Speaker 1: The following presentation is Del Marvis Studio's production.
Speaker 2: You are listening to the Fact Hunter Radio Network. Here
Speaker 2: is your host, George Hobbs.
Speaker 3: Welcome back truth seekers from around the world. It's time
Speaker 3: for another edition of our classic audio series as we
Speaker 3: continue on with Bill Cooper's Hour of the Time, and
Speaker 3: today it's episode eighteen eighty three B from April nineteenth,
Speaker 3: two thousand and one, entitled Conquered Hoop. Everybody has a
Speaker 3: great week, God blessed, keep your head on a swivel,
Speaker 3: and without any further ado, here is Bill Cooper.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Hour of the Time. I'm William Cooper.
Speaker 1: Good evening, folks. Last night you heard the preparations for
Speaker 1: and the causes of the first actions in the war
Speaker 1: that brought about the creation of this and the first
Speaker 1: battle at Lexington Green. Tonight you're going to hear about
Speaker 1: the battle that took place at Concord Bridge, and probably
Speaker 1: Monday we will carry on with the skirmish of the
Speaker 1: American militia with the retreating British soldiers all the way
Speaker 1: from Concord back to Boston. The militia is still alive
Speaker 1: and well. Today there are minute companies all across this country.
Speaker 1: There are large militia organizations, and if you want to
Speaker 1: see some of the members of the Arizona Militia, check
Speaker 1: out our website at William Cooper dot com. They're looking
Speaker 1: for a few good men, not that they don't have
Speaker 1: quite a few old ready, but we are constantly recruiting,
Speaker 1: training and preparing, and you should be doing the same.
Speaker 1: Get ready, folks. This is a part of our history
Speaker 1: that's not taught in school anymore. Most children don't know
Speaker 1: anything about the events that occurred on April nineteenth, seventeen
Speaker 1: seventy five. This is Patriot's Day. April nineteenth, seventeen seventy five,
Speaker 1: eight a m. The withdrawal of the Minutemen to Punka
Speaker 1: Tassit Hill was completed just before the seven British companies
Speaker 1: under Captain Laurie and Parsons got to the North Bridge.
Speaker 1: When Barrett saw the companies of Parsons cross the bridge
Speaker 1: and take a road to the left over a causeway
Speaker 1: that led to his farm two miles further on, he
Speaker 1: galloped home ahead of them to give warning and last orders. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: two of Larry's companies, the Tenths Lincolnshires and the King's
Speaker 1: own fourth Royal North Lancashires were sent across the bridge
Speaker 1: to the first rise of ground beyond. The forty third Oxfordshires,
Speaker 1: assigned to watch the bridge itself, remain on the east bank.
Speaker 1: Troops from this company, in turn, surrounded the well in
Speaker 1: front of the Elisha Jones House Bullet Whole House, not
Speaker 1: far from the bridge, and drank its cool water. Little
Speaker 1: did they realize that stores of fifty five barrels of
Speaker 1: beef and one thousand, seven hundred pounds of salt fish
Speaker 1: were concealed there in a cellar and shed. While these
Speaker 1: activities were going on at the North Bridge and beyond,
Speaker 1: officers in the British force strolled about the center of
Speaker 1: the town, directing the grenadiers in their task of seeking
Speaker 1: out hidden stores and refreshing themselves in the public houses.
Speaker 1: At Wright's Tavern. Major Pitcairn, in a bad humor from
Speaker 1: an encounter with an aged citizen of the town, is
Speaker 1: supposed to have stated, as he called for a glass
Speaker 1: of brandy and stirred it with his bloody finger, that
Speaker 1: he hoped he could stir the Yankee blood so before
Speaker 1: night the search of the grenadiers did not prove very successful.
Speaker 1: About five hundred pounds of musket balls were thrown into
Speaker 1: the mill pond, but many of them were dredged up afterwards.
Speaker 1: The grenadiers also set fire to the townhouse and Reuben
Speaker 1: Brown's harnessed shop, but were prevailed upon by the inhabitants
Speaker 1: to put out the flames. The mill pond, which formerly
Speaker 1: occupied a sizeable area in the center of town, was
Speaker 1: subsequently filled and now comprises a good part of the
Speaker 1: business section. Nine A m Earl Percy finally got his
Speaker 1: delayed orders to go out from Boston with the first
Speaker 1: Brigade as a relief party. General Gage had issued this
Speaker 1: order at four a m. But two mistakes in the force,
Speaker 1: consisting of one thousand men and two light sealed piecesute
Speaker 1: men and militia on Punketascit Hill, now made up of
Speaker 1: a force of over four hundred, began to move down
Speaker 1: to a lower elevation nearer the North Bridge. From there
Speaker 1: they saw the smoke rising from fires in the town.
Speaker 1: They did not know the exact cause, but had reason
Speaker 1: to suspect the worst. Colonel Barrett consulted with his officers
Speaker 1: and Joseph Hosmer the Concord adjutant raised the question will
Speaker 1: you let them burn the town down? The decision was
Speaker 1: made to march in the middle of town for its
Speaker 1: defense or die in the attempt. Barrett gave the order
Speaker 1: to march, but not to fire until fired upon Lieutenant
Speaker 1: Colonel John Robinson of Westward and Major John buttrick of
Speaker 1: Concord led the procession, followed by Captain Isaac Davis's Acton
Speaker 1: company of minute men, the three conquered companies, the militia
Speaker 1: of Acton, Bedford and Lincoln, and a column of volunteers.
Speaker 1: A pair of fifers and drummers struck up the tune
Speaker 1: of the White Kackade, and the embattled farmers were on
Speaker 1: their way to engage some of the finest troops in
Speaker 1: the King's army. As soon as the Americans were in
Speaker 1: motion on Punca Tacit Hill, Captain Lari's two outer companies
Speaker 1: retreated before them and soon joined the third company at
Speaker 1: the bridge. Laurie was able to perceive that the oncoming
Speaker 1: force outnumbered his and dispatched a messenger to Colonel Smith
Speaker 1: for reinforcements from the town. Smith ordered out two or
Speaker 1: three companies of grenadiers but putting himself at their head,
Speaker 1: and being a very fat, heavy man, so slowed up
Speaker 1: the advance to the bridge as to make it impossible
Speaker 1: to arrive in time to be of any help. Thirty
Speaker 1: a m. Captain Laurie moved most of his men to
Speaker 1: the east end of the north bridge, leaving only a
Speaker 1: few to pull up the planks. Major Buttrick, coming on
Speaker 1: at the head of the American column, ordered the men
Speaker 1: at work to desist and accelerate the pace of the militia.
Speaker 1: The men, removing the planks, stopped and hastily formed for
Speaker 1: action in the road at the end of the bridge.
Speaker 1: Laurie had time to arrange his men effectively, for, as
Speaker 1: one of his lieutenants later wrote, the rebels got so
Speaker 1: near him his people were obliged to form the best
Speaker 1: way they could. The three companies got one behind the other,
Speaker 1: so that only the front one could fire. Captain Laurie's men,
Speaker 1: without doubt, attempted to form in a tactical design known
Speaker 1: as street firing. They lined up in columns of fours.
Speaker 1: After the men in the first two or three ranks
Speaker 1: had fired from kneeling and standing positions, they broke to
Speaker 1: the right and left and filed to the rear to reload,
Speaker 1: while their positions in front was taken by ranks moving
Speaker 1: up in succession. Thus it was a theory that a
Speaker 1: narrow way or bridge could be kept under a steady fire.
Speaker 1: It was clearly Lari's intention to check the American advance
Speaker 1: at the North Bridge, and his leading ranks of light
Speaker 1: infantry burst forth with the first shots, three of them
Speaker 1: which fell harmlessly into the river. The first full British
Speaker 1: volley followed at a range of seventy five yards or less.
Speaker 1: Their balls whistled well, and Isaac Davis, the acting captain,
Speaker 1: was killed as he was raising his gun, and Abner Hasmer,
Speaker 1: one of his men, fell to the ground with a
Speaker 1: bullet through his head. In obedience to Barrett's order, the
Speaker 1: Americans had not fired first major, Buttrick now leaped into
Speaker 1: the air and further shouted fire fellow soldiers, for God's sake. Fire.
Speaker 1: The words rang down the ranks, and a volley was
Speaker 1: fired by all who could fire and not kill our
Speaker 1: own men. A few more shots came from the British,
Speaker 1: but their morale was broken by the number and force
Speaker 1: of the round balls that came smashing among them, and
Speaker 1: they began to scatter. As the advancing column of inspired
Speaker 1: minute men stepped on to the bridge, the Red Coats
Speaker 1: turned and fled, leaving two men on the ground. At
Speaker 1: the end of the episode at the bridge, three privates
Speaker 1: were to become fatalities, while four of the eight British
Speaker 1: officers present were wounded, besides a sergeant and four men.
Speaker 1: Concord fight, physically, so little, spiritually, so significant was over
Speaker 1: in two or three minutes, But, as a noted student
Speaker 1: of that one day in history has further remark, the
Speaker 1: way lay open for all that America since has done.
Speaker 1: The two British soldiers who were left on the ground
Speaker 1: are buried beside a stone wall at the left of
Speaker 1: the approach to the bridge. A slate tablet bears a
Speaker 1: suitable inscription of verses from James Russell Lowell. Though the
Speaker 1: British were able to carry away one of their dead,
Speaker 1: their flight from the bridge were so complete that their
Speaker 1: wounded had to hobble away as best they could. As
Speaker 1: they passed the Elijah Jones house, Jones pointed his musket
Speaker 1: out of a second story window, but his wife knocked
Speaker 1: it from his hands before he could fire. Determined, however,
Speaker 1: to witness the spectacle before his eyes. Jones went downstairs
Speaker 1: and stood in the doorway of his shed a retreating
Speaker 1: red Coat, no doubt welcoming the chance to shoot an
Speaker 1: insolent rebel. To case the aim as he hurried by
Speaker 1: and fired, the shot pierced the wall of the shed,
Speaker 1: about a yard from Jones's head. The whole thus made
Speaker 1: is preserved to day under glass, and gives to the
Speaker 1: place the popular name of the bullet hole House. The
Speaker 1: red Coats, fleeing the North Bridge, met Colonel Smith, coming
Speaker 1: to their aid with his grenadiers, about a quarter of
Speaker 1: a mile away. They were pursued by the Americans for
Speaker 1: only a short distance. With his forces still divided, Smith
Speaker 1: was nervous and undecided what to do. According to Reverend
Speaker 1: William Emerson, who was watching from the Old Man's near
Speaker 1: by for half an hour, the enemy, by their marches
Speaker 1: and counter marches, discovered great sickleness and inconstancy of mind,
Speaker 1: sometimes advancing, sometimes returning to their former posts, before definitely
Speaker 1: withdrawing into the village. While the British were engaged in
Speaker 1: these evolutions, about half the American force of four hundred
Speaker 1: recrossed the bridge to the west bank. There, the bodies
Speaker 1: of Davis and Hosmer, the Acton minute men, were taken
Speaker 1: to the home of Major Buttrick, a handsome clap boarded
Speaker 1: dwelling that still stands on the slope of Punctasset Hill,
Speaker 1: but no longer in view of the picturesque river setting.
Speaker 1: A monument with a suitably inscribed tablet commemorate Major John
Speaker 1: Buttrick beside the road nearly opposite the house. When Captain
Speaker 1: Mundy Pole and his company of light infantry, who had
Speaker 1: seized the south bridge at eight a m. Heard the
Speaker 1: guns at the north bridge, they at once started back
Speaker 1: to the center of town to rejoin the main body.
Speaker 1: They removed the planks from the bridge to protect their retreat.
Speaker 1: Some of Poll's troops were on Lee's Hill, an elevation
Speaker 1: about one hundred feet high across the south bridge, when
Speaker 1: the reports of musketry at the other end of the
Speaker 1: town echoed in the sky. Lee's Hill, now called nash
Speaker 1: at Wattack Hill, was the home of Joseph Lee, a Tory,
Speaker 1: and the town's position. During their stay of an hour
Speaker 1: and a half at the south bridge, Captain Pole's company
Speaker 1: entered and searched at least three houses and got food,
Speaker 1: for which they were careful to pay the womenfolk. They
Speaker 1: came upon three twenty four pound iron cannon, which they
Speaker 1: knocked from their trunnions and destroyed a small quantity of flour.
Speaker 1: Some gun carriages were also found and set on fire,
Speaker 1: together with a number of barrels containing wooden trenchers and spoons.
Speaker 1: The smoke that rose from the burning of these supplies
Speaker 1: may have been seen by the minute Men gathering on
Speaker 1: Punkitasset Hill, and prompted their attack at the North Bridge,
Speaker 1: perhaps as much as the fires started by the grenadiers
Speaker 1: in the town. While the action at the North Bridge
Speaker 1: was taking place, the four companies of light infantry under
Speaker 1: Captain Parsons, returning from Kerr Barrett's farm, had got to
Speaker 1: a cross roads still more than a mile away. Charles Handley,
Speaker 1: a lad of thirteen then living at a tavern kept
Speaker 1: by the widow Brown, claimed later that he heard guns
Speaker 1: at the bridge, but the British did not appear to
Speaker 1: hear them. Ten a m the main body of the
Speaker 1: British began to reassemble in the center of Concord. As
Speaker 1: Smith got back from the North Bridge, and Pole's company
Speaker 1: came in from the South Bridge. The men who had
Speaker 1: been on the move since the night before were exhausted
Speaker 1: and needed rest. The wounded required attention, and provision had
Speaker 1: to be made to carry them back to Boston. Chaises
Speaker 1: and horses were confiscated from stables and bedding from nearby houses.
Speaker 1: The companies of Captain Parsons, returning from the Barrett Farm,
Speaker 1: recrossed the North Bridge without interference from the Americans and
Speaker 1: rejoined the main body of troops in the square. They
Speaker 1: brought back the first story of atrocity in the Revolution.
Speaker 1: They had observed the bodies of two of their slain
Speaker 1: comrades lying beside the road near the east end of
Speaker 1: the bridge. One of them had been killed instantly, but
Speaker 1: the other, though wounded in the brief engagement, had not
Speaker 1: immediately expired. About a half hour later, a boy hatchet
Speaker 1: in hand, had crossed the bridge to join the force
Speaker 1: of Americans. As he went by, the wounded soldier was
Speaker 1: sitting up and trying to raise himself to his knees.
Speaker 1: Whereupon the boy, doubtless under the spell of the exciting
Speaker 1: action that had just taken place, in possibly fearing the
Speaker 1: soldier meant to do him harm, decided to finish the
Speaker 1: unfortunate victim by sinking the sharp blade of his weapon
Speaker 1: into his skull. The returning troops of Captain Parsons, seeing
Speaker 1: the court thus mangled and bloody, originated accounts of exaggerated
Speaker 1: barbarism and cruelty. It soon became popular in England to
Speaker 1: believe that the rebels, in Indian fashion scalped and cut
Speaker 1: off the ears of their adversaries. Noon Are. Soon thereafter
Speaker 1: the British expeditionary course, at last rested and organized as
Speaker 1: well as possible for the return to Boston, pulled out
Speaker 1: of Concord, with flankers ordered up along the ridge on
Speaker 1: the north of the road to Merriam's Corner twelve thirty
Speaker 1: p m. As soon as the American who had been
Speaker 1: present at the fight at the North Bridge received warning
Speaker 1: that the British were heading back toward Lexington, they crossed
Speaker 1: the great Meadows that lay in the north of the
Speaker 1: village and arrived at Mariam's Corner about as soon as
Speaker 1: the retreating Red Coats in the vicinity of Merriam's Corner.
Speaker 1: The numbers of the militia were increased to as many
Speaker 1: as one thousand, one hundred. As more men from neighboring
Speaker 1: town appeared from the north, came the Ballerica, Chelmsford, Reading
Speaker 1: and Wooburn companies from the south, those of Framingham and Sudbury.
Speaker 1: Three companies from Westford and at least one from Stove
Speaker 1: had been too late at the north Bridge, but were
Speaker 1: now on hand to take up the pursuit. At Merriam's Corner,
Speaker 1: the old Bedford Road runs in from the north to
Speaker 1: join the highway to Luxington. As the Reading companies were
Speaker 1: coming down this road and were nearly abreast the old
Speaker 1: Merriam House, they saw the British flankers, about one hundred
Speaker 1: in number, rejoined the main column in the highway, taking
Speaker 1: care not to be outflanked. The Reading men then advanced
Speaker 1: to the cover of the buildings and stone walls at
Speaker 1: the homestead and waited while the British slowly made their
Speaker 1: way over a little bridge that spanned Mill Brook, a
Speaker 1: few hundred feet farther along the highway. Up to this moment,
Speaker 1: the remainder of the day might have passed without further incident.
Speaker 1: A few minutes of action at Lexington Green and Concord
Speaker 1: Bridge might even have been written off as part of
Speaker 1: a chronicle without any fulfillment or far reaching end. Such, however,
Speaker 1: was not destined to be the case, as the last
Speaker 1: of the grenadiers, reaching the east side of the narrow bridge,
Speaker 1: suddenly turned and fired a volley in the direction of
Speaker 1: the reading companies gathered around the Merriam House. From this volley,
Speaker 1: there was to be no point of return. A war
Speaker 1: had opened that was not to end until Yorktown. During
Speaker 1: the course of the next few hours, a continuous battle
Speaker 1: was to rage around the retreating Redcoats on a battlefield
Speaker 1: only several hundred feet wide but sixteen miles long, all
Speaker 1: the way from Merriam's corner to Charlestown. The volley fired
Speaker 1: by the exasperated grenadiers ushered in the real results of
Speaker 1: the eventful day. The militia company, swarming in at the
Speaker 1: corner from both sides of the road, replied with more
Speaker 1: deadly effect. A Concord minute man was perhaps a bit
Speaker 1: over zealous in reporting that a great many lay dead
Speaker 1: and the road was bloody. Yet at least two British
Speaker 1: privates were killed in the road beyond the stream, whilst
Speaker 1: several more were wounded from Merriam's Corner on the warfare
Speaker 1: of the day became more and more of a grolla nature.
Speaker 1: It indeed was open season for shooting at the British.
Speaker 1: Any directing force and discipline beyond the company unit were lacking,
Speaker 1: and even there they were slight, as the minutemen chose
Speaker 1: to fight as individuals, either exposed in pursuit or behind shelter.
Speaker 1: By these tactics, the British commander tried to maintain his
Speaker 1: force in a solid formation on the highway, except when
Speaker 1: he sent out detachments of light infantry in flanking movements.
Speaker 1: These flanking parties were effective and more than once caught
Speaker 1: the local yeoman by surprise as they fired from roadside walls,
Speaker 1: boulders and trees. Of the total of forty nine Americans
Speaker 1: killed during the day's fighting, it is probable that more
Speaker 1: than twice as many met their fate at the hands
Speaker 1: of the flankers as from the soldiers marching are retiring
Speaker 1: along the highway. One p m. As the British approached
Speaker 1: the top of bricks or Hardyse Hill, half a mile
Speaker 1: east of the bridge at Mariam's Corner, they were attacked
Speaker 1: by the Sudbury Company of Captain Nathaniel Cudsworth, which took
Speaker 1: cover by the roadside. A constant fire was kept up
Speaker 1: by the men as the Red Coats sped down the
Speaker 1: slope past the Brook's tavern and over the line into Lincoln.
Speaker 1: Crossing Tanner's Brook, the British marched rapidly on across the bridge.
Speaker 1: The old road turned sharply to the left. On the
Speaker 1: left hand side was a tall growth of trees, and
Speaker 1: on the right one somewhat smaller. Many minute Men, including
Speaker 1: the Bedford Company of Captain Jonathan Wilson, raced to reach
Speaker 1: the advantageous position afforded by these woods. One thirty p m.
Speaker 1: When the Regulars reached this wooded portion of the highway,
Speaker 1: now cut off from the main route and known as
Speaker 1: Old Bedford and Virginia Road, the Americans, under cover of
Speaker 1: the forest grove, laid down a devastating fire that killed
Speaker 1: eight men outright and wounded many more. Fittingly, this curving
Speaker 1: section of the road was soon to be named the
Speaker 1: Bloody Angle. The losses, to be sure, were not all
Speaker 1: one sided. In the heat of the action on the road,
Speaker 1: the minute men forgot all about the British flankers. Captain
Speaker 1: Wilson and two others were shot or fatally jabbed from
Speaker 1: the rear, and a fourth injured and disabled for life.
Speaker 1: Half a mile further on were three old houses only
Speaker 1: a few hundred feet apart. The first was a tavern
Speaker 1: kept by Ephraim Hartwell and also the home of the
Speaker 1: Sergeant John Hartwell of the Lincoln minute Men, the second
Speaker 1: the Sergeant Samuel Hartwell House, and the third the Captain
Speaker 1: William Smith House. As the broken ranks of the British
Speaker 1: staggered on, a grenadier was shot and fell before a
Speaker 1: pair of bars on the side of the road midway
Speaker 1: between the two Hartwell houses. A little farther on, another
Speaker 1: grenadier was mortally wounded near the captains smith house and
Speaker 1: left by the roadside to die. Members of the family
Speaker 1: carried him into the house, where his wound was dressed,
Speaker 1: and he lingered on for three or four days. The
Speaker 1: shattering fire faced by the British at Bloody Angle had
Speaker 1: turned their retreat into a route. Just east of the
Speaker 1: pasture on the north side of the highway where Revere
Speaker 1: had been captured, lay two fields enclosed by stone walls.
Speaker 1: They were part of the homestead of Josiah Nelson, who,
Speaker 1: after taking a sword slash on his head from a
Speaker 1: British officer at an earlier hour, had spread the alarm
Speaker 1: to Bedford. A venturous Lincoln minuteman William Thorning, had sunk
Speaker 1: into one of the holes in the first field and
Speaker 1: had the Red Coats in the road under incessant fire
Speaker 1: when their bullets began to bounce upon the ground around him.
Speaker 1: He narrowly missed being hit, but finally made good his
Speaker 1: escape by flatten himself in another trench and waiting for
Speaker 1: the party to pass on. Thorning, minutes later ran into
Speaker 1: the second field, our pasture nearer the Nelson house, and
Speaker 1: took up a position behind a huge boulder about fifty
Speaker 1: feet from the road, where the main body of the
Speaker 1: British were still hurrying along. He resumed his fire with
Speaker 1: fatal effect. Two soldiers fell and were buried on a
Speaker 1: knoll in an orchard across the road. The rock over
Speaker 1: which Thorning leveled his musket at the fleeing Redcoats goes
Speaker 1: today by the appropriate name of the Minuteman Boulder. As
Speaker 1: soon as the news was received that General Percy's wagon
Speaker 1: train of supplies would be along without a sufficient escort.
Speaker 1: The old men of Monotonymie Arlington assembled at the Cooper
Speaker 1: Tavern in the center of the village to make plans
Speaker 1: for seizing it. They were all old men, exempts from
Speaker 1: the alarm list for the younger men, and the militia
Speaker 1: had already been called out. David Lambson, a half Indian
Speaker 1: who had served in the Old War against the French,
Speaker 1: was chosen leader and accompanied by Reverend Phillip's Payson of Chelsea.
Speaker 1: The little band of about twelve men took their position
Speaker 1: behind a bank wall of earth and stone, nearly opposite
Speaker 1: the meeting house of the first Parish. When the wagon
Speaker 1: train came abreast of Lambson and his aged companions, Lambson
Speaker 1: called on the sergeant in charge to surrender. His request
Speaker 1: was not heated, and the drivers whipped up their horses
Speaker 1: to get away. The old men, who had taken aim,
Speaker 1: then fired, killing several of the horses and two of
Speaker 1: the soldiers, while some of the others were wounded. The
Speaker 1: drivers and guards who were not wounded or killed leaped
Speaker 1: in panic from the wagons and ran to the shore
Speaker 1: of Spy Pond, a half mile to the southward, where
Speaker 1: they threw their guns into the water. Continuing their flight,
Speaker 1: they came upon an old woman named Mother Bathick, who
Speaker 1: was digging dandelions. Begging for protection, they insisted on surrendering
Speaker 1: to her. Imagine her surprise. She took them to the
Speaker 1: home of Captain Ephraim Frost, where she delivered them as prisoners, saying,
Speaker 1: if you ever lived to get back, you tell King
Speaker 1: George that an old woman took six of his grenadier's prisoners.
Speaker 1: When the story reached England, the opposition papers picked it
Speaker 1: up and pointedly asked the question, if one old Yankee
Speaker 1: woman can take six grenadiers, how many soldiers will it
Speaker 1: require to conquer America. Those wagons abandoned at Monotony provided
Speaker 1: the Americans with the first provisions and stores to be
Speaker 1: taken as the result of a forcible attack in the Revolution.
Speaker 1: Two pm, the British, now back in Lexington, were once
Speaker 1: again to encountered Captain Parker's little band of minute men
Speaker 1: under less favorable circumstances. Just over the line from Lincoln,
Speaker 1: the land rises sharply at a bend in the old Road.
Speaker 1: There many of Parker's men, who had not already gone
Speaker 1: on into Lincoln, gathered and waited for vengeance. As the
Speaker 1: sorely pressed Regulars came into sight and finally drew opposite
Speaker 1: their advantageous positions, the Lexington men poured down a resounding volley.
Speaker 1: The British returned their fire in desperation, but without effect.
Speaker 1: A quarter of a mile further along the road, the
Speaker 1: famished British troops came to the Bull Tavern, making a
Speaker 1: swift entry and departure. They ransacked the bar for liquor
Speaker 1: and devoured what food they could find in the bluff
Speaker 1: Ciske Hill area just beyond the Bull Tavern. Some of
Speaker 1: the most colorful and furious but least known in publicized
Speaker 1: action in the course of the British retreat took place.
Speaker 1: As the broken ranks of the main body of troops
Speaker 1: got around the bluff and started up the west side
Speaker 1: of this kill, Colonel Smith decided to make a desperate
Speaker 1: effort to rally his men. A rear guard was thrown
Speaker 1: up on the bluff, while the troops were halted in
Speaker 1: the road beyond, and steps taken to restore some semblance
Speaker 1: of order. That this attempt failed is made clear in
Speaker 1: accounts left by two young British subalterns. Lieutenant John Barker
Speaker 1: observed that the number of the enemy was increasing from
Speaker 1: all parts, while ours was reducing from death's wounds and fatigue,
Speaker 1: and we were totally surrounded with such incessant fire as
Speaker 1: it's impossible to conceive. Our ammunition was likewise new expended.
Speaker 1: Ensign de Bernier reported an even more humiliating situation when
Speaker 1: we arrived within a mile of Lexington. Our ammunition began
Speaker 1: to fail, and the light companies were so fatigued with
Speaker 1: flanking that they were scarce able to act, and a
Speaker 1: great number of wounded, scarce able to get forward, made
Speaker 1: a great confusion. Colonel Smith had received a wound through
Speaker 1: his leg. A number of officers were also wounded, so
Speaker 1: that we began to run rather than retreat and order.
Speaker 1: We attempted to stop the men and form them too deep,
Speaker 1: but to no purpose. The confusion increased, rather than lessened.
Speaker 1: In such a condition, the British were to go on
Speaker 1: the remaining mile from Fiskkill to the village of Lexington.
Speaker 1: Major Pitcair, as well as the wounded Smith, was a
Speaker 1: conspicuous target for the minute men and militia, whom Lieutenant
Speaker 1: Barker found so concealed there was hardly any seeing them.
Speaker 1: With his superior in command, the Major tried valiantly to
Speaker 1: bring the men into line, but any hope of successfully
Speaker 1: reorganizing the British column had to be abandoned. The dis
Speaker 1: dropped men, to the consternation of their officers, broke and
Speaker 1: ran down the east side of the hill, and in
Speaker 1: greater disarray than before, hastened on toward Lexington sec. Two
Speaker 1: thirty pm. The Americans kept the harassing fire on the
Speaker 1: flying foe as he sped over conquered Hill and unpast
Speaker 1: Lexington Green. No stop was now made to disperse any rebels.
Speaker 1: No minute men were now lined up to oppose the retreat.
Speaker 1: It was too easy to add to the enemy discomfiture
Speaker 1: on the flanks and at his rear. The situation had
Speaker 1: radically changed since the initial clash of arms at sunrise.
Speaker 1: As the British ran on in confusion, more of their
Speaker 1: number were killed and wounded. Three more soldiers were abandoned
Speaker 1: near the Lexington Green and carried into the Buckman Tavern,
Speaker 1: where one of them died. Three days later. The beaten
Speaker 1: British force was now threatened with complete dissolution before the
Speaker 1: relief party under Earl Percy could come to its aide.
Speaker 1: One last effort to restore discipline, however, was made and
Speaker 1: succeeded in bringing the discomfited troops together until they could
Speaker 1: reach the protection of their reinforcements. D Bernier described how
Speaker 1: it was done. At last, after we got through Lexington,
Speaker 1: the officers got to the front and presented their vanettes
Speaker 1: and told them in that if they advanced, they should die.
Speaker 1: Upon this they began to form under a very heavy fire.
Speaker 1: Three p m. General Percy opened his ranks a half
Speaker 1: mile east of Lexington to admit Smith's men, so much
Speaker 1: exhausted with fatigue that they were obliged to lie down
Speaker 1: for rest on the ground, their tongues hanging out of
Speaker 1: their mouths like those of dogs after a chase. The
Speaker 1: rescue party was the King's own fourth Regiment. Colonel Smith's
Speaker 1: men rested for a half hour or more inside the
Speaker 1: line thrown out by the rescue party. Meanwhile, Percy, with
Speaker 1: the two field pieces he had brought along, opened the
Speaker 1: first cannonade of the revolution. No Americans were killed or wounded,
Speaker 1: but the meeting house in Lexington Green was struck and damaged.
Speaker 1: Percy's men moreover, took pains to destroy any structure that
Speaker 1: might be used as cover by scattered groups of the
Speaker 1: rebels for sniping at the British flanks. Three houses and
Speaker 1: three outlying buildings were both looted and burned. While this
Speaker 1: destruction was taking place. The wounded were conveyed into the
Speaker 1: Monroe Tavern, where their wounds were dressed. John Raymond, a cripple,
Speaker 1: mixed drinks for the thirsty Red coats at the bar.
Speaker 1: When he tried to escape by the rear door, he
Speaker 1: was shot and killed. Despite the precautions taken by percy
Speaker 1: marksmen among the militia crept up in small numbers to
Speaker 1: woods and meadows on both sides of the road, and
Speaker 1: from behind trees and the second line of walls at
Speaker 1: more than point blank distance, resumed a fire that had
Speaker 1: been momentarily interrupted by the British artillery. About this time
Speaker 1: three companies of militia from Newton also entered the fight.
Speaker 1: The Minute Men had to give up the chase as
Speaker 1: soon as their ammunition gave out. Their numbers, however, were
Speaker 1: continually replenished along the way. Three point thirty PM, the
Speaker 1: retreat of the British in the direction of East Lexington
Speaker 1: and Monotymie was resumed. Frankers prevented the Americans from using
Speaker 1: any close cover, and at the same time they entered
Speaker 1: and pillaged houses by the roadside without restraint from their officers.
Speaker 1: William Heath, one of five generals appointed by the provincial
Speaker 1: Congress to take charge of the militia, arrived at Lexington
Speaker 1: and soon was joined by doctor Joseph Warren. Both had
Speaker 1: attended a meeting of the Committee of Safety at Monotymie
Speaker 1: that morning. After receiving news of the baptism of blood
Speaker 1: at Lexington Green four thirty pm, the British troops trudged
Speaker 1: slowly on under the burden of good they had stolen
Speaker 1: along the way. After advancing about two and a half miles,
Speaker 1: and soon after leaving the Lexington line, they had to
Speaker 1: climb Pierce's Hill, near the west end of Monotymie now
Speaker 1: Arlington Heights, and they half a mile further on came
Speaker 1: down again to lower ground known as the Foot of
Speaker 1: the Rocks. There, once again they were exposed to a
Speaker 1: fierce fire as militia from towns to the eastward and
Speaker 1: nearer the coast began to enter the fray, beginning at
Speaker 1: the foot of the Rocks. The firepower of the Americans
Speaker 1: was greatly increased, as over one thousand, seven hundred men
Speaker 1: and no less than thirty five companies began to swell
Speaker 1: the force of militia that had the Regulars under attack.
Speaker 1: Companies from Watertown, Medford, Malden, Deadham, Needham, Limb, Beverly, Danvers, Roxbury, Brookline,
Speaker 1: and Monotony itself now thronged the roadsides. The British were
Speaker 1: severely harassed in some of the bloodiest fighting of the
Speaker 1: day as they retreated over the long stretch of more
Speaker 1: than a mile and a half of Massachusetts Avenue from
Speaker 1: the Rocks to the center of the present Arlington. Besides
Speaker 1: firing in the street are from cover, the militia and
Speaker 1: unattached individuals engaged the Red Coats in hand to hand fighting.
Speaker 1: In this manner, Doctor Eliphant Downer, who had arrived with
Speaker 1: the Brookline in Roxbury Companies, faced up to a British
Speaker 1: soldier and killed him in a celebrated duel. The bellicost physician,
Speaker 1: quickly discovering he was no match for the regular in
Speaker 1: the fine points of ban at play deftly reversed his
Speaker 1: musket using the butt of the club. He then stunned
Speaker 1: his adversary with a swift blow before finishing him with
Speaker 1: eight inches of cold steel. General Percy, riding his white horse,
Speaker 1: offered a conspicuous target. He escaped death or injury, but
Speaker 1: a button was shot from his uniform. The increasing number
Speaker 1: of minute men brought such pressure on his rear and
Speaker 1: flanks that Percy finally halted his column not far from
Speaker 1: the rocks, and turned his two field pieces upon them.
Speaker 1: The cannon shot hit no one, but temporarily at least
Speaker 1: scattered his pursuers. The destructive aspect of real war was
Speaker 1: now fully present, as cannon balls blasted the road, smashed
Speaker 1: into stone walls and trees, and tore jagged holes through houses.
Speaker 1: Five PM. Jason Russell, fifty eight and lame was one
Speaker 1: citizen of Monotyony who believed that an Englishman's house is
Speaker 1: his castle. So after taking his wife and children to
Speaker 1: a place of greater safety, he had returned to his
Speaker 1: dwelling and prepared for any forays the British might make.
Speaker 1: A group of minute men who ran into a British
Speaker 1: flanking party got to Russell's doorway just as Earl Percy's
Speaker 1: column coming up the road, saw them and fired, forcing
Speaker 1: them to take shelter in the home. The unfortunate Russell,
Speaker 1: with his disabled foot, was the last to reach the
Speaker 1: door and was struck by two bullets. As he lay
Speaker 1: in the doorway. The Red Coats stabbed him with no
Speaker 1: less than eleven bayonet thrusts. In the house. The minute Men,
Speaker 1: who had no bayonets, were at a great disadvantage, and
Speaker 1: the Red Coats readily slew all they could reach. Some
Speaker 1: men from Beverly and others eight in number, fled into
Speaker 1: the cellar, and, pointing their muskets up the stairway, threatened
Speaker 1: instant death to any soldier who should follow. One venturesome
Speaker 1: Red Coat took a chance and was shot on the stairs.
Speaker 1: Another was killed in the fight on the floor above.
Speaker 1: After the British had gone, the dead inn and about
Speaker 1: the house were gathered in a single room. When Missus
Speaker 1: Russell came home, she found her husband and eleven Minute
Speaker 1: men lying side by side on the floor in a
Speaker 1: common pool of blood. They were the largest number of
Speaker 1: combatants either American or British to give up their lives
Speaker 1: in any one place and at any one time during
Speaker 1: the course of the day's conflict. The Jason Russell House,
Speaker 1: commendably saved by the Arlington Historical Society in eighteen twenty three,
Speaker 1: stands to day not far from its original location, near
Speaker 1: the corner of Jason Street and Massachusetts Avenue.
Speaker 2: It we will pause there in the narrative and finish
Speaker 2: on Monday, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1: There's not too much more to go. What happened on
Speaker 1: April nineteenth, seventeen seventy five was very similar to what's
Speaker 1: happening today. Our founding fathers, our ancestors, if you will,
Speaker 1: were living under tyranny. They were English citizens who did
Speaker 1: not have the rights or the protection of English citizens.
Speaker 1: They were treated differently than those who lived in England.
Speaker 1: They were taxed unmercifully, and instead of accepting the tax
Speaker 1: like people do today, they refused to pay it. There
Speaker 1: was a document tax. Every document, every will, every paper file,
Speaker 1: every deed, every transaction, every note newspaper printed had to
Speaker 1: have a tax stamp affixed to it, and the tax
Speaker 1: had to be paid. The colonists refused to pay the tax,
Speaker 1: and whenever the document stamp tax collector would present himself
Speaker 1: at a door, he would be run off. Some were
Speaker 1: tarred and feathered, some were killed, some had their homes
Speaker 1: burned to the ground. When the King put a tax
Speaker 1: on tea that the English and England did not have
Speaker 1: to pay, and were forbidden to purchase tea from any
Speaker 1: other source but English ships, they refused to pay the
Speaker 1: tax and to drink the tea. So many ships that
Speaker 1: reached Boston Harbor and other harbors of the colonies loaded
Speaker 1: with cargoes of tea for the colonies sat there and
Speaker 1: sat there, and sat there, full of tea. They were
Speaker 1: unable to unload the tea or to sell it. No
Speaker 1: one would purchase it. Anyone who lived in the colonies
Speaker 1: caught drinking English tea were punished, put into the stocks,
Speaker 1: received social pressure somewhere outcast of One memorable night, after
Speaker 1: a meeting at the local Masonic Lodge hall, colonists dressed
Speaker 1: up as Native American Indians went aboard some of the
Speaker 1: tea ships in Boston Harbor and threw the tea overboard.
Speaker 1: One of the major complaints of the colonists was that
Speaker 1: England took control of their money and their economy and this,
Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, is the real reason that the colonists
Speaker 1: eventually went to war with England to create a new nation.
Speaker 1: They had their own banks which coined money. During the
Speaker 1: early part of this nation's history, the paler was used,
Speaker 1: and that's where the word dollar eventually came from. Was
Speaker 1: the silver coin used all over the world in trade.
Speaker 1: England put a stop to all of this. American banks
Speaker 1: were not allowed to issue money, paper or coin, and
Speaker 1: there was a prohibition put upon the use of the talent. Well,
Speaker 1: nobody paid any attention to that because nobody knew what
Speaker 1: coins you had, and nobody watched your transactions, and there
Speaker 1: was a big black market but large sums of money.
Speaker 1: Any money put into circulation in the colonies had to
Speaker 1: be borrowed from the Bank of England, and so the
Speaker 1: colonies in order to exist, in order to have an
Speaker 1: economy at all, had to go deep into debt. In
Speaker 1: other words, the Bank of England was doing to the
Speaker 1: colonists what the federal Reserve banks due to us today.
Speaker 1: You see, we have a debt based system. Today. No
Speaker 1: dollar goes into circulation that is not borrowed. The government
Speaker 1: does not print money. The government does not coin money.
Speaker 1: The government borrows every single penny that's put into circulation,
Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, and it's borrowed against notes, bonds. What
Speaker 1: is borrowed has to be paid back, and what has
Speaker 1: to be paid back has to be paid back with
Speaker 1: interest that was never created or borrowed into circulation in
Speaker 1: the first place. It is a method of stealing the
Speaker 1: sustenance and the property of the nation without paying for
Speaker 1: Our ancestors, who fought the Revolutionary War against England would
Speaker 1: not stand for it. For many years, a central bank
Speaker 1: was prohibited. When finally one got a foothold here and
Speaker 1: existed for a few years. When it's charge it ran out,
Speaker 1: it was canceled because they learned their lessons, And then
Speaker 1: so many years followed between that day in nineteen thirteen
Speaker 1: that Americans forgot all about those lessons, and now we're
Speaker 1: in the same pickle that they were in then that
Speaker 1: they went to war to get us out of. The
Speaker 1: tyranny is much worse today, ladies and gentlemen, than it
Speaker 1: ever was back then. Everybody in this country has been
Speaker 1: working since January the first to pay all the taxes
Speaker 1: they're going to pay this year, and they will not
Speaker 1: have paid them until some time after the middle of May.
Speaker 1: I believe the date now is May nineteenth, May nineteenth.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine that if the colonists were alive today,
Speaker 1: they would have been at war over this a long
Speaker 1: time ago. As if that's not enough, there's not even
Speaker 1: any law ever been passed by anybody that requires us
Speaker 1: to file and pay these taxes. The colonists were not fools,
Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, apparently we are. The initial battles of
Speaker 1: the war were fought to prevent the British soldiers from
Speaker 1: seizing the arms and stores and provisions of the colonists
Speaker 1: that were warehoused at Concord. The government is going about
Speaker 1: taking away our arms and have been doing it for
Speaker 1: quite some many years now, and Americans have forgotten the
Speaker 1: lessons of our past, not just our past, but the
Speaker 1: history of the world. A disarmed people is an enslaved
Speaker 1: people are a dead people. It's never failed to happen.
Speaker 1: In every instance in history where people's have been disarmed,
Speaker 1: they have been either enslaved or destroyed as a people.
Speaker 1: There are so many laws now that nobody knows what
Speaker 1: the hell is going on. People walk around every day
Speaker 1: breaking laws they don't even know exist. Even the lawyers
Speaker 1: can't figure out what the law is now, and we're
Speaker 1: supposed to know the law. In fact, when you are
Speaker 1: charged with the crime and you are hauled off to
Speaker 1: prison and ultimately appear in court, I'll listen to you
Speaker 1: if you say I didn't know there was such a
Speaker 1: law like that? Who knows it? They won't listen to you.
Speaker 1: Be presumed to know the law, but nobody can know
Speaker 1: the law. Have you ever been in a law library
Speaker 1: and seeing the volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes
Speaker 1: and volumes and volumes that contain the law, most of
Speaker 1: which is oppressive, despotic, and tyrannical. Have you ever tried
Speaker 1: to start a small business and survive complying with all
Speaker 1: the requirements of government. It's almost impossible today, ladies and gentlemen,
Speaker 1: and it's going to get much worse. Tune in Monday
Speaker 1: night and we'll finish up our little documentary on Patriot's Day.
Speaker 1: Don't ever forget this is Patriot's Day. It commemorates the
Speaker 1: first battle fought in the Revolutionary War. I should say, battles,
Speaker 1: running battles. Good night, God bless each and every single
Speaker 1: one of you. Good night, Annie Poon Allison, I love you.
Speaker 3: You are listening to the Fact Hunter Radio Network
Speaker 1: Just the Facts, Mammy