty-nine men; Needham, Capt. Aaron Smith, seventy men, Capt. Robert Smith, seventy-five men, Capt. Caleb Kingsbery, forty men; Lynn, Capt. Nathaniel Bancroft, thirty-eight men, Capt. William Farrington, fifty-two men, Capt. Rufus Mansfield, forty-six men, Capt. Ezra Newhall, forty-nine men, Capt. David Parker, sixty-three men; Beverly, Capt. Caleb Dodge, thirty-two men, Capt. Larkin Thorndike, forty-eight men, Lieut. Peter Shaw, forty-two men; Danvers, Capt. Samuel Epes, eighty-two men, Capt. Samuel Flint, forty-five men, Capt. Israel Hutchinson, fifty-three men, Capt. Caleb Lowe, twenty-three men, Capt. Jeremiah Page, thirty-nine men, Capt. Asa Prince, thirty-seven men, Capt. Edm. Putnam, seventeen men, Capt. John Putnam, thirty-five men; Menotomy, Capt. Benjamin Locke, fifty-three men. Undoubtedly some of Locke's men were engaged earlier in the day, particularly those who lived in Arlington, for twenty-six of them assembled on the Common at daybreak, and must have gone up to Lexington, at least. Of the other members, eleven were from Charlestown, seven from Boston, three from Stoneham, two from Lexington, one from Newton, and one residence unknown. Together these reinforcements at Arlington numbered seventeen hundred and seventy-nine men.

Under the combined efforts of Gen. Heath and Dr. Warren the minute-men were encouraged to rally and draw nearer the rear guard of Percy's column, to harass and destroy them. The two British field pieces were often turned on the Americans but were too cumbersome for effective use against the elusive minute-men. The cannon balls went tearing up the road, smashing trees and shrubs, toppling over stone walls, pushing jagged holes through buildings, striking terror into the hearts of women and children, and presumably many of the men, who were unused to war.

This renewal of activities commenced in Arlington where the road comes in from Lexington, and skirts along the northerly base of Peirce's Hill, now called Arlington Heights. The descent from there to the plain is by a steep grade and the lower end of that part of the highway was then, and is now, known as Foot of the Rocks. This skirting, curved road around Peirce's Hill still exists. Its westerly end is now called Paul Revere Road, and its easterly end, Appleton St. Since that time a straight road with gentler grade has been made to connect the two ends of that part of Battle Road, and forms a part of the new Massachusetts Avenue from Boston to the Concord line.

It was at the Foot of the Rocks that Dr. Warren, brave even to recklessness, exposed himself to some vigilant British marksman, who could not fail to notice his enthusiasm and influence. The bullet came dangerously near the doctor's head, so near, in fact, as to strike a pin from his ear-lock.[289] Here, also, Dr. Downer of Roxbury engaged in single combat with a British soldier, whom he slew with a bayonet thrust.[290]

Towards the summit of Peirce's Hill was the Robbins home. The family had fled. Percy's flank-guard ransacked the house, built a fire on the kitchen floor, which burned off a line full of wet clothes hanging over it, letting them fall into the flames which were thereby extinguished.[291]

Down this road a little farther stood the Tufts Tavern, once occupied by Mr. Cutler, the rich farmer and butcher, but at that time by John Tufts, previously of Medford, whose wife was Rebecca, a daughter of Mr. Cutler. It will be recalled that Tufts had been aroused in the early morning by the British, and when they returned the family had fled. Soldiers broke into the upper end of it, loaded themselves with such plunder as they could carry away, and maliciously destroyed some that they were obliged to leave behind. One thrust his bayonet through the best mirror, the frame of which was long preserved.[292] While others, thinking to serve their King, opened the taps of the casks containing molasses and spirits, allowing them to escape. Then they set fire to the building, and left in haste to rejoin their retreating companions. A faithful colored slave of Mr. Cutler's watching from a distance, entered soon after their departure and extinguished the fire.

Richer plunder awaited the looters at the home of Joseph Adams, a venerable deacon of the Second Precinct Church. He had remained at home with his family until Percy's troops came into sight up the road. Then fearing his outspoken views, strongly antagonistic to the British ministry, might subject him to abuse by Percy and his soldiers, he determined to make his way across the fields to the Rev. Mr. Cook's barn. He was seen, and a volley of bullets followed, but he reached the barn, and hid in the hay. Some of the soldiers followed, even into the barn, and pierced the hay with their bayonets, but he was not exactly there. Some of them burst open the door of his home, and three broke into the chamber, where lay his wife and their infant child, but a few days old. The mother was too ill to arise, even. One of the soldiers opened the bed-curtains and with fixed bayonet, pointing to her breast, seemed about to slay her. She begged him not to kill her, but he only angrily replied:

"Damn you!"

Another soldier, with a more humane heart, interceded, and said,

"We will not kill the woman if she will go out of the house, but we will surely burn it."

Inspired by the threat, Mrs. Adams then arose, drew a blanket about herself and little infant,[293] and painfully made her way to the corn-house close by. It was the first journey since her illness, as far as her chamber door even. Other children were left within the house, but she was too weak to be of any assistance to them. They had hidden under a bed, but curiosity getting the better of Joel, aged nine years, the little folks were all discovered, but not harmed. They saw the sheets stripped from the beds and household valuables dumped into them, even including the works of an old clock, an heirloom in the family. Most valuable of all the booty, was the silver tankard belonging to the communion service given to the church in 1769, by Jonathan Butterfield. It was subsequently pawned by the thief, to a Boston silversmith, Austin by name, who read the engraved inscription thereon and notified Deacon Adams. After the evacuation of Boston by the British, the two deacons redeemed the tankard at their own expense, and returned it to the church, where it is still in use.

The soldiers of Lord Percy, then emptied a basket of chips on the floor, set them on fire with a brand from the hearth, and went on their way. The Adams children put out the blaze with a quantity of home-brewed beer, but not until the floor was badly burned, the ceiling smoked and a quantity of pewter plates on the dresser melted.[294]

A little farther along, on the westerly side of the road, lived Jason Russell, aged fifty-eight years.[295] Somewhat helpless because lame, he had started with his family at noontime for refuge at George Prentiss's on the hill. After going a little way he felt impelled to return and look after the safety of his home. He barricaded his gate with bundles of shingles and from behind them took his position to fire upon the enemy as they should come along and pass by in the road a rod away. Rather a feeble fortress from any military standpoint, and one that proved to be a death trap for its builder. Northerly across the road and across the brook lived Ammi Cutter, a kindly neighbor, who came and pleaded with Russell to abandon his door-yard for a place of greater safety. Russell replied that "An Englishman's house is his castle." Cutter remained by his side until the advancing British were seen up the road, and then started on the run across the road, over the wall and through the fields towards his home. Reaching the old mill-yard, and still running, he stumbled and fell between two logs, and the enemy's bullets scattered bark over him as he lay. They thought him dead because he fell as they fired, and so left him. But he was entirely uninjured.