I recently spent a day exploring Lexington, Concord and the Battle Road in Minute Man National Park. For those not steeped in the lore of the American Revolution, that is where the fighting broke on April 19, 1775. A short recap: British General (and Royal Governor) Thomas Gage sent an expedition of 700 troops to raid a Massachusetts militia supply depot, 18 miles from Boston. Fighting erupted at Lexington where a single militia company was shot up, and again at Concord where most of the supplies had been removed before the British column arrived, and some 500 militia had shown up. After that, more militia kept arriving and firing at the regulars while they marched back to Boston. Basically, the grenadiers and light infantry marched 18 miles to kick a hornet’s nest and then headed back being stung the whole way.
The Lexington town visitors center has an excellent diorama
of the first encounter on Lexington Green. Concord has a diorama of the terrain
between the two towns. Last year I drove by and the National Park building at
Minute Man Historical Park was closed due to extreme heat. Google said it was
closed again this time but fortunately was wrong. There was a good 20+ minute
film about the day. A musket demonstration was due soon nearby.
Ranger Ed Hurley (I believe) portrayed a local militiaman.
Before he loaded and fired his replica Brown Bess, he explained how the locals
had gotten angry enough to take up arms. While the issue of taxation without
representation was the original cause of agitation, the closing of Boston
harbor in response to the Boston Tea Party was what really riled people up. Bostonians
rich and poor were penalized heavily as trade and work dried up. The farmers
inland were also affected. There was no market in town for their excess crops
and livestock, and no place to buy trade foods from abroad, or items
manufactured there by artisans like Paul Revere. Gage had also replaced local
government and judges with his own choices. The locals had kept their own
choices operating as a shadow regime. The powder keg was set, and the Concord
raid lit the fuse. I had not considered the effect of the closing of the harbor
on the farmers before. As the British raid began in darkness, it was clearly no
surprise. Church bells pealed through the night, along with warning musket
shots in the distance, as riders pelted down the roads. After this fine
program, another started within 20 minutes.
Ranger Jared Frederick led a walk of Elm Brook Hill, better
known to AWI gamers as the Bloody Angle, even if that’s more of a Civil War
label. Recently the area was surveyed with Lidar and then extensively searched
with metal detectors, yielding musket balls and some buttons. While some militia
may have fired .69 caliber balls as the British did, most had.50 caliber or
smaller balls, making it clear where militia shots had landed. The area was
much less wooded in 1775, some 80 percent of current woods not present. Only patches
too rough to farm or the odd orchard were present. The British column had advanced
guards, flank guards and rear guards, about 50 yards ahead of or alongside the
main column. Since half the troops were light infantry, many were available for
such duty.
The Bay Road back to Boston crossed Elm Brook at a bridge
and rose up the hill, making two turns. The first batch of militia musket balls
turned up around A, where the rear guard held back the 400+ militia (1)
pursuing from Concord. About 150+ Woburn militia (2) were on a wooded ridge,
adding their fire against the rearguard.
To the surprise of the searchers, few turned up around the
right-hand bend in the road. But further along, another batch of shot was
found, where another road cut in from the north. The Reading and Billerica
militia (3), some 300+ who had not been at Concord, had rested and refreshed
themselves from the long march and then moved down that northern road to move
into position against the Bay Road. The Woburn militia on the wooded ridge
moved east along the ridge (4) to take the British under fire. It is not known
if they engaged the British advance guard, flank guard or the rear guard.
Ranger Jared said ~8 British soldiers died on this hill, suggesting total
losses of perhaps 25 or 30 on this half mile of road.
Many musket balls landed some 50 yards from the road,
indicating that the targets were the guards, rather than the road column. This indicates
that the militia were further away, perhaps 100 yards from the road, despite
film depictions of them lining the road itself. See below a picture of
reconstructed roadside fences.
Those who owned roadside property were required to build
these “horse-high and hog-tight” to keep livestock from running off the road on
their way to market in Boston. One advantage the militia had was plenty of locals who knew the roads, where the British had to stick to the Bay Road, and everyone knew to go there if they wanted to get a shot at them.
The retreat was 18 miles long, making this one of the
bloodier sections. Jared noted that because the terrain was so much clearer,
the British could see thousands more militia heading to fight them, not a soothing sight. Some 4,000 militia got into combat, while at least another 2,000 didn’t get to fire before the
pursuit ended in the evening.
Another rude surprise for the retreating column waited west
of Lexington, where Captain Parker had rallied his Lexington company from their
morning defeat. Along with other arriving men, they laid an ambush from a hill
and fired into the Regulars. With many officers down, low on ammunition, tired,
hungry and thirsty, the redcoats broke formation and started to run. They soon
made it into the ranks of Lord Percy’s 1,000 reinforcements. A couple blasts
from his 6 pounder artillery pieces scattered the pursuit. The militia soon
recovered and resumed their incessant sniping. Serious fighting broke out at
Menotomy (now Arlington). Action was house-to-house in some cases: buildings were
burnt by the British. All during the action, militia companies would engage the
British. Once the column was past, many would then leapfrog east parallel to
the road to set up for another go. Any bridges or other choke points would see
increased action. Here’s a link to the helpful National Park Service map of the fighting
along Battle Road:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Lexington_and_Concord#/media/File:Concord_Retreat.png
When it was over, some 93 militia had been killed or wounded, and almost 300 British soldiers. Assuming that the 4,000 engaged militia fired 10 rounds each, that would be 40,000 rounds for 300 hits, or over 133 shots for each hit. So much for tales of all the American sharpshooters. The raid, intended to destroy an arms cache and defuse possible hostilities, had failed to do either, and given a beating to the grenadiers and light infantry, the cream of Gage’s army. A growing army of militia began to besiege Boston. Eight years of hard war followed.
Ranger Ed was assisted by a park employee in period dress. I
didn’t get her name. She was a guide at the house where the tour started and
knew plenty about the house and the owners, some of whom fought that day in
their own yards. She also served as Ranger Ed’s safety helper and drill master
during the musket demonstration. Here's hoping they all keep their jobs.
They’re quite good at it.
Do check with the National Park Service at the park for
info. Google was wrong. It’s worth the detour.
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