Lexington in 1775: Colonial Life and the American Revolution
The
Join the Conversation or Visit "Sowing the Seeds of Liberty"
Please join the conversation about this material through your feedback on our blog for educators, Learning at the National Heritage Museum: Using Primary Sources to Reconstruct the Past or by writing to us at programs@monh.org.
To learn more about group tours of "Sowing the Seeds of Liberty" and other educational programming at the
Illustration by Joe Farnham, 2007
Last week, we wrote about the Lexington Alarm letter, which is on view this week in the National Heritage Museum, in celebration of Patriots' Day. Today we're taking a look at the journey that the postrider, Israel Bissel, took as he delivered the alarm from Watertown, Massachusetts to New York City.
News travels fast today. One of the stories to come out of the so-called "Miracle on the Hudson" a few months back was how quickly the news of the emergency plane landing on the river spread. The speed at which news spreads has always been of interest and concern in the United States. If you've ever traveled on a "post road" (and chances are you probably have, even if you didn't know it), you've driven on roads that were created to insure that the mail - including the newspapers that were delivered by mail - traveled quickly. In 1775, when news needed to be conveyed quickly over far distances, it was often by means of a letter carried by a rider on horseback.
Just before dawn on April 19, 1775, John Parker and 77 local militiamen gathered on the green in Lexington as a large number of British soldiers approached from the direction of Boston, where they had left during the night of April 18. Realizing that they were outnumbered, Parker ordered his men to disperse. Amid the confusion, a shot rang out. Who fired first has never been conclusively determined, but by the time the skirmish was over, eight men were killed and nine were injured. The British troops then left Lexington and marched on toward Concord where they intended to seize munitions that were stored there. The alarm - or news of the battle on the Lexington Common - was spreading quickly, however. By the time the British reached the Old North Bridge in Concord, they were met by 3,500 militiamen.
But news of the Battle of Lexington spread far beyond the immediate vicinity. It's not by accident that the news of the battle was able to be spread quickly and across a large geographic area. Committees of Correspondence were already set up throughout the colonies, insuring that an infrastructure was in place to facilitate the efficient spread of important news. In the second half of 1774, an alarm system had been set up, and British troops were being closely watched. The colonists were prepared to set into motion a pre-orchestrated plan that would quickly disseminate important news through local networks that spread the news. The spread of information in 1775 was a very physical act. News of the Lexington alarm was not entrusted to just anyone: it was put in the capable hands of Israel Bissel (sometimes spelled Bissell). Bissel was a 23-year-old professional postrider from East Windsor, Connecticut, who knew the roads he was traveling very well, by virtue of having traveled them many times before delivering express letters. Bissel traveled along the network of post roads in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, spreading news of the battle of Lexington as he went. The news traveled fairly quickly: by noon on the 21st, the news had traveled to New York City, approximately 225 miles south - a sustained speed of around 5-7 miles per hour. That might seem quaint today, but to someone traveling by horseback on unlit roads, this is fairly remarkable.
In the letter that Bissel was carrying (which you can read about in our previous post), he was "Charged to alarm the Country quite to Connecticut," something that he accomplished by carrying a series of letters along a predetermined route. In each town where he stopped, a member of the local Committee of Correspondence would keep Bissel's letter and hand-copy it. The copy would be given to Bissel, who would bring it to the next town. Each new copy contained information about who had already received the letter, as well as when it had been received. To make a contemporary analogy, the letters can be seen as carrying information similar to a forwarded e-mail, including the list of previous recipients, and the date and timestamp that they received the message.
Using Google Maps, we've put together a map of Bissel's journey, along with the times that he arrived at each location (you can find a larger version of the map here, which is a bit easier to work with than the one below) Bissel's journey is well-documented, and, as mentioned above, the dates and times that he arrived at each location on his journey were noted on the copies of the letters that he carried with him. Using this information, and keeping with the theme of the spread of information, here's a 21st-century look at an 18th-century journey:
Two great resources on the Lexington alarm (also mentioned in our previous post) are:
John H. Scheide. "The Lexington Alarm." Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. Volume 50, Part 1 (1940) pp. 49-79.
David Hackett Fischer. Paul Revere's Ride. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Call number: F69 .R43 F57 1994
One of the joys of living in Massachusetts is the local holidays and history-based celebrations. This is state that takes the Revolutionary era seriously.
On April 20, 2009, we will mark Patriot’s Day, a holiday originally established in 1894, to commemorate the history-making battles at Lexington and Concord. The National Heritage Museum’s exhibition, “Sowing the Seeds of Liberty: Lexington and the American Revolution,” tells the story of the day through the eyes and voices of the people who helped shape our nation's struggle for independence, not only on the day of the battle but in the years and decades before.
This year, through the generosity of the Lexington Historical Society, we have special short-term addition the exhibition—one of the drums thought to have been purchased by the town of Lexington in the uncertain months before April 1775.
In 1774, with the Boston harbor closed, General Gage appointed governor and a growing number of British troops in the city, many New Englanders feared an armed confrontation with the soldiers. Lexingtonians began to prepare. Like other New England towns, in the mid-1750s, Lexington established a militia both to defend itself and to provide trained troops to fight in the French and Indian Wars. In the years after that conflict, the militia continued.
Faced with growing tensions and increased British military presence, in the spring of 1774, Lexington formed a committee to manage its stock of ammunition. This committee soon purchased 6 half-barrels of gunpowder, over 100 pounds of bullets and “a Pair of Drums for the use of the Military Company in Town.” The new Massachusetts Provincial Congress, which colonists established in response to the closing of the General Court in 1774, started seriously organizing the colony’s military resources in the fall. Colony leaders asked each town to send an accounting of militia members and a description of its equipment and ammunition stock.
By February, British General Gage knew that the colony was preparing for a fight. His intelligence agents told him that all together, Massachusetts towns could field 15,000 armed and well-trained men. In 1774 Lexington residents elected John Parker captain of the militia. He trained 141 men on the green in front of the meetinghouse throughout the warm fall and winter. William Diamond, a sixteen-year-old wheelwright’s apprentice, was the militia’s drummer. For months, the rhythms he beat on his drum communicated Captain Parker’s commands when the company practiced drilling.
Neighboring towns began stockpiling their ammunition and supplies in a central location: Concord. A progressively more alarmed General Gage received reports that 10 tons of musket balls and 35 half-barrels of powder, along with a large stock of medical supplies and several cannons had been brought together in Concord. While Gage considered what to do about this flagrant and dangerous preparation for military action, Captain Parker received an order from the Provincial Congress in March. He was to assemble his militia whenever General Gage’s soldiers marched out of Boston. In the early hours of April 19, 1775, his drum called the militia to assemble outside Buckman Tavern.
To learn more about April 19, 1775, come see “Sowing the Seeds of Liberty: Lexington and the American Revolution.” You can also catch a preview of the exhibition online.
Late on April 18, 1775, British soldiers marched from Boston, toward Concord, to seize munitions that were stockpiled there. Around dawn on April 19, they were met by 77 militiamen on Lexington Common. A shot rang out, and the British opened fire. Eight patriots were dead and nine wounded.
At around 10 a.m. on the morning of April 19, 1775, just hours after the battle on the Lexington green, Joseph Palmer, a member of the Committee of Safety in Watertown, Massachusetts, composed a letter describing the events of that morning. Palmer then gave his letter to the Committee's messenger, Israel Bissel (sometimes spelled Bissell), who galloped out of Watertown on horseback and rode to Worcester. In Worcester, the text was then transcribed by Nathan Balding. Balding's copy of Palmer's letter was given to Bissel, who carried the letter on to Brooklyn, Connecticut, where he arrived on April 20.
The alarm letter seen here, which is in our collection, was copied out in Brooklyn, Connecticut during the late morning of April 20, by Daniel Tyler, Jr., son-in-law to General Israel Putnam. Tyler copied the text from the letter Bissel had brought from Worcester, and sent this letter on to Norwich, Connecticut where Bissel and the letter arrived around 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the 20th.
Bissel delivered the letter to Christopher Leffingwell, who was the proprietor of a tavern in Norwich and a row of shops known as "Leffingwell Row," all located in the center of town. Governor Jonathan Trumbull was in Norwich on the day that Bissel and the alarm letter arrived; historians have speculated that it's likely that Trumbull got news of the Lexington alarm while he was in Norwich.
Bissel carried subsequent copies of the Lexington Alarm letter on to New York. Other riders took the message down further down the East Coast; by mid-May, news had reached as far as Charleston, S.C. - about 1,000 miles away.
Below is a transcription of our Lexington Alarm letter. The verso of the letter (not shown here) reads: "To Christopher Leffingwell Esq. or either the Committee of Correspondence Norwich."
Watertown Wednesday Morning near 10 o'Clock
To all the Friends of American Liberty, be it known that this Morning before breake of Day a Brigade consisting of about 1000 or 1200 Men landed at Phip’s Farm at Cambridge & marched to Lexington where they found a Company of our Colony Militia in Arms, upon Whom they fired without any Provocation and killed 6 Men and Wounded 4 others. By an Express from Boston this Moment, we find another Brigade are now upon their march from Boston supposed to be about 1000. The Bearer Mr. Israel Bissel is charged to alarm the Country quite to Connecticut and all Persons are desired to furnish him with Fresh Horses as they may be needed. I have spoken with Several Persons who have seen the Dead & Wounded. Pray let the Delegates from this Colony to Connecticut see this they know.
J. Palmer, one of the
Committee of S-----y [i.e. Safety].
Col. Foster of Brookfield one of the Delegates. A True Coppy taken from the original p[er] order of Committee of Correspondence for Worcester. Attest. Nathan Balding T[own] Clerk
Worcester April 19th 1775.
Brooklyne Thursday 11 o'Clock - The above is a true Coppy as rec[eived] here p[er] Express forwarded from Worcester - [at]Test. Daniel Tyler, Jr.
The Lexington Alarm letter will be on view in the lobby of the National Heritage Museum from April 18-26, as part of the festivities surrounding Patriots Day, a Massachusetts holiday that commemorates the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
If you're interested in the full story of the Lexington Alarm and exactly how the news spread after the letter above arrived in Norwich, Connecticut, we recommend the following article, which is available in our library:
John H. Scheide. "The Lexington Alarm." Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. Volume 50, Part 1 (1940) pp. 49-79.
Another great resource for learning more about the events surrounding April 19, 1775, as well as a great explanation about the establishment of the "alarm" network employed by the colonies can be found in:
David Hackett Fischer. Paul Revere's Ride. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Call number:F69 .R43 F57 1994
Next week: More about Israel Bissel - including a map of his ride from Massachusetts to New York.
Patriots' Day is a special holiday in Massachusetts. Because it is marked by public celebrations unique to each Massachusetts town, children grow up eagerly attending or even participating in parades and historic reenactments that commemorate the beginnings of the American Revolution. Through these, they become familiar with events and people that are tied to landscapes right outside their front doors. The Museum’s other blog, "Learning at the National Heritage Museum", highlights primary sources and provides lessons that can be used in the classroom or at home to help learners of all ages gain a deeper understanding of the familiar historic events that we celebrate on Patriots' Day.
With the material on the 'Learning Blog', rooted in the "Sowing the Seeds of Liberty: Lexington and the American Revolution" exhibition, visitors can reconstruct the feelings and experiences that must have flooded the thoughts of the citizens of Lexington as Regular troops equal in number to the 800 people who lived in Lexington marched up to the Common in the early morning of April 19th. Why did seventy-seven members of Lexington's militia decide to assemble and confront the King's troops? Click on the links that follow to access the Learning Blog and find out.
The Massachusetts provincial court archives provide us with a window to glimpse what kind of community Lexington was before 1775. The town seems to have been an
The drama of Lexington's political actions unfolded against the backdrop of how the series of taxes levied on vital goods imported from England affected the people of Lexington. Both the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765 made goods that people used virtually every day more expensive . Although the public mood of the town never turned riotous, as it did in Boston, the primary sources and activities on the Learning Blog show how citizens gradually developed the resolve to resist, and finally to rebel.
After more than ten years of buildup, the tensions caused by this fundamental conflict between Massachusetts colonists and their rulers exploded into a bloody confrontation, the Battle of Lexington and Concord. If we can fathom the "Why?" behind the first shots in the American Revolution, it becomes that much more engaging to delve into the "Who?", "What?", "Where?" and "When?" of that day. We can imagine how the chain of events on April 18th and 19th, 1775, might have been experienced by the children of Lexington families. While they watched their fathers and older brothers assemble with the town militia, the towns for miles around were filled with similar scenes of preparation for defense against the King's soldiers. The militiamen of Massachusetts and their families were not the only people anxiously peering at the horizon, straining to see what the day would bring - the Regular troops marching down the road towards Concord and their commanders surely also felt an unsettling sense of foreboding as they traveled further into the hostile countryside. Were any of them aware that the road would take them through the heart of Lexington, a community convinced that the sacrifice of life itself, in support of the common cause, might very well be the culmination of the town's resistance against the long series injustices meted out by the representatives of London?
There is much more to explore on the Learning Blog- we welcome your comments and questions! For information about in-house programs for school groups, please contact the Museum's Education Department (email: croche@monh.org; phone: 781 457-4142).
“The Battle of Lexington,” 1775, Amos Doolittle (1754-1832) - engraver, Ralph Earl (1751-1801) - painter, New Haven, Connecticut Courtesy of the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Connecticut Teapot, ca. 1765, England National Heritage Museum, 91.025.12a-b
As blogs go, you won't find much opinion at ours, but I'm going to break that just for a moment to say that, as a poet, Rob Morris is no Charles Simic. Yet while Morris may not be to everyone's poetical tastes, that doesn't make him any less interesting as a historical figure.
Like Simic, Rob Morris (1818-1888) is - or, rather, was - a poet laureate. While Simic is the current poet laureate of the United States (news-flash: Kay Ryan was recently named the new poet laureate, but she doesn't start until the fall), Morris was the Poet Laureate of Freemasonry. When first hearing this, I thought that perhaps Morris was a self-styled poet laureate, but, no, in fact, he was officially recognized as such at a ceremony that took place on December 17, 1884 at the Grand Lodge of New York in New York City. Only one other poet had been dubbed the Poet Laureate of Freemasonry before - Robert Burns. Yes, the Robert Burns. Most folks who don't read poetry have likely heard of Burns, and even if you don't think you know Burns's work, you do: he wrote Auld Lang Syne ("Should auld acquaintance be forgot..."). Burns, a Freemason, was made the Poet Laureate of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning No. 2, Edinburgh, Scotland in February of 1787.
In an article entitled "A Successor to Robert Burns," the New York Times described the crowning of Morris as the new poet laureate of Freemasonry at a ceremony which included a procession marching to the William Tell Overture, as well as an actual crowning of Morris with a laurel wreath. Of course, succeeding Burns is, some might say, no small task, but if anyone was going to be crowned poet laureate of Freemasonry at the time, Morris seemed like the man to pick.
Morris wrote and lectured extensively on Freemasonry. He also founded the Order of the Eastern Star and wrote its ritual. Morris's Masonic accomplishments are vast and it's difficult to understate his involvement with Freemasonry. His various affiliations and accomplishments are too many to list here.
Pictured above is the cover to the 1875 edition of Morris's Three Hundred Masonic Odes and Poems, published by William T. Anderson's Masonic Publishing Company in New York in 1875 [Call number: 63.1 .M877m 1875]. The book was published eleven years before Morris became poet laureate, illustrating, perhaps how the choice of Morris as poet laureate was, to many, a no-brainer. (If not Morris, who?)
Among the three hundred odes and poems, I found one that seems perfect for those of us writing from an American history museum founded by Freemasons and located in Lexington, Massachusetts. So, for your enjoyment and edification, I include the first stanza of Morris's poem "Lines to Lexington Lodge, No. 310, at Brooklyn, NY," from Three Hundred Masonic Odes and Poems, a poem in which Morris alludes to the Battle of Lexington, the presumed namesake of the lodge:
A fire was kindled on the plain
Of Lexington that gloweth yet;
Each blood-drop from a patriot's heart
A lasting horror did beget,
Of tyrant's chain and despot's rule,
With which our sorrowing world is full.
We have many works by and about Morris in our collection, far too numerous to list here. You can see what titles we have by searching our online catalog.
