Pastor Jonas Clark
George Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol.4, p.154
Lexington, in 1775, may have had seven hundred inhabitants; their
minister was the learned and fervent Jonas Clark, the bold inditer of
patriotic state papers, that may yet be read on their town records. In December 1772, they had instructed their representative to demand "a radical and lasting redress of their grievances, for not through their neglect should the people be enslaved." A year later, they spurned the use of tea. In 1774, at various town-meetings, they voted "to increase their stock of ammunition," "to encourage military discipline, and to put themselves in a posture of defence against their enemies."
In December they distributed to "the train band and alarm list" arms and ammunition, and resolved to "supply the training soldiers with bayonets."
George Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol.4, p.154
At two in the morning, under the eye of the minister, and of Hancock and Adams, Lexington common was alive with the minute-men; and not with them only, but with the old men, who were exempts, except in case of immediate danger to the town. The roll was called, and, of militia and alarm men, about one hundred and thirty answered to their names. The captain, John Parker, ordered every one to load with powder and ball, but to take care not to be the first to fire. Messengers, sent to look for the British regulars, reported that there were no signs of their approach. A watch was therefore set, and the company dismissed with orders to come together at beat of drum. Some went to their own homes; some to the tavern, near the south-east corner of the common. Samuel Adams and Hancock, whose seizure was believed to be intended, were persuaded to retire toward Woburn.
George Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol.4, p.155
The last stars were vanishing from night, when the foremost party, led
by Pitcairn, a major of marines, was discovered, advancing quickly and
in silence. Alarm guns were fired, and the drums beat, not a call to
village husbandmen only, but the reveille to humanity. Less than
seventy, perhaps less than sixty, obeyed the summons, and, in sight of
half as many boys and unarmed men, were paraded in two ranks, a few rodsnorth of the meeting-house.
George Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol.4, p.155
How often in that building had they, with renewed professions of their
faith, looked up to God as the stay of their fathers and the protector
of their privileges! How often on that green, hard by the burial-place
of their forefathers, had they pledged themselves to each other to
combat manfully for their birthright inheritance of liberty! There they now stood side by side, under the provincial banner, with arms in their hands, silent and fearless, willing to shed their blood for their rights, scrupulous not to begin civil war. The ground on which they trod was the altar of freedom, and they were to furnish the victims.
George Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol.4, p.155
The British van, hearing the drum and the alarm gims, halted to load;
the remaining companies came up; and, at half an hour before sunrise,
the advance party hurried forward at double quick time, almost upon a
run, closely followed by the grenadiers. Pitcairn rode in front, and,
when within five or six rods of the minute-men, cried out: "Disperse, ye villains! ye rebels, disperse! lay down your arms! why don't you lay down your arms and disperse!" The main part of the countrymen stood motionless in the ranks, witnesses against aggression; too few toresist, too brave to fly. At this, Pitcairn discharged a pistol, and
with a loud voice cried, "Fire!" The order was followed first by a few
guns, which did no execution, and then by a close and deadly discharge
of musketry.
George Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol.4, p.155
In the disparity of numbers, Parker ordered his men to disperse. Then,
and not till then, did a few of them, on their own impulse, return the
British fire. These random shots of fugitives or dying men did no harm, except that Pitcairn's horse was perhaps grazed, and a private of the tenth light infantry was touched slightly in the leg.
George Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol.4, p.156
Jonas Parker, the strongest and best wrestler in Lexington, had promised never to run from British troops; and he kept his vow. A wound brought him on his knees. Having discharged his gun, he was preparing to load it again, when he was stabbed by a bayonet, and lay on the post which he took at the morning's drum-beat. So fell Isaac Muzzey, and so died the aged Robert Munroe, who in 1758 had been an ensign at Louisburg.
Jonathan Harrington, junior, was struck in front of his own house on the north of the common. His wife was at the window as he fell. With blood gushing from his breast, he rose in her sight, tottered, fell again, then crawled on hands and knees toward his dwelling; she ran to meet him, but only reached him as he expired on their threshold. Caleb Harrington, who had gone into the meeting-house for powder, was shot ashe came out. Samuel Hadley and John Brown were pursued, and killed after they had left the green. Asahel Porter, of Woburn, who had been taken prisoner by the British on the march, endeavoring to escape, was shot within a few rods of the common. Seven men of Lexington were killed, nine wounded; a quarter part of all who stood in arms on the green.
George Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol.4, p.156
Day came in all the beauty of an early spring. The trees were budding;
the grass growing rankly a full month before its time; the blue bird and the robin gladdening the genial season, and calling forth the beams of the sun which on that morning shone with the warmth of summer; but distress and horror gathered over the inhabitants of the peaceful town.
There on the green lay in death the gray-haired and the young; the
grassy field was red "with the innocent blood of their brethren slain," crying unto God for vengeance from the ground.
George Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol.4, p.156 - p.157
These are the village heroes, who were more than of noble blood, proving by their spirit that they were of a race divine. They gave their lives in testimony to the rights of mankind, bequeathing to their country an assurance of success in the mighty struggle which they began. The expanding millions of their countrymen renew and multiply their praise from generation to generation. They fulfilled their duty not from an accidental impulse of the moment; their action was the ripened fruit of Providence and of time. The light that led them on was combined of rays from the whole history of the race; from the traditions of the Hebrews in the gray of the world's morning; from the heroes and sages of republican Greece and Rome; from the example of Him who died on the cross fob the life of humanity; from the religious creed which proclaimed the divine presence in man, and on this truth, as in a life-boat, floated the liberties of nations over the dark flood of the middle ages; from the customs of the Germans transmitted out of their forests to the councils of Saxon England; from the burning faith and courage of Martin Luther; from trust in the inevitable universality of God's sovereignty as taught by Paul of Tarsus and Augustine, through Calvin and the divines of New England; from the avenging fierceness of the Puritans, who dashed the mitre on the ruins of the throne; from the bold dissent and creative self-assertion of the earliest emigrants to Massachusetts; from the statesmen who made, and the philosophers who expounded, the revolution of England; from the liberal spirit and analyzing inquisitiveness of the eighteenth century; from the cloud of
witnesses of all the ages to the reality and the rightfulness of human
freedom. All the centuries bowed themselves from the recesses of the
past to cheer in their sacrifice the lowly men who proved themselves
worthy of their forerunners, and whos children rise up and call them
blessed.
George Bancroft, History of the United States, Vol.4, p.157
Heedless of his own danger, Samuel Adams, with the voice of a prophet,
exclaimed: "Oh, what a glorious morning is this!" for he saw his
country's independence hastening on, and, like Columbus in the tempest, knew that the "storm bore him more swiftly toward the undiscovered world."
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