This past April 19th, the Nerds sponsored a “real-time campaign” of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Admittedly, we were humbled by the overwhelmingly positive feedback and encouragement from new and long-term followers. After reviewing our analytics for our website, Facebook, and Instagram pages, we discovered we had amassed over one million views between April 17th and 20th. For the entire month of April, we received over six million visits!
We can't thank you enough for being part of our nerdy community. (We’re not crying; you’re crying!!)
Anywho, during our real-time campaign, the Museum of Old Newbury shared with us a neat document attributable to an April 19th Newburyport Minute Man Company.
On the eve of the American Revolution, the seaport community of Newburyport had nine military companies. These included four militia companies, two minute-man companies, an independent marine company composed of the community’s merchants, ship owners, and captains, a uniformed artillery company, and a private military body known only as the “independent company.”
Throughout the Fall of 1774, the nine units were in complete wartime preparation mode, acquiring weapons and accouterments, reviewing drill manuals and gathering supplies for an anticipated military campaign.. By the Spring of 1775, Newburyport merchant ships were sailing to French colonies in the West Indies to acquire firelocks and artillery pieces.
On April 19, 1775, an alarm rider arrived midday in Newburyport to alert the community of the British advance on Concord. Surprisingly, the town refused to believe the message and sent a rider toward Salem to confirm the report's veracity. When he reached Danvers, the rider discovered not only that His Majesty’s forces were advancing toward Concord but had massacred a militia company in Lexington. In response, the rider raced back to Newburyport.
By 5 PM, all nine of Newburyport’s military units had assembled and marched off to war. By midnight, the troops had arrived in the Menotomy District of Cambridge. The men encamped near the horrific aftermath of the Menotomy fight, which was a vicious hand-to-hand struggle between Massachusetts and British troops and left dozens dead and wounded.
The next day, the nine units joined the Siege of Boston.
To celebrate the 249th Anniversary of Newburyport’s response to the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Museum of Old Newbury posted an image of a period document in its collection on its social media pages. The document was an expense receipt from Captain Moses Nowell’s Minute Company of Newburyport for food and drink acquired as the unit advanced toward Boston.
Most expense documents submitted by Massachusetts forces following Lexington and Concord include mileage costs. A few requests for reimbursement, particularly for units from Western Massachusetts, include expenses incurred from room and board.
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| Image Courtesy of The Museum of Old Newbury |
The neat thing is that this is the second account the Nerds are aware of, which describes what Massachusetts forces consumed in the field as they advanced to intercept British troops.
The first account is from Andover minuteman James Stevens. According to his journal entry, "April ye 19 1775 this morning about seven aclok we had alarum that the Reegerlers was gon to Conkord we getherd to the meting hous & then started for Concord we went throu Tukesbary & in to Bilrica we stopt to Polords & eat some bisket & Ches on the comon.”
The Newburyport document includes similar food items. For example, Nowell’s men purchased “ship’s bread,” “white bread,” and “cheese.” However, the men also obtained additional items in preparation for a prolonged campaign, including a “½ quintal fish.”
A half quintal of fish was approximately fifty-six pounds of dried codfish.
Nowell also retained Newbury chocolatier Anthony Davenport's services to acquire twenty-five pounds of chocolate for his men.
Of course, there are two eye-raising items on the expense receipt submitted by Captain Nowell. First, the unit purchased “65 ½ gallons of N.E. rum, " roughly the equivalent of a hogshead. Admittedly, the Nerds are curious whether the Newburyport men distributed this rum via canteen rations or transported a hogshead in a cart as the unit advanced toward Boston.
The other entry lists “entertainment for men.” The Nerds are curious about the exact “entertainment” provided to the Newburyport minute company before departing to Boston and did unleash an occasional snicker. However, based on the invoice, we suspect Anthony Davenport likely entertained Nowell’s Company while they waited for the town’s rider to return from Salem.
The minute company submitted this invoice for reimbursement in November 1775. We are unsure if the request for compensation was allowed.
The Nerds encourage our followers to visit the Museum of Old Newbury, located on High Street in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
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