Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-05-05

Of the troops. Revere rode on,
arousing almost every house on the
way to Lexington. AS the troops ad
vanced into the country, the firing of guns
and the ringing of bells proved that their
coming was not unexpected; and
Smith sent back for reinforcements.
Revere had reached Adams and Han
cock on the morning of the 10Th, be-
tween the hours of II and 1; he then
pressed on with Dawes and Samue
Prescott, but all were captured by a
party of British officers IN the town Of
Lincoln. Prescott leaped over q stone
wall, and escaping, galloped on for
| Concord The bell Of the meeting
house sounded tho alarm at about 2
o'clock in the morning. Into the Town
Hall came pouring the old and young
men of the hamlet, armed and always
ready for battle. At their head was
their minister, the Rev. William Emer
son, gun in hand, with his powder
horn and pouch slung over his shout
| der.
Mr. Bancroft has described the i'm
pOrtant moment III passage OF consld-
cradle eloquence. He says: Express
messengers and volIeys from minute
men spread the alarm. How children
| trembled as they were scared out of
sleep by the cries How wives with
heaving breasts bravely seconded their
husbands! How the countrymen,
forced suddenly to arm, without guides
or counselers, took instant counsel of
tkoi, courage. The mighty chorus OF
voices rose from the scattered farm
houses, and, as it were. from the very
ashes of the dead Come forth, cham
pions of liberty; now free your country;
protect your sons and daughters, your
homes of the God of your fathers, the
franchises handed down from your an
cestors. Now all is at stake; the battle
is for all.
On the green in front Of the meeting
house, the minute men of Lexington
and it's neighborhood, about 100 In
number, had assembled; and the town
is estimated, at that time to have had
700 Inhabitants. Its minister, the Rev.
Jonas Clark, man of great learning
and piety. had been ga bold inditer of
patriotic State papers" When the roll
was called, $50 in all answered to their
names Their Captain, John Parker,
though he had determined that his men
should not be first to fire, ordered his
soldiers to load with powder and ball.
The enemy not arriving, the patriots
dispersed, with orders to reassemble
at beat of drum. The, signal
was given just at daybreak,
when the advance of the British,
under Maj. Pitcairn, was discovered by
the sentries. Less than seventy-some
authorities say less than sixty-obeyed
the summons. Half an hour after sun
rise, the British infantry came up at
double quick, and closely followed by
the grenadiers. Pitcairn was In front,
and addressed the inhabitants in the
we1l-known words, "Disperse, We vii
lains, We rebels, dispense; lay down
your arms; why don't you lay down
your arms and dispense? g. The order
might at once have been obeyed with
ering the disparity of numbers, but the
men of Lexington held their ground.
Pitcairn then drew his pistol and gave
the order to fire, and heavy discharge
of musketry followed. Parker, seeing
that resistance was impossible, gave the
order to disperse. It was then that
few of the patriots upon their own i'm
pulse, fired upon the foe, but no harm
was done by their random shots. The
patriots killed were Jonas Parker,
Isaac Muzzey, Robert Monroe, Jooa-
than Harrington; jr., Caleb Harring-
ton, Samuel Hadley, John Brown, and
Ashael Porter-au of Lexington save
the last named.
The British troops having achieved
this extraordinary triumph, fired vol
ley, gave three huzzas in its honor, and,
delaying only for thirty minutes,
marched for Concord. The Alarm Com
pany of the village assembled as usual
smear the meeting house." but also
smear the liberty POLE" Soon the min
ute men of Lincoln, with few from
Acton, came up; but, with these slender
achievements, the invaders were four
times as numerous as the Americans.
AS the British advanced, the Concord
men retreated to an eminence eighty
rods farther north, then across
the river by the North Bridge,
till they gained high ground
about mile from the centre of the town.
When the British actually arrived, there
were none to dispute their possession of
the village. Nothing was found to de-
stroy except some carriages for cannon.
By 10 o'clock, on the rising ground
above the bridge, the number of Ameri-
cans had increased to more than 4OO,-
he minute-men of Lexington, Acton,
Bedford, Westford, Littleton, Carlisle,
and Chelmsford A portion of the Brit
ish troops occupied the bridge; another
were engaged in searching and plumber
ing the village. Pitcairn had found two
24-pounders in the tavern yard, and had
spiked them; 60 barrels Of -four had been
destroyed, and 500 pounds Of ball were
thrown into the mill-pond. The liberty
pole was burned, and the Court house
!