The Opelousas patriot. [volume] (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863, 1856-05-24
NUMBER Ss5.
THE PATRIOT.
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The British II p6GiS iisision Il Boston b..
learned that quantle IL public stores wer
4 deposited At Concord, hi(pfeen miles distant
and determined TO destroy IL IL / Another %;
. much more important object - the expetli
tion was, to capture, if'possible, sJShh Han
cock and Samuel Adams who were G6Nn d
be in that neighborhood, and upon whose hesR11
aprice had been set. si@t Il M ksfs{ifffi
! On the night Of. the 18th Of April, l775
the British landed eight hundred men /,
Gharlestown, who took up. the line Of marcl
through Mentomy (now called West Cam
bridge) and Lexington, to Concord. II was !
calm starlight night, and they moved with al
possible Stiffness !; at West Cambridge the1
passed my fathers house, and their tread awok,
him be arose, stood at the window and count
ed their platoons.5 As soon as they had al
passed, he seized his musket and started acrosi
| the country, every road Of which was familiar
In his progress he fell in with numbers on thu
same errand-that was to get ahead Of the
enemy, and alarm the country, in both o
which they succeeded, SO that when the British
arrived at Lexington, eleven miles from Boston,
at five o'clock in the morning, they found tho
militia assembling; they had received intelli-
gence OF the encmy's movements, some hours
before, and were promptly assembled at the
beat OF the drum. When the British came
within striking distance Major Pitcairn rode
forward and called out, /" Disperse, you rebels,
dispersed" ind without waiting to SEQ whether
they would or would not, fired his pistol, which
was signal for q volley from the advance,
which killed eight; tho Others dispersed, and
the British pursued their way to Concord,
where they arrived without Interruption, but
Hancock and Adams had made their escape.
They then commenced q retreat, to do which
they had to pass the north bridge at the foot
Of IT Capt. Dayis had drawn up his company,
the Concord Light 1nMntfy,1 and then and
there the first yolley was fired by the Aneri-
cans, in that cause which gave Independence to
America and freedom to the world. In the
mean time tho minute men were pouring in
from all quarters and the British found thon,.
selves so hotly pressed, that had ii not been for
a reinforcement of abont u thousand men, with
two field pieces, under Lord Percy, whom Gov.
Gage had dispatched to their assistance, not q
man of the detachment would have reached
Boston. The reinforcement met the rctreating
column near Lexington, greatly diminished, al
most exhausted having taken no refreshment
since they left Boston, whence they were yet
distant eleven miles, and had to fight every inch
Of the way. -
The plan then adopted by Lord Percy was
one OF the most savage warfare; his troops fell
otf from the front, entered the houses Of the
Americans, pnndered them Of whatever they
could carry, set fire to the houses, aud then
joined the rear, thus giving an opportunity to
their whole force to plunder; hut so hot was
the pursuit large portion Of the fires we're ex-
tlnguished before they had done much damage.
When they had passed the foot Of the rocks,
they entered the plain Of West Cambridge,
seven miles from Charles River, and quite d
village for about two miles; at least l found it
SO when school-boy ten years after, and there
was no appearance Of any addition to it since
the Revolution. aA ~ 6j5@3 n 3af7 7@5
1t is proper here to remark, that there were
two tnvcrns near West Cambridge -one kept
ny MIR. Cooper, the resort Of the Wings, the
other the resort of the Tories, kept by q Mr.
IISyadish. There were three families on the road
within q fourth of o mile, by the name of
Adams, name hateful to the British; in one
Of those lady was confined the night before !;
the enemy entered the house, took the bed on
which she lay with her infant Mt the breast, and
carried them into the yard and leftthen, there.
a little boy about five or six years old had
taken shelter under bis mothers bcd--his foot
projected from beneath the drapery-h British
soldier thrust his bayonet through it. and for a
minute PINNED tito the floor the boy did not
even utter q tty this fact i had from his
mother. They then plundered the house and
set it on fire, but the Americans entered in a
few moments, extinguished the fire, and restored
y ~tnother md infant to their room and bed.
Their next exploit was at tho Wing tavern,
into which they fred more than hundred bull
lets. The holes made by them were filled tp, but
tbe marks are visible to this day 1t was i
singular fhct TINT three old men, seventy years
and upwards each, who were Tories, the battle
coming on SO unexpectedly, took shelter in this
tavern, (Cooper's where the British found
them and pul them to death. y,,,li H., ,5Il9
The name Of one was Winship. / well re-
member his son. The heavy discharges Of
m!asketry ut the tavern brought my mother
into the Streets or road who had learned nothing
certain oil what was going on since my father
lcft her on the previous evening. To her utter
astonshment she saw the battle raging at less
than half mile distant she instantly returned
to the house, secured D large bag Of currency
50 much wanted at this time, and d few small
articles, then taking one child Of two years old
in her arms, and having two older hanging to
her apron, she sailed forth to "a to i Captain
Wbittemore's, about two miles distant across
the fields, on the bank of the Mystic river.
women and children had already fled tberc to
tho number Of hundred Of The former, and
two or three hundred Of the latter) She had
scarcely set foot on the road when one child
cried for bread she returned to the house, and
cutting q loaf gave q piece to him that wanted
It and wrapping the remainder mp in her apron,
she was again In the road. In the mean time
the battle Ind approached SO near, she was
within point blank shot Of the rctrcatifir one.
NY, who Jet go whole volley at her, (which
did no other damage than to pass two ballsl
through her cap. The; Americans saw her
perilots situation and called out 10 het, II Run,
good we'nan ~ She did SO, aud atrisetl safe
ut the house of refuge. ~ sls'
The enemy in the mean tine sent out /. flank
ing party with the lntentiofi Of cutting oil the
retreat Of the mother and chil.l--an object
which they came nigh ccomplishing--for the
Americans did not succeed ia turning their
Hank until they had approached the house near
enough 10 lodge bullets in it-4aiid very large
elm tree, within twenty-five feet from the house,
was spattercd with, them and i took great
pleasure in cutting them out fen, Or twelve
years after. Y. "'i''.' ''',p
After my mothers escape they entered the
house, took every article of clothing and bed.