Captain Evelyn on Lexington and Concord

Earlier this year I devoted several posts to the opening of the Revolutionary War on Lexington Green. In one post, I wrote:

Five British officers who were on the green when the shooting started recorded their observations -- Major John Pitcairn, Lieutenant William Sutherland, Ensign Jeremy Lister, Lieutenant John Barker, and Lieutenant Edward Thoroton Gould. Of these, Pitcairn, Sutherland, and Lister clearly asserted how the firing began.

Recently, I stumbled upon a sixth account by a British officer -- Captain William Glanville Evelyn -- who led the light infantry company of the 4th Regiment of Foot. Evelyn's account appears in a letter dated April 23, 1775, and addressed to his father. He wrote:

On the night of the 18th instant, the Grenadiers and Light Infantry of our little army, making near 700 men, embarked privately, and crossed above the common ferry here, in order to go to a town about twenty miles off, to destroy some cannon, provision, &c., that had been collected there; the country having been alarmed by the appearance of troops in the night, they assembled from every quarter; and within about five miles of the place (Concord), our men found themselves opposed by a body of men in arms, whose design appeared to be to stop their progress. This they were soon convinced of, by receiving a scattering shot or two from them, upon which a few of our people fired, and killed seven or eight minute men; and so passed on to Concord, where they destroyed some iron guns, gun-carriage wheels, and about 100 casks of flour.

In summarizing the evidence about the events on Lexington Green, I wrote, “there is a measure of agreement that either one shot, or a few shots occurring in close succession, immediately preceded a volley by the British regulars.” In this respect, Evelyn's account matches that of other participants and eyewitnesses. However, Evelyn's description does not exactly match that of the other British officers, and it certainly differs from that of those American participants who flatly stated the British fired first.

For the rest of Captain Evelyn's description of the battle of Lexington and Concord, and other details of his Revolutionary War service, see here.

On Lexington Green (5)

In several previous posts, I’ve walked through much of the source material on the start of the Revolutionary War at Lexington Green, and concluded that there are at least four different plausible scenarios by which a gunshot (or perhaps several) started the outbreak of violence.

What happened after this initial shot (or shots) is in little dispute: British light infantrymen opened fire on the retreating Lexington militia.

The senior British officer on hand, Major John Pitcairn, blandly recorded that “without any order or regularity, the Light Infantry began a scattered fire, and continued in that situation for some little time, contrary to the repeated orders both of me and other officers that were present.”

British Lieutenant John Barker described the scene more vividly:

“…our Men without any orders rushed in upon them, fired and put ‘em to flight; several of them were killed, we cou’d not tell how many, because they were got behind Walls and into the Woods [i.e., the militia had fled]; We had a Man of the 10th light Infantry wounded, nobody else hurt. We then formed on the Common, but with some difficulty, the Men were so wild they cou’d hear no orders; we waited a considerable time there, and at length proceeded on our way to Concord…”

For the Lexington militia, and the dozens of spectators loitering around the green, emotions quickly swung from apprehension to horror:

Timothy Smith: “I saw a large body of Regular Troops marching up towards the Lexington Company, then dispersing, and likewise saw the Regular Troops fire on the Lexington Company, before the latter fired a gun. I immediately ran, and a volley was discharged at me, which put me in imminent danger of losing my life.”

Thomas Fessenden: “[The Lexington] Company of Militia dispersed every way as fast as they could, and while they were dispersing the Regulars kept firing at them incessantly”

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The exchange of fire on Lexington Green presents a couple of interesting challenges to those that would visually represent it. First, it is unclear how the firing began. Second, it’s clear enough that the subsequent exchange of fire was extremely one-sided. Eight Massachusetts provincials were killed, another 9 were wounded, and others were spared only by the inaccuracy of British musketry [1] and the rapidity of their flight. Few of the Lexington militia got off a shot.

Doolittle’s depiction was made early in the Revolutionary War and its purpose seems to have been not only to document events, but also to editorialize. He makes it clear that the British were the aggressors. The Lexington militia is shown running from the coldly deliberative British infantry, leaving behind the bleeding bodies of their friends and neighbors [2]. The blunt, ugly message is dulled only by the crudity with which it was executed.

Later paintings borrowed Doolittle’s vantage point, but not his message. In these cases, the purpose appears to have been to memorialize those who fought the British. The artists left ambiguous how the firing started, but instead focused on (and arguably took some historical liberties with) the resistance by the Lexington militia. Doolittle depicted murder. Later artists memorialized brave men defending their liberties.

Amos Doolittle

Howard Pyle

William Barnes Wollen

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Notes:

1. Elijah Sanderson: “All was smoke when the [British] foot fired. I heard no particular orders after what the commander [Pitcairn] first said. I looked, and, seeing nobody fall, thought to be sure they couldn’t be firing balls, and I didn’t move off. After our militia had dispersed, I saw them firing at one man, (Solomon Brown,) who was stationed behind a wall. I saw the wall smoke with the bullets hitting it. I then knew they were firing balls.” In Elias Phinney (1825). History of the Battle of Lexington on the morning of 19th April, 1775.

2. As described in previous posts, American accounts are inconsistent in their description of how the firing started. They implicitly acknowledge that once the British infantry fired, some Americans began to return fire. Doolittle presented a particularly inflammatory version of the event, in which the Lexington militia is all but a hapless victim of purposeful British aggression.

On Lexington Green (4)

In a recent post, I described, from the British point of view, some of the events immediately preceding the opening of the Revolutionary War on Lexington Green. Five British officers who were on the green when the shooting started recorded their observations -- Major John Pitcairn, Lieutenant William Sutherland, Ensign Jeremy Lister, Lieutenant John Barker, and Lieutenant Edward Thoroton Gould. Of these, Pitcairn, Sutherland, and Lister clearly asserted how the firing began. Barker and Gould belonged to the 4th Regiment of the Foot; the light infantry company of this regiment may have been just entering Lexington Green at the time and they may not have participated in the initial exchange of fire. [1]

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The Battle of Lexington; propagandistic engraving by Amos Doolittle (click to enlarge). The British entered Lexington Green between the two tall buildings on either side of the tree at center. To the left is Buckman’s Tavern, to the right is the Meeting House. Major John Pitcairn (the mounted officer) indicated that the Meeting House was to his left (not behind him) when the firing started.

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Major Pitcairn, who commanded the British vanguard, recorded that:

When I arrived at the end of the Village, I observed drawn up upon the green near two hundred of the rebels. When I came within about one hundred yards of them, they began to file off towards some stone walls on our right flank - - The Light Infantry observing this, ran after them - - I instantly called to the soldiers not to fire, but surround and disarm them and after several repetitions of these positive orders to the men, not to fire, etc.

Tensions were extraordinarily high at this point, and the sound of gunfire from some quarter caused the light infantry company of the 10th Regiment to open fire.

As described in a previous post, American spectators were confident that the first shots were fired by the British, but their accounts are so inconsistent that it is unclear which, if any, is accurate.

The British accounts are similarly inconsistent.

According to Pitcairn, the first shots occurred while the militia was retreating, and the shots came simultaneously from behind a wall and from the meeting house:

some of the rebels who had jumped over the wall, fired four or five shots at the soldiers, which wounded a man of the Tenth, and my horse was wounded in two places, from some quarter or other and at the same time several shots were fired from a Meeting House on our left

According to Lister, the first shots came from some men in the open:

they gave us a fire then ran off to get behind a wall.

According to Sutherland, the first shots came from Buckman’s Tavern, then some moments later from some men on the other side of a hedge:

We still went on further when three shots were fired at us, which we did not return, & this is sacred truth as I hope for mercy these 3 shots were fired from the corner of a large house to the right of the Church when we came up to the main body which appeared to me to exceed 400 in & about the Village who were drawn up in a plane opposite to the Church, several officers called out to throw down your arms & you shall come to no harm, or words to that effect which they refused to do. Instantaneously the gentlemen who were on horseback rode amongst them of which I was one, at which instant I heard Major Pitcairn's voice call out 'soldiers don't fire, keep your ranks, form & surround them, instantly some of the villains who got over a hedge fired at us

So what is one to make of the British and American accounts? Below I list some tentative conclusions:

First, although observers may have twisted the truth to some degree, there is no evidence of a conspiracy to lie about the events at Lexington within either the pool of American sources or the pool of British sources. Each set of statements appears to be about as reliable (or rather, as unreliable) as the other.

Second, there is a measure of agreement that either one shot, or a few shots occurring in close succession, immediately preceded a volley by the British regulars.

• Benjamin Tidd and Joseph Abbot: “the regulars fired, first, a few guns, which we took to be pistols from some of the Regulars who were mounted on Horses”.
• Major Pitcairn: “some of the rebels who had jumped over the wall, fired four or five shots”
• Levi Harrington and Levi Mead: “some of the Regulars, on Horses, whom we took to be officers, Fired a Pistol or two on the Lexington Company, which were then dispersing: These were the First Guns that were Fired…”
• Lieutenant Barker: “one of the rebels fired a shot”
• Thomas Fessenden: A British officer “fired a Pistol, pointed at said Militia”

Third, there is good reason to believe that observers’ perceptions of the event were strongly colored by their expectations.

For example, spectator William Draper believed Major Pitcairn was shouting “fire! fire! damn you, fire!” to his Regulars, but the Lexington militia (among others) did not. More believable is that Draper heard Pitcairn shouting, but he didn’t quite make out everything Pitcairn said. Pitcairn has himself saying the word “fire” more than once, but in the context of telling the troops not to fire. If Draper heard only part of what was said and saw the light infantry fire a moment later, he could have well become convinced that Pitcairn had ordered the troops to fire.

Another example: Major Pitcairn thought he heard simultaneous gunfire from his right (a wall) and left (the meeting house), but no other British officer, and no American source, claimed that shots were fired from the meeting house. Pitcairn had reason to believe that the Americans were assembling and their intentions were hostile before riding into Lexington. He also may have seen some men running from the meeting house after the firing began. Perhaps gun shots to his right echoed off the building to his left, creating the perception of simultaneous gunfire.

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So, who fired this first shot or shots on Lexington Green? Because the source statements are so inconsistent, any interpretation of the event must overlook some of the evidence. However, some scenarios are more believable than others, and I list four of the more plausible scenarios below. What scenario do you think best explains what happened?

Scenario #1: The Lexington militia started the firing. As Pitcairn and Sutherland claimed, some Americans jumped behind a wall (or “hedge”) and fired several shots at the British. These men were acting without orders and their actions were seen by few, if any, of the Americans on or around the Green.

Scenario #2: One of the mounted British officers fired a pistol or two. This officer would have been behind Pitcairn, Sutherland, and the others, and none of the British were looking in his direction. Perhaps the officer fired a pistol in the air so as to goad the militia into dispersing, but in so doing he inadvertently triggered a volley by the regulars.

Scenario #3: An accidental discharge started the firing. British officers were galloping about on horses, members of the Lexington militia were scrambling over a wall to safety -- accidental discharges were not rare events and perhaps this is what caused the nervous regulars to begin shooting.

Scenario #4: The first shot was not fired away on Lexington Green. British officers recorded that shots were repeatedly heard in the countryside on their march towards Lexington. They took these shots to be a signal for the militia to assemble. Perhaps the sound of one of these shots echoing around the green made it sound like several shots had been fired, and each party assumed it came from the other side. If this shot (or shots) was fired at a distance, the sound would have been somewhat muffled, and that might explain why Pitcairn and Sutherland thought the shots came from buildings or walls and why a handful of Americans thought it came from an officer’s pistol.

Note:

1. By comparison, the Doolittle engraving appears to depict two British companies deployed in line of battle (presumably those of the 4th and 10th), one of which is firing on the Lexington militia.

Also:

Some readers may note that in this series of posts I have not invoked certain sources. My impression is that those that have been discussed include the most trustworthy accounts of the battle and that the omitted statements do not greatly affect the perception of events.

On Lexington Green (3)

Last Fall, I commented on depositions made by witnesses to the opening of the American Revolutionary War at Lexington Green (see here and here). These depositions were collected in the days immediately following, and they were soon widely distributed. These depositions have also served as fodder for historians and have greatly shaped views of what took place on that fateful April morning.

Although less widely cited and discussed, journals, letters, and reports authored by British officers also provide a wealth of information about what happened at Lexington. In this post, I relate some of the events described by British sources as leading up to the fight at Lexington.

1. A British expeditionary force departs from Boston. This force consists of two battalions: one made up of light infantry companies, the other of grenadier companies.

Lieutenant-General Thomas Gage to William Legge, Secretary of State for the Colonies:

I having intelligence of a large quantity of Military Stores, being collected at Concord, for the avowed purpose, of Supplying a Body of Troops, to act in Opposition to his Majesty’s Government; I gott the Grenadiers, and Light Infantry out of Town, under the Command of Lieut. Colonel Smith of the 10th Regiment, and Major Pitcairn of the Marines, with as much Secrecy as possible, on the 18th at night; and with Orders to destroy the said Military Stores

Boston Area: April-May, 1775 (Click to enlarge).

2. The British land near Cambridge.

Lieutenant John Barker, 4th Regiment of Foot:

[The troops] were landed upon the opposite shore [from Boston] on Cambridge Marsh; few but the Commandg. Officers knew what expedition we were going upon. After getting over the Marsh, where we were wet up to the knees, we were halted in a dirty road and stood there ‘till two o’clock in the morning, waiting for provisions to be brought from the boats and divided, and which most of the Men threw away, having carried some with ‘em. At 2 o’clock we began our March by wading through a very long ford up to our Middles…

3. Six light infantry companies lead the advance.

Major John Pitcairn, His Majesty's Marines:

Six companies of Light Infantry were detached by Lt. Col. Smith to take possession of two bridges on the other side of Concord

4. The British are unable to keep their march a secret.

Lieutenant William Sutherland, 38th Regiment of Foot:

…we marched with Major Pitcairn commanding in front of the Light Infantry… continued for 3 miles without meeting any person. When I heard Lieut. Adair of the Marines who was a little before me in front call out, here are two fellows galloping express to Alarm the Country, on which I immediately ran up to them, seized one of them and our guide the other, dismounted them and by Major Pitcairn's direction gave them in charge to the men. A little after we were joined by Lieut. Grant of the Royal Artillery who told us the Country he was afraid was alarm'd of which we had little reason to doubt as we heard several shots being then between 3 & 4 in the morning, a very unusual time for firing. When we were joined by Major Mitchell, Capt. Cochrane, Capt. Limm & several other gentlemen who told us the whole country was alarm'd & galloped for their lives, or words to that purpose, that they had taken Paul Revierre, but was obliged to lett him go after having cutt his girths and stirrups…

5. British officers on the road learn that a large body of militia has assembled at Lexington, a village on their route to Concord. The leading light infantry companies halt.

Lieutenant Barker:

after going a few miles we took 3 or 4 People who were going off to give intelligence; about 5 miles on this side of a Town called Lexington, which lay in our road, we heard there were some hundreds of People collected together intending to oppose us and stop our going on

6. The light infantry load their muskets

Ensign Jeremy Lister, 10th Regiment of Foot:

To the best of my recollection about 4 oClock in the morning being the 19th of April the 5 front Compys. was ordered to Load which we did.

7. An American soldier “fires” at a British officer.

Lieutenant Sutherland:

I went on with the front party which consisted of a Sergeant and 6 or 8 men. I shall observe here that the road before you go into Lexington is level for about 1000 yards. Here we saw shots fired to the right and left of us, but as we heard no whistling of balls, I concluded they were to alarm the body that was there of our approach. On coming within gun shot of the Village of Lexington a fellow from the corner of the road on the right hand cock'd his piece at me, burnt priming [i.e., there was a flash in the pan]. I immediately called to Mr. Adair & party to observe this circumstance which they did. I acquainted Major Pitcairn of it immediately.

8. The British light infantry march into Lexington.

Major Pitcairn:

when I arrived at the head of the advance Company, two Officers [i.e., Sutherland and Adair] came and informed me that a man of the rebels advanced from those assembled, had presented his musket and attempted to shoot them, but the piece flashed in the pan - - On this I gave directions to the troops to move forward, but on no account to fire, or even attempt it without orders: When I arrived at the end of the Village, I observed drawn up upon the green near two hundred of the rebels.

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The incident described by Sutherland (#7) and referred to by Pitcairn (#8) is curious. Why did a lone American militiaman apparently try to shoot Lieutenant Sutherland when he was accompanied by a party of armed men? Did a misfire save Sutherland’s life? Or was the militiaman attempting only to frighten the British officer – not kill him? In either case it was a remarkably reckless action. Also remarkable is that the British (who must have been most astonished) did not attempt to apprehend the man.

On Lexington Green (2)

One of the best known images of the opening of the Revolutionary War at Lexington, Massachusetts, is the iconic engraving, below, created by Amos Doolittle. At left, the Lexington militia walks off the village green. At center, a company of British regulars fire into the backs of the militia, bringing down a handful of men. An officer on horseback, identified as Major Pitcairn, waves his sword in apparent exhortation of the rank and file.

Battle of Lexington, by Amos Doolittle (click to enlarge). The image has been slightly cropped to improve ease of view.

In some respects, the representation is quite consistent with eyewitness statements. Depositions by members of the Lexington militia, for example, clearly indicate that they were walking away from the British at the time that the firing began. More controversially, Doolittle depicted a British officer seemingly ordering his men to open fire. British sources (to be reviewed in an upcoming post) provide a very different version of events, and the Lexington militia (with 1 exception among the 50 men that gave statements) did not claim to have heard a verbal order to fire.

One place where evidence can be found for Doolittle's depiction is in the depositions made by civilians and militiamen that either were on the edge of the village green, or observing from neighboring houses. However, these statements also lend themselves to other interpretations.

Depositions by Spectators

• William Draper: Claimed that the British fired first: “...the commanding officer of said Troops (as I took him) gave the command to the said Troops, "Fire! fire! damn you, fire!"...’”
• Thomas Fessenden: “I saw three officers on horseback advance to the front of said Regulars, when one of them being within six rods of the said Militia, cried out "Disperse, you rebels, immediately;" on which he brandished his sword over his head three times; meanwhile the second officer, who was about two rods behind him, fired a pistol pointed at said Militia, and the Regulars kept huzzaing till he had finished brandishing his sword, and when he had thus finished brandishing his sword, he pointed it down towards said Militia, and immediately on which the said Regulars fired a volley at the Militia…”
• Levi Harrington and Levi Mead: “...some of the Regulars on horses, whom we took to be officers, fired a pistol or two on the Lexington Company, which was then dispersing. These were the first guns that were fired, and they were immediately followed by several volleys from the Regulars…”
• Elijah Sanderson: “...the Regulars shouted aloud, run, and fired on the Lexington Company, which did not fire a gun before the Regulars discharged on them.”
• Timothy Smith: “...[I] saw the Regular Troops fire on the Lexington Company, before the latter fired a gun.”
• Benjamin Tidd and Joseph Abbot: “...the Regulars fired first a few guns, which we took to be pistols from some of the Regulars who were mounted on horses, and then the said Regulars fired a volley or two before any guns were fired by the Lexington Company.”
• Thomas Price Willard: “...an officer rode before the Regulars to the other side of the body, and hallooed after the Militia of said Lexington, and said, "Lay down your arms, damn you; why don' t you lay down your arms?" and that there was not a gun fired till the Militia of Lexington were dispersed.”

Summary:

Four of the nine men said that one or more mounted officers, firing pistols, started the shooting. Two claimed that the British fired first, but did not elaborate. One man claimed that a British officer, waving his sword, silently ordered the troops to fire. Another claimed that a British officer verbally ordered the troops to fire. The final deponent did not say who fired first.

The possibility that a British officer triggered the start of the war (either intentionally or accidentally) by firing a pistol is not easily dismissed. The other two possibilities, although consistent with Doolittle's representation, are probably incorrect.

British accounts confirm the statements by Fessenden, Harrington and Mead, and Tidd and Abbot, that there were several mounted officers on Lexington green when the firing began. They also indicate that Major John Pitcairn, who commanded the detachment, led this group.

Fessenden’s version of events is unlikely to be correct as the officer silently waving his sword would not have been Pitcairn, but instead someone like Lieutenant William Sutherland of the 38th Foot, an officer that accompanied the expedition, but held no command in it. It’s also dubious that the sword motions described by Fessenden would be taken as a signal to open fire. More believable is that an officer was waving his sword about, but stopped when (much to his surprise) the troops behind him began firing.

Draper’s version of events is also unlikely as a verbal command to fire should have been heard by many of those present, yet almost none reported hearing such an order. Fessenden’s statement and that of some others indicate that at least one British officer was shouting for the militiamen to lay down their arms and disperse. Perhaps Draper wrongly inferred that the shouting was a command to open fire when the shouts were quickly followed by gunshots.

On Lexington Green (1)

The American Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775, when a British force based in Boston, Massachusetts, tried to seize the stores of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress housed in the town of Concord. En route to Concord, the British “red coats” met, and exchanged fire, with local militia on Lexington green. Neither side sought to engage the other, and the exact causes of the shooting remain in doubt. Interestingly, this is the case where a historical mystery persists not because of a dearth of evidence (as is true for many of the topics I’ve written about), but in spite of an abundance of it. Numerous Americans gave written depositions describing what they saw and heard on that bloody April morning. A number of British officers likewise recorded their experiences. Fascinatingly, both the pool of American sources and the pool of British sources show a large degree of internal consistency, but there are stark differences between them. On one point in particular, there is insistent disagreement: each pool of sources claims that it was the other side that fired first.

Ultimately, the question of “who fired first?” cannot be answered with certainty. Nevertheless, the abundance of source material still makes this incident interesting to consider from a number of angles. In this post (and I intend to write more about Lexington in the future), I briefly comment on depositions about this battle made by men that were on Lexington green with the town's militia company. These depositions were given to Provincial authorities on April 24-25, 1775.

Sketch of British and American Movements at Lexington. Using a Google Maps screenshot, I've very roughly indicated the direction of the British advance (in red) and the subsequent American retreat (in blue). Major John Pitcairn led six companies of British light infantry into Lexington at around 5AM on April 19. At least the lead two companies (those of the 10th and 4th regiments of Foot) advanced onto the green. At the time, the Lexington militia company, commanded by Captain John Parker, was partially formed on the north end of the triangular-shaped village green. Parker ordered his men to disperse as the British advanced towards his men. It was during this dispersal that fighting began.

The Depositions of Men with the Lexington Militia

• Captain John Parker: “upon [the British Troops'] sudden approach, I immediately ordered our Militia to disperse and not to fire. Immediately said Troops made their appearance, and rushed furiously, fired upon and killed eight of our party, without receiving any provocation therefor from us.”
• Nathaniel Mullikin and 33 others: “…about five o' clock in the morning, hearing our drum beat, we proceeded towards the parade, and soon found that a large body of Troops were marching towards us. Some of our Company were coming up to the parade, and others had reached it; at which time the Company began to disperse. Whilst our backs were turned on the Troops we were fired on by them, and a number of our men were instantly killed and wounded. Not a gun was fired by any person in our Company on the Regulars, to our knowledge, before they fired on us, and they continued firing until we had all made our escape.”
• Nathanael Parkhurst and 13 others: “…about five o' clock in the morning, we attended the beat of our drum, and were formed on the parade. We were faced towards the Regulars, then marching up to us, and some of our Company were coming to the parade with their backs towards the Troops, and others on the parade began to disperse, when the Regulars fired on the Company before a gun was fired by any of our Company on them; they killed eight of our Company, and wounded several, and continued their fire until we had all made our escape.”
• John Robbins: “…the Company under the command of Captain John Parker being drawn up (sometime before sunrise) on the green or common, and I being in the front rank, there suddenly appeared a number of the King' s Troops, about a thousand, as I thought, at the distance of about sixty or seventy yards from us, huzzaing and on a quick pace towards us, with three officers in their front on horseback, and on full gallop towards us; the foremost of which cried, "Throw down your arms, ye villains, ye rebels;" upon which said Company dispersing, the foremost of the three officers ordered their men, saying, "Fire, by God, fire; at which moment we received a very heavy and close fire from them; at which instant, being wounded, I fell, and several of our men were shot dead by one volley. Captain Parker' s men, I believe, had not then fired a gun.”

Comments:

• The depositions given by these men are fairly circumspect, with the notable exception of the separate deposition by John Robbins. What these men indicate (Robbins aside) is that they marched off the green as the British advanced, and while their backs were facing the British, they were fired upon by the British regulars. They did not claim that the British troops were ordered to fire, nor did they claim to have seen who fired the first shot. They state only that the first shot did not come from their ranks.
• The generally circumspect tone of these depositions is understandable: as the Lexington militia had their backs facing the British, they naturally were less-than-ideal witnesses. When I next write about Lexington, I will discuss the depositions made by other eyewitnesses on Lexington green. These descriptions tend to be more explicit as to how the firing began, but they are also more inconsistent in their description of key details.

Towards a Continental Army

The American people were gradually moving into armed conflict with Great Britain during the early 1770s. In the Spring of 1775, two events turned what had been a slow-burning fuse into an open conflagration. One was the British raid on colonial stores that resulted in the battle of Lexington and Concord. The other was the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point. A crisis was at hand because the American colonies were ill-prepared for open warfare with Great Britain. The American army that formed in Massachusetts after Lexington and Concord was bereft of the instruments of war, and the garrisons for the newly-captured British forts in New York were grossly lacking in men and provisions.

Neither Massachusetts nor New York was able to solve these crises are their own. Both colonies looked to the Continental Congress to provide direction and support. However, the Congress could not quickly act. No system of government existed beyond those for the individual colonies. Congress, therefore, effectively needed a unanimous consent in order to act on any major issue.

A brief timeline appears below:

May 10: The Second Continental Congress convenes. Also on this date: Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold seize Fort Ticonderoga in New York; news of Lexington and Concord reaches Georgia.

May 15: Congress forms “a committee to consider what posts are necessary to be occupied in the Colony of New-York, and that they be desired to report as speedily as possible.” The members are Virginia’s George Washington, Massachusetts’ Samuel Adams, Thomas Lynch of South Carolina, and the full New York delegation. Adams is one of the conspirators behind the expedition against Fort Ticonderoga [see past blog posts concerning April 25 and April 29, 1775], and he likely briefs the committee on what is afoot.

May 18: Congress receives word that Ticonderoga has fallen and it hears allegations that the British are planning to form an invasion army in Canada. [see past blog post concerning May 18, 1775].

May 26: Congress passes a resolution that reads, in part:

“Hostilities being actually commenced in the Massachusett’s-Bay, by the British troops under the command of General Gage, and the lives of a number of the inhabitants of that Colony destroyed, the town of Boston having not only been long occupied as a garrisoned town in an enemy’s country, but the inhabitants thereof treated with a severity and cruelty not to be justified even towards declared enemies; large re-inforcements too being ordered and soon expected, for the declared purpose of compelling these Colonies to submit to the operation of the said acts; that therefore, for the express purpose of securing and defending these Colonies, and preserving them in safety against all attempts to carry the said acts into execution by force of arms, these Colonies be immediately put into a state of defence.”

May 27: Congress forms “a Committee to consider on ways and means to supply these Colonies with ammunition and military stores,” that consists of George Washington, Samuel Adams, New York’s Philip Schuyler, Connecticut’s Silas Deane, and Pennsylvania’s Thomas Mifflin and Robert Morris.

May 30: Congress receives a letter from Benedict Arnold, who is at Crown Point. He warns that 400 British regulars have assembled at Fort Saint-Jean in southern Canada, and he expects that these men, with the help of Indian forces, will attempt to retake Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Arnold asks for reinforcement and supplies.

Congress begins to provide direction to the war effort. They pass a resolution calling for Connecticut to provide men and New York to provide supplies for the defense of Ticonderoga and Crown Point.

June 3: There is a tacit acceptance of the need for a Continental Army under Congressional supervision and direction, as evidenced by two sources:

1. The secret journal of the Continental Congress records the passing of a resolution “That a committee be appointed for the purpose of borrowing the sum of six thousand pounds… [for] the purchase of gunpowder for the use of the continental army.” [emphasis added].

2. The New York delegates to the Continental Congress send a letter to the New York Provincial Congress, in which they state: “We think it an object of great consequence to know in whom you would wish to vest the command of the Continental Army [emphasis added] in our Province… As General Officers will, in all probability, be shortly appointed by this Congress...”

The reason why discussions about the army are prolonged is revealed in a letter of this date by Silas Deane to his wife: “The Congress, tho' not numerous, are yet a very unwieldly Body, in their very nature, as no motion or resolution can be started or proposed but what must be subject to much canvassing before it will pass with the unanimous approbation of Thirteen Colonies whose situation and circumstances are various. And Unanimity is the basis on which we mean to rise...”

June 9: The secret journal of the Continental Congress records the passing of a resolution calling for New York to convey 5,000 barrels of flour to “the continental army” [emphasis added] in Massachusetts. There is still no consensus on the more difficult questions, including who will lead the army.

June 14: This date will come to be regarded as the birth date of the Continental Army. A committee is formed “to prepare Rules and Regulations for the government of the army.” The committee consists of Washington, Schuyler, Deane, Massachusetts’ Thomas Cushing, and North Carolina’s Joesph Hewes.

Congress also undertakes the raising of troops with the following resolution:

“Resolved, That six companies of expert riflemen be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia… That each company, as soon as completed, march and join the army near Boston…

“That the form of the inlistment be in the following words:

“I [blank] have this day voluntarily inlisted myself as a soldier in the American Continental Army [emphasis added] for one year, unless sooner discharged: And I do bind myself to conform in all instances to such rules and regulations, as are or shall be established for the government of the said army.”

One of the Virginia delegates writes, “Col. Washington has been pressed to take the supreme command of the American Troops... and I believe will accept the appointment, though with much reluctance...”

June 15: Congress appoints George Washington “to command all the Continental Forces, raised or to be raised for the defence of American liberty.” He formally accepts this appointment on the 16th.

Sources:

Journal of the proceedings of the congress: held at Philadelphia, May 10, 1775.

Secret journals of the acts and proceedings of Congress, from the first meeting thereof to the dissolution of the Confederation, Vol 1.

Letters of members of the Continental Congress, Vol. 1.

Peter Force's American Archives.

What Are the Most Discussed Battles of the American Revolution?

Although I blog principally about obscure engagements of the American Revolution, I certainly have an interest in the well-known battles. Out of curiosity, I did a web search to determine which battles are most discussed. The search was conducted as follows:

• I chose 25 different battles to search, including several fought outside the 13 colonies.
• I conducted the search using a Google web search, a Google books search, a Google scholar search, and a Google blogs search.
• I used quotation marks when the name of the battle consisted of two common nouns (e.g., "Long Island," "King's Mountain."
• I used both "siege" and "battle" in conjunction with Savannah, Charleston, and Yorktown.

I predicted that the following searches would yield the largest number of "hits":

• Battle lexington concord 1775
• Siege yorktown 1781
• Battle trenton 1776
• Battle saratoga 1777
• Battle bunker hill 1775

The results included some surprises, including that the battle yielding the most "hits" was different for each search. The top 10 for each search is listed below.

Google Web
search terms (hits)

1. Battle quebec 1775 (1,840,000)
2. Battle charleston 1780 (1,080,000)
3. Battle savannah 1779 (1,060,000)
4. Battle lexington concord 1775 (429,000)
5. Siege yorktown 1781 (406,000)
6. Battle germantown 1777 (386,000)
7. Battle princeton 1777 (251,000)
8. Battle saratoga 1777 (206,000)
9. Battle bunker hill 1775 (193,000)
10. Battle “long island” 1776 (156,000)

(This search seemed especially likely to yield false positives).

Google Books
search terms (hits)

1. Battle lexington concord 1775 (75,300)
2. Battle bunker hill 1775 (52,500)
3. Battle “long island” 1776 (43,400)
4. Battle saratoga 1777 (36,000)
5. Battle yorktown 1781 (33,400)
6. Battle trenton 1776 (32,700)
7. Battle quebec 1775 (30,200)
8. Battle princeton 1777 (29,300)
9. Battle charleston 1780 (29,100)
10. Battle monmouth 1778 (27,900)

Google Scholar
search terms (hits)

1. Battle princeton 1777 (11,300)
2. Battle quebec 1775 (11,200)
3. Battle charleston 1780 (10,800)
4. Battle “long island” 1776 (9,840)
5. Battle bunker hill 1775 (9,390)
6. Battle camden 1780 (7,390)
7. Battle lexington concord 1775 (7,130)
8. Battle trenton 1776 (7,060)
9. Battle yorktown 1781 (6,540)
10. Battle saratoga 1777 (5,930)

Google Blogs
search terms (hits)

1. Battle bunker hill 1775 (4,079)
2. Battle trenton 1776 (2,862)
3. Battle “long island” 1776 (2,866)
4. Battle quebec 1775 (2,630)
5. Battle saratoga 1777 (2,526)
6. Battle lexington concord 1775 (2,017)
7. Battle yorktown 1781 (1,942)
8. Battle princeton 1777 (1,787)
9. Battle charleston 1780 (1,484)
10. Battle brandywine 1777 (1,082)

Allen and Arnold 2

30 Days to Glory: April 19-22
Previous: Introduction
Next: April 23 - April 26

Wednesday, April 19, 1775:

At dawn, fighting breaks out between British regulars and Massachusetts militiamen at Lexington and Concord. Before the day is out, word rapidly spreads throughout the countryside, and into neighboring colonies, that war has begun. That night an ad hoc army of militia begins assembling around the British base in Boston.

Thursday, April 20:

Initial reports disseminating throughout New England are lurid and frightening. Rhode Islander Ezra Stiles learns that the regulars “are now actually engaged in butchering and destroying our brethren there in the most inhuman manner.” He records in his diary that “upon receipt of this news the town [Newport] was thrown into alarm and all went into preparation.” The British frigate Rose is in the harbor, and a rumor circulates that “if any march from hence” the captain “will fire upon the town and lay it in ashes.”

In Massachusetts, the call goes out to reconvene the Provincial Congress. Meanwhile, Joseph Warren, writing on behalf of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, writes Governor Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut for assistance. In it, he lays out Massachusetts' account of the battle, in which (crucially from a public relations standpoint), British regulars started the battle:

“On Wednesday, the 19th instant, early in the morning, a detachment of General Gage' s army marched into the country to Lexington, about thirteen miles from Boston, where they met with a small party of minute-men exercising, who had no intention of doing any injury to the regulars. But they fired upon our men without any provocation, killed eight of them the first onset, then marched forward to Concord, where they destroyed the magazines and stores for a considerable time. Our people, however, mustered as soon as possible, and repulsed the troops, pursuing them quite down to Charlestown until they reached a place called Bunker's Hill, although they received a very large reinforcement at Lexington, from General Gage. As the troops have now commenced hostilities, we think it our duty to exert our utmost strength to save our country from absolute slavery. We pray your Honours would afford us all the assistance in your power, and shall be glad that our brethren who come to our aid may be supplied with military stores and provisions, as we have none of either more than is absolutely necessary for ourselves. We pray God to direct you to such measures as shall tend to the salvation of our common liberties.”

Artemas Ward takes command of the ad hoc army and calls the first council of war. Among the pressing concerns are the need to guard the roads to Boston, throw up earthworks, obtain gunpowder, and arrange for food and other supplies to reach the thousands of militia now on hand. According to one estimate, 7,000 men are in the Cambridge area, 4,000 are at Roxbury, and 4,000 are near Charlestown.

Boston Area: April-May, 1775 (Click to enlarge).

Friday, April 21:

The Massachusetts Committee of Safety takes up the need for artillery to support its forces. The committee sends for Colonel Richard Gridley, who will be appointed chief engineer for the province, and later, head of its regiment of artillery. They also send orders for "one field-piece with every implement necessary for action," and to have others brought into a "thorough state of preparation."

Connecticut is formulating a response to the outbreak a fighting. A problem is that some of the news that is circulating is unreliable and it's unclear where the Massachusetts authorities can be found. The governor's son is sent in search of John Hancock. He bears a message from the Connecticut Committee of Correspondence stating, “We have many reports of what is doing with you, the particulars we cannot yet get with precision. The ardour of our people is such that they can' t be kept back. The colonels are to forward part of the best men and most ready, as fast as possible, the remainder to be ready at a moment's warning.”

Saturday, April 22:

In Boston, Lieutenant-General Thomas Gage completes his official report on the action at Lexington and Concord. He and his staff are ill-equipped to win the public relations battle now underway with the various American legislatures and committees of safety or correspondence.

The Massachusetts Provincial Congress reconvenes and promptly establishes a committee to take depositions “from which a full account of the transactions of the troops, under general Gage, in their route to and from Concord, etc., on Wednesday last, may be collected, to be sent to England, by the first ship from Salem.” Although it will take some time to gather this information, Massachusetts will succeed in getting its account of the battle of Lexington and Concord published first in England. As for the other colonies, Massachusetts' version of events will likewise reach the public more quickly and circulate more broadly.

In Connecticut, Benedict Arnold, who is captain of the 2nd company of the Governor's Foot Guard, begins marching his men to Boston. According to Reverend William Gordon, an early historian of the war, “No sooner did the Lexington news reach him, that he called his company together, and asked them whether they would march off with him the next morning for the neighbourhood of Boston, distant 150 miles.—They agreed; and at the proper time paraded before the tavern where a committee was sitting. He applied to the gentlemen for powder and ball; they demurred supplying him, as he was not duly authorized. The captain, in haste to fly to the help of his suffering brethren, proposed procuring the supply by force if needful, to which the volunteers consented. He then sent for the committee, and informed them what he was determined on. Colonel [David] Wooster came out, and would have persuaded him to wait till he had received proper orders; to which captain Arnold answered, "None but God Almighty shall prevent my marching." The committee perceiving his fixed resolution, supplied him; and he marched off instantly...”

Lexington and Concord: Intercepted British Letters

The anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord (the start of the Revolutionary War) is right around the corner: 235 years ago on April 19. In recognition (of a sort) of this event, I've included below excerpts from letters written by British participants in that battle. As these are private letters written shortly after the event, they provide a unique insight into the British soldier's beliefs and experience. These letters were intercepted by Americans before they arrived in England and ended up being published in Peter Force's American Archives. Unfortunately, Force's transcriptions omitted the names of the letters' authors and intended recipients. However, as noted below, several of the letters contain clues about the author.

Letter 1: [by a soldier in one of the battalion companies of the 23rd Regiment of Foot]

"Boston, April 30, 1775. DEAR PARENTS: Before this reaches you, you may hear that our regiment has been engaged with the Provincials. The Grenadiers and Light-Infantry marched about nine at night. At six next morning four hundred and twenty-three soldiers, and forty-seven marines, in all fifteen hundred, marched to reinforce the Grenadiers and Light-Infantry, joined about one o' clock, and found them not engaged, which they had been eight hours before; for we had two pieces of cannon, which made us march slow. As soon as we came up we fired the cannon, which brought them from behind the trees, for we did not fight as you did in Germany, as we could not see above, ten in a body, for they were behind trees and walls, and fired at us, and then loaded on their bellies. We had thirty-six rounds, which obliged us to go home that night, and as we came along they got before us and fired at us out of the houses, and killed and wounded a great many of us, but we levelled their houses as we came along. It was thought there were about six thousand at first, and at night double that number. The King' s Troops lost in killed and wounded one hundred and fifty, and the Americans five hundred men, women, and children, for there was a number of women and children burnt in their houses. Our regiment has five killed and thirty-one wounded, particularly Colonel Bernard in the thigh, which all the regiment is sorry for. The shot flew thick. I got a wounded man' s gun, and killed two of them, as I am sure of."

Letter 2: [possibly by a soldier in one of the flank companies of His Majesty's Marines]

"Boston, April 28, 1775.

The Grenadiers and Light-Infantry marched for Concord, where were powder and ball, arms, and cannon mounted on carriages; but before we could destroy them all, we were fired on by the country people, who, not brought up in our military way, as ourselves, we were surrounded always in the woods. The firing was very hot on both sides. About two in the afternoon the Second Brigade came up, which were four Regiments and part of the Artillery, which were of no use to us, as the enemy were in the woods; and when we found they fired from the houses, we set them on fire, and they ran to the woods like devils. We were obliged to retreat to Boston again, over Charles River, our ammunition being all fired away. We had one hundred and fifty men wounded and killed, and some taken prisoners; we were forced to leave some behind, who were wounded. We got back to Boston about three o' clock next morning, and them that were able to walk were forced to mount guard, and lie in the field. I never broke my fast for forty-eight hours, for we carried no provisions, and thought to be back next morning. I had my hat shot off my head three times, two balls went through my coat, and carried away my bayonet by my side, and was near being killed... Direct for me to Chatham' s division of Marines."

Letter 3: [probably by a soldier in one of the flank companies of the 52nd Regiment of Foot]

"Boston, April 28, 1775. I am well, all but the wound I received through the leg by a ball from one of the Bostonians. At the time I wrote to you from Quebeck I had the strongest assurance of going home, but the laying the tax on the New-England people caused us to be ordered for Boston, where we remained in peace with the inhabitants, till on the night of the 18th of April twenty-one companies of Grenadiers and Light-Infantry were ordered into the country about eighteen miles, where, between four and five o' clock in the morning, we met an incredible number of people of the country in arms against us. Colonel Smith, of the Tenth Regiment, ordered us to rush on them with our bayonets fixed, at which time some of the peasants fired on us, and our men returning the fire, the engagement begun. They did not fight us like a regular army, only like savages, behind trees and stone walls, and out of the woods and houses, where in the latter, we killed numbers of them, as well as in the woods and fields."

Two more letters can be read here and here. The former may have been written by a soldier in one of the battalion companies of Marines. The latter was written by a captured soldier's wife.

Touring the Revolution with Google Earth

I never ceased to be amazed at how many Revolution-related resources are on the Internet. As I don't live near the battlefields of the Revolution, I've enjoyed using Google Earth to "tour" sites not readily accessible to me. Below I describe a couple of basic features of this software, illustrated with screenshots (in all cases you can click to enlarge).

First, finding sites of historical interest is generally quite easy. Use the Search feature to find the place that you're looking for. Below I searched for "Fort Stanwix" and the program instantly transported me to the reconstructed Fort Stanwix in Rome, New York. I then zoomed in somewhat to obtain the view below.

I turn off most of the options in the Layers menu, but one that I keep on are the links to Panoramio pictures in the Geographic Web menu. These are user-submitted images that provide a ground-level view of the area. More often than not, the images are frankly beautiful as in the picture below of the Old North Bridge at Concord. On the right side of the image you can see the controls for zooming, panning, and rotating the image.

Unfortunately, many battlefields of the Revolution have not been well preserved. Two of the better exceptions among northern battles are Freeman's Farm/Bemis Heights and Monmouth. At present, there are only a handful of Panoramio pictures for these battlefields, but that is sure to change over time. A great user-submitted image of Monmouth appears below.

Some of the best places to see -- both in person and online -- are the sites of 18th-Century forts. Below is one of several images of handsome Fort Chambly in Canada, the site of an obscure, but historically important, action early in the war.

Yorktown, Virginia, is particularly worth visiting with Google Earth, as the extant fortifications are easily visible from the air, and the many visitors to the battlefield have generated some fantastic images, such as that of the recreated 1st Virginia Regiment, taken near the site of Redoubt #9.

One other feature worth exploring is the "Street View" option (in the Layers menu). By entering Street View, you can have a 360-degree view of a particular spot on a roadway. Barring the slight fuzziness of the images, this is almost as good as being there. Generally, only major roads have been imaged this way, which limits the usefulness of this feature, but for some battlefields this is useful. The screenshot below shows a Street View image taken on Flat Rock Road, revealing a portion of the Hanging Rock battlefield. Each camera icon is the location of another available view. Although not clear from this image, one can travel for miles along this road using Street View.

Yorktown is the rare locale where the normal aerial view, the links to Panoramio pictures, and the Street View option all can be used to study the battlefield. Below is an aerial view of the "Hornwork," a key position in the British defenses that was heavily pounded by the French and American artillery. The cars in the foreground provide a good sense of the enormity of this work.

Below is a Street Level view of the Hornwork, taken from the road visible in the image above.

Barack Obama on the American Revolution

President Barack Obama invoked the American Revolution today in two parts of his inaugural address. His eloquent words made me think of why the story of the American Revolution still matters in modern America.


First Excerpt:

"In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

"For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

"For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

"For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

"Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction."


Second Excerpt:

"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

"This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

"This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

"This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

"So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"'Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it).'

"America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."