The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 (60 page)

A suggestion from the colonial secretary endorsed by the king carried great weight, of course. Knowing this, Dartmouth gave Gage discretionary authority to act in another way if local circumstances seemed to require a different course of action. But act Gage must; Dartmouth had made his responsibility to do something unavoidable.

By this time Gage wanted to act despite his concern over the size of his command. He began preparations the day after Dartmouth's letter arrived, not to seize the leaders of the Provincial Congress, most of

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whom were out of reach, but to capture the arms and ammunition in Concord and Worcester. In putting together the expedition to be sent into the countryside, Gage made his first mistake. He ordered the grenadiers and light infantry companies detached from their regiments. They were elite troops: the grenadiers were composed of tall men, physically strong and imposing; the light infantry were highly mobile, trained to strike swiftly and move rapidly. Hence Gage's choice seemed logical, even clever. The weakness of this force was not in its rank and file but in their hasty and inevitably imperfect amalgamation. No officer in command could know all his subordinates, nor could they know one another, or what to expect of one another in the fire of battle when communications are difficult to maintain.
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The officer chosen for command of this makeshift force was Colonel Francis Smith of the 10th Regiment. To lead the light infantry Gage selected Major John Pitcairn, an able officer, but a marine and obviously unfamiliar with the army's way of operating. And Pitcairn and the light infantry, some four hundred strong, would make up the advance party, a crucial unit in the line of march, followed by an equal number of grenadiers.

The shortest way to Concord from Boston was across Back Bay. The boats to carry the troops had been hauled out of the water and repaired and on April 16 were rowed to the men-of-war swinging at anchor in the Charles. There they lay ready for use.

Joseph Warren heard of these preparations almost immediately. There was of course no way to conceal the repair of the small boats and their collection in the bay. On April 16 in the morning, Warren sent Paul Revere to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were hiding there, that something was up. Revere returned that night, stopping in Charlestown on the way to arrange signals should the British move at night: one lattern to be hung in the steeple of North Church if the troops moved inland over the Neck, and two if they came by water.
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The British completed their preparations on April 18, and Gage dispatched small patrols of officers that afternoon to intercept any riders carrying warnings from Boston. This seemingly prudent action was fruitless and probably foolish, for the patrols themselves were observed. The nerves of the Americans had been tense for months and now began to throb. And perhaps inevitably Gage's plans leaked, as at least one sergeant

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talked indiscreetly, and rumors spread that "there would be hell to pay to-morrow." Walking across Boston common early in the evening, one of Gage's officers heard a civilian tell another "The British troops have marched, but they will miss their aim," and on inquiring what that aim was received the reply "the cannon at Concord."
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Still, Gage tried to keep his movements secret. Around ten at night, April 18, he had the troops quietly roused from bed by sergeants shaking them rather than shouting commands. The troops formed on the common a little later, entered the boats bobbing at its foot, and were rowed to Lechmere Point in East Cambridge. Because the water was shallow there the boats could not reach dry land; so the men waded ashore, getting wet to the knees. They stopped on a nearby road and executed the classic maneuver in such situations: they stood around and waited and waited. The delay was to permit provisions to be brought over and divided up. When this was finally completed and the march begun, it was two in the morning.
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The troops got wet again almost immediately, for on leaving the road at Lechmere Point, they forded, on Colonel Smith's orders, Willis Creek. Smith, it seems, feared that their boots stomping across the bridge over the creek would wake the Americans. Quiet as they were, the soldiers awakened citizens as they marched through Somerville, Cambridge, and, around three in the morning, Menotomy. The alarm spread and they could hear "alarm" guns firing in the distance, giving warning of their coming.

Around 4:30 in the morning, just before sunrise, the troops approached Lexington. They were expected. Joseph Warren had sent warnings inland almost simultaneously with the collection of troops on the common. After having two lanterns hung, Paul Revere had himself rowed across the water to Charlestown, where a horse was found for his ride to Concord. William Dawes, another express rider, galloped over the Neck with the same destination in mind.

There were two well-traveled roads to Concord: one, the shorter, ran from Charlestown to Medford then to Menotomy (modern Arlington) and through Lexington. The other swung around the Neck near Roxbury to Cambridge and then to Menotomy where it joined the first. Revere attempted to take a shortcut near Medford but was almost captured by a British patrol.
He escaped by hard riding and reached Lexington

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around midnight. On the way he roused the militia in Medford and Menotomy and awakened as many sleepers as he could between Menotomy and Lexington. In Lexington he got Adams and Hancock out of bed and sat down to wait for Dawes, who rode in half an hour later. Together they then rode for Concord, accompanied by Dr. Samuel Prescott, who overtook them outside Lexington, where he had spent the evening courting a young woman. Revere never reached Concord. A second party of British officers intercepted them midway. Revere was captured, dismounted, and eventually released to walk back to Lexington. Others would carry the warning to Concord.

The Lexington militia company, commanded by Captain John Parker, had mustered on Lexington Green shortly after Revere rode in. There they waited for over an hour with no very clear idea of what they were about; in fact, as Captain Parker later explained, he had assembled them in order that they might decide what to do. What he and his men decided after standing in the darkness and cold was to fall out and await developments. There were about 130 of them, and now those who lived near the Green went home and the others repaired to Buckman's Tavern to escape the chill air. Parker told them to be prepared to form quickly on the beat of the drum.

The drum sounded at half-past four, when Thaddeus Bowman galloped in with the news that the regulars were near. There was immediate confusion on the Green as Parker aligned his men -- some failed to hear, or heed, the drums; others lacking ammunition rushed to the meetinghouse where it was stored. But in a few minutes Parker had two ranks of a little over seventy men drawn up about a hundred yards from the road to Concord, which ran along the base of the Green.
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Pitcairn's light infantry, six companies in column, soon marched into view, scarlet coats, white breeches, and bayonets glittering in the early morning sun. On sighting the militia, Pitcairn ordered his column into the conventional battle formation, a line of three ranks divided into two sections or platoons. This movement was accompanied by much shouting and huzzaing from the rear ranks as they ran forward into the extended lines. Not surprisingly, at least one militiaman, unnerved by the numbers of the regulars and by their rush and noise, urged that the Americans get off the Green. "There are so few of us," he protested, "it is folly to stand here." Parker would have none of this and replied only that "The first man who offers to run shall be shot down."
Almost

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immediately afterwards he changed his mind, as Pitcairn and two or three officers rode to within a hundred feet of the militia and shouted, "Lay down your arms, you damned rebels, and disperse." This brought an order from Parker to fall out and his men turned and began to leave the Green, carrying their muskets. Dispersal did not satisfy Pitcairn, who called again for the Americans to lay down their arms: "Damn you! Why don't you lay down your arms?" This curse was echoed by another officer's "Damn them! We will have them!"
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The sequence of events that followed is not clear, and probably never will be. Someone fired; American eyewitnesses accuse a British officer, and English eyewitnesses deny that any regular fired first. A British officer apparently then gave the command "Fire, by God! Fire," and one of the platoons delivered a volley. Pitcairn attempted to stop the firing, but before he could make himself heard, a second volley ripped into the militia. The answering fire was weak and the regulars charged. It was all over in a minute or two -- eight militiamen dead, ten wounded, one British private grazed in the leg. Among the wounded -- he died -was the aged Parker, who had stood his ground, fired his weapon, and then was struck by a bullet in the second volley.
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After a few more minutes, Pitcairn and his officers got their men in column once more, and then the grenadiers and Colonel Smith marched up, fired a volley, shouted a cheer, and once more set off for Concord. This time they made no attempt to muffle their march; they knew that all hope of concealing their mission had vanished. Hence they set off with their fifes shrilling and their drums beating.

As they marched along the road to Concord, they heard alarm guns fired in the distance summoning local militia from miles around. Express riders pounded over the roads to towns farther away, and before the day was over militia from as far away as Worcester would set out for Lexington and Concord. Much earlier, sometime after one in the morning, Prescott, who with William Dawes had escaped capture, had delivered the warning to Concord of the approaching British. A bell was rung and three small companies of Concord militiamen gathered in the village. These companies were minutemen, prepared to be ready on a minute's notice; George Minot's alarm company, composed of old men and boys, joined the others on the town square.
And during

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the early morning hours militiamen from nearby towns -- some in companies, others unattached -- began to enter Concord.
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Colonel Smith's column arrived around seven o'clock. To reach their main objective, Colonel James Barrett's house, where supposedly most of the munitions were hidden, they had to pass by a cluster of buildings, among them the meetinghouse, two or three taverns, and twenty or thirty houses. The road passed along a ridge about sixty feet high, then cut to the right along a second ridge at right angles to the first. From the end of this second ridge it swung to the left across the North Bridge, which spanned the Concord River, and then went near Colonel Barrett's house. Overlooking the North Bridge was Punkatasset Hill, some two hundred feet high.