"Bringing Up Leade From Boston and Running the Bullets" - How Massachusetts Towns Likely Provided Musket Balls for Its Minute and Militia Companies

Minute Man National Historical Park has been abuzz with activities over the past week. These activities center around the rare and significant discovery of five musket balls, a momentous event that history enthusiasts and park visitors are privileged to witness.

According to the New York Post, “Five musket balls were discovered and believed to be fired at British forces by colonial militia members during the North Bridge fight, Jarrad Fuoss, Minute Man park ranger and historic weapons specialist, confirmed to Fox News Digital. The ammunition was found in an area where British soldiers formed up to resist the river crossing, and analysis indicates that each one was fired from the opposite side of the river, not dropped during the process of reloading, according the National Park Service (NPS) … ‘These musket balls can be considered collectively as ‘The Shot Heard Round the World,’ and it is incredible that they have survived this long. It is also a poignant reminder that we are all stewards of this battlefield and are here to preserve and protect our shared history,’ [Jarad] Fuoss said. Fuoss said the musket balls were made of lead, which was very common at the time period, as others could be comprised of different metals.”

The Nerds had an opportunity to view these amazing artifacts on display yesterday at the North Bridge Visitor’s Center. While there, JArad Fuoss and NPS Museum Curator Nikki Walsh explained that the balls range in size from approximately.40 caliber buckshot to almost .75 caliber in size. The balls have markings and deformations consistent with being rammed down a musket barrel and fired.

This discovery is significant because it was made on the eve of the 250th Anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

That said, last week, the Nerds received an inquiry about how Massachusetts minute and militia companies acquire ammunition in preparation for war with England. Did they purchase the musket balls “as is,” or were they making them themselves?

As a preliminary matter, both local communities and the Massachusetts Provincial Congress were actively encouraging its soldiers to equip themselves with, among other items, musket balls. Congress ordered, “The improvement of the militia in general in the art military has been therefore thought necessary, and strongly recommended by this Congress. We now think that particular care should be taken by the towns and districts in this colony, that each of the minute men, not already provided therewith, should be immediately equipped with an effective firearm, bayonet, pouch, knapsack, thirty rounds of cartridges and balls” 

Similarly, on December 26, 1774, Roxbury ordered "Militia minutemen [to] hold themselves in readiness at a minutes warning, compleat in arms and ammunition; that is to say a good and sufficient firelock, bayonet, thirty rounds of powder and ball, pouch and knapsack.”

Many (but not all) local communities and the Committee of Supplies successfully stockpiled ammunition for Massachusetts troops.  For example, before Westborough’s minute, the company mobilized in response to the Lexington alarm and accessed the town's ammunition stock, it distributed musket balls and gunpowder to its men based on the caliber of the weapons they carried. A post-Battle of Lexington inspection of Chelmsford’s militia and alarm list companies revealed the men had “3043 Bulletts,” while a Bristol County militia regiment reported it had “pounds powder—244 1/2, Bullets—11934.”

That said, the question posed to the Nerds was whether towns were purchasing bullets “pre-made” or making musket balls themselves. While it is conceivable that representatives from various towns could have bought "pre-made" musket balls, from the limited documentation we have reviewed, the more common practice appears to be that towns would often purchase lead, often in "brick" form, melt it down themselves, and make bullets based on the various calibers of firearms within their community. The town would then either distribute the balls to the respective militia and minute men of their town or store them in the community's ammunition stock.

An example of this practice can be found in Lexington. On November 10, 1774, the town voted to acquire musket balls for its militia company. “Voted. That two half barrells of powdere be addede to the Town stocke. Also Voted that a sufficiency of ball for sd powdere be provided. Votede. That there be a suitable quantity of Flints provided for the Towne if there be found a deficency.”

Shortly after passing this resolution, Lexington charged two residents, Joshua Reed and “Ensign Harrington,” with acquiring lead bricks to make musket balls. The pair traveled to Waltham and Boston and purchased sufficient lead to make musket balls for Captain John Parker’s Company.

According to town records, Ensign Harrington purchased enough lead to make approximately 104 pounds of musket balls. As Lexington town records note, “Granted an ordere to pay Ensign Harrington £2.12.10 in full . . . for 104 lbs. of bullets & . . . for going to Walthame for powdere & to Bostone for leads.”

Similarly, Joshua Reed was also securing ammunition for Parker’s Company. According to town records, Reed was compensated “in full for his bringing up leade from Boston and running the bullets.”

The Nerds suspect the term “running the bullets” refers to melting lead to make musket balls.

As we dug further, we encountered similar accounts from Methuen, Amesbury, and Bradford. In each community, the residents agreed to form committees to purchase lead and cast musket balls. 

We also found a July, 776 Massachusetts legislative order instructing towns within the colony to turn over any spare window lead weights so they could be melted and made into musket balls. The order appeared in the July 12, 1776 edition of the Essex Journal And New Hampshire Packet.

We’ll keep you posted as we continue researching the matter.

"There Are Under the Care of the Selectmen and Overseers" - A Sampling of Local Community Concerns in the Shadows of the 1774 Coercive Acts

2024 marks the 250th anniversary of implementing the “Coercive Acts,” General Gage’s arrival in the colony, the formation of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and the buildup to war with England. With the passage of the Boston Port Bill and related acts, Massachusetts' opinions ranged from fear of economic ruin to resentment over the restriction of “English liberties.” As the weeks passed, a common belief amongst many colonists emerged 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. Parliament had hoped to accomplish this goal quietly, but the furor aroused in the colonies by England’s economic policies had given the government a temporary setback. Now, these mysterious men, who controlled Parliament and the king’s ministers, were undertaking to openly incite a war, declare American rebels, and enslave them.

For example, a Lexington town resolution noted, “[Our] Charter Rights & Liberties are in danger, are infringed and upon a most careful, Serious & mature Consideration of them . . . and are comparing them with Acts of the British Parliament, & Measures adopted by the British Court, Ministry & Government . . .some of which have been carried into Execution amongst us, We are clearly of opinion that . . . the Plan of Oppression is begun, & so far carried on that, if our Enemies are still Successful, and no Means can be found to put a Stop to their Career, . . . we have just Reason to fear That the Eyes of the Head of Government being blinded, the Sources of Justice poisoned and Hands of administration bribed with interest, the system of slavery will soon be compleat.”

"An Ale House Interior" by George Morland, c. 1790

While colonists were keenly aware of the political, economic, and constitutional threats of the “Intolerable Acts,” the Nerds had to ask, were there other daily concerns that took priority and occasionally overshadowed the constitutional crisis throughout the Summer of 1774?

Naturally, the answer is “of course.”

In Amesbury, residents were concerned about the condition of the roadways that passed through their town and voted to raise “￡80 … for the repairing of highways.” Lexington selectmen spent much of the summer addressing multiple notices centering on the arrival of several apprentices, children who were either orphans or separated from their families, and pregnant young women. On one such occasion, Thomas Harrington notified Lexington selectmen that he had taken in “a child named Sarah Harris, who came from “low circumstances.”

In Methuen, residents bickered over how best to improve a bridge that spanned over the Spicket River. After a considerable debate, the residents agreed to hire “Mr Henery Bodwell for plan to cover Spicket Bridge near Caleb Halls” and purchase wood planks from John Whittier Jr. and Abner Morriel. In Bedford, residents were outraged that a recent 1774 tax valuation had more than tripled their property taxes since 1770.

Along the Merrimack River, the seaport community of Newburyport received reports of an earthquake that had recently rattled Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Like Lexington, Newburyport residents were primarily focused on a growing influx of poor children and teens who required public assistance and care. According to an August 31, 1774 advertisement in the Essex Journal and Merrimack Packet, the town’s selectmen announced, “There are under the care of the selectmen and overseers of the poor of the town of Newbury Port two young men and a number of boys and girls, from six years old to eighteen, many of them likely children; Persons who incline to take any of them as apprentices may know who they are, and upon what terms they will be bound out, by applying to the Selectmen or Overseers of said town.”

"The Haycart" by Francis Wheatley, c. 1779

In Westborough, the Reverend Ebenezer Parker spent much of his summer “haying,” visiting members of his flock, selling a horse, repairing fencing, writing correspondence to friends and associates, and reading and borrowing books.

In Rowley, colonists argued over an appropriate salary for the town’s minister. Several residents held out because they believed including twelve cords of wood per year as part of Reverend Bradford’s pay was excessive. At the same time, residents of Lynn were upset over the property once owned by “Joseph Gould, a Quaker” that had fallen into disrepair and was “Unfit for use.”

In Plymouth, when residents weren’t dragging the famed “Plymouth Rock” through town to relocate it near the town meeting house, they likely noticed that the community’s fishing fleet had expanded to seventy-five vessels, many of them schooners.

July 1774 was an expensive month for Haverhill. At a town meeting, the residents voted to round up “those to whom the Town is indebted, to bring in their Claims - in order to be allowed.” Shortly afterward, it resolved to “see what Money the Town will Vote to Raise to defray Town Charges in the present Year.” Finally, the residents agreed to continue to finance two schools in the town, “the one a Grammar School, and the other an English School.”

Image of August 29, 1774 Pepperell Town Meeting Minutes (Town of Pepperell)

Of course, the Nerds would be remiss if we didn’t come full circle and return to the colony’s objections to the Coercive Acts. We recently found a fascinating account from an August 29, 1774, town meeting in Pepperell, Massachusetts.

According to surviving minutes, “This being a time when the civil liberty of this province are unjustly infringed upon, when the ministry of Old England have endeavored to take away our Charter rights and privileges and the people of this province very much disturbed, every one looking after English liberties as departing from North America when congresses are appointed and appointing and the struggles very high, the people of this District prepared and raised a pole by the name of Liberty Pole the height of which was one hundred feet on the common directly before the Publick Meeting House door on the 29th day of August A.D. 1774 with a flag of Blew and red cloth five yards long and four bredths wide with convenience to hoist it to the top of the pole with ease.”

"A Continual Riding to all the Enemies of America" - Twenty-Four "Patriotic" Toasts Used in 1774 Essex County

Earlier this week, the Nerds shared their research findings on the political and military mood in Essex County (MA) in 1774. The event was held at Meredith Farm in Topsfield, MA, and sponsored by Essex Heritage.

One intriguing aspect discussed with guests after the presentation was the evolution of “patriotic” drinking toasts in 1774. As a starting point, historian Timothy Symington, in his book “Huzza! Toasting a New Nation, 1760-1815”, points out that toasts were a common social practice, often reflecting the prevailing social and political mood of the time.

Symington's research reveals a significant shift in toasting traditions. Pre-1776 American toasts, he notes, typically began with a pledge of loyalty to the King, Queen, and royal family, followed by toasts to Parliament and military leaders. The sessions usually concluded with anti-Catholic sentiments and a wish for prosperity. However, by 1770, toasts with a more rebellious or patriotic tone emerged, particularly in New England.

The Ale-House Door, a painting by Henry Singleton. c. 1790

However, by 1770, toasts seen as “rebellious” or “seditious” by royal officials and embraced by Massachusetts colonists started to creep into American toasts, particularly in New England. 

One example is a September 27, 1774 toast John Adams recorded a Dr. Cox made: “May the fair dove of Liberty in this Deluge of Despotism, find rest to the sole of her foot in America.” Another, which appeared in the January 19, 1774 edition of the Essex Journal And Merrimack Packet called for “A cobweb pair of breeches, a Hedge Hog saddle, a hard trotting horse and a continual riding to all the enemies of America.”

Curiously, Massachusetts colonists appeared to tread cautiously while in the presence of General Thomas Gage. When Gage arrived in Boston in late May 1775 to assume control of Massachusetts Bay Colony, several balls and celebrations were held in his honor. On May 25, 1774, the Essex Journal And Merrimack Packet reported, “Many loyal toasts were drank, and the harmony and decorum observed.” On June 1st, the same newspaper reported a second celebration took place, where “many loyal toasts were drank, the guns in the several batteries were fired on the occasion.”

Conspicuously absent in either account were any reports of “patriotic” or seditious toasts.

Of course, “patriotic” toasts became increasingly commonplace as Massachusetts moved closer to war. On September 21, 1774, a Newburyport newspaper reported a military company from the town’s Independent Marine Society spent the day drilling and visiting various taverns. According to the article, “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.”

So, with all this said, do we know what some patriotic toasts, particularly in Essex County? In our best Mona Lisa Vito voice, we can happily say, “we do!”

In addition to the Massachusetts two toasts described above, we have a collection of twenty-four toasts from Newburyport’s Independent Marine Society. The Essex County military company gathered on mid-October 1774 to drill and practice various “firing modes.” Once finished, they retired to a nearby tavern for a social gathering.

According to a local newspaper account, the men gave a series of toasts that started with professing loyalty to the King and Queen and rejecting Catholicism. Almost immediately, the remainder of the toasts delved into what some would interpret as seditious statements. The toasts included praise of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, a call for the “reformation [of] all tories” and “more of a military spirit.”

Here are images of the toasts, which can be found in the October 26, 1774 edition of the Essex Journal And Merrimack Packet:

On June 15th and 16th, the Salem Maritime National Historic Site Salem Maritime National Historic Site in Salem, Massachusetts, will host “By His Excellency's Command,” a living history event commemorating the 250th anniversary of General Thomas Gage's arrival in Salem. Salem Maritime has invited some of New England’s finest living history practitioners to portray Salem's soldiers, officers, legislators, and loyalist and patriot citizens.

Be sure to visit this amazing event and try out some of the above toasts on the loyalist and "patriot" residents of 1774 Salem!

"65 ½ Gallons of N.E. Rum" - What a Newburyport Minute Company Brought To War

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. 

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.

"Our Men Seemed Maddened With the Sight of British Blood" - Five Completely False Tales About April 19, 1775

Since our post on "Josiah Austin" and his fake account about the Battle of Concord, the Nerds have been repeatedly asked why we haven’t written about other crazy and untrue stories about the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

Admittedly, we were reluctant to write a blog post on the topic because we honestly didn’t think there were that many tales or accounts to share. Thanks to the internet and follower contributions, we were proven wrong.

So, without further fanfare and in the spirit of the upcoming April Fools Day, the Nerds present five fake stories about Lexington and Concord. 

The Sons of Liberty. To kick things off, we’d like to mention the flaming piece of human excrement known as The Sons of Liberty. 

This “historical drama” was a 2015 miniseries that appeared on the History Channel. Sponsored by the Sam Adams Brewery, the series promoters boasted that the production faithfully reproduced the events of Revolutionary New England.

The three-part series made Disney’s Johnny Tremain look like a doctoral thesis. It included Sam Adams leaping from rooftop to rooftop, Indiana Jones style, as redcoats tried to murder him from below. Other scenes included Captain John Parker’s Company being executed mafia-style at the Battle of Lexington, Dr. Joseph Warren having a torrid affair with Margaret Gage, and an army of leather-clad colonists that would have been warmly welcomed at a Judas Priest concert.

In short, the mini-series was a three-night commercial for Assassin’s Creed and Sam Adams Brewery. 

General Von Steuben.  Our next tale comes from the Lexington Minute Men.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a local resident would passionately tell members that in the Fall of 1774, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress hired Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben to train the colony’s minute and militia companies. He insisted Congress secretly hired a sloop from Salem, Massachusetts, to retrieve Baron von Steuben, who was kept safe by French contacts. He was smuggled into the colony and proceeded to train Worcester and Middlesex County forces in secret.

According to this “account,” Von Steuben fled the colony hours after the Battle of Lexington. Before departing for Europe, he swore he would return to finish his job of training the American forces. Almost three years later, the Prussian fulfilled his oath.

Although the Baron is rightfully credited with training the Continental Army at Valley Forge in 1778, he did not train Massachusetts minute and militia companies in 1774-1775. As discussed in this blog, Massachusetts forces were either training themselves or hiring third parties, including British deserters, to train them in the “art military.”

The Andover Minute Men. The Andover Minute Men occasionally get a razzing for stopping for lunch in Billerica on April 19, 1775, instead of conducting a forced march through Bedford to intercept the regulars as they retreated from Concord.

This fact must have galled 19th-century Andover historian Sarah Loring Bailey because, in her work Historical Sketches of Andover, she introduces a tale of the Andover minute companies encountering an armed British officer during the retreat to Boston.

Well…sort of.

According to Bailey, the Andover men “were fired upon by a British officer from a house which he was plundering. They rushed in and killed the man. They were used to the sight of blood, having served in the French war, but though veterans in the horrors of war, their souls revolted at some of the dreadful sights of that day. They related that our men seemed maddened with the sight of British blood, and infuriated to wreak vengeance on the wounded and helpless.”

According to Bailey, the Andover companies also witnessed other militia companies torturing British wounded. They were so sickened by the barbarity that they halted to render aid to those injured regulars. In one instance, “a fallen grenadier had been stabbed again and again by the passers-by, so that the blood was flowing from many holes in his waistcoat … [the Andover men] perhaps, remembering the days when they had called these men companions-in-arms, gently lifted up the dying soldier and gave him water to drink, for which he eagerly begged.”

Bailey must have received some flack from the claim as later editions of her work change the story to Chelmsford militiamen firing upon the British officer. Naturally, early 20th-century Chelmsford historians ran with Bailey’s revision.

In reality, there are multiple primary accounts from Andover minute men detailing their route of march and observations on April 19th. Conspicuously absent is any account of a British officer firing on Andover soldiers while plundering or the Merrimack Valley men rendering aid to British regulars tortured by other provincial forces.

General Bernardo de Galvez.  We all know that General Galvez and his Spanish companions single-handedly secured American Independence with their good looks, tasty alcoholic drinks, and laser blasters. The Nerds have seen enough postings on social media to know this is true. We’re also pretty sure General Glavez inspired the character Han Solo in the Star Wars trilogy because the internet told us so.

In 2016, “historian” and George Mason University professor Larrie D. Ferreiro published the claim that Galvez and other Spanish patriots were single-handedly financing, arming, and equipping American forces in preparation for war with England. 

According to Ferreiro “even before fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord in 1775, Spain was providing arms and munitions to the American insurgents. The Bilbao merchant Diego de Gardoqui, who had a long relationship with cod brokers in Marblehead and Salem, smuggled shiploads of muskets, shoes, uniforms, blankets, and gunpowder to New England. From New Orleans, Unzaga sent 10,000 pounds of much-needed gunpowder to the colonial troops at Fort Pitt (today’s Pittsburgh) to fend off British threats in the Western Theater. Madrid also sent today’s equivalent of a half-billion dollars to France in order to fund another arms smuggling operation to the United States. Americans desperately needed this materiel aid, for they had begun the war stunningly incapable of fending for itself. They had no navy, little in the way of artillery, and a ragtag army and militia that were bereft of guns and even of gunpowder. The colonists knew that without the help of France and Spain, they could not hope to prevail against the superior British army and navy.” 

Another “academic” argued that Galvez personally purchased and shipped thousands of Spanish muskets to New England in 1774 and 1775 to assist in the coming conflict with the crown.

We will defer to Joel Bohy’s research findings on the number of Spanish muskets in provincial hands on April 19th. Nevertheless, we suspect it is minimal to non-existent. We would also point out that the Nerds encountered some evidence of Massachusetts colonists sailing to French and Spanish Caribbean colonies to purchase muskets and cannons after Lexington and Concord. However, we have yet to encounter any evidence of Spanish supporters shipping billions worth of "muskets, shoes, uniforms, blankets, and gunpowder to New England” before the war began.

The “Menotomy Indians”. Our final tale, perhaps our favorite, comes from Frank Chamberlain of the 10th Massachusetts Regiment. Chamberlain says that several years ago, he was approached by a tourist who wanted to share some of his research on the Mentomy militia and how a collection of local Native Americans helped prepare them for war.

Curious, Chamberlain asked the tourist to elaborate, which he did. Apparently, a local tribe of “Menotomy Indians” trained the local militia in underwater combat. You read that correctly. This individual asserted that local Natives taught Menotomy militia men how to use reeds to breathe underwater to lay in ambush against His Majesty’s troops. The tourist claimed that on April 19th, several militiamen from Menotomy utilized this training, submerged themselves in Spy Pond, and waited for the regulars to pass by. The men emerged from the water and killed their enemy.

While we think this tale is worthy of a modern-day action movie, it’s safe to say it’s utterly false. And as an aside, muskets don’t work when they are wet.

Rest assured, the Nerds will collect more questionable tales from April 19th as they come in. We promise to post a follow-up article soon.

Now, has anyone seen our Spanish breathing reed? 

"Each Man is Supplied Even to a Knapsack" - Did they Really Wear Knapsacks at Lexington and Concord?

Recently, the Nerds were alerted to a discussion on the official Facebook page of the Massachusetts chapters of the Sons of the American Revolution. Specifically, there was a debate over the appropriateness of reenactors portraying Massachusetts militia and minute men wearing knapsacks at the annual Battles of Lexington and Concord reenactment.

Several organization members surprisingly scoffed at the notion of Middlesex County militia men wearing packs during the battle, particularly those who hailed from towns that saw combat: Concord, Lincoln, Lexington, Menotomy, and Cambridge. One person declared that requiring participants to wear knapsacks was part of a money-making scheme. Another declared that the National Park Service needed to be more flexible in its authenticity standards, especially regarding knapsacks. A third argued, without evidence, that his “relatives from Lexington and Concord didn’t dress like that on April 19th!”

We’d like to take a moment to address this so-called argument, particularly the claim that the militia companies that hailed from towns along the combat route never carried packs because the fight was literally outside their doors.

As a preliminary matter, the argument ignores militia laws, Massachusetts Provincial Congress resolves, and town resolutions of the period.

According to Massachusetts colonial militia laws between 1690 and 1773, when a company was alarmed, they were also required to rally fully armed and equipped for a military campaign. This included fielding with packs and blankets.

Photo credit: Minute Man National Historical Park

Similarly, on December 10, 1774, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress passed a resolution declaring that “each of the minute men, not already provided therewith, should be immediately equipped with an effective firearm, bayonet, pouch, knapsack, thirty rounds of cartridges and balls.”

During the buildup for war with England in 1774 and 1775, countless towns adopted existing Massachusetts militia laws and instructions from the Provincial Congress to pass local resolutions requiring its minute and militiamen to field with knapsacks if required to mobilize for war. For example, on November 21, 1774, the Town of Danvers resolved its minute companies would be equipped with “an effective fire-arm, bayonet, pouch, knapsack, thirty rounds of cartridges and balls.” On December 26, 1774, Roxbury ordered “Militia minutemen [to] hold themselves in readiness at a minutes warning, compleat in arms and ammunition; that is to say a good and sufficient firelock, bayonet, thirty rounds of powder and ball, pouch and knapsack.” In January 1775, Braintree required each soldier furnish himself with “a good fire lock, bayonett, cartouch box, one pound of powder, twenty-four balls to fitt their guns, twelve flints and a knapsack.”

Even General Gage took note of Massachusetts’ wartime preparations. According to one such report dispatched to his superiors, the general described “each man is supplied even to a knapsack, canteen and blanket and directed to bring a week’s provisions with him when called to the field.”

Of course, the Nerds suspect certain naysayers may argue that although there is evidence of laws and resolutions of knapsacks being required, there is no evidence of them actually being carried on April 19, 1775. Again, this argument is without merit.

Israel Litchfield of Scituate, Massachusetts notes in his journal that when he and others mobilized for war, “Daniel, and I and Lot and Amos and John Whitcom Came home and got our guns, Catoos boxes, knapsack & c. & went down to Cohasset". Similarly, as a Massachusetts militia company advanced towards Boston after Lexington and Concord, a pair of knapsacks were misplaced or fell off a support wagon. According to the subsequent advertisement, ““Lost out of a Waggon in Westborough, two Packs and a great Coat, also a Cartridge-Box, and powder Horn. The Packs contained two white Shirts, a check Shirt, 2 Pair of Stockings, some Provision, &c. &c. Whoever shall take up the above, and send them to Capt. Steadman’s of Cambridge, shall be handsomely rewarded. April 24, 1775. Lemuel Pomeroy. N.B. It is very likely the Packs was by Mistake put into a wrong Waggon”

But what about the towns that were either along the path of the fighting or nearby? Did militia and minute men leave their packs behind when they entered combat? The Nerds would point to three separate accounts that support the proposition that men who lived along the “Battle Road” also fielded with packs. The first two statements are attributable to Captain John Parker’s Lexington Company. The third is related to the Menotomy Fight.

According to the 1776 anniversary sermon of the Reverend Jonas Clarke, the minister discussed how Parker’s Company was prepared to respond to any military emergency, regardless of the location. According to Clarke, “Upon this intelligence, as also upon information of the conduct of the officers as above-mentioned, the militia of the town were alarmed, and ordered to meet on the usual place of parade; not with any design of commencing hostilities upon the king’s troops but to consult what might be done for our own and the people’s safety; And also to be ready for whatever service providence might call us out to, upon this alarming occasion in case overt acts of violence or open hostilities be committed by this mercenary hand of armed and blood thirsty oppressors.”

The term “alarmed” coupled with “And also to be ready for whatever service providence might call us out to” suggests that Parker’s Company fielded the morning of April 19th with packs in accordance to existing militia laws and was prepared to enter a military campaign against His Majesty’s forces regardless of where it took them. As recent research findings have revealed, Parker’s Company did not cease combat operations once it reached the Menotomy town line later that day and continued to pursue the enemy. Parker and his men remained in Cambridge for approximately one week. To undertake such a campaign without packs would defy logistical expectations and undermine the unit's efficiency in the early days of the Siege of Boston.

A second statement from a British officer at the Battle of Lexington directly notes Parker and his men were armed and equipped for a military campaign.

As the unit was formed on the Lexington Common, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith reported: “ I understand, from the report of Major Pitcairn, who was with them, and from many officers, that they found on a green close to the road a body of the country people drawn up in military order, with arms and accoutrement, and, as appeared after, loaded.”

However, the Nerds have a piece of even stronger evidence proving that militiamen wore packs while in the field on April 19, 1775.

In 1847, a mass grave that contained militiamen killed during the fighting around the Jason Russell House during the Menotomy fight was opened. According to an eyewitness who recorded his observations while the bodies were exhumed, he described how the men “were all buried … with their Clothes, Knapsacks, &c. On.”

Of course, the Nerds do not believe in absolutes, and it is possible that a few militiamen would have fielded without packs. However, we also adopt the National Park’s position on the issue. As the organization appropriately stated, “Can we say with absolute certainty that EVERY militiaman and minute man who answered the Lexington Alarm carried with him a knapsack and blanket? Of course not. However, this documentation shows that [knapsacks were] very common and in the vast majority.”

"Wholly Worthless for History" - Josiah Austin and His Alleged Role on April 19, 1775

The Nerds were minding our business today when our faithful servant, Kip Winger, suddenly crashed through the front door and stumbled into our well-decorated and fine-smelling parlor. Despite his impressive hair, silky voice, and ballerina-like moves, something troubled him.

“Master Winger,” we asked. “What is it?”

After a moment of stammering, he excitedly blurted out, “The beacons are lit! Minute Man National Park calls for aid!”

Naturally, we assumed Historian Joel Bohy would handle this one. But then we remembered aliens had abducted him and was still missing. But what about J.L. Bell? Certainly, he could address the matter. Unfortunately, Mr. Bell was unavailable and was competing in the next “Survivor” reality series. What about Katy Turner Getty?!? Yes … Katy can handle this issue!! Sadly, she was filming a Dunkin' Donuts commercial with Ben Affleck. 

Thus, we lept up from our red pleather couch (yes, we meant to say “pleather”), pushed Master Winger aside, donned our leopard print spandex, walked briskly to our 1987 Trans Am, and cried out, “To Concord!” as Europe’s “The Final Countdown” was chosen as our soundtrack.

And it is good that we answered the call, as today’s blog post addresses the questionable claim from a digital magazine that it had recently examined and transcribed a previously unknown written account of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. 

The magazine “Spared and Shared” asserts that the letter is in the hands of a private collector and that the document was allegedly written on or about 1800. The transcription of the document can be found here. Still, in a nutshell, the document is purported to have been written by Josiah Austin, “formerly of Charlestown, now of Salem, Massachusetts.” According to his account, Austin helped Colonel James Barrett of Concord remove ammunition, namely musket cartridges, from the town as the British approached. According to the account, Austin and Barrett’s son loaded the ammunition into a wagon and drove toward the advancing British column.

You read that correctly. He and the young lad drove their wagon toward the enemy. At some point, it became disabled and was stuck on or near the road. As the column passed the wagon, several “pioneers” allegedly pushed the wagon off the road, oblivious of the wagon’s contents or Austin’s role. The soldiers continued on their march to Concord.

Sometime later, Austin asserts that he encountered Major John Buttrick, who “ordered some of our men with saddle bags to the wagon, and Mr. Austin served out the cartridges in that manner to our soldiers.”

While this account would make a fantastic tale for a movie, it is the Nerds' opinion that this document is likely a late 19th-century or early 20th-century forgery. 

This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve encountered such questionable documents. About two years ago, we were asked to examine what was believed to be a period journal detailing a 1780 British raid against a Maine coastal town. After extensive research, we discovered it was a fictionalized account, likely written after the American Civil War. Similarly, the “Lucy Hosmer Diary,” which purports to contain first-hand accounts of the events of April 19th, has also been debunked as a late 19th or early 20th-century fabrication.

There is simply too much wrong with Austin’s account, and very little of the story makes sense. No supporting primary documentation or accounts place Josiah Austin in Concord on April 18-19, 1775. Bohy notes that a “John Austin” was sent to Concord in March 1775 with a team of 7 men to roll cartridges and be kept in secrecy from others, and he was in charge of preparing ammunition with his men for the Committee of Supplies. There is no reference to a “Josiah Austin” ever assisting with preparing or transporting ammunition.

Remember that the goal of the Massachusetts Provincials was to keep its supplies, including ammunition, out of the hands of the British. For Austin to drive a wagon filled with ammunition **towards** the British column defies the logic of the day. 

It should also be noted that Colonel Smith’s vanguard actively intercepted and arrested any Middlesex County men it encountered on the Bay Road that night. Austin did not meet such a fate. Instead, “pioneers” stop and help move Austin’s cart off to the side of the road the column can pass. If anything, this segment of the account was likely fabricated for dramatic flair and little more.

As an aside, Head Interpretive Ranger Jim Hollister of Minute Man National Historical Park has correctly pointed out that only light infantry, grenadiers, Loyalist scouts, and a smattering of soldiers from the Royal Artillery accompanied the column to Concord. There were no pioneers with the column.

Finally, Austin notes cartridges are distributed from the wagon to “saddle bags.” In turn, the ammunition was distributed to militia and minute men in the field. This is completely contrary to how Massachusetts forces were supplied in 1775. The supplies stored in Concord, including ammunition cartridges, were earmarked for the future Massachusetts Grand Army if and when war broke out with England. The minute and militia companies that mobilized on April 19th had either supplied themselves with ammunition or drew it from town supplies. For example, Lexington’s Ensign Harrington was “reimbursed £2.12.10 in full” for providing for 104 lbs. of bullets to Captain John Parker’s Company after “going to Walthame for powdere & to Bostone for leads.” Joshua Read, also of Lexington, also provided gunpowder and ammunition to Parker’s men after purchasing lead in Boston and “running the bullets”. Before its minute company marched off to war on April 19, 1775, the men of Westborough drew gunpowder and ammunition from its town supply.

When contemplating assessing the veracity of the Austin account, the Nerds would like to highlight the words of 19th-century Massachusetts historian George E. Ellis who noted, that many veterans and witnesses who claimed to have participated in Lexington and Concord or the Battle of Bunker Hill, "Their contents were most extraordinary; many of the testimonies extravagant, boastful, inconsistent, and utterly untrue; mixtures of old men's broken memories and fond imaginings with the love of the marvellous. Some of those who gave in affidavits about the battle could not have been in it, nor even in its neighborhood. They had got so used to telling the story for the wonderment of village listeners as grandfathers' tales, and as petted representatives of 'the spirit of '76’, that they did not distinguish between what they had seen and done, and what they had read, heard, or dreamed. The decision of the committee was that much of the contents of the volumes was wholly worthless for history, and some of it discreditable, as misleading and false."

So, did Josiah Austin even exist? According to our research, he did. 

Josiah Austin was born in Charlestown in 1750. Before his teenage years, he became an apprentice to a Charlestown silversmith. He continued his apprenticeship until 1770, when he opened his own shop. According to town records, he resided in Charlestown until 1772 but split his business operations (silver and gold smithing) between Boston, Charlestown, and Watertown. 

By 1775, Austin had relocated to Watertown, although the Nerds came across a secondary source that suggested he may have briefly resided in Medford. He remained in Watertown until 1785, when he relocated to Salem and partnered with several very successful merchants and artisans, including a cabinet maker. The group undertook several business ventures and became quite wealthy. 

Why do we mention a cabinet maker? Because he was none other than Lexington's Elijah Sanderson. Of course, Sanderson signed an affidavit in 1824 describing his role at the Battle of Lexington. Curiously, Austin, who allegedly lived until 1825, never provided a similar affidavit. 

Austin was well-known for his gold and silversmith work. According to the Colonial Society of History of Massachusetts, Austin may have been hired to produce communion silver to Concord before the American Revolution. If true, this may be his only connection to the community. 

A few examples of Austin’s silversmith work still survive and are in the custody of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.