American Revolution 250, Part I: Burial Grounds, John Hancock, and Museums/Historic Buildings

This trip was no different. In Arlington, I found the graves of Deacon Adams and his wife, who appears in Worthy of Trust, and the graves of others who died that day, like Jason Russell. It was the Russell house in Worthy of Trust “with the blood so deep it rippled as David and I walked through it” (p. 11). In Forest Hills (after some searching because it is a large cemetery and still active), I found the Warren family plot, and was excited to find not only Dr. Warren (this is his body’s third resting place) and his wife and children, but related descendants (through his brother, John) who carried on the legacy of becoming doctors and serving in the military. Also in Forest Hills was the grave of Henry Dearborn, who made the march to up the Kennebec to Quebec with Arnold and was captured in the Battle of Quebec. In Concord, I wasn’t looking for anyone in particular, but many of the men who fought on April 19^th were buried there, as was Reverend Emerson, a Patriot and grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson. What I noted in Concord was that in the 1730s, there was a sudden shift in the Memento Mori (Remember death) carvings that top the gravestones – the art changed drastically. Did something happen to the stone carver? Was there an apprentice? Was there a falling out with the previous carver? Were they trying to usher in a new era of gravestone art? Finally in Lexington, I found the grave of William Eustis, once apprentice to Dr. Warren and later governor of Massachusetts—I hadn’t been expecting that at all!

The Concord Museum is excellent. Not only does it have artifacts from the American Revolution, but it details the history of the town from pre-European times onward. Inside, they have Ralph Waldo Emerson’s study, Henry David Thoreau’s writing desk and the bedframe he used at Walden Pond, and Louisa May Alcott’s teapot. I very much enjoyed the interactive station where you could use word from Thoreau’s “Fair Haven” and other writings to create your own nature poem. Of the American Revolution artifacts, the ones I found most interesting were the musket flints—discovered in the field where the Acton and Concord militias had gathered—and the lantern from Old North Church. The flints were found in two rows, indicating how the men had lined up that morning as they watched the British at the bridge below and then saw smoke rising from the town. They would have put new flints in their muskets because a flint wears down over time, and they wanted fresh flints to ensure their guns would fire. As one of the rangers at Old North said, finding these flints shows the moment when the militias made the decision to confront the British, and they were prepared for any eventuality.

In Lexington, I visited the Hancock-Clarke House, Buckman Tavern, Munroe Tavern, and the new “Something Is Being Done” Lexington Women’s Monument. The Hancock-Clarke house was once owned by John Hancock’s grandfather, a minister, and at the time of the Revolution was owned by Jonas Clarke, who was married to John Hancock’s cousin, Lucy Bowes Clarke. John Hancock and Sam Adams were staying in the house in April of 1775 after the conclusion of a meeting of the Provincial Congress, of which Hancock was president and at which he, Sam and John Adams, Thomas Cushing, and Robert Treat Paine had been chosen as delegates to the Continental Congress. It was here that Paul Revere and William Dawes came to warn Sam and John on the night of April 18-19 (Revere arrived about midnight, Dawes about 12:30) to leave town for fear that the British would capture them. Hancock famously refused to leave, wanting to stand with the Lexington militia against the British, and was still there when Revere returned hours later. Finally, he was convinced to leave, and Hancock and Adams left town—without Hancock’s trunk, which held important papers, and was removed from Buckman Tavern just before the battle by Revere and Hancock’s secretary.

Buckman Tavern was next. It was here the Lexington militia gathered after Revere and Dawes raised the alarm—some had been at the tavern for hours before the British arrived—and overlocks the Lexington Green (then the Common) where the confrontation took place. Next was Munroe Tavern, which is on the way out of town. It was here that the British stopped after receiving reinforcements led by Colonel Percy reached the embattled men under Colonel Smith. For about an hour, (2:00-3:00 pm) they used the tavern as a field hospital and to regroup before the last push on to Boston—a push that would take them through Menotomy (today’s Arlington), where some of the most brutal and bloody fighting would take place. I hadn’t realized/known that the British stopped; it seems counter-intuitive to stop while being pursued by hundreds, if not by this time thousands, of militia, but the British would have had significant numbers of wounded, and by this point, the men under Smith would have been marching for over twelve hours. Also, Colonel Percy had brought artillery, so they would have been able to set up a significant defensive position for the first time that day. Then, in 1789, George Washington stopped and dined at Munroe Tavern on his tour of the states.

The last thing in Lexington was the “Something Is Being Done” Lexington Women’s Monument, which was just unveiled last year. A couple of the women involved in the monument’s creation, part of the group LexSeeHer, Inc, were there explaining the monument, and I got to speak with Jessie Steigerwald, the driving force. Not only does the monument look amazing, but the thought and intentionality behind it are stunning. One of the women depicted is Margaret Tulip, an enslaved woman who won her suit for freedom in 1768. The words from the finding are on the monument, that she “has been a free Woman and not a Slave.” After much searching, they found descendants of Margaret Tulip, and one of them served as a model for Margaret’s arm and hand. Also depicted on the monument are Anna Harrington, who led a protest movement against the taxes on imported textiles in 1969 where she got 45 women to participate in a Spinning Match, and Abigail Harrington, who sent her son Jonathan (a fifer) to the Green on the morning of April 19, 1775, with the words “Something must be done.” The monument was also created so that you can stand in the middle of it and hold hands with Margaret Tulip and suffragist Caroline Wellington with the words “Bold Women Make History” and “Something Is Being Done” surrounding your feet. If you are ever in Lexington, definitely stop here. For more information and audio guides: www. Lexseeher.com 

In Arlington, I visited the Jason Russell house which is (as I may have mentioned or might later mention) some of the bloodiest fighting of April 19, 1775 took place. Right off the Concord Road (today’s Massachusetts Avenue), the Russell house was unfortunately placed on that afternoon. While Jason Russell’s family evacuated, he returned to fight with the militia. According to our tour guide, somewhere around 2,000 militia from many had gathered around Menotomy by this point. The British flanked the defenders at the Russell house, and the militia retreated inside, followed by the British. Evidence of the battle is still there today in the musket ball holes through stairs and walls and the grandfather clock, stripped of its brass workings by the British (not a clock that belonged to the Russells but moved into the house after; it is from that time period). Some of the militia hid in the cellar, but Russell, who had a bad leg and was a veteran of the French and Indian War, was killed before he even entered the house, according to local history, dying on his doorstep. In total, twelve militia and two Regulars were killed at the house that day. 

One interesting thing about the house is that in the kitchen, the ceiling (which is original) is polka dotted. Apparently this was fashionable and was done using corncobs. An enslaved woman, Cate (who had been given to Jason Russell when she was three months old), lived in the house as well (there were, according to our guide, 19 enslaved people in Menotomy, with the population of the town at 400). Cate evacuated with the Russell family, but little else is known about her.

I then went down the street for the Patriot’s Day arrival of Paul Revere and William Dawes. Paul was running late (got held up in Medford apparently), but Dawes arrived. His horse wasn’t interested in cooperating, but he still recited the poem “The Midnight Ride of William Dawes.”