WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:05.200 The following presentation is Del Marvis Studio's production. 2 00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:12.080 You are listening to the Fact Hunter Radio Network. Here 3 00:00:12.199 --> 00:00:14.720 is your host, George Hobbs. 4 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:18.760 Welcome back truth seekers from around the world. It's time 5 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:21.879 for another edition of our classic audio series as we 6 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:24.719 continue on with Bill Cooper's Hour of the Time, and 7 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:29.000 today it's episode eighteen eighty three B from April nineteenth, 8 00:00:29.160 --> 00:00:33.200 two thousand and one, entitled Conquered Hoop. Everybody has a 9 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:35.960 great week, God blessed, keep your head on a swivel, 10 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:39.840 and without any further ado, here is Bill Cooper. 11 00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:43.159 You're listening to the Hour of the Time. I'm William Cooper. 12 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:47.880 Good evening, folks. Last night you heard the preparations for 13 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:56.759 and the causes of the first actions in the war 14 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:02.920 that brought about the creation of this and the first 15 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:08.560 battle at Lexington Green. Tonight you're going to hear about 16 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:13.959 the battle that took place at Concord Bridge, and probably 17 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:19.920 Monday we will carry on with the skirmish of the 18 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:25.280 American militia with the retreating British soldiers all the way 19 00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:34.200 from Concord back to Boston. The militia is still alive 20 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:38.120 and well. Today there are minute companies all across this country. 21 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:45.200 There are large militia organizations, and if you want to 22 00:01:45.239 --> 00:01:48.159 see some of the members of the Arizona Militia, check 23 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:54.959 out our website at William Cooper dot com. They're looking 24 00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:58.840 for a few good men, not that they don't have 25 00:01:59.319 --> 00:02:03.359 quite a few old ready, but we are constantly recruiting, 26 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:09.159 training and preparing, and you should be doing the same. 27 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:15.800 Get ready, folks. This is a part of our history 28 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:19.759 that's not taught in school anymore. Most children don't know 29 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:25.120 anything about the events that occurred on April nineteenth, seventeen 30 00:02:25.199 --> 00:04:07.280 seventy five. This is Patriot's Day. April nineteenth, seventeen seventy five, 31 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:12.000 eight a m. The withdrawal of the Minutemen to Punka 32 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:16.720 Tassit Hill was completed just before the seven British companies 33 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:20.720 under Captain Laurie and Parsons got to the North Bridge. 34 00:04:21.639 --> 00:04:25.040 When Barrett saw the companies of Parsons cross the bridge 35 00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:27.480 and take a road to the left over a causeway 36 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:30.519 that led to his farm two miles further on, he 37 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:36.560 galloped home ahead of them to give warning and last orders. Meanwhile, 38 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:41.319 two of Larry's companies, the Tenths Lincolnshires and the King's 39 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:47.040 own fourth Royal North Lancashires were sent across the bridge 40 00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:52.720 to the first rise of ground beyond. The forty third Oxfordshires, 41 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:56.680 assigned to watch the bridge itself, remain on the east bank. 42 00:04:58.120 --> 00:05:01.920 Troops from this company, in turn, surrounded the well in 43 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:06.720 front of the Elisha Jones House Bullet Whole House, not 44 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:11.000 far from the bridge, and drank its cool water. Little 45 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:14.240 did they realize that stores of fifty five barrels of 46 00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:17.839 beef and one thousand, seven hundred pounds of salt fish 47 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:23.120 were concealed there in a cellar and shed. While these 48 00:05:23.160 --> 00:05:25.879 activities were going on at the North Bridge and beyond, 49 00:05:26.439 --> 00:05:30.000 officers in the British force strolled about the center of 50 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:33.839 the town, directing the grenadiers in their task of seeking 51 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:37.759 out hidden stores and refreshing themselves in the public houses. 52 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:43.319 At Wright's Tavern. Major Pitcairn, in a bad humor from 53 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:46.759 an encounter with an aged citizen of the town, is 54 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:50.439 supposed to have stated, as he called for a glass 55 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:53.279 of brandy and stirred it with his bloody finger, that 56 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:57.519 he hoped he could stir the Yankee blood so before 57 00:05:57.639 --> 00:06:04.439 night the search of the grenadiers did not prove very successful. 58 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:08.399 About five hundred pounds of musket balls were thrown into 59 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:11.920 the mill pond, but many of them were dredged up afterwards. 60 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:16.560 The grenadiers also set fire to the townhouse and Reuben 61 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:21.000 Brown's harnessed shop, but were prevailed upon by the inhabitants 62 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:25.959 to put out the flames. The mill pond, which formerly 63 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:28.920 occupied a sizeable area in the center of town, was 64 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:32.399 subsequently filled and now comprises a good part of the 65 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:38.959 business section. Nine A m Earl Percy finally got his 66 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:42.360 delayed orders to go out from Boston with the first 67 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.399 Brigade as a relief party. General Gage had issued this 68 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:50.439 order at four a m. But two mistakes in the force, 69 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:59.959 consisting of one thousand men and two light sealed piecesute 70 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:03.839 men and militia on Punketascit Hill, now made up of 71 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:07.079 a force of over four hundred, began to move down 72 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:13.519 to a lower elevation nearer the North Bridge. From there 73 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:16.560 they saw the smoke rising from fires in the town. 74 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:20.040 They did not know the exact cause, but had reason 75 00:07:20.120 --> 00:07:24.600 to suspect the worst. Colonel Barrett consulted with his officers 76 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:30.199 and Joseph Hosmer the Concord adjutant raised the question will 77 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:34.000 you let them burn the town down? The decision was 78 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:37.519 made to march in the middle of town for its 79 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:42.399 defense or die in the attempt. Barrett gave the order 80 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:47.240 to march, but not to fire until fired upon Lieutenant 81 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:52.319 Colonel John Robinson of Westward and Major John buttrick of 82 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:57.120 Concord led the procession, followed by Captain Isaac Davis's Acton 83 00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:02.120 company of minute men, the three conquered companies, the militia 84 00:08:02.279 --> 00:08:07.319 of Acton, Bedford and Lincoln, and a column of volunteers. 85 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:10.879 A pair of fifers and drummers struck up the tune 86 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:14.959 of the White Kackade, and the embattled farmers were on 87 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:18.360 their way to engage some of the finest troops in 88 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:22.920 the King's army. As soon as the Americans were in 89 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:28.199 motion on Punca Tacit Hill, Captain Lari's two outer companies 90 00:08:28.279 --> 00:08:31.600 retreated before them and soon joined the third company at 91 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:36.440 the bridge. Laurie was able to perceive that the oncoming 92 00:08:36.519 --> 00:08:40.840 force outnumbered his and dispatched a messenger to Colonel Smith 93 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:45.159 for reinforcements from the town. Smith ordered out two or 94 00:08:45.240 --> 00:08:49.480 three companies of grenadiers but putting himself at their head, 95 00:08:49.639 --> 00:08:53.159 and being a very fat, heavy man, so slowed up 96 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:55.639 the advance to the bridge as to make it impossible 97 00:08:55.679 --> 00:09:00.240 to arrive in time to be of any help. Thirty 98 00:09:00.519 --> 00:09:05.559 a m. Captain Laurie moved most of his men to 99 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:08.840 the east end of the north bridge, leaving only a 100 00:09:08.919 --> 00:09:12.960 few to pull up the planks. Major Buttrick, coming on 101 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:15.679 at the head of the American column, ordered the men 102 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:19.320 at work to desist and accelerate the pace of the militia. 103 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:23.759 The men, removing the planks, stopped and hastily formed for 104 00:09:23.960 --> 00:09:27.600 action in the road at the end of the bridge. 105 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:32.039 Laurie had time to arrange his men effectively, for, as 106 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:34.960 one of his lieutenants later wrote, the rebels got so 107 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:37.879 near him his people were obliged to form the best 108 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:41.639 way they could. The three companies got one behind the other, 109 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:47.399 so that only the front one could fire. Captain Laurie's men, 110 00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:51.559 without doubt, attempted to form in a tactical design known 111 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:56.399 as street firing. They lined up in columns of fours. 112 00:09:57.120 --> 00:09:59.720 After the men in the first two or three ranks 113 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:03.240 had fired from kneeling and standing positions, they broke to 114 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:05.960 the right and left and filed to the rear to reload, 115 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:10.440 while their positions in front was taken by ranks moving 116 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:14.480 up in succession. Thus it was a theory that a 117 00:10:14.600 --> 00:10:17.759 narrow way or bridge could be kept under a steady fire. 118 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:23.480 It was clearly Lari's intention to check the American advance 119 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:26.480 at the North Bridge, and his leading ranks of light 120 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:30.360 infantry burst forth with the first shots, three of them 121 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:34.960 which fell harmlessly into the river. The first full British 122 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:38.360 volley followed at a range of seventy five yards or less. 123 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:43.679 Their balls whistled well, and Isaac Davis, the acting captain, 124 00:10:43.960 --> 00:10:47.679 was killed as he was raising his gun, and Abner Hasmer, 125 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:50.120 one of his men, fell to the ground with a 126 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:54.440 bullet through his head. In obedience to Barrett's order, the 127 00:10:54.519 --> 00:10:59.000 Americans had not fired first major, Buttrick now leaped into 128 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:04.559 the air and further shouted fire fellow soldiers, for God's sake. Fire. 129 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:07.840 The words rang down the ranks, and a volley was 130 00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:11.159 fired by all who could fire and not kill our 131 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:15.200 own men. A few more shots came from the British, 132 00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:18.080 but their morale was broken by the number and force 133 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:21.159 of the round balls that came smashing among them, and 134 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:26.240 they began to scatter. As the advancing column of inspired 135 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:29.679 minute men stepped on to the bridge, the Red Coats 136 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:33.759 turned and fled, leaving two men on the ground. At 137 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:36.720 the end of the episode at the bridge, three privates 138 00:11:36.759 --> 00:11:40.159 were to become fatalities, while four of the eight British 139 00:11:40.200 --> 00:11:44.679 officers present were wounded, besides a sergeant and four men. 140 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:53.879 Concord fight, physically, so little, spiritually, so significant was over 141 00:11:54.039 --> 00:11:57.559 in two or three minutes, But, as a noted student 142 00:11:57.639 --> 00:12:01.039 of that one day in history has further remark, the 143 00:12:01.159 --> 00:12:06.240 way lay open for all that America since has done. 144 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:08.919 The two British soldiers who were left on the ground 145 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:12.159 are buried beside a stone wall at the left of 146 00:12:12.200 --> 00:12:16.200 the approach to the bridge. A slate tablet bears a 147 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:21.519 suitable inscription of verses from James Russell Lowell. Though the 148 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:23.679 British were able to carry away one of their dead, 149 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:26.480 their flight from the bridge were so complete that their 150 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:29.720 wounded had to hobble away as best they could. As 151 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:33.360 they passed the Elijah Jones house, Jones pointed his musket 152 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:36.320 out of a second story window, but his wife knocked 153 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:39.960 it from his hands before he could fire. Determined, however, 154 00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:44.240 to witness the spectacle before his eyes. Jones went downstairs 155 00:12:44.279 --> 00:12:47.559 and stood in the doorway of his shed a retreating 156 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:50.919 red Coat, no doubt welcoming the chance to shoot an 157 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:53.960 insolent rebel. To case the aim as he hurried by 158 00:12:54.039 --> 00:12:57.039 and fired, the shot pierced the wall of the shed, 159 00:12:57.159 --> 00:13:00.720 about a yard from Jones's head. The whole thus made 160 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:03.720 is preserved to day under glass, and gives to the 161 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:08.559 place the popular name of the bullet hole House. The 162 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:12.200 red Coats, fleeing the North Bridge, met Colonel Smith, coming 163 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:16.240 to their aid with his grenadiers, about a quarter of 164 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:19.720 a mile away. They were pursued by the Americans for 165 00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:24.399 only a short distance. With his forces still divided, Smith 166 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:28.399 was nervous and undecided what to do. According to Reverend 167 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:31.519 William Emerson, who was watching from the Old Man's near 168 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:36.320 by for half an hour, the enemy, by their marches 169 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:41.960 and counter marches, discovered great sickleness and inconstancy of mind, 170 00:13:42.200 --> 00:13:48.720 sometimes advancing, sometimes returning to their former posts, before definitely 171 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:54.159 withdrawing into the village. While the British were engaged in 172 00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:58.039 these evolutions, about half the American force of four hundred 173 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:02.320 recrossed the bridge to the west bank. There, the bodies 174 00:14:02.360 --> 00:14:06.320 of Davis and Hosmer, the Acton minute men, were taken 175 00:14:06.360 --> 00:14:09.720 to the home of Major Buttrick, a handsome clap boarded 176 00:14:09.799 --> 00:14:13.240 dwelling that still stands on the slope of Punctasset Hill, 177 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:16.879 but no longer in view of the picturesque river setting. 178 00:14:18.360 --> 00:14:22.120 A monument with a suitably inscribed tablet commemorate Major John 179 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:27.519 Buttrick beside the road nearly opposite the house. When Captain 180 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:30.759 Mundy Pole and his company of light infantry, who had 181 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:33.639 seized the south bridge at eight a m. Heard the 182 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:36.720 guns at the north bridge, they at once started back 183 00:14:36.759 --> 00:14:39.200 to the center of town to rejoin the main body. 184 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.519 They removed the planks from the bridge to protect their retreat. 185 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:47.840 Some of Poll's troops were on Lee's Hill, an elevation 186 00:14:47.960 --> 00:14:51.440 about one hundred feet high across the south bridge, when 187 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:54.080 the reports of musketry at the other end of the 188 00:14:54.120 --> 00:15:00.279 town echoed in the sky. Lee's Hill, now called nash 189 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:04.080 at Wattack Hill, was the home of Joseph Lee, a Tory, 190 00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:08.360 and the town's position. During their stay of an hour 191 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:11.039 and a half at the south bridge, Captain Pole's company 192 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:15.440 entered and searched at least three houses and got food, 193 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:18.480 for which they were careful to pay the womenfolk. They 194 00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:22.840 came upon three twenty four pound iron cannon, which they 195 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:26.759 knocked from their trunnions and destroyed a small quantity of flour. 196 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:31.279 Some gun carriages were also found and set on fire, 197 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:36.679 together with a number of barrels containing wooden trenchers and spoons. 198 00:15:37.399 --> 00:15:39.879 The smoke that rose from the burning of these supplies 199 00:15:40.039 --> 00:15:43.440 may have been seen by the minute Men gathering on 200 00:15:43.559 --> 00:15:47.039 Punkitasset Hill, and prompted their attack at the North Bridge, 201 00:15:47.480 --> 00:15:50.399 perhaps as much as the fires started by the grenadiers 202 00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:54.279 in the town. While the action at the North Bridge 203 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:57.960 was taking place, the four companies of light infantry under 204 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:01.879 Captain Parsons, returning from Kerr Barrett's farm, had got to 205 00:16:01.960 --> 00:16:06.519 a cross roads still more than a mile away. Charles Handley, 206 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:10.799 a lad of thirteen then living at a tavern kept 207 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:14.440 by the widow Brown, claimed later that he heard guns 208 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:17.039 at the bridge, but the British did not appear to 209 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:22.039 hear them. Ten a m the main body of the 210 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:25.720 British began to reassemble in the center of Concord. As 211 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:28.879 Smith got back from the North Bridge, and Pole's company 212 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:34.080 came in from the South Bridge. The men who had 213 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:37.399 been on the move since the night before were exhausted 214 00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:41.960 and needed rest. The wounded required attention, and provision had 215 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.960 to be made to carry them back to Boston. Chaises 216 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:49.159 and horses were confiscated from stables and bedding from nearby houses. 217 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:53.559 The companies of Captain Parsons, returning from the Barrett Farm, 218 00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:57.799 recrossed the North Bridge without interference from the Americans and 219 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:01.120 rejoined the main body of troops in the square. They 220 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:04.839 brought back the first story of atrocity in the Revolution. 221 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:08.440 They had observed the bodies of two of their slain 222 00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:11.599 comrades lying beside the road near the east end of 223 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:15.839 the bridge. One of them had been killed instantly, but 224 00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:18.960 the other, though wounded in the brief engagement, had not 225 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:23.839 immediately expired. About a half hour later, a boy hatchet 226 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:26.640 in hand, had crossed the bridge to join the force 227 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:30.000 of Americans. As he went by, the wounded soldier was 228 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:32.960 sitting up and trying to raise himself to his knees. 229 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:37.519 Whereupon the boy, doubtless under the spell of the exciting 230 00:17:37.559 --> 00:17:40.759 action that had just taken place, in possibly fearing the 231 00:17:40.839 --> 00:17:44.119 soldier meant to do him harm, decided to finish the 232 00:17:44.200 --> 00:17:47.759 unfortunate victim by sinking the sharp blade of his weapon 233 00:17:48.039 --> 00:17:52.599 into his skull. The returning troops of Captain Parsons, seeing 234 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:58.359 the court thus mangled and bloody, originated accounts of exaggerated 235 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:02.279 barbarism and cruelty. It soon became popular in England to 236 00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:06.000 believe that the rebels, in Indian fashion scalped and cut 237 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:13.440 off the ears of their adversaries. Noon Are. Soon thereafter 238 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:19.960 the British expeditionary course, at last rested and organized as 239 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:23.559 well as possible for the return to Boston, pulled out 240 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:26.799 of Concord, with flankers ordered up along the ridge on 241 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:31.200 the north of the road to Merriam's Corner twelve thirty 242 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:35.000 p m. As soon as the American who had been 243 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:37.680 present at the fight at the North Bridge received warning 244 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:42.839 that the British were heading back toward Lexington, they crossed 245 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:44.920 the great Meadows that lay in the north of the 246 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:48.079 village and arrived at Mariam's Corner about as soon as 247 00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:52.279 the retreating Red Coats in the vicinity of Merriam's Corner. 248 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:56.000 The numbers of the militia were increased to as many 249 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:59.759 as one thousand, one hundred. As more men from neighboring 250 00:18:59.799 --> 00:19:07.720 town appeared from the north, came the Ballerica, Chelmsford, Reading 251 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:12.880 and Wooburn companies from the south, those of Framingham and Sudbury. 252 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:16.960 Three companies from Westford and at least one from Stove 253 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:19.680 had been too late at the north Bridge, but were 254 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:24.119 now on hand to take up the pursuit. At Merriam's Corner, 255 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:27.720 the old Bedford Road runs in from the north to 256 00:19:27.799 --> 00:19:31.519 join the highway to Luxington. As the Reading companies were 257 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:35.480 coming down this road and were nearly abreast the old 258 00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:39.880 Merriam House, they saw the British flankers, about one hundred 259 00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:44.680 in number, rejoined the main column in the highway, taking 260 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.240 care not to be outflanked. The Reading men then advanced 261 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:51.039 to the cover of the buildings and stone walls at 262 00:19:51.079 --> 00:19:54.680 the homestead and waited while the British slowly made their 263 00:19:54.680 --> 00:19:58.119 way over a little bridge that spanned Mill Brook, a 264 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:03.319 few hundred feet farther along the highway. Up to this moment, 265 00:20:04.119 --> 00:20:08.119 the remainder of the day might have passed without further incident. 266 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:12.440 A few minutes of action at Lexington Green and Concord 267 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:15.759 Bridge might even have been written off as part of 268 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:22.319 a chronicle without any fulfillment or far reaching end. Such, however, 269 00:20:22.839 --> 00:20:25.880 was not destined to be the case, as the last 270 00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:29.240 of the grenadiers, reaching the east side of the narrow bridge, 271 00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:32.799 suddenly turned and fired a volley in the direction of 272 00:20:32.839 --> 00:20:37.440 the reading companies gathered around the Merriam House. From this volley, 273 00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:40.680 there was to be no point of return. A war 274 00:20:40.759 --> 00:20:44.559 had opened that was not to end until Yorktown. During 275 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:48.079 the course of the next few hours, a continuous battle 276 00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:52.079 was to rage around the retreating Redcoats on a battlefield 277 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:57.160 only several hundred feet wide but sixteen miles long, all 278 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:02.720 the way from Merriam's corner to Charlestown. The volley fired 279 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:06.599 by the exasperated grenadiers ushered in the real results of 280 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:10.359 the eventful day. The militia company, swarming in at the 281 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:13.519 corner from both sides of the road, replied with more 282 00:21:13.559 --> 00:21:17.960 deadly effect. A Concord minute man was perhaps a bit 283 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:22.640 over zealous in reporting that a great many lay dead 284 00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:26.319 and the road was bloody. Yet at least two British 285 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:29.599 privates were killed in the road beyond the stream, whilst 286 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:37.400 several more were wounded from Merriam's Corner on the warfare 287 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:40.559 of the day became more and more of a grolla nature. 288 00:21:42.119 --> 00:21:46.119 It indeed was open season for shooting at the British. 289 00:21:46.359 --> 00:21:50.160 Any directing force and discipline beyond the company unit were lacking, 290 00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:53.759 and even there they were slight, as the minutemen chose 291 00:21:53.880 --> 00:21:58.920 to fight as individuals, either exposed in pursuit or behind shelter. 292 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:04.319 By these tactics, the British commander tried to maintain his 293 00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:07.839 force in a solid formation on the highway, except when 294 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:11.839 he sent out detachments of light infantry in flanking movements. 295 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:16.640 These flanking parties were effective and more than once caught 296 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:20.640 the local yeoman by surprise as they fired from roadside walls, 297 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:25.000 boulders and trees. Of the total of forty nine Americans 298 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:28.799 killed during the day's fighting, it is probable that more 299 00:22:28.839 --> 00:22:31.319 than twice as many met their fate at the hands 300 00:22:31.319 --> 00:22:35.000 of the flankers as from the soldiers marching are retiring 301 00:22:35.160 --> 00:22:42.079 along the highway. One p m. As the British approached 302 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:45.079 the top of bricks or Hardyse Hill, half a mile 303 00:22:45.160 --> 00:22:50.359 east of the bridge at Mariam's Corner, they were attacked 304 00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:55.599 by the Sudbury Company of Captain Nathaniel Cudsworth, which took 305 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:59.640 cover by the roadside. A constant fire was kept up 306 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:02.640 by the men as the Red Coats sped down the 307 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:07.000 slope past the Brook's tavern and over the line into Lincoln. 308 00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:14.279 Crossing Tanner's Brook, the British marched rapidly on across the bridge. 309 00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:17.640 The old road turned sharply to the left. On the 310 00:23:17.720 --> 00:23:20.559 left hand side was a tall growth of trees, and 311 00:23:20.599 --> 00:23:24.799 on the right one somewhat smaller. Many minute Men, including 312 00:23:24.839 --> 00:23:28.680 the Bedford Company of Captain Jonathan Wilson, raced to reach 313 00:23:28.839 --> 00:23:35.319 the advantageous position afforded by these woods. One thirty p m. 314 00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:38.920 When the Regulars reached this wooded portion of the highway, 315 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:41.960 now cut off from the main route and known as 316 00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:46.039 Old Bedford and Virginia Road, the Americans, under cover of 317 00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:50.440 the forest grove, laid down a devastating fire that killed 318 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:55.480 eight men outright and wounded many more. Fittingly, this curving 319 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:58.480 section of the road was soon to be named the 320 00:23:58.599 --> 00:24:06.160 Bloody Angle. The losses, to be sure, were not all 321 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:10.039 one sided. In the heat of the action on the road, 322 00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:14.440 the minute men forgot all about the British flankers. Captain 323 00:24:14.519 --> 00:24:18.000 Wilson and two others were shot or fatally jabbed from 324 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:22.039 the rear, and a fourth injured and disabled for life. 325 00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:25.680 Half a mile further on were three old houses only 326 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:29.039 a few hundred feet apart. The first was a tavern 327 00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:33.240 kept by Ephraim Hartwell and also the home of the 328 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:38.000 Sergeant John Hartwell of the Lincoln minute Men, the second 329 00:24:38.440 --> 00:24:42.359 the Sergeant Samuel Hartwell House, and the third the Captain 330 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:46.480 William Smith House. As the broken ranks of the British 331 00:24:46.519 --> 00:24:50.119 staggered on, a grenadier was shot and fell before a 332 00:24:50.119 --> 00:24:52.799 pair of bars on the side of the road midway 333 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:57.160 between the two Hartwell houses. A little farther on, another 334 00:24:57.200 --> 00:25:00.880 grenadier was mortally wounded near the captains smith house and 335 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:04.839 left by the roadside to die. Members of the family 336 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:07.640 carried him into the house, where his wound was dressed, 337 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:11.440 and he lingered on for three or four days. The 338 00:25:11.480 --> 00:25:14.720 shattering fire faced by the British at Bloody Angle had 339 00:25:14.759 --> 00:26:52.880 turned their retreat into a route. Just east of the 340 00:26:52.960 --> 00:27:01.359 pasture on the north side of the highway where Revere 341 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:05.920 had been captured, lay two fields enclosed by stone walls. 342 00:27:06.519 --> 00:27:10.039 They were part of the homestead of Josiah Nelson, who, 343 00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:13.480 after taking a sword slash on his head from a 344 00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:17.839 British officer at an earlier hour, had spread the alarm 345 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:27.559 to Bedford. A venturous Lincoln minuteman William Thorning, had sunk 346 00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:30.240 into one of the holes in the first field and 347 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:33.200 had the Red Coats in the road under incessant fire 348 00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:37.079 when their bullets began to bounce upon the ground around him. 349 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:40.680 He narrowly missed being hit, but finally made good his 350 00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:45.240 escape by flatten himself in another trench and waiting for 351 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:50.440 the party to pass on. Thorning, minutes later ran into 352 00:27:50.440 --> 00:27:54.359 the second field, our pasture nearer the Nelson house, and 353 00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:59.400 took up a position behind a huge boulder about fifty 354 00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:01.720 feet from the road, where the main body of the 355 00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:06.000 British were still hurrying along. He resumed his fire with 356 00:28:06.119 --> 00:28:09.799 fatal effect. Two soldiers fell and were buried on a 357 00:28:09.880 --> 00:28:14.359 knoll in an orchard across the road. The rock over 358 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:17.799 which Thorning leveled his musket at the fleeing Redcoats goes 359 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:24.839 today by the appropriate name of the Minuteman Boulder. As 360 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:28.079 soon as the news was received that General Percy's wagon 361 00:28:28.119 --> 00:28:31.240 train of supplies would be along without a sufficient escort. 362 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:36.359 The old men of Monotonymie Arlington assembled at the Cooper 363 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:39.359 Tavern in the center of the village to make plans 364 00:28:39.400 --> 00:28:44.640 for seizing it. They were all old men, exempts from 365 00:28:44.680 --> 00:28:47.720 the alarm list for the younger men, and the militia 366 00:28:47.799 --> 00:28:52.599 had already been called out. David Lambson, a half Indian 367 00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:55.319 who had served in the Old War against the French, 368 00:28:55.759 --> 00:29:00.799 was chosen leader and accompanied by Reverend Phillip's Payson of Chelsea. 369 00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:04.599 The little band of about twelve men took their position 370 00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:08.599 behind a bank wall of earth and stone, nearly opposite 371 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:14.319 the meeting house of the first Parish. When the wagon 372 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:18.759 train came abreast of Lambson and his aged companions, Lambson 373 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:22.519 called on the sergeant in charge to surrender. His request 374 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:25.680 was not heated, and the drivers whipped up their horses 375 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:29.039 to get away. The old men, who had taken aim, 376 00:29:29.319 --> 00:29:34.079 then fired, killing several of the horses and two of 377 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:38.720 the soldiers, while some of the others were wounded. The 378 00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:41.880 drivers and guards who were not wounded or killed leaped 379 00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:44.759 in panic from the wagons and ran to the shore 380 00:29:44.839 --> 00:29:48.519 of Spy Pond, a half mile to the southward, where 381 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:52.000 they threw their guns into the water. Continuing their flight, 382 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:56.319 they came upon an old woman named Mother Bathick, who 383 00:29:56.440 --> 00:30:02.039 was digging dandelions. Begging for protection, they insisted on surrendering 384 00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:07.519 to her. Imagine her surprise. She took them to the 385 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:12.119 home of Captain Ephraim Frost, where she delivered them as prisoners, saying, 386 00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:16.160 if you ever lived to get back, you tell King 387 00:30:16.279 --> 00:30:21.119 George that an old woman took six of his grenadier's prisoners. 388 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:25.279 When the story reached England, the opposition papers picked it 389 00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:30.440 up and pointedly asked the question, if one old Yankee 390 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:34.680 woman can take six grenadiers, how many soldiers will it 391 00:30:34.759 --> 00:30:43.160 require to conquer America. Those wagons abandoned at Monotony provided 392 00:30:43.160 --> 00:30:46.240 the Americans with the first provisions and stores to be 393 00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:51.519 taken as the result of a forcible attack in the Revolution. 394 00:30:53.480 --> 00:30:59.160 Two pm, the British, now back in Lexington, were once 395 00:30:59.200 --> 00:31:02.720 again to encountered Captain Parker's little band of minute men 396 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:07.960 under less favorable circumstances. Just over the line from Lincoln, 397 00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:11.839 the land rises sharply at a bend in the old Road. 398 00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:16.039 There many of Parker's men, who had not already gone 399 00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:21.279 on into Lincoln, gathered and waited for vengeance. As the 400 00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:26.000 sorely pressed Regulars came into sight and finally drew opposite 401 00:31:26.039 --> 00:31:32.359