The Handy Boston Answer Book. Samuel Willard Crompton
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of Massachusetts, sent a strong detachment of soldiers to seize the powder magazine in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just across the Charles River. Though the powder had already been moved, and was out of reach, the mere movement of these men into the countryside caused general alarm. Within forty-eight hours, thousands of Massachusetts militiamen had gathered at Cambridge and Medford and were ready to take violent action against the British. When people calmed down and the rumors were dispelled, the militia went home, but General Gage could scarcely believe what had happened. He began to fortify The Neck at once to make sure no one could cross into Boston without his permission.
News of the Powder Alarm reached the Continental Congress at the same time that Massachusetts passed the Suffolk Resolves, named in honor of the towns of Suffolk County. While the Resolves did not call for outright rebellion, they stopped only just short of it.
What was life in Boston like during the winter of 1774–1775?
It was not an especially hard winter as far as the weather was concerned, but quite a few Bostonians—from the working class, especially—suffered from a lack of fuel. Upper-class Bostonians fared better, but some were already packing their bags, hoping to get out of town in the spring. And Bostonians of all social ranks disliked and mistrusted the British soldiers who were now in the neighborhood of four thousand strong.
General Gage, meanwhile, wrote London asking that his troop strength be increased to twenty thousand. Nothing short of this would enable him to control the situation in Massachusetts, he declared. And though Gage did not say so explicitly, it was increasingly apparent that other towns and colonies were almost ready to back Massachusetts. The First Continental Congress broke up in the autumn of 1774, but its delegates agreed to reconvene on May 10, 1775.
Was there even a remote possibility that armed conflict could be avoided?
By the early spring of 1775, the odds were nine in favor and only one against. Everyone in Boston knew it was likely that the British would move into the countryside; everyone in the countryside realized that Boston was the key to the strategic situation. General Gage was not eager for the confrontation, but his latest orders, direct from King George, left no room for discretion. Massachusetts was in a state of rebellion, the king wrote, and Gage must move to confiscate gunpowder from the rebels.
Was King George still in his right mind?
Moviegoers may remember the inspired performance of Nigel Hawthorne, who portrayed the aged king in The Madness of King George. In fact, George III was still in full possession of his senses in 1775, but his innate stubbornness had become even worse. Knowing that the king suffered from porphyria, a rare disease that results from the accumulation of porphyrins in the system, allows the modern-day observer to have more sympathy for this man known as the monarch who lost the American colonies.
APRIL 19, 1775
What was the weather like on April 19, 1775?
The third week of April 1775 had notably mild weather, lending buoyancy to the spirits of many of the locals. General Gage put the finishing touches to his plans that week, and by mid-afternoon of April 18, Bostonians could see that something was up. Paul Revere, who had become the number-one dispatch rider for the Sons of Liberty, rowed across the Charles River at sunset. He had an arrangement with the sexton of the Old North Church. If the British marched out of Boston via The Neck, he was to hang one lamp in the belfry: two if they went by boat, across the Charles. Revere did not use the precise words “one if by land, two if by sea”: these are the invention of the poet Longfellow, who wrote about Paul Revere’s ride eighty-five years after the fact (see below).
When did the British make their move?
By 11 P.M. over one thousand British soldiers were moving off Boston Common and into boats: they soon landed at Phips Farm in Cambridge. Paul Revere, seeing the signal lamps from the Old North Church, got on his horse and began to ride. Contrary to popular belief, he did not shout “The British are coming!” but rather “The regulars are out!”
Revere could not be sure of the British destination, but their landing at Cambridge suggested they were on the way to Lexington. He galloped in that direction, warning everyone he could. The British, meanwhile, lined up in ranks and began the long night march that brought them to Lexington Green by 7 A.M.
Why does Revere always get the lion’s share of the credit?
He really does deserve it. His ride brought out hundreds of men, who, by alerting their fellows, turned out thousands of others in the next twenty-four hours. But it is true that Revere is always more hailed than William Dawes, who went by way of The Neck, and Dr. Samuel Prescott, who continued on to Concord.
Another reason has to do with the power of poetry. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), inspired and influenced by the events of the Revolutionary War, wrote poems about the Battle of Lexington and other major events. Some of his best-known words are the ones that open his poem about Paul Revere (perhaps he had a harder time finding rhymes for Prescott or Dawes). “Paul Revere’s Ride,” first published in 1860 in The Atlantic Monthly, begins:
This circa 1937 engraving depicts Paul Revere’s famous ride to warn the colonists about the invading British.
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
How did the British do on their march?
Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Smith led the nine-hundred-odd British from Phips Farm. All night the British marched, and dawn found them on the eastern edge of Lexington. Proceeding to the town green, Smith and his men found about seventy American militiamen drawn up, ready to defend the area. Tradition has it that Captain John Parker told his men, “Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”
As they approached the green, the British split into two groups. One group marched past the patriot defenders, while the other headed straight to confront them. Major John Pitcairn, commander of the marines, rode out in front of the British lines to shout, “Lay down your arms! Disperse, ye rebels, disperse I tell you!”
How did the fighting commence?
No one knows who fired that first shot, or even from which direction it came. All we know is that one musket was fired, and that the British and Americans immediately let loose a blaze of gunfire. A solid two minutes later, as the smoke cleared, it became evident that the British had won this, the first skirmish of the Revolutionary War. Eight Americans lay dead or dying, and several others were wounded. Captain Parker and his surviving men had escaped the green. The British had two men wounded.
Major Pitcairn and Colonel Smith conferred, and agreed it was time to move on to Concord. After shouting several cheers, the British moved out, heading west.
So that was it? This was the Battle of Lexington?
It was a very small affair in the annals of military history, but in terms of national identity and eventual independence, Lexington was hugely important. The battle is reenacted on Patriots Day, a legal holiday in Massachusetts.
Were there any Bostonians in the battles at Lexington and Concord?
Very few. The people of Boston were living under what amounted to martial law. It was nearly impossible to pass The Neck without permission. Bostonians were primarily observers of the events of April 19, 1775.
When did the British get to Concord?
The British arrived in Concord by 10 A.M. on April 19, 1775. The weather was fine, and both Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn felt pleased with how things had developed. They confiscated a good amount of gunpowder at Concord, but found that a second part of their mission, which was to arrest Sam Adams and