Two Hannahs, Two Annas and a Mary - Five Massachusetts Women Who Came in Direct Contact With His Majesty's Troops on April 19, 1775

Recently the Nerds were asked to look into an unusual and likely false claim about a group of Native Americans who allegedly trained the minute companies from the Menotomy District of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to conduct underwater warfare operations against His Majesty’s forces. It’s a pretty wild claim and rest assured, we’ll be blogging about that and other fantastically false April 19th facts in 2023.

However, while looking into this matter, we came across yet another petition from a civilian who found herself trapped between hostile forces on April 19, 1775. Before this discovery, we were only aware of three accounts from civilians who found themselves in similar circumstances.

First up is Lincoln’s Mary Hartwell, who remembered coming in close contact with retreating British forces just as they were about to enter the Bloody Curve. “I saw an occasional horseman dashing by, going up and down, but heard nothing more until I saw them coming back in the afternoon all in confusion, wild with rage and loud with threats. I knew there had been trouble and that it had not resulted favorably for their retreating army. I heard musket shots just below by the old Brooks Tavern, and trembled, believing that our folks were killed.”

 

Photo Credit: John Collins

 

Anna Munroe, wife of Lexington’s Sergeant William Munroe, and her 5-year-old daughter Anna nearly the Royal Artillery and Percy's Relief Column as they fled the family tavern. According to her 19th Century account, the child witness recalled she “could remember seeing the men in redcoats coming toward the house and how frightened her mother was when they ran from the house. That was all she could remember, but her mother told her of her very unhappy afternoon. She held Anna by the hand, brother William by her side and baby Sally in her arms . . . She could hear the cannon firing over her head on the hill. She could smell the smoke of the three buildings which the British burned between here and the center of Lexington. And she did not know what was happening to her husband, who was fighting, or what was happening within her house. . . Anna’s mother used to talk to her of what happened on April 19th and she remembered that her mother used to take her on her lap and say: ‘This is my little girl that I was so afraid the Red coats would get.’”

Perhaps the most notable female non-combatant who came into direct contact with the retreating British column was Hannah Adams of Menotomy. As we have previously discussed, the Menotomy Fight of April 19, 1775 was a vicious engagement that devolved into a bloody house-to-house and room-to-room fight for survival. 

 

Unfortunately, as this fight raged on, Hannah Adams found herself trapped between Massachusetts militiamen and British regulars.

Hannah had given birth to a daughter approximately ten days before the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The pregnancy and subsequent delivery were particularly difficult; as a result, she was still bedridden on April 19th. As the British column retreated towards her village, her husband, Deacon Joseph Adams, allegedly panicked, abandoned his wife and family, and hid in a nearby hayloft. Three regulars burst into her bedroom at the height of the Menotomy Fight. One threatened to kill her with his bayonet.

According to Hannah Adams, “[Upon] the return of the Kings Troops from Concord, divers of them entered our house by bursting open the doors, & three of the soldiers, broke into the room, in which I then was, laid on my bed; being Scarcely able to walk, from my bed to the fire, & not having been to my chamber-door, from my being delivered in Child-birth to that time -One of the soldiers, immediately opened my Curtains with his Bayonet, fixed, pointing the same to my breast. I immediately cried out –For the Lords Sake, don’t kill me-He replied Damn you-One that stood, near, Said We will not hurt the Woman if she will go out of the house, for we will surely burn it-I immediately arose, threw, a Blanket, over me, went out & crawled into a Corn House, near the door with my infant in my arms, where I remained until they were gone They immediately Set the house on fire, in which I had left five Children, & no other person,-but the fire was happily extinguished.”

 

Petition of Hannah Adams, Massachusetts Historical Society

 

Adams submitted her account of the encounter to Massachusetts officials, who quickly published it. To say it became a public relations disaster for the Crown in the aftermath of Lexington and Concord is an understatement.

In addition to the account of Hannah Adams, The Nerds recently encountered a description of the Menotomy Fight from a second Hannah - Hannah Bradish of Menotomy. 

How we missed her detailed and graphic account is on us. Bad Nerds … Bad Nerds indeed.

Like Hannah Adams, Hannah Bradish was also bedridden on April 19, 1775, having given birth to a child eight days earlier. Her husband, Ebenezer Bradish Jr., was a tavern keeper and part-time attorney. However, unlike Deacon Adams, it appears Bradish’s husband was with his militia company that day.

As the regulars entered Menotomy, Hannah was asleep in bed with her infant. The noise of the fighting woke her up ad she quickly gathered her children and fled to the family kitchen located at the back of the house.

According to her statement submitted to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress on May 11, 1775, “Hannah Bradish, of that part of Cambridge, called Menotomy, and daughter of timothy Paine, of Worcester, in the county of Worcester, esq. of lawful age, testifies and says, that about five o'clock on Wednesday last, afternoon, being in her bed-chamber, with her infant child, about eight days old, she was surprised by the firing of the king's troops and our people, on their return from Concord. She being weak and unable to go out of her house, in order to secure herself and family, they all retired into the kitchen, in the back part of the house. She soon found the house surrounded with the king's troops; that upon observation made, at least seventy bullets were shot into the front part of the house; several bullets lodged in the kitchen where she was, and one passed through an easy chair she had just gone from. The door of the front part of the house was broken open; she did not see any soldiers in the house, but supposed, by the noise, they were in the front. After the troops had gone off, she missed the following things, which, she verily believes, were taken out of the house by the king's troops, viz: one rich brocade gown, called a negligée, one lutestring gown, one white quilt, one pair of brocade shoes, three shifts, eight white aprons, three caps, one case of ivory knives and forks, and several other small articles.”

Photo Credit: John Collins

 

Of course, the sheer number of bullet strikes into Bradish’s home is corroborated by the Revered David McClure. On April 20, 1775, the minister visited Menotomy and was horrified at the extent of damage he witnessed. “Dreadful were the vestiges of war on the road. I saw several dead bodies, principally British, on & near the road. They were all naked, having been stripped, principally, by their own soldiers. They lay on their faces. Several were killed who stopped to plunder & were suddenly surprised by our people pressing upon their rear…. The houses on the road of the march of the British, were all perforated with balls, & the windows broken. Horses, cattle & swine lay dead around. Such were the dreadful trophies of war, for about 20 miles!”

"Drinking a Number of Loyal and Patriotic Toasts" - What Did Massachusetts Minute and Militia Companies Do Once the Drills Ended?

With the debut of Christmas Hell 2022 … aka the arrival of the latest Hallmark Christmas specials … the Nerds realized we had to keep busy or risk being forced to watch Winnie Cooper’s latest effort to wed a royal fop from some unknown fairy tale country.

So with that said, the Nerds decided to take a fresh look at the military activities of Massachusetts minute and militia companies on the eve of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. As we reviewed period accounts and documentation, we had to ask ourselves, “what the heck happened when the drills ended for the day? Were there any social gatherings?”

As many historians have previously noted, once the French threat in North America was suppressed in 1763, Massachusetts militia rarely assembled to drill and, as a result, were of little military value. By the eve of the Boston Tea Party, a militia muster was not viewed as a military gathering but rather as a sort of town holiday offering an opportunity for families and friends to socialize. 

 

However, by 1774, many American colonists were gravely concerned that an immoral British government, having exhausted opportunities for plunder and profit in England and Ireland, was now seeking a dispute with the American colonies as an excuse to enslave and deprive them of their wealth and liberties. In response, the people of Massachusetts saw the coming conflict with England as inevitable and, thus, approached military preparations with a sense of importance and urgency.

Yet, despite the looming threat of war, many militia companies still found time after hosting drills to host social gatherings and celebrations.

In 1774, Newburyport’s Marine Society, a charitable organization composed of merchants, ship owners and captains, formed an independent military company known as the “Independent Marines”. On September 21, 1774, the unit assembled for a drill. According to the September 21st edition of the Essex Journal and Merrimack Packet, “Wednesday last the independent military society in this town met at the town-house compleat in arms and ammunition : After having been reviewed by their officers chosen by the society, they performed the manual exercise and filings, after which they marched to the Mason's arms tavern, and there performed the evolutions; and from thence marched to Mr. William Tell's (a gentleman that has always not only talked, but acted upon the genuine principles of patriotism), who had prepared an elegant entertainment for the society; after spending a few very agreeable hours with a number of gentlemen (whom Mr. 'Feel had invited) in conversation, repast, and drinking a number of loyal and patriotic toasts, the society again rally, march to the town-house, and after firing three vollies lodged their arms. All was conducted with the greatest order and good humour.”

Approximately a month later, the Newburyport Company of Artillery assembled to drill. Once finished, “they then marched to General Wolf’s tavern where an elegant supper was provided at the expense of the company, and a few agreeable hours were spent with drinking forty-five loyal and patriotic toasts.”

A January 5, 1775 account in the Essex Journal and Merrimack Packet reported that the minute company of Lunenburgh (MA) spent the morning drilling and then “marched to a public house where the officers had prepared an elegant dinner for the company.”

Period accounts from Andover, Methuen, Boxford, and Haverhill also describe militia, minute and independent companies assembling to drill, and perform a variety of military maneuvers before retiring to their respective “public house” for meals and libations.

The diary of the Reverend Ebenezer Parkman of Westborough, Massachusetts, highlights several instances of militia, minute and alarm list companies socializing after the completion of military exercises.

On March 8, 1775, the minister recalled, “I rode to Shrewsbury to Mr. Sumners Lecture to the Minute-Men under the Command of Capt. Job Cushing. Dined at Mr. Sumners.”

A month later, Parkman noted, “This Day was designed to be Lecture Day at Southborough and Mr. Fitch to preach to the Minute Men. Our Minute Men were invited, and Mr. Barnabas Newton and Joseph Harrington joining together propose to give them an early Dinner.” Unfortunately, the event was canceled due to inclement weather.

Parkman notes that two days before the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Westborough minute company was invited to drill with the Brookfield minute company. Afterward, “[the] Minute Men were entertained at Mr. Barnabas Newtons. By his Invitation I was there with them.”

Accounts of social gatherings were not limited to Provincial accounts. As Head Interpretive Ranger Jim Hollister noted "Ensign DeBerniere’s account from March of 1775 mentions watching a militia company at drill while he and Capt. Brown were sitting in a tavern adjacent to the training field. He said that after their exercise they filed into the tavern and drank until 9:00 then went home 'full of pot valour.'" 

Historian John Mills also chipped in and shared Ensign DeBerniere's full account. "We arrived at Buckminster's tavern [still there near the old training field which now has Blacksmith Minuteman statue in Framingham, MA] about six o'clock that evening. The company of militia were exercising near the house, and an hour after they came and performed they came and performed their feats before the windows of the rooms we were in; we did not feel easy at seeing such a number so very near to us; however, they did not know who we were, and took little or notice of us. After they had done their exercise, one of their commanders spoke a very eloquent speech. recommending patience, coolness and bravery (which indeed they very much wanted); particularly told them they would always conquer if they did not break; and recommended them to charge us cooly, and wait for our fire, and everything would succeed with them - quotes Caesar and Pompey, brigadiers Putnam and Ward and all such great men; put them in mind of Cape Breton, and all the battles they had gained for his majesty in the last war, and observed that the regulars must have been ruined but for them. After so learned and spirited harangue, he dismissed the parade, and the whole company came into the house and drank until nine o'clock, and the returned to their respective homes full of pot-valor."

The Nerds will continue to look for period accounts of militia and minute companies socializing after military drills. If you’re aware of any other accounts, be sure to let us know!