Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Involvement by Edmund Rice Descendants

Michael A. Rice, TreasurerEdmund Rice (1638) Association, Inc.

Summary

• Historical background leading up to the Battles of Lexington & Concord April 18-19, 1775

• Brief biography of key leaders in the battles• Details of the progression of the battles and

their aftermath• Some Edmund Rice descendants who were

participating combatants in the battles

Historical Background 1

• Boston Tea Party --- December 16, 1773

In response to increasing taxes & business restrictions 1760s (including Stamp, Townsend Acts) after the Seven Years War

Tea Act of 1773 favored status of East India Company tea monopoly excluding colonial shipping businesses

W.D. Cooper. 1789. "Boston Tea Party." In: The History of North America. London: E. Newberry Publisher.

Historical Background 2• American Colonies Act of 1766

Declared Parliamentary sovereignty to North America

• Massachusetts Government Act of May 20, 1774 abolished the Great & General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony & asserted greater royal control of governing appointees

• Massachusetts Provincial Congress formed Oct. 5, 1774 & w/ John Hancock as its president; this extralegal body became the de facto government of Massachusetts outside of Boston; & it maintained the Colonial Militia (including the Minutemen)

Seal of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, "By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty."

Historical Background 3: Address to Parliament by King George III on February 6, 1775

We ... find that a part of your Majesty' s subjects, in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, have proceeded so far to resist the authority of the supreme Legislature, that a rebellion at this time actually exists within the said Province; and we see, with the utmost concern, that they have been countenanced and encouraged by unlawful combinations and engagements entered into by your Majesty's subjects in several of the other Colonies, to the injury and oppression of many of their innocent fellow-subjects, resident within the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the rest of your Majesty' s Dominions...

William Faden’s 1775 Map of Boston showing British Defenses

British Commanders in BostonBritish Commanders in Boston

Lt. Colonel Francis Smith, field commander of the 21 companies in the expedition to Concord. Was wounded west of Concord during the evacuation to Boston.

Brig. General Hugh Percy, Duke of Northumberland, led relief column to cover the retreat from Lexington to Boston; credited with tactics saving lives of many British troops in retreat. His half-brother, James Smithson, provided funds for Smithsonian Institution.

Maj. John Pitcairn, Royal Marines; led advance guard into Concord & wounded in action during the retreat. Evacuated to Boston only to lose his life 2 months later at Bunker Hill.

General Thomas Gage, Governor of Massachusetts Bay, and Commander-in-Chief, British forces in North America. Ordered Smith to confiscate weapons and powder at Barrett Farm.

British Commanders in BostonKey Colonial Commanders in Massachusetts

Captain John Parker of the Lexington Militia was in command of the men at Lexington Green. Reputedly ordered, “Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.” But they were scattered by the British firepower. Later in the afternoon he rallied his men to attack the evacuating British in the ambush at Lexington known as “Parker's Revenge.”

Major John Buttrick of the Concord Militia led militia units at the skirmish at North Bridge. Upon seeing Captain Isaac Davis of the Acton Minutemen shot through the heart, ordered, "Fire, fellow soldiers, for God's sake fire!" – the so called “Shot heard ‘round the world” in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Hymn of Concord.

Colonel James Barrett of the Concord Militia. It was at his farm west of Concord where powder and weapons were stored, prompting the British expedition. The Barrett farmhouse is NRHP registered.

Lt. Colonel John Robinson of the Westford Minutemen was the highest ranking officer at the North Bridge engagement. Despite his higher rank, he chose to defer command to Buttrick from the local Concord Militia because of the much greater numbers of men under Buttrick’s command

British Commanders in BostonKey Colonial Commanders in Massachusetts

Brig. General William Heath commanded the combined Massachusetts forces during the last stages of the Battle of Lexington and Concord and in the aftermath siege of Boston, where he engaged in tactical training of the combined colonial militias.

Dr. Joseph Warren, a physician and second President of the Massachusetts Provisional Congress, enlisted Paul Revere and William Dawes on April 18 to leave Boston and spread the alarm that the British forces in Boston were setting out to raid Concord. Warren participated in the Battles of Lexington and Concord the following day. He was later commissioned as a major general in the Massachusetts Militia and lost his life 2 months later at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Map by the U.S. National Park Service

Amos Doolittle’s 1775 Engraving of the Battle at Lexington Green – Depicting British Firing on Scattering Militia

Amos Doolittle’s 1775 Engraving of the Pitcairn’s Royal Marines Arrival in Concord

Map by the U.S. National Park Service

Amos Doolittle’s 1775 Engraving of the Engagement at the Concord North Bridge

Amos Doolittle’s 1775 Engraving of the General Percy’s Relief Column Reaching Lexington

Map by the U.S. National Park Service

During the whole affair, the rebels attacked us in a very scattered, irregular manner, but with perseverance and resolution, nor did they ever dare to form into a regular body. Indeed they knew too well what was proper, to do so. Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob, will find himself very much mistaken. They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about, having been employed as rangers against the Indians and Canadians, and this country being very much covered with wood, and hilly, is very advantageous for their method of fighting.

Report of Brigadier General Hugh Percy --1775

Comparative Battle Statistics

Massachusetts Bay Colony Great Britain

Strength: Leaving Boston 700 Lexington Green 77 400 Concord 400 100 End of Battle 3,960+ 1,500

Casualties and Losses: Killed 49 73 Wounded 38 174 Missing 5 53

Data compiled by Frank Warren Coburn (1922) from official reports

Lexington Historical Society

Edmund Rice Descendants Answering the Lexington Alarm of 19 Apr 1775

Name Birth Date Rank Town Served at

John Barber 12 Oct 1742 Pvt. West Newton Cambridge

Amos Rice 11 Feb 1743 Sgt. Northborough Lexington

Asa Rice 12 Mar 1742 1st Lt. Shrewsbury Cambridge

Ashbel Rice 28 Apr 1755 Pvt. Marlborough Lexington

Eliakim Rice 1 Apr 1756 Pvt. Shrewsbury Cambridge

Matthias Rice 31 Oct 1751 Pvt. Grafton Lexington

Oliver Rice 7 Nov 1726 Pvt. Brookfield Concord

Ezekiel Sawin 25 Dec 1751 Pvt. Natick Cambridge

Data from ERA Database courtesy of ERA Historian George King

Lexington Alarm Memorial Plaque at Shrewsbury

Minutemen of Northborough listed in Northborough History (1921)by Josiah Coleman Kent

Minutemen of Northborough continued

Sudbury Militia Response to the Lexington Alarm

Six companies of militia mobilized; incl. one company of minutemen

302 participants in the action

Representing 1/5 of entire population of Sudbury at the time

The 6 Sudbury companies attached to regiments of Col. John Barrett of the Concord Militia, and Col. Abijah Pierce of the Lincoln Militia, seeing action at Lexington during the retreat.

Highest ranking Sudbury officer was Lt. Col. Ezekiel How Sr., the innkeeper of How’s Tavern. He was at Punkatassett Hill & North Bridge with Col. Barrett.

Two Sudbury fatalities: Deacon Josiah Haynes & Ishael Reed

Sudbury Minutemen in Capt. Aaron Haynes’s Company: In History of Sudbury 1638-1889 by Alfred Sereno Hudson

Capt. Joseph Smith’s Company to Concord

Capt. Moses Stone’s Company to Concord

Capt. Isaac Locker’s Company to Concord

Capt. John Nixon’s Company to Lexington

Capt. Nathaniel Cudworth’s Company to Lexington

Final Considerations• The ERA Database has some but

certainly not all military records of colonial militia members.

• Descendants of Edmund Rice from all around the Lexington-Concord Region responded to the alarm and were part of the battles.

• Sudbury was a major contributor of minutemen and militia to the battles, contributing about 8% of all colonial forces distributed between Barrett’s and Pierce’s Regiments

• Edmund Rice descendants from Sudbury and elsewhere were contributors to effort.