Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1875-04-15
THE RUTLAND WEEKLY HERAlD THURSDAY April IT, 1875

guarded by the British, and that they
j must march round to the. North bridge.
three miles further. La this route they
i had to pass by Col. Barrett's, where the
British were then actually destroying
1 public property. 1t is highly probable
| that they meant to take the colonel and
/ carry him prisoner to Boston. /: for he
was known by Gov. Gage and the royal
| party to be a public officer, and an intlu-
:ential character in the cause of liberty.
1 And here, comes a bit of romance: such
| as novelists delight in, but which they
have not yet used, we believe. Col.
| Barrett, had a pretty granddaughter, MILL
/ cent, who had been employed, with. other
| young ladies of Concord, the preceding
| winter, in making cartridges and pre-.
| pairing other military material for the ex-
| pected war. The previous year, TIA,
/ DR.. Warren of the provincial commit
/ tee of supplies" had sent his nephew
Joseph SWayne to Concord, to make ar
engagements with Col Barrett for manu-
| featuring guns, cartridges, etc, and in
/ these visits, which were frequent, the.
young man often saw and talked with
! Miss Millicent. On one occasion he
(! pretended to be tory, as some OF her
/ townspeople, Lees, Blisses, etc, were,
and asked her "What the Concord men
! would do for ammunition when the red
coats came up to fight them, seeing that
/ thew had no cartridges ?" She answered,
s"They will use their powder-horns and
| bullets, as they do wheL they shoot
| bears ''That would be too
barbarous," said young Swayne,
| and, borrowing Miss Mificent's scissors
he showed her how to cut and fold car
fridge paper and fll-it with powder and
ball. She took the hint, and, with the
aid of her companions, made many hun
bred cartridges during the winter, and
the Veritable scissors with which she cut
the paper will be exhibited at the CEN
tennial, along with an anvil upon which
the gun-barFels were made. After the
battle of Concord-perhaps after the
war-Joseph Swayne came to Concord
again, and married Milicent Barrett,
whose cartridges were no doubt used by
the Americans at the North bridge, that
day. Her father gave the order to
march forward, as he had given the pre-
yious one to retreat-but the troops were
led in the march by the major of the
minute men, John Buttrick, whose house
stood within long gunshot of the bridge
AS the reinforced militia, now three
or four hundred strong, marched down
from Ponkawtasset toward the bridge,
about 10 o'clock in the forenoon, they
met at the fork of the road, near Major
Buttrick's house, with the company of
minute-men from Acton, commanded by
Capt. Isaac Davis. This company, with
one of the four Concord companies,
commanded by David Brown, took the
lead-the others were formed in support
of them by the acting adjutant, Joseph
Hosmer, grandfather of Rev. DR.. Geo.
w. Hosmer. Major Buttrick and Col.
Robinson of PrescOtt's regiment march
ed abreast of Capt Davis in the van, and
as the British at the bridge offered to
take up the planks, Buttrick ordered
them to desist, and gave his men quick
err step, marching as he did, on foot.
The British then fired a few random
shots, which did no harm -neXt,a single
shot from them wounded the Acton fifer,
Luther Blanchard, and then came the
volley from the British front rank, which
killed Capt. Davis and Abner Hosmer,
son of the Acton deacon. AS the Brit
ish fired, William Emerson, the minister
who was looking on from his chamber
window, twenty rods in the rear of the
British, was for moment uneasy lest
the volley should not be returned. These
orders (of Col. Barrett, not to fire unless |
fired upon, wrote Emerson in his diary, |
were so punctually observed that we re-
ceived the fire of the enemy in three |
several and separate discharges of their |
pieces before it was returned by our |
commanding officer the firing then |
soon became general for several minutes |
On seeing his comrades fall, Major But
trick, who carried a musket, leaped |
from the the ground with excitement,
and turning half way toward his men,
shouted, Fire, fellow-sOldiers for 41s-l'~-
sake, fire ~ discharging his own piece at
the same moment. No sooner were the
words uttered than the order was obeYed.
The cry, Fire fire fire." ran like
lightning through the whole line OF
Americans two of the British were
killed and several wounded; the rest ran
away, hotly pursued for few minutes
by the Americans, who Immediately
crossed the bridge. But, as it astOnish-
ed at their own success, theY.sOon halted;
they made no attempt to cut OFT the com
panies in their rear, at Col. Barrett's,
nor did they attack the main body of the
British under Col. Smith until two hours
later. Instead of this, they scattered |
about, removing the dead and wounded,
taking breakfast and watching the move
ments of the British parties. One of |
these returning from Col. Barretts |
house, mile or two west of the river,
passed over the bridge and saw their |
countrymen lying dead where they had |
been shot by the Americans. They saw |
also the body of the wounded British
soldier, whose head had been been cloven
with Ratchet by lad at whom he
thrust with his bayonet as he lay wound
ed there. This was the origin of the |
statement by Gage and Lord Percy that |
the rebels scalped and cut off the ears
of some of the wounded who fell into
their hands. In Cages letter to Gov. |
Trumbull, dated April 90, he says that |
Capt. Parsons observed three British |
soldiers on the ground, one of thea
scalped, his head much mangled and his |
ears cut off, though not quite dead q |
sight which struck the soldiers with hOr-
ror. The lad who struck the blow lived |
at the parsonage, and afterward died at |
Acton. His name has been designedly |
forgotten. Rev. William Emerson, who |
saw this party return and cross the |
bridge, declared that when they beheld |
their fellow-soldiers dead, near the bridge |
they appeared to be very much alarmed, |
dBd TAU Will SiCdb opCSd PAst Ltts1 pal !
sonage and eastward into the village
The fight took place half mile west of
the village, the Americans marching t
down on the west bank of Concord river,
from hillock, over causeway, and /
the British standing on the east bank, in
the highway which curved round the
parsonage field and orchard, so charm
ingly described by Hawthorne, in his
chooses from an Old Manse" .-I
A little after noon, the British colonel
having called in all his attachments, be
gan his retreat toward Boston by the
same road he had come, and pursued by |
the Americans. About mile east of
Concord village, near the fork of the
road that leads to Bedford, he was met
by fresh companies of minute men from
Reading and Billerica, and from East
Sudbury, now Wayland, and a sharp
fight ensued, while several ofthe British
were killed. On the high land ia LIN
coin, mile or two farther east, still
sharper skirmish occurred. Just after
they crossed the line between Lincoln
and Lexington, that We're were met by !
Capt Park er's company again - this /