Proceedings at the centennial celebration of Concord fight, April 19, 1875 [electronic resource] / Concord (Mass.)

PROCEEDINGS 



AT THE 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



OF 



CONCORD FIGHT 



April 19, 1875. 







CONCORD, MASS. 

K 

PUBLISHED BY THE TOWN. 
1876. 



DOLMAN & WHITE, Printers, 

> y 

Ubrary 



PREFACE. 



THE committee chosen by the town of Concord at the March meet 
ing, 1874, and clothed with full powers to prepare for and carry out a 
centennial celebration of Concord Fight, deeming the occasion wor 
thy of a more complete and permanent record than could be obtained 
in the columns of the newspapers, and wishing to furnish to those 
who were attracted to Concord by the national importance of the first 
Centennial of the American Revolution, and by the patriotic memo 
ries it awakened, an opportunity of preserving in a permanent form an 
official history of our ceremonies, and feeling it to be their duty also 
to render to the town an account of the manner in which they exe 
cuted their trust, delegated to the undersigned the task of preparing 
and publishing such an account, which is herewith respectfully sub 
mitted as the Report of the Committee of Arrangements. Their 
financial statement appears in the Town Report for 1875-6. 

The Nineteenth of April, 1775, has always been regarded by the 
people of New England as the national birthday ; and its fiftieth and 
seventy-fifth anniversaries were celebrated at Concord by the towns 
of Middlesex, Essex, and Norfolk, whose men shared with the men of 
our town the dangers and glories of that day. 

But the people of Concord believed that the hundredth anniversary 
of the opening of the Revolutionary War would be recognized univer 
sally as of national interest, and that their preparations for the cele 
bration of it should be on a scale commensurate with the importance 
of the occasion. 

We have thought it best, in writing this report, to adhere to the 
chronological order of events ; and therefore as the preparation for 
the Centennial began with the project of a monument to be placed 



880187 



6 PREFACE. 

where Davis and Hosmer fell, and Buttrick gave the first order to 
fire on the king s troops we have begun with a brief account of the 
Minute-man and its origin. 

The religious services on the morning of Sunday, April 18, were 
held in the Old Meeting House, where the first Provincial Congress 
assembled. As these services were memorial in their character, and 
were attended by the President and his Cabinet, and by many other 
honored guests of the town, it may properly be said that the com 
memoration began on that day. 

Although the ball was not a part of the celebration for which the 
Committee considered themselves authorized to expend the money of 
the town, yet any account of our proceedings would be sadly incom 
plete, that should omit all mention of that brilliant and beautiful scene. 
We have, therefore, concluded our report with a short account of the 
ball. 

Appended hereto is a carefully prepared abstract of the literature 
of the Nineteenth of April, kindly furnished at our request by our 
townsman, James L. Whitney, the assistant superintendent of the 
Boston Public Library ; including a heliotype facsimile of the famous 
Diary of Rev. William Emerson. 

We have used our best endeavors to make this chronicle of a day 
so dear to us a complete and true one. Yet we are conscious that 
there was much in our celebration the proud and tender memories, 
the sympathy, the spirit, the thanksgiving that moved the hearts of 
our people of too fine and evanescent a quality for any record, how 
ever vivid or faithful, adequately to convey. 

SAMUEL HOAR, ^ 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, v for the Committee. 

CHARLES H. WALCOTT, J 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGES. 

/. THE MINUTE-MAN AND THE BRIDGE . . . 11-17 
II. THE PREPARATIONS . 21-44 

III. SUNDAY SERVICES . 47-60 

IV. THE PROCESSION 63-74 

V. EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT . . . .77-119 

VI. EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT .... 123-156 
VII. THE JBALL 159 



THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL IN LITERATURE . . .165 
APPENDIX 175 



THE MINUTE-MAN AND THE BRIDGE. 



THE MINUTE-MAN AND THE BRIDGE. 



To the People of Concord: 

IT is fit that a public record of Concord s Centennial Celebration 
of the Fight at the North Bridge should recognize how that celebra 
tion was inspired and moulded by the thought of one man, an old 
citizen, who himself passed away without the sight of that fulfilment 
of his desire in which his townsmen take such pride to-day. 

A picture still fresh in the memory of almost every inhabitant of 
Concord is the bowed form and wrinkled face of EBENEZER 
HUBBARD. 

Living in the house where he boasted that his grandfather enter 
tained Hancock and the patriots of the Continental Congress which 
met in the old meeting-house, tilling the old flat fields, or walking in 
the stately woods, which he kept almost sacred from the axe, he 
remembered with pride the Middlesex farmers, who took the dread 
responsibility of attacking the troops of Great Britain. 

The old North Bridge, whose planks had been trodden by those 
men, was taken down when he was ten years old ; and it grieved him 
that it should be only a tradition to the younger generations of 
Concord, and that no stone should mark the spot where Buttrick gave 
the word to fire. 

At the state muster, in 1869, Mr. Hubbard walked to the camp, 
and made his way to headquarters, to try to interest Gen. Butler in 
his favorite scheme ; for his hope was to rouse, in some way, the atten 
tion of Congress to the importance of the renewal of the bridge, and 
the fitly marking the spot where the first patriot volley was fired. 
He failed entirely in this interview, bi^t went home, probably the more 
resolved to do his part. The following year, one October morning, 
the neighbors found him sitting in his chair, dead. 

He made by his will a bequest to the town in these words : 

" I order my executor to pay the sum of one thousand dollars towards 
building a monument in said town of Concord, on the spot where the Ameri 
cans fell, on the opposite side of the river from the present monument, in the 
battle of the igth of April, 1775, providing my said executor shall ascertain 
that said monument first named has been built, or sufficient funds have been 



12 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

obtained therefor, within five years after my decease ; but in case my executor 
shall have ascertained that said first-named monument is not built, nor suffi 
cient funds obtained for that purpose, within five years after my decease, then 
I order my executor to pay over to Hancock, N.H., said sum of one thou 
sand dollars." 



Mr. Hubbard further placed in the hands of the town treasurer 
the sum of six hundred dollars, towards the expense of building a 
bridge over the river, on the site of the old one. 

Stedman Buttrick, grandson of Major John Buttrick who com 
manded the American force at the bridge, gave a deed to the town of 
about one-quarter of an acre of land, in his meadow on the west bank 
of the river, "at the butment of the old North Bridge," "for the pur 
pose of erecting a Monument there, and for no other purpose, and on 
condition that the grantee shall make and forever maintain a fence 
around the same, and that a bridge shall be constructed across the 
river, from the easterly side, to pass to the above premises, and with 
out any right of way over my land." 

Mr. Buttrick also died (November, 1874) without seeing the com 
pletion of the work that his patriotic gift had aided. 

At the March meeting, 1872, a committee was chosen, to consider 
what action should be taken by the town in relation to the bequest 
of Ebenezer Hubbard. It consisted of the following gentlemen : 
John S. Keyes, Chairman ; George Heywood, George M. Brooks, John 
B. Moore, and Addison G. Fay. 

At the meeting in March, 1873, this committee reported the terms 
of the bequest of Mr. Hubbard, and the gift of Mr. Buttrick, and 
recommended that the town should gratefully accept the patriotic 
bequest and gift of its citizens, and that it should " procure a statue 
of a Continental Minute-man, cut in granite, and erect it on a proper 
foundation, on the American side of the river," with the opening 
stanza of the poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson, sung at the dedication 
of the Battle Monument in 1837, " enduringly engraven for an 
inscription on the base ; " also " that a suitable bridge be constructed 
to give access to the spot ; " and, finally, " that the work be completed 
and dedicated on the one hundredth anniversary of the day, with such 
other exercises as may be hereafter determined." 

A vote of the town was passed at the same meeting, authorizing 
the same committee to procure designs and estimates for a statue. 
Mr. Fay having died, Mr. Henry F. Smith was appointed on the com 
mittee in his place. 



THE MINUTE-MAN AND THE BRIDGE. 13 

At the November meeting, 1873, a small plaster model of a minute- 
man, executed by Mr. Daniel C. French of Concord, was submitted by 
the committee, and the town voted to accept the design, and appro 
priated the sum of five hundred dollars towards the expense of pro 
curing a full-sized model to be made by him, the artist generously 
leaving all question of compensation for his design, other than the 
mere expense of construction, to the free will of the town. 

Five persons, Messrs. R. W. Emerson, Frederic Hudson, George 
A. King, Andrew J. Harlow, and William W. Wilde, were added to 
the committee, which, thus enlarged, was authorized to decide on the 
material for the statue, to procure a suitable base and carry on the 
work. 

Early in the year 1874, the General Court passed the following act, 
entitled, " An Act authorizing the Town of Concord to raise Money 
for a Monument and for its Dedication." 

Be it enacted, &*c. 

SECTION i. The Town of Concord is authorized to raise by taxation, 
such sums of money as may be needed for a suitable monument at the " Old 
North Bridge," to commemorate the events of the nineteenth day of April, 
seventeen hundred and seventy-five, and for an appropriate celebration at its 
dedication. 

SECT. 2. This Act shall take effect upon its passage. 
Approved March 9, 1874. 

In the March meeting, 1874, the town appropriated the sum of 
fifteen hundred dollars, to be used in procuring a suitable base to the 
statue and completing the work. A committee of thirty citizens 
was chosen at the same meeting to make arrangements for a fitting 
Centennial Celebration of Concord Fight. 

The original plan for a granite statue was abandoned by the Monu 
ment Committee, and bronze was selected as the material best adapted 
to Mr. French s design, and most enduring in our climate. 

Through the influence and energetic action of the Hon. E. R. 
Hoar, our Representative in the Forty-third Congress, the following 
act 2 passed the House of Representatives on April 18, and the 
Senate, April 20 (the iQth being Sunday), and was approved by the 
President, April 22. 

1 Statute 1874, c. 49. 

2 A beautifully illuminated copy of this act, attested by the Secretary of State, was 
presented by him to Judge Hoar, and given to the Free Public Library by the latter 
gentleman. 



14 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 

of America, in Congress assembled, 

That the Secretary of War be, and is hereby, authorized to deliver to the 
municipal authorities of Concord, Massachusetts, ten pieces of condemned 
brass cannon, to be used in the erection of a monument at the Old North 
Bridge, to commemorate the first repulse of the troops of Great Britain in 
the war of the Revolution, on the nineteenth day of April, seventeen hun 
dred and seventy-five. 

J. G. ELAINE, 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

M. H. CARPENTER, 

President of Senate pro tempore. 
Approved April 22, 1874. 

U. S. GRANT. 

The cannon were sent soon after to the Ames Manufacturing 
Company at Chicopee, Mass., and the model early in the autumn. 

The committee decided to reproduce, in its essential features, the 
old battle bridge, though on a lighter scale, and was fortunately 
enabled to do this by the rude old wood engraving of Concord Fight, 
made with that faithfulness of detail which characterizes most untu 
tored art, by Earl and Doolittle, two members of Benedict Arnold s 
Horse Guards, who rode up from the camp at Cambridge one July 
day in 1775 and made the sketch on the spot, supplying the attack 
ing farmers and retreating red-coats to the picture from the stories 
told them by the sharers in the fight. This picture showed a plain 
wooden bridge spanning the river, with a slight arch, supported by 
a few rows of piles. 

Mr. Reuben N. Rice generously undertook to add some decoration 
to the rigid simplicity of the old model, and* obtained a plan from Mr. 
William R. Emerson of Boston, in which the place of the rough rail 
ing of "followers" of the old bridge was supplied by a paling of 
graceful pattern, made of cedars with the bark on ; and two rustic 
half-arbors were placed on the middle of the bridge, projecting over 
the water, with seats where pilgrims might sit and watch the quiet 
river brimming its meadows. The bridge was built during the sum 
mer and autumn according to this plan. 

But how to place the Minute-man to best advantage when he 
came ? Many forms of pedestal were suggested, simple and elabo 
rate. The plan which pleased the committee more than any 
other, was to haul to the spot one of the great boulders that are found 
in Concord fields, and thus set the bronze farmer on a pedestal of 



THE MINUTE-MAN AND THE BRIDGE. I 5 

some old glacier s carving, merely smoothing a place on the front to 
receive the inscription. The practical difficulties of this scheme were 
found insurmountable. 

In the oak woods on the edge of the neighboring town of Westford 
(whence, on the battle morning, came that Lieutenant-Colonel John 
Robinson, who marched, at Major Buttrick s request, by his side 
down the hill to the attack), lay a rock of fine white granite, out of 
which, thirty-nine years ago, came the old battle monument. From 
this a great block was split by Mr. John Cole of that town, so nearly 
rectangular and perfect that it almost tempted the Monument Com 
mittee to place it under the statue without further work upon it. 
This was brought to Concord when the snow fell. Finally a plan, 
kindly furnished the Committee by Mr. J. Elliot Cabot of Brookline, 
by which they could use this stone, was adopted, and the work 
executed by Mr. Cole during the winter. 

The body of the pedestal is one block seven feet high, with equal 
faces four feet broad, the front face rough pointed, but having a sunk 
panel, fine hammered, across the middle of which, in incised and 
bronzed letters, are these lines of Emerson : 

BY THE RUDE BRIDGE THAT ARCHED THE FLOOD 
THEIR FLAG TO APRIL S BREEZE UNFURLED, 

HERE ONCE THE EMBATTLED FARMERS STOOD 
AND FIRED THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD. 

The rear face is similar to the front, and on the panel in high 
relief the inscription : 

* 1775 

NINETEENTH 

OF ; J. 

APRIL 



1875 

The lateral faces of the pedestal are rough hewn, with a smooth 
hammered margin six inches and a half wide. This main block is 
supported by a base projecting six inches and a half, and nine inches 
high, resting on a turfed mound three feet high. 



l6 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

The whole lot given by Mr. Buttrick has been filled, so as to raise 
it to the level of the old abutment, and above the spring floods of the 
river, and its edges turfed, while a sufficiently broad gravel drive 
passes round the monument. A willow hedge has been planted 
round the grounds, to further protect the abutment from the floods. 
Where the statue stands, a deep pit was dug and filled with rubble 
for a firmer foundation. 

The site itself is in the line of the middle of the bridge, and one 
hundred and ten feet from its western end, in front of the old sprout 
ing apple-stump, that tradition says was the spot where Captain 
Isaac Davis received his death-wound, " the burning bush where 
God spake for His people." 

In March the pedestal was set in place, and under it a hermetically 
sealed copper box containing 

The History of the Monument, by the Chairman of the Monument Committee. 
A copy of Shattuck s History of Concord. 

The account of the Fight, from the Diary of Rev. William Emerson. 
A Pamphlet, giving an account of the Celebration in 1850. 

A Pamphlet, giving an account of the Dedication of the Soldier s Monument in the 
Square, April 19, 1867. 

The Town Report for 1874. 

Photographs of the Artist and of the Statue. 

Map of the Village in 1775. 

Map of Concord, 1855. 

Map of the Centre of the Town in 1874. 

Coins, Stamps, Newspapers of the Day, Invitations to the Celebration, &c. 

During the first days of April, the statue, which had been most 
successfully cast from the gun-metal, arrived from Chicopee, and was 
set upon the pedestal, and after a few days was veiled to await the 
formal uncovering on the anniversary of the battle. 

It represents a young farmer, one of the minute-men of that day, 
leaving his plough in the furrow on the alarm of the approach of the 
regulars, and answering, musket in hand, the call to arms ; one of 
those, 

Whose faith and truth 
On war s red touchstone rang true metal ; 
Who ventured life and love and youth 
For the great prize of death in battle." 

There is nothing hot or theatrical in the movement, which is 
considered, and the face serious, as of one who sees all the doubt and 
danger from the first and yet goes quietly on. 

The figure is of heroic proportions, being seven feet high, yet has 



THE MINUTE-MAN AND THE BRIDGE. I/ 

the lightness of a man skilled in wood-craft as well as farm labor. 
The anatomy and poise are conscientiously studied from nature ; 
and even the long waistcoat, hanging heavy with the bullets in its 
pockets, the worn gaiters and rude accoutrements show faithful work 
and historical accuracy. It has been noticed that the statue wins 
praise alike from the scholar and the laborer, the cultivated and 
the untrained taste. 

Mr. French is only twenty-five years old, and this is his first work 
of importance. The town cannot fail to be long grateful to him for 
the good work he has done, and the charm he has added to its 
meadows. 



THE PREPARATIONS. 



THE PREPARATIONS. 



AFTER the appointment of the Monument Committee and the accept 
ance of the model presented with their first report at the March meet 
ing in 1873, the next step taken by the town, in its municipal capacity, 
was to appoint a Committee of Arrangements, whose duty it was to 
prepare a suitable celebration at the dedication of the statue, on the 
I Qth of April, 1875. 

The necessary authority to raise money for the purpose by taxation 
had been conferred by the Legislature ; and at the annual town meet 
ing held March 30, 1874, it was voted, 

"That a committee iof thirty be chosen as a Committee of Arrangements 
for the celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of Concord Fight, and 
that the Committee be authorized to expend a sum not exceeding five thou 
sand dollars for the purpose." 

Such a committee was then chosen, consisting of the following 
persons ; viz., 

GEORGE KEYES, SAMUEL HOAR, FREDERIC HUDSON, 

EDWARD C. DAMON, REUBEN N. RICE, 

ALFRED B. C. DAKIN, 

JOSEPH D. BROWN, RICHARD F. BARRETT, ELIJAH WOOD, 

SAMUEL W. BROWN, HUMPHREY H. BUTTRICK, 

JAMES C. MELVIN, 

LEVI MILES, WILLIAM BUTTRICK, WILLIAM F. HURD, 

SIDNEY J. BARRETT, EDWIN WHEELER, 

HENRY L. SHATTUCK, 

JAMES D. WRIGHT, LEWIS FLINT, JOSEPH DERBY, JUN., 

WILLIAM H. HUNT, EDWARD W. EMERSON, 

HENRY J. WALCOTT, 

CHARLES THOMPSON, ALBERT E. WOOD, ANDREW J. HARLOW, 

CHARLES D. TUTTLE, MARCELLUS HOUGHTON, 

SYLVESTER LOVEJOY. 



22 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Messrs. Hudson, Rice, Miles, and Hurd having declined to serve, 
the vacancies thus occasioned were rilled by the committee, subject 
to the ratification of the town, by the election of 

RICHARD BARRETT, GEORGE P. HOW, CHARLES H. WALCOTT, 

JAMES B. WOOD. 

This action was approved and ratified by the town at the following 
March meeting. 1 

The Committee of Arrangements held its first meeting at the 
Town Hall on Thursday, June 25, and organized with the choice 
of the following officers: George Keyes, Chairman; Samuel Hoar, 
Secretary ; and Henry J. Walcott, Treasurer. Subsequently, the fol 
lowing sub-committees were chosen by the committee of thirty ; 
viz., 

On General Invitations. 
E. R. HOAR, R. W. EMERSON, GEORGE HEYWOOD. 

On the Oration. 
CHARLES H. WALCOTT, EDWARD C. DAMON, SAMUEL HOAR. 

On the Dinner. 

JOSEPH D. BROWN, CHARLES THOMPSON, EDWARD W. EMERSON, 
JAMES C. MELVIN, CHARLES H. WALCOTT. 

To invite Participating Towns. 

GEORGE KEYES, WILLIAM H. HUNT, JOSEPH D. BROWN, 

E. C. DAMON, H. J. WALCOTT, CHARLES THOMPSON, 

HENRY L. SHATTUCK. 

On Music. 
SAMUEL W. BROWN, A. J. HARLOW, R. F. BARRETT. 

i At the annual town meeting, held March 29, 1875, the following votes were passed : 

" Voted, That the action of the Committee of Arrangements for the Centennial Celebra 
tion of Concord Fight, in filling vacancies in their number, be approved and ratified. 

" Voted, That the Committee of Arrangements be authorized to expend a sum not 
exceeding five thousand dollars, in addition to the sums already authorized. 

" Voted, That the sum of five thousand dollars be raised by taxation to defray the ex 
penses of the Centennial Celebration, and that the treasurer be authorized to borrow such 
further sum, not exceeding fifty-five hundred dollars, as may be needed for that purpose." 



THE PREPARATIONS. 23 

On the Press. 

W. W. WHEILDON, F. B. SANBORN, FREDERIC HUDSON, 
GEORGE TOLMAN. 

On Military. 

RICHARD BARRETT, GEORGE P. HOW, A. B. C. DAKIN, 
EDWIN WHEELER, JOSEPH DERBY, JUN. 

On Decorations. 

JAMES C. MELVIN, H. L. SHATTUCK, E. W. EMERSON, A. E. WOOD, 

WILLIAM BUTTRICK, LEWIS FLINT, CHARLES THOMPSON, 

SYLVESTER LOVEJOY. 

On the Ball. 

H. J. WALCOTT, H. H. BUTTRICK, R. F. BARRETT, S. J. BARRETT, 

J. D. WRIGHT, S. W. BROWN, SAMUEL HOAR, C. D. TUTTLE, 

J. D. BROWN, GEORGE P. HOW, JAMES B. WOOD. 

On Transportation. 

GEORGE KEYES, A. J. HARLOW, ELIJAH WOOD, J. D. BROWN, 
E. C. DAMON, M. HOUGHTON. 

On Reception of Guests. 

GEORGE M. BROOKS, R. W. EMERSON, GEORGE HEYWOOD, 

FREDERIC HUDSON, H. F. SMITH, JOHN S. KEYES, 

STEDMAN BUTTRICK, JOHN B. MOORE, 

W. W. WILDE, GEORGE A. KING. 

Executive Committee* 

GEORGE KEYES RICHARD BARRETT, SAMUEL HOAR, 
CHARLES H. WALCOTT, JAMES C. MELVIN. 

The four committees first chosen were called "joint committees to 
act with similar committees from Lexington ; " but at a meeting of 
the Committee of Arrangements, October 17, 1874, a joint celebration 
having proved to be impracticable, their character was changed to 
that of " committees empowered to act in the Concord celebration for 
the purposes for which they were chosen." 



24 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

The first proposition for a joint celebration of the events of the 
of April, 1775, by the towns of Concord and Lexington, was made in 
a letter from a committee chosen by the latter town, addressed to the 
selectmen of Concord, and dated November 12, I873. 1 This com 
munication solicited the good services of our selectmen in awaken 
ing an interest among the people of our town ; so that, before any 
specific arrangements were made, we might be enabled to participate 
with them in preparing for a union celebration at Lexington. 

Our selectmen sent a reply, saying, in effect, that our town had 
already chosen a committee, eight months before the receipt of the 
letter from -Lexington, to procure a model for a statue of a minute- 
man of 75, to be dedicated on the centennial anniversary ; that the 
committee had reported at the last town meeting, which took place 
before the letter was received from Lexington ; and that the work on 
the statue was already under way. 2 

This previous action of our town rendered any other action by the 
selectmen impossible without further proceedings in town meeting ; 
and no further propositions were made looking to a union celebration at 
Lexington, previous events having made it certain that the people of 
Concord desired and expected to have in their own town a celebration 
which should appropriately commemorate the deeds of the men whom 
they delight to honor. 

As soon as it clearly appeared that each of the towns had planned 
a celebration for itself, it was conceived that it might be practicable 
to agree upon such a division of the day, with a programme to be car 
ried out in both towns, as should bring about a union celebration of 
a day and events in which they were jointly interested. But, after 
much negotiation, it was found that no satisfactory arrangement of 
time could be agreed upon and carried out ; and, therefore, the idea 
was abandoned. 

However much this result may have been regretted at the time, the 
event proved how disastrous would have been any attempt to carry 
out one programme including exercises in both towns. 

From and after October 17, 1874, the single purpose of this Com 
mittee was to prepare a celebration which should be in accordance with 
the ideas of the people of Concord and in keeping with the magnitude 
of the occasion and the high official position of the guests who were 
expected to be present. The several sub-committees met frequently, 
and regularly reported progress to the general committee. The work 
was continually growing under their hands, as the people of the state 

1 See Appendix, A. z See Appendix. B. 



THE PREPARATIONS. 25 

and nation came more and more to realize the importance of the 
approaching anniversary. 

Special invitations were sent to the President and Vice-President 
of the United States, and members of the Cabinet, the United States 
Senators and Representatives from New England, the Judges of the 
Supreme Court of the United States, the Governors of the thirteen 
original states of the Union and their subdivisions, the Council and 
Legislature and Judiciary of Massachusetts, the President and 
Fellows and the Faculty of Harvard University, the Society of the 
Cincinnati, the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, the Bunker 
Hill Monument Association, the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, the American 
Antiquarian Society, and many distinguished individuals. 

It was planned that the governor of each New England state should 
appear in the procession escorted by the representative military organ 
ization of his state, as follows : The Governor of Massachusetts by 
the Newburyport Veteran Artillery Association, of Newburyport ; 1 
the Governor of Maine by the Portland Mechanic Blues, of Portland ; 
the Governor of New Hampshire by the Amoskeag Veterans, of 
Manchester ; the Governor of Vermont by the Ransom Guards, of 
St. Albans ; the Governor of Rhode Island by the First Light In 
fantry Veteran Association, of Providence ; the Governor of Connect 
icut by the Putnam Phalanx, of Hartford. 

General invitations were extended to the inhabitants of the towns 
and cities that furnished men who actually bore arms in Concord on 
the i gth of April, 1775, or whose men participated in the events of 
the day elsewhere. 

Those of the first-named class were Acton, Bedford, Billerica, Car 
lisle, Chelmsford, Lincoln, Littleton, Stow, Sudbury, and Westford. 

The second and larger class consisted of Arlington, Belmont, Beverly, 
Boston [Charlestown and Roxbury], Boxborough, Brookline, Burling 
ton, Cambridge, Danvers, Dedham, Everett, Framingham, Lexington, 
Lowell, Lynn, Lynnfield, Maynard, Medford, Melrose, Needham, 
Newton, Norwood, Peabody, Pepperell, Reading, Salem, Somerville, 
Topsfield, Wakefield, Waltham, Watertown, Way land, Weston, Win 
chester, and Woburn. 2 

1 In point of fact, the Newburyport Veterans acted as escort to the Legislature of 
Massachusetts, the Independent Corps of Cadets having been ordered out to serve as 
escort to the Governor and Council. 

2 Probably the towns of Marlborough and Stoneham should have been included ; but 
their claims were not called to the attention of the committee until after the celebration. 



26 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

In addition to the invitations which were intended to include all the 
citizens of the towns named, a card was also sent to the town clerk 
of each of those towns, inviting a delegation, consisting of the town 
officers and settled clergymen, to attend as the guests of the town 
of Concord. In the cities, this latter invitation was to the mayor and 
aldermen or to the mayor and a committee of the city government. 

The form of invitation to the guests of the town was engraved on 
steel, was adorned by a heliotype of the " Minute-man," 1 and read as 
follows : 

1775. CONCORD FIGHT. 1875. 

April ityh, 1775. 

To 

ir, The Inhabitants 



of the town of Concord, Massachusetts, cordially invile 

to be present as their guest at Concord, on the Nineteenth of April, 
1875, and to join with them in celebrating the centennial anniver 
sary of the opening of the Revolutionary War. 

E. R. HOAR, 



00, j 



Committee 
R. W. EMERSON, > f . ., .. 

( of Invitation. 
GEORGE HEY WOOD, J 



Knowledge of our approaching festival was still more widely spread 
by a notice, which was prepared and signed by the whole Committee 
of Arrangements, and was as follows : 

1775. CONCORD FIGHT. 1875. 



DEAR SIR : 

The town of Concord, Massachusetts, purposes to celebrate the Centen- 1 
nial Anniversary of Concord Fight on the Nineteenth of April, 1875, in a 
manner appropriate to the importance of that day which " made conciliation 
impossible and independence certain." The exercises will consist of an ora 
tion by George William Curtis, Esq., of New York ; a grand military and 
civic procession to the site of the " Old North Bridge ;" the unveiling and 
dedication of a bronze statue of a Minute-Man on the spot where Davis and 

1 This heliotype, taken from the clay model before casting, precedes this part of our 
report. 



THE PREPARATIONS. 2/ 

Hosmer fell, and where was " fired the shot heard round the world ; " a pub 
lic dinner, with toasts and speeches, and a grand ball in the evening. 

The President of the United States and his Cabinet ; the Governor, Legis 
lature and Judiciary of Massachusetts ; the Governors of each of the New 
England States, and many other distinguished men are expected to be 
present as the guests of the town. 

The people of Acton, Bedford, Beverly, Billerica, Brookline, Cambridge, 
Charlestown, Chelmsford, Danvers, Dedham, Framingham, Lexington, Lynn, 
Medford, Needham, Newton, Roxbury, Salem, Stow, Sudbury, Watertown, 
and Woburn, have been invited to participate in the celebration, as their 
fathers did in the struggle for liberty. 

The town of Concord hopes that all those who are connected with her by 
descent or affection will join with her in this interesting commemoration. 

Very truly yours, 
CONCORD, MASS., January, 1875. 

This was printed in most of the New York and New England 
papers, and was sent by mail in all directions. The object of this 
publication was to inform the descendants of Concord people, scat 
tered all over the country, of the preparations that were being made, 
and of the desire of our citizens that all who loved the old town 
should be present on this memorable occasion. This notice was 
widely circulated, and, so far as your committee are able to judge, 
had the desired effect. 

From the beginning your Committee felt that it was the earnest 
desire of every citizen of Concord that the town of Acton, with its 
glorious memories of the day we were about to celebrate, should be 
considered as a guest entitled to peculiar honor. Accordingly, in 
addition to the invitations already described, which were sent to other 
towns as well, a special invitation was extended to the people of Acton 
and their company of minute-men. The Executive Committee also 
sent the following letter, which was read at a special town meeting in 
Acton : 

CONCORD, Jan. 9, 1875. 
To THE SELECTMEN OF ACTON. 

Gentlemen, The Committee of Arrangements for the Centennial Celebra 
tion of Concord Fight, chosen by the town of Concord, desire the co 
operation of the town of Acton in the approaching celebration, April 19, 



Formal invitations have been sent to all the towns whose men participated 
in the first armed struggle for liberty, to join with Concord in the proper 
celebration of the day, and you have undoubtedly received yours ; but it 



28 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

seems to this committee, and it is the desire of the town of Concord, that 
the town of Acton should receive something more than a formal invitation. 

Davis and Hosmer, men of Acton, were the first martyrs to organized 
resistance to the British crown ; and on the spot where they fell it is proposed 
to erect an emblematical statue of a minute-man, and to dedicate it with 
appropriate ceremonies. At its dedication the citizens of Acton should have 
a prominent part 

As Acton joined with Concord in that famous fight ; as Acton joined with 
Concord in 1825, and again in 1850, in celebrating their common anniversary ; 
as Concord joined with Acton at the dedication of your monument in 1851, 
so we hope that Acton will now join with Concord, and make a commemora 
tion that shall of itself be memorable. 

We trust, therefore, that you, or some committee on the part of your town, 
will confer with us as soon as practicable with reference to the arrangements 
for the forthcoming celebration. 

We arc, gentlemen, very respectfully, your obedient servants, 

GEORGE KEYES, 

RICHARD BARRETT, 

SAMUEL HOAR, For the Concord 



CHARLES H. WALCOTT, 
JAMES C. MELVIN, 



Committee of Arrangements. 



At the same meeting, the people of Acton accepted our invitation 
and passed the following resolution : 

Whereas, The nineteenth day of April next will be the one hundredth 
anniversary of Concord Fight and the Battle of Lexington, in the former of 
which engagements the men of Acton had an active and most honorable 
part, Capt. Isaac Davis and private Abner Hosmer falling in the former 
engagement, and private James Hayward at Lexington on the retreat, we, 
the citizens of Acton, in town meeting assembled, deem it due to the mem 
ory of our patriotic dead, and to our own sense of obligation to them for 
what they did for us, to celebrate the day, as a town, in some appropriate 
manner; and 

Whereas, The towns of Concord and Lexington have both, through their 
committees, cordially invited us to join them in celebrating the day in their 
respective towns, a courtesy that we fully recognize ; yet, inasmuch as it 
was at Concord that the Acton company was more especially engaged and 
distinguished, and as a part of the celebration of the day in Concord is to 
consist in the dedication of a monument to be erected upon the spot where 
Davis and Hosmer fell, an act of justice to them and their co-patriots which 
we greatly appreciate : therefore 

Resolved, That, while we would have gladly cooperated with both of those 
towns in the observance of the day, we feel it our more especial duty, and 



THE PREPARATIONS. 2Q 

we do hereby cordially accept the invitation of the town of Concord, to join 
them in celebrating the coming i9th of April, 1875 ; and 

Voted, That a committee of ten be chosen to confer with the town of 
Concord through their committee, in reference to said celebration, and that 
said committee have power and be instructed in behalf of the town of Acton 
to make all necessary arrangements for the proper celebration of that day. 

In the spirit of the above resolution, the Acton people attended in 
large numbers, and with a fine looking body of minute-men dressed 
in uniform. 

In issuing invitations, whether to the national and state officials, to 
towns, associations, or individuals, it was borne in mind that our anni 
versary would not only have strong attractions for the people of 
Concord and of Massachusetts, but would be national. It is hardly an 
exaggeration to say that the people of the entire country viewed with 
deep interest the preparations which were being made by our town 
properly to commemorate the centennial recurrence of the day on 
which the nation was born, and to the issues of which we all owe so 
much of our happiness and prosperity as free American citizens. 

At an early day, the President of the United States and several 
members of his Cabinet expressed their interest in the preparations, 
and their desire and intention to be present in Concord on the iQth. 

The following passage occurs in the Inaugural Address of Gov. Gas- 
ton to the Legislature : 

" I take pleasure in communicating to you an invitation from the inhab 
itants of the town of Concord to the two branches of the General Court, to 
be present as the guests of the town on the igth of April next, and take part 
in a fitting commemoration of the events which make the day famous. A 
similar invitation from Concord was accepted by your predecessors twenty- 
five years ago ; and I commend this invitation to your favorable considera 
tion." 

Subsequently our invitation was accepted by both branches of the 
General Court, and a joint special committee 1 was appointed to confer 
with the Governor as to the arrangements for the attendance of the 
Legislature. 

An order was adopted April 5, authorizing this committee of the 
Legislature to extend the hospitalities of the state to the President, 
Vice-President, and members of the Cabinet; and to make all such 

1 This committee consisted of Messrs. Joseph A. Harvvood of Littleton, and Francis 
E Ison of Hadley, on the part of the Senate; and Moses Williams, jun., of Brookline, 
William E. Blunt of Haverhill, Dexter A. Tompkins of Boston, Thomas F. Fitzgerald of 
Boston, and Isaac T. Burr of Newton, on the part of the House of Representatives. 



30 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

arrangements as they might deem necessary and proper for the pur 
pose of receiving and providing for their guests. 

After conferring with the President, and with the Governor and 
Council, the programme agreed upon by the joint special committee 
was as follows : 

4< That the Legislature, together with the Governor and Council, and 
invited guests of the Commonwealth, proceed to Concord on Monday 
the iQth of April, for the purpose of joining there the President of 
the United States, and with him attending the centennial exercises at 
Concord, until the hour of one o clock, P.M. ; and that, at that hour, 
the Legislature, and Governor and Council, with the guests of the 
Commonwealth, proceed promptly to Lexington, for the purpose of 
attending the centennial exercises of that town during the remain 
der of the day." 1 This order of proceedings was determined upon, 
April 6, and was adhered to as strictly as the crowds and the ir 
regularity of trains would allow. The President and his Cabinet had 
previously accepted an invitation to come to Concord on the night 
of Saturday the i/th, and become the guests of Judge Hoar until 
Monday morning, after which time they would be the guests of the 
town during the forenoon, and again in the evening. 2 

In view of the fact that our celebration was to be a national one, 
an enormous quantity of flags and uncut bunting was despatched to 
Concord from the navy yards at Portsmouth, Boston, New York, and 
Washington, to be used by the committee in decorating the streets, 
tents, and buildings in the town. The Secretary of the Navy detailed 
Lieut. Commander Henry H. Gorringe with orders to take charge of 
the flags, and render any assistance in his power. 

It is due the department, as well as to Lieut. Commander Gorringe, 
to say that the Committee feel under the greatest obligations to both. 
We cannot be too grateful for this generous loan of decorating mate 
rial, or praise too highly the efficient manner in which the directions 
of the Secretary were carried out by the officer in charge. 3 

1 Report of committee given to the press, April 7, and signed by Messrs. Harwood and 
Williams. 

2 It was one of the unfortunate occurrences of the day, that, on account of the great 
crowds, and the unavoidable delay occasioned by them, the President was not met at Lex 
ington by the carriage which was sent for him from Concord at his request ; his plan hav 
ing been to return to Concord, and attend the ball in the evening. 

3 Exclusive of rags and scraps of bunting that were not used, and not counting any of 
the nags and bunting from the Boston yard, we had the use of 6,769 flags belonging to the 
Government, the invoice price of which, as appears by the official records, was $38,704 57. 
The Boston yard supplied a large additional number of flags, and a large quantity of 
uncut bunting. 



THE PREPARATIONS. 31 

The Agricultural Hall, the tents for the oration and dinner, the 
public buildings, the liberty-pole, and the principal streets, were 
decorated under the direction of the sub-committee chosen for the 
purpose. They employed Messrs. Lamprell and Marble, of Boston, 
to see that the work was properly done ; and the results attained by 
the decorators were perfectly satisfactory to the Committee, and, it is 
believed, to the people of the town. 

Many private buildings were appropriately decorated ; but, as they 
did not come properly within the province of the committee, it is not 
attempted, in this place, to give a description of the beautiful masses 
and combinations of color that made the whole town resplendent on 
this gala day. 

At the request of the Committee of Arrangements the Marine Band 
of Washington was ordered to Concord to take part in our proces 
sion, on the sole condition that the town should entertain its mem 
bers while they remained in Concord, without expense to the depart 
ment. It was considered very fitting that the highest officials of the 
nation should be accompanied in the procession by this celebrated 
band of musicians, regularly enlisted into the service of the United 
States, with our own Concord Artillery as military escort. The 
band also rendered valuable assistance at the promenade concert in 
the evening. 

At a meeting held November 7, 1874, the Executive Committee was 
instructed to report at the next meeting " a programme for the whole 
celebration of the hundredth anniversary of Concord Fight." 

After mature deliberation, it was finally settled that the day 
should begin with the formation of the procession, in the immediate 
neighborhood of the Fitchburg Railroad station ; that the procession 
should march through Main, Walden, and Lexington Streets, to the 
Square, and, after leaving the Square, up Monument Street, pass the 
two monuments and the bridge, and enter upon the field of Mr. 
George Keyes, the use of which was tendered for the occasion by 
the owner. 

Here, on the spot where the Provincial troops made their final form 
ation and deliberately resolved to dislodge the regulars from the 
bridge, a tent was to be erected for the oration and the exercises 
in dedication of the monument, and as near to it as the height of 
the river and the conformation of the ground would permit, another 
and larger tent for the dinner. 

The success of the day depended upon the weather more than 



32 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

any one was willing to acknowledge ; and this fact caused most of the 
difficulty in arranging the route of the procession. The spring was 
very late, and the weather cold. Ten days before the celebration, the 
knoll on which the " Minute-man " stands was entirely surrounded by 
water, and was accessible only by the new bridge. 

If we had been met by so unfavorable a combination of circum 
stances on the iQth, the procession would have been unable to pass 
the new monument, or, indeed, to approach it nearer than within 
two hundred feet ; and the line of march would have been, of neces 
sity, different in many respects. 

Thus the Committee and the Chief Marshal were obliged to con 
template the possibility of material alterations in the programme, 
alterations which it might be necessary to make when there was no 
opportunity for deliberation, and when prompt action would be called 
for. 

On the 1 3th, three inches of snow fell ; and, as the dinner tent 
was to be pitched the following day, it became necessary to clear the 
ground. By the accommodation of the road commissioners, the men 
and teams employed by the town to work on the roads were set to 
work removing the snow from the ground that was to be occupied by 
the tents ; and the sun came out bright and warm to assist by 
drying up the ground after the removal of the snow. 

It was well that the spot selected for the tents was sheltered from 
the north winds by the hill ; for, without that friendly protection, it 
would have been impossible for such enormous masses of canvas to 
withstand the blasts with which they were visited. As it was, both 
tents were partially lowered several times after they were first erected, 
in order to keep them from being blown down. 

It was determined beforehand that the march around the old mill- 
pond should be omitted, if the weather or unavoidable delays should 
render it necessary to do so, in order to arrive at the tents at the 
appointed time. The actual route of the procession was thus short 
ened on account of unavoidable delays in formation and the embar 
rassment occasioned by the great crowds that blocked the streets 
along the line of march. 

In addition to the other preparations, at the various points of his 
torical interest, and upon the buildings now standing that were 
witnesses of the stirring events of the igth of April, were placed 
descriptive signs. These were the work of Messrs. Edward G. 
Reynolds and Charles S. Richardson, acting under the direction of the 



THE PREPARATIONS. 33 

Committee on Decorations. The signs were painted on narrow strips 
of board in large, legible, black letters, in order that those who ran 
might read. 

We* give, for the benefit of future centennial and millennial commit 
tees, a list of the inscriptions, with a brief description of the places 
so designated. 

HOUSE OF ADJUTANT JOS. HOSMER, 1775. 

House beyond the Old South Bridge and Fitchburg Railroad 
crossing, now occupied by Mrs. Lydia P. Hosmer and Cyrus Hosmer. 

OLD SOUTH BRIDGE. 
BRITISH COMPANY STATIONED HERE 19TH OF APRIL, 1775. 

Wooden bridge near Fitchburg Railroad, and house of Elijah Wood. 

OLD BLOCK HOUSE, BUILT I654. 

House just west of National Bank building, occupied by Dr. H. A. 
Barrett. 

SITE OF THE OLD JAIL. 

BRITISH SOLDIERS CONFINED HERE. 

This was at a point close to the north-west side of the old burying - 
ground on Main Street, on land of Reuben N. Rice. 

SITE OF CAPT. WHEELER S GRIST-MILL. 

On the north side of the Milldam, next to the Bank, on the spot 
now occupied by the shop of Asa C. Collier. The old mill-stones form 
a substantial part of the foundation of the present building. 

SITE OF CAPT. WHEELER S STOREHOUSE. 

PROVINCIAL F1-OUR STORED HERE. 

On the west side of Walden Street, south of the Trinitarian Church, 
on land of Nathan B. Stow. 

MERRIAM S CORNER. 

HERE THE MINUTE MEN FROM OLD NORTH BRIDGE, WITH READING AND BILLERICA 
COMPANIES, ATTACKED THE BRITISH ON THEIR RETREAT. 

This was about a mile and a quarter from the centre of the town, 
on the Boston road, at the junction of that thoroughfare with the old 
road to Bedford. 



34 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

RESIDENCE OF DR. SAMUEL PRESCOTT, 
WHO BROUGHT THE NEWS OF THE MARCH OF THE BRITISH FROM BOSTON. 

House now occupied by John B. Moore on Lexington Street, in 
the easterly part of the town. 

"THE CONCORD ROAD TO BOSTON 

I FOR ONE 

MOST GIN LLY OLLUS CALL IT 
JOHN BULL S RUN." 

Extract from the " Biglow Papers," posted at foot of the hill on 
Lexington Street, north of the house of George Heywood. 

SHOP OF REUBEN BROWN, 
WHERE SADDLES, CARTRIDGE BOXES, &C., WERE MADE FOR THE PROVINCIAL ARMY. 

House on Lexington Street, east side, second house north of George 
Heywood s, and now occupied by Mrs. Julia Clark. 



OLD MEETING-HOUSE. 

BUILT, 1712. ENLARGED, 1792 REMODELLED, AND TURNED HALFWAY ROUND, 1841. 

FIRST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS MET HERE OCT. 11, 1774. SECOND CONGRESS 

MET HERE MARCH 22, 1775, AND ADJOURNED FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE 

BATTLE AT OLD NORTH BRIDGE. 

It is unnecessary to describe the location of the Church of the 
First Parish. 

WRIGHT S TAVERN. 

PITCAIRN, STIRRING HIS BRANDY WITH BLOODY FINGER, SAID, "l HOPE TO STIR 
THE DAMNED YANKEE BLOOD SO BEFORE NIGHT." 

House commonly known as the Jarvis House, facing the Common, 
a few rods north of the old meeting-house. 



SITE OF OLD COURT-HOUSE, I775. 

West side of Monument Square, south of old engine-house, on land 
now owned by Bishop Williams. 

PROVINCIAL STOREHOUSE, I775. 

House now occupied by Louis A. Surette, facing Monument Square, 
on the north side. 



THE PREPARATIONS. 35 

HOUSE OF ELISHA JONES, 1775. 

On Monument Street, east side, now occupied by John S. Keyes. 
In the shed attached to the house is a bullet-hole "pierced by a 
British musket-ball" on the iQth of April, 1775. 

An old willow tree on the same premises, planted on the 2Oth of 
April, 1775, bore the following inscription, from Holmes s " One- 
Horse Shay : " 

"LITTLE OF ALL WE VALUE HERE 
WAKES ON THE MORN OF ITS HUNDREDTH YEAR 
WITHOUT BOTH FEELING AND LOOKING QUEER." 

On the opposite side of the road was the following : 

OLD MANSE, 
OCCUPIED BY REV. WILLIAM EMERSON, APRIL 19, 1775. 

Further description is unnecessary. 

HOUSE OF MAJOR JOHN BUTTRICK, I775. 

House situated on the hill west of Flint s Bridge, and lately occu 
pied by Capt. Francis Jarvis. 

HOUSE OF NATHAN BARRETT, I775. 

Situated on Punkatasset Hill, and now occupied by John B. 
Tileston. 

HOUSE OF COL. JAMES BARRETT, I775. 

Situated about two miles from the village, in a north-westerly di 
rection, near Angier s Mills. It is now owned by the heirs of Prescott 
Barrett. 

In the field on the west side of the river, near the battle-ground, 
were posted the following memorable utterances, so closely connected 
with the history of the battle : 

"FIRE, FELLOW-SOLDIERS! FOR GOD S SAKE, FIRE!" 

MAJOR BUTTRICK. 

11 I HAVE N T A MAN THAT S AFRAID TO GO ! " 
CAPT. ISAAC DAVIS. 

"WILL YOU LET THEM BURN THE TOWN DOWN?" 

ADJUTANT HOSMER. 



^6 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Just beyond the entrance to the Old Manse grounds was erected a 
triumphal arch with the following inscription from Lowell s " Biglow 
Papers : " - 

"THE CONCORD BRIDGE, WHICH DAVIS, WHEN HE CAME, 
FOUND WAS THE BEE-LINE TRACK TO HEAVEN AND FAME." 

Several other houses which were standing at the time of the fight, 
but, so far as is known, have no other historical connection with the 
day, were marked by signs bearing the date " I775-" 

Such were the houses of Jonathan Wheeler (the Ephraim Wheeler 
house), D. G. Lang (the Humphrey Barrett house), Benjamin 
Tolman, Walcott and Holden (the Davis house), Joel W. Walcott, 
(the Dr. Hunt House), Heywood and Pierce (the Yellow Block), Julia 
Clark (the Reuben Brown house and shop), George Heywood (the 
John Beaton house), and Maria K. Prescott. 

At the western corner of the Hill Burying-Ground was placed a 
sign to indicate that "Revolutionary Heroes" were busied on the 
hill So far as they could be ascertained, the graves of all the 
patriots who were in arms on the iQth of April, 1775, and were 
afterwards buried in Concord, were sought out and made conspic 
uous by an American flag placed over each grave. 

The names of the men and their places of burial are as follows : - 

OLD BURYING-GROUND. 

Capt. Charles Miles. John Hostner. 

Ensign John Barrett. Elijah Hosmer. 

HILL BURYING-GROUND. 

Col. James Barrett. Stephen Barrett. 

Maj. John Buttrick. Benjamin Clark. 

Capt. Nathan Barrett. Ephraim Wood. 

Capt. David Brown. John Buttrick, Jun. 

Lieut. Francis Wheeler. William Parkman. 

Rev. William Emerson. Amos Melvin. 

Reuben Brown. Silas Mann. 



SLEEPY HOLLOW CEMETERY. 

Lieut. Joseph Hosmer. Abel Davis-. 

Benjamin Hosmer. 



THE PREPARATIONS. 37 

The Committee of Arrangements, at a meeting held October 17, 
1874, appointed Messrs. Melvin, Shattuck, and Emerson a sub 
committee to contract for and erect a liberty-pole, and raise funds for 
the purpose. 

At the regular town meeting, November 10, the Committee was 
authorized to expend five hundred dollars for this purpose, that sum 
being in addition to the sum named in the vote under which the 
Committee was appointed. 

The elegant flag-staff that now commands our village was built by 
George E. Young, of Boston, at a cost of four hundred dollars, and 
extends one hundred and thirty feet above the ground. Most of the 
remainder of the additional appropriation was expended for a flag, 
ball, and ropes, as will appear by the financial report of the 
Committee. 

On the day of the celebration, the liberty-pole was beautifully 
dressed with flags, arranged under the immediate direction of Lieut. 
Commander Gorringe, and was one of the most conspicuous objects 
in the town. On either side, pointed up Main Street, stood the two 
field-pieces presented to the town by the Commonwealth, and bearing 
the following inscription in raised letters : 

"The Legislature of Massachusetts consecrate the names of Major John 
Buttrick and Capt. Isaac Davis, whose valour and example excited their 
fellow-citizens to a successful resistance of a superior number of British 
troops at Concord Bridge, the 1.9 of April, 1775, which was the beginning 
of a contest in arms that ended in American independence." 

At an early day the Committee made choice of Major-General 
Francis C. Barlow, of New York, to act as Chief Marshal ; and the 
following gentlemen were appointed Assistant Marshals to act as 
mounted aides in forming and conducting the procession : 

Col. Henry L. Higginson, Col. Charles L. Peirson, Col. Charles 
W. Davis, Col. Henry S. Russell, Col. William B. Storer, Col. George 
M. Barnard, Col. Thomas M. Wheeler, Col. Charles E. Fuller, Col. 
Edwin S. Barrett, Capt. William E. Wilson, Capt. Joseph Thompson, 
Capt. John F. Stark, Dr. Edward W. Emerson. 

In addition to these assistants, a large number of gentlemen con 
sented to act as unmounted aides, to represent the Chief Marshal in 
their respective towns before the day of the celebration, as well as 
to execute his orders respecting the movements of the procession. 

While we cannot attempt, in this report, to acknowledge all the 



38 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

kind acts of assistance rendered us by patriotic friends all over the 
land, it would be a great oversight to omit all mention of the con 
summate ability with which the procession was planned and moved 
by Gen. Francis C. Barlow and his aides. 

Never on the field of battle did our Chief Marshal have greater 
need of coolness and decision ; and we venture to say that never was 
the exhibition of those qualities accompanied by greater success than 
in starting a procession such as ours within twenty minutes after the 
time set for it to be in motion, and conducting it safely and without 
delay to its destination at the opposite end of the town. 

When all the events and occurrences of the iQth of April, 1875, 
here and elsewhere, are taken into consideration, we think that every 
one will feel, with the Committee, that to the promptness and effi 
ciency of Gen. Barlow and his assistants, mounted and unmounted, 
is chiefly due the successful carrying but of our programme. 

The following announcement was published in all the Boston daily 
papers during the week immediately preceding the iQth : 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION AT CONCORD, IQTH OF APRIL 1875. 

The Committee of Arrangements of the town of Concord have m ade 
preparations for the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of Con 
cord Fight, i9th of April, 1775 ; and the citizens of all the towns locally or 
otherwise interested in the events of that day, and the public generally are 
invited to be present. 

The exercises will begin with a salute of one hundred guns at sunrise. 

At nine, A. M., a procession will be formed, escorted by the Fifth Regiment 
M V. M., and under the direction of Gen. F. C. Barlow as chief marshal. 
After visiting the monuments at the old North Bridge, the procession will 
march to a pavilion on the Provincial parade-ground, where the exercises of 
the dedication of the new statue will take place, consisting of an address by 
R. W. Emerson, and an oration upon the events of the day by George 
William Curtis. 

At the conclusion of the oration, the company will proceed to the dinner 
tent on the same field. Addresses will be made at the table by many 
distinguished speakers. 

E. R. Hoar will act as President of the Day. 

The exercises will conclude with a grand ball at the Agricultural Hall in 
the evening. 

Tickets to the dinner, $1.50; to the ball, $6; to be obtained of the Com 
mittee of Arrangements, as advertised. The number of tickets to the dinner 



THE PREPARATIONS. 39 

now remaining unsold is very limited ; and all persons who desire to obtain 
them should send their applications immediately. 

Special trains will be provided on the Fitchburg and Lowell Railroads to 
accommodate those who desire to unite in the celebration. 

By order of the Committee of Arrangements, 

GEORGE KEYES, Chairman. 
CONCORD, Mass., April 10, 1875. 

SAMUEL HOAR, Secretary. 

Following this announcement was the General Order of the Chief 
Marshal, which, after giving the component parts of each division of 
the procession, contained the following general directions : 

The different divisions will form as follows, at precisely nine o clock, A.M., 
of Monday, April 19, 1875 : 

First division on Main Street, right on Thoreau Street. 

Second division on Middle Street, right on Thoreau Street. 

Third division on Sudbury Street, east of the railroad, right on Thoreau 
Street. 

Fourth Division on Sudbury Street, west of railroad, right on railroad. 

Fifth Division on Thoreau Street, south of Sudbury Street, right on 
Sudbury Street. 

All persons and organizations are requested to proceed, immediately on 
arriving in Concord, to the points designated as above, in order that they 
may be placed in position by the Marshal s aides in charge of the respective 
divisions. 

By reason of the concurrent ceremonies on the same day in the town of 
Lexington, it is absolutely necessary that the procession move punctually at 
half-past nine o clock, and all persons and organizations not formed in their 
proper positions at that time will be considered as having declined the in 
vitation to participate in the ceremonies. The available widths of the streets 
on which the divisions are to form are as follows : Main Street, forty feet ; 
Middle Street, thirty-five feet ; Sudbury Street, thirty-five feet ; Thoreau 
Street, thirty-five feet. 

Military organizations will march in company or platoon fronts, as their 
commanders may designate. 

All bodies of civilians marching on foot will march in ranks four abreast, 
with intervals of four feet between the ranks. 

In order to prevent confusion in the music, the Marshal s aides (mounted) 
will give directions to the several bands, either directly, or through the com 
manders of the organizations to which the bands belong, as to the order of 
playing. 

All ladies desiring to obtain seats at the oration will assemble at the Town 
Hall punctually at half-past nine o clock, and will be conducted to the tent. 



4O THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

At the close of the oration and other exercises in the tent, those desiring 
to participate in the dinner will proceed forthwith to the tent provided for 
that purpose. 

Col. Theodore Lyman, 191 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, will represent 
the Chief Marshal in Boston until the day of the celebration, and will answer 
all inquiries. 

All organizations or bodies proposing to join the procession, and not pro 
vided for above, are requested to communicate with Col. Lyman forthwith. 
It will greatly facilitate the orderly arrangement of the procession, if all 
persons, bodies, and organizations mentioned in the above order will commu 
nicate, as early as practicable, a statement of their numbers, and when and 
how they propose to reach Concord, as follows : 

Those in First Division, to Col. Henry L. Higginson, 44 State Street, 
Boston. 

Those in Second Division, to Col. Theodore Lyman, 191 Commonwealth 
Avenue Boston. 

Those in Third Division to Col. William B. Storer, 58 and 60 India 
Square, Boston. 

Those in Fourth Division, to Col. Charles L. Peirson, 44 Kilby Street, 
Boston. 

Those in Fifth Division, to Col. Charles E. Fuller, 2 State Street, Boston. 

Engraved plan, showing the location of the Fitchburg Railroad station, 
and of the streets on which the several divisions are to form, will be sent to 
the assistant marshals and aides; and all persons intending to join in the 
procession are requested to familiarize .themselves with the position of the 
division to which they belong, and their own place therein. 

FRANCIS C. BARLOW, 

Chief Marshal. 

The Chief Marshal gave further directions to his assistants and to 
the unmounted aides in each participating town by the following 
printed order : 

1775- CONCORD FIGHT. 1875. 

CONCORD, MASS., April 10, 1875. 
To the Unmounted Aides of the Several Towns. 

Below is a sketch of the streets in the neighborhood of the railroad 
station, where the procession will form. 

You will observe from the published order of the procession that the 
official delegation especially invited from your town (the selectmen, town 
officers, &c.) are in the Fourth Division, in the order indicated. This divis 
ion forms on Sudbury Street, west of the railroad, right on the railroad. 

Will you please see that the members of this official delegation clearly 



THE PREPARATIONS. 41 

understand the position of their division, and their own position in it, and 
will you please communicate at once to Col. CHARLES L. PEIRSON (the mar 
shal of the Fourth Division), at 44 Kilby Street, Boston, the number of such 
official delegation who will attend. 

The general body of the citizens of your town, preceded by yourself and 
the town banner, and headed by such bands or organizations as you may 
have as escorts, will compose the Fifth Division, and will form on Thoreau 
Street, right on Sudbury Street. 

The point where your banner will be placed will be indicated by a post 
on Thoreau Street, marked with the name of your town. 

The delegation will form on the banner in ranks four abreast, and with 
intervals of four feet between the ranks. 

Please communicate at once to Col. CHARLES E. FULLER, No. 2 State 
Street, the number of your general delegation, and whether you will have a 
band or any organization as an escort ; and please make your delegation as 
familiar as possible with these details. 

Observe that the official delegations are in the Fourth Division, and the 
general delegations are in the Fifth Division, and communicate accordingly. 

FRANCIS C. BARLOW, 

Chief Marshal. 




The following circular was distributed among the people 
Concord by authority of the Committee of Arrangements : 



of 



CONCORD FIGHT. 



1875- 



The following Order of Arrangements respecting the people of CONCORD, 
and their accommodation at the CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, has been made 
by Major Gen. Barlow, Chief Marshal, and will be strictly adhered to. 



42 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Ladies who desire to be present at the Dedicatory Exercises and Oration 
are invited to assemble at the Town Hall, Monday, April iQth, at 9 o clock, 
A.M., from which place they will be conducted to the Oration tent, where 
seats will be provided for their accommodation. 1 

The citizens of Concord, generally, and their friends who are not pro 
vided for elsewhere in the procession, are requested to assemble promptly at 
half-past eight o clock, A.M., on Thoreau Street, south of Sudbury Street, 
where they will be formed in ranks of four, preparatory to joining in the 
procession. 

It is hoped that the people of Concord will see the necessity of complying 
with the above arrangements, which have been devised for the special pur 
pose of enabling all to be present at the Dedicatory Exercises and Oration. 

No person, except ladies, will be admitted to the oration tent until after 
the procession has entered it. 

CONCORD, April 12,1875. 

The following correspondence with Mr. George William Curtis 
was reported November 14, 1874, by the sub-committee on the 
Oration, and was accepted with unanimous approval by the general 
committee : 

CONCORD, MASS., Oct. 28, 1874. 

GEORGE W. CURTIS, ESQ. 

Dear Sir, In behalf of the inhabitants of Concord, we cordially invite 
you to deliver an oration to the people of this town and their guests on the 
1 9th of April, 1875, the centennial anniversary of Concord Fight. 

In tendering you this invitation, we feel that we are giving expression to 
the universal desire of our people ; and we are confident, that your accept 
ance will give a national character to this commemoration of the deeds of 
our fathers. 

Your obedient servants, 

CHARLES H. WALCOTT. ) 

EDWARD C. DAMON, I For the &"*** 

SAMUEL HOAR, ) of Arrangements. 



1 At a meeting of the General Committee, April 14, 1875, it was voted, "that three 
members of this Committee be appointed a committee to meet ladies at the Town Hall, 
and to conduct them to seats in the oration tent." Accordingly, such a committee was 
appointed, consisting of Albert E. Wood, Elijah Wood, and Marcellus Houghton, who 
reported at the meeting held May 8, after the celebration, that they attended to their duty, 
and endeavored to conduct ladies to the tent, and did conduct several ladies there ; but 
that others seemed unwilling to go. 



THE PREPARATIONS. 43 

WEST NEW BRIGHTON, STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., 
10 November, 1874. 

GENTLEMEN, Your invitation to deliver an oration in Concord on the 
centennial anniversary of Concord Fight is an honor which I cannot hesitate 
most gratefully and heartily, but with sincere diffidence, to accept. 

With great regard, I am very respectfully yours, 

GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. 

Messrs. CHARLES H. WALCOTT, 
EDWARD C. DAMON, 
SAMUEL HOAR, 

For the Committee. 

Mr. Curtis s address forms, by his permission, a subsequent portion 
of this report, and speaks for itself. Words of eulogy from us to the 
people of Concord are unnecessary, either in praise of the orator or 
his work; but we think it may safely be said that, while few who 
heard that masterly production could fail to perceive the laborious 
care and reverential interest with which he had studied his subject, 
the earnestness, v patriotism, and graceful utterance of the speaker, 
were felt and appreciated by all. 

Mr. R. W. Emerson, having been requested to prepare an address, 
was appointed by the Monument Committee to speak for them at the 
dedication of the beautiful subject of their trust. It will be deemed 
no unimportant feature of our celebration that it was graced and 
inspired by the presence and ever youthful enthusiasm of so true a 
descendant of the Concord minister whose counsels and example 
animated his people in the opening scene of the Revolution. 

Following Mr. Emerson s address, Prof. James Russell Lowell 
recited the noble ode which he had prepared by invitation of the 
Committee, a copy of which is printed hereafter in its order. It will 
be recognized as one of the most striking contributions to the suc 
cess of the celebration, and as worthy of its distinguished author s 
fame. It renews trte sense of obligation to him which the people of 
Concord have felt on other occasions. 

Rev. Grindall Reynolds, the minister of the First Parish, which in 
1775 was co-extensive with the town of Concord, was selected with 
one accord for the office of Chaplain. To him we are indebted, not 
only for the actual services rendered on the iQth of April, but, also, 
for many previous manifestations of his love for the town, and of 
interest in its history, which were of great assistance to the Com 
mittee in carrying out their plans. The sermon preached by Mr. 
Reynolds on Sunday the i8th appears, by his permission, in the sub 
sequent pages of this report. 



44 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

The Committee has attempted to show its appreciation of the 
services of E. R. Hoar, President of the Day, by presenting him 
with a letter of thanks, which was as follows : viz., 

CONCORD, May 10, 1875. 

HON. E. R HOAR. 

Dear Sir, The Committee appointed by the town to make arrangements 
for the celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of Concord Fight on the 
igth of April, 1875, desire to express to you their sincere thanks for the able 
manner in which you performed the arduous duties devolving upon you as 
President of the Day upon that occasion. 

They are aware that they are largely indebted to your untiring exertions 
for the success of the celebration, and feel that the town of Concord has 
incurred another debt of gratitude, in addition to the many it already owes 
you for the assistance you have so freely rendered in times past whenever it 
has been needed to insure the prosperity and welfare of your native town. 
We are very respectfully yours, &c., 

The above letter was signed by each member of the Committee of 
Arrangements. 



SUNDAY SERVICES. 



SUNDAY SERVICES. 



The scale of preparation had been such, that it was hardly possible 
for the assembling of guests to be confined to one day. As early, 
therefore, as Saturday, April 17, the Ransom Guards of St. Albans, 
Vermont, escorting Hon. Asahel Peck, the governor of that state, 
and his staff, arrived by a special train, were met at the depot by 
the reception committee, and marched down the main street to the 
hotel. 1 

On Saturday, also, in the evening, President Grant and Messrs. 
Fish, Belknap, Robeson, and Delano of his Cabinet, who visited New 
England to testify to the great national importance of the events 
here celebrated, came from Boston as the guests of Judge Hoar. 

Friends and relatives from all parts of the country filled the houses 
of our towns people, and the public accommodations were stretched 
to their utmost. 

Sunday, April 18, was a chilly, gray day. The town was quiet, 
considering the large numbers of visitors who filled the streets, 
and crowded the churches. 

The Portland Mechanic Blues, escorting Hon. Nelson Dingley, jr., 
the governor of Maine, and his staff, arrived early in the morning ; 
and this company, with the Ransom Guards and the Concord Artil 
lery, attended church in the morning and afternoon. 

The street decorations had been put in position. Up and down the 
streets, private and public buildings were festooned with flags and 
streamers. The two mammoth tents overlooked the town from be 
yond the river. 

Against the vast background of the principal celebration, the mod 
est services at the old meeting-house on Sunday attracted little public 
notice, yet they seem to us worthy of remembrance. The religious 
spirit was strong in the colonies. William Emerson, the pastor of this 
church, was an eye-witness of the fight at the Bridge, and by his 

1 This company, which made so favorable an impression during their stay in Concord, 
adopted the sensible course of using the special train of sleeping-cars on which they came, 
as a permanent camp. They thereby had ample accommodations, attended the Ball, and 
returned to St. Albans Tuesday morning. 



48 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

example and teaching did much to strengthen the patriotism of the 
people of this neighborhood. In that meeting-house the first provin 
cial congress assembled. There John Hancock was chosen to preside, 
and Samuel Adams was an active and influential member. From that 
meeting-house went forth the orders for the collection of stores and 
munitions of war that caused such uneasiness to the British officials ; 
and from its pulpit, from that day to this, the lessons of patriotism, 
toleration, and liberty, have been inculcated by wise teachers. 

It was especially fitting that there, in the presence of the chief 
Executive of the nation, of numerous visitors from different states, and 
of a large assemblage crowding the church to repletion, attention 
should be called with praise and prayer to the simple, the wonderful 
story of those men who once occupied that place, and of the birth of 
that nation whose freedom, and, probably, whose existence, was there 
made sure. 

The meeting-house was handsomely decorated. 

The services were the regular Sunday services of the parish, 
prayer, reading of the Scriptures, singing by the whole congregation 
led by the Adelphi Quartette of Boston, and a discourse by Rev. 
Grindall Reynolds, the pastor. The singing of " America," heartily 
joined in by the military companies and all the congregation, was 
exceedingly impressive. 

Mr. Reynolds s discourse was as follows : 



DISCOURSE. 

BY REV. MB. REYNOLDS. 

"Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities : thine eyes shall see Jerusalem 
a quiet habitation. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the 
Lord is our king." ISAIAH xxxiii. 20, 22. 

THE house in which we meet was first occupied for public 
worship in the year 1712. It was then a plain, homely 
building, scarcely as elegant, either in form or finish, as most 
of our farmers barns. All which now adorns it spire, porch, 
organ, and painted walls are the additions of later and more 
luxurious times. But it was built of the great pines and 
oaks, which had endured the heats of a hundred summers, 
and breasted the storms of a hundred winters; and it was 



SUNDAY SERVICES. 49 

built to last. In its plainness, in its simplicity, and in its 
sturdiness, it was no unfit type of the strong and unpretend 
ing men who reared it, or of their sons, who, on that day, 
whose morning found us colonies, whose evening left us a 
nation, played their part with a rare modesty, decision, and 
courage. It was an old structure, therefore, when in October, 
1774, it gave shelter to the First Provincial Congress of 
Massachusetts ; weather-beaten, too, and open, no doubt, to 
all the breezes of heaven. For thus runs the provincial 
record, " In consideration of the coldness of the season, and 
that Congress sit in a room without fire, Resolved, That those 
members who incline thereto may sit with their hats on, 
while in Congress." But, plain and homely as the house 
was, it was the scene of most important transactions. Here, 
only two days after its assembling, Congress declared to Gen. 
Gage, in memorable phrase, that truth, which must have 
been new to his ears, but which is at the foundation of our 
national life, " that the sole end of government is the pro 
tection and security of the people. Whenever, therefore, that 
power, which was originally instituted to effect these impor 
tant and valuable purposes, is employed to harass, distress, or 
enslave the people, in this case it becomes a curse." Here 
it was, that those military Rules and Regulations were passed, 
just one fortnight before the battle, which welded the scat 
tered militia of the State into a compact army. Here, three 
days later, that invitation to the other New England colonies, 
to furnish their quota for the general defence, was voted ; 
and to such effect, that, almost before the retreating British 
troops had crossed the Charles River, companies from New 
Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, were on their 
march to join the forces which were beleaguering Boston. 
And here, finally, on the I5th of April, was issued that 
Proclamation for a day of fasting and prayer, every one of 
whose sentences was an appeal to Almighty God against 
tyranny. This old house saw the flow and ebb of the first 
and the last tide of invasion which ever swept over Massa- 



5O THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

chusetts soil. At seven o clock on the iQth of April, 1775, 
Col. Smith halted his forces in the road and square in front of 
it, while, with Major Pitcairn, he climbed the steep slope of the 
old graveyard to take a view of the surrounding country. 
Four hours later, in the same road and square, that army 
was marching and countermarching with timid irresolution, 
before, at twelve o clock, it began its well-nigh fatal retreat. 
Let me not forget to add, that in this old church it was, that 
the Rev. William Emerson, who gave up his own life to his 
country, from Sunday to Sunday deepened the trust, and 
quickened the patriotism, of the men and women of Concord 
by his own flaming zeal and loyalty. Could there be a better 
place in which to gather, that, by praise and prayer, we may 
fit our minds for the sacred services of remembrance and 
gratitude in which on the morrow we are to engage ? Not 
within the bounds of Middlesex County is there another spot 
so vitally connected with the causes which preceded, and 
with the results which succeeded, the events of the 19th of 
April, 1775. 

I hold that it was not of accident, that the Provincial 
Congress met in the meeting-houses at Concord, at Cam 
bridge, and at Watertown. I do not believe that it was for 
mere convenience, that the Puritan so commonly called town- 
meetings, political gatherings, and all manner of public 
assemblies, within the walls of the houses dedicated to public 
worship. He did it, because he thought that they were the 
fit places for such things ; because, to his mind and heart, all 
true statesmanship and all worthy government, were, equally 
with praise and prayer, parts of a solemn recognition and 
service of the sovereign God. It was not that he thought 
meanly of his meeting-house, but that he had grand thoughts 
regarding the purpose and domain of all government and 
law deserving the respect of a Christian man. To-morrow, 
eloquent lips shall portray to you the political earnestness, 
the sagacious statesmanship, the civic courage, and the 



SUNDAY SERVICES. 5 l 

martial valor, which conceived, which began, and which 
carried to a successful issue, that greatest of modern achieve 
ments, the American Revolution. Let me not trench upon 
that field. But the Puritan meeting-house stood, the type 
and symbol of other causes, which were not, perhaps, so often 
expressed in words, but which coursed in the very blood 
of the people themselves, and which gave to their words and 
to their deeds gravity, weight, and power. Beneath all 
material causes were spiritual causes, making the men of 
75 what they were, and enabling them to accomplish what 
they did. 

The colonists who came to New England did not come 
to advance their material interests, not to prosecute commer 
cial enterprises, not to conquer new realms, for none of 
these things, but to serve God as they felt that he ought 
to be served. The sovereignty of God might be to others 
an unmeaning phrase : to the Puritan it was a solemn reality. 
And he was here on these bleak shores only that he might 
serve God and enjoy him, now and forevermore, without let 
or hinderance. If any one doubts this, let him take down a 
volume of original Puritan letters, such as are preserved in 
the Prince Collection. There they are, more than two hun 
dred years old, yellow with age, worn, and almost tattered, 
with much handling, there they are ; and in every one of 
them, in grave communication of minister to brother minis 
ter, in diplomatic note of grayheaded statesman to his peer, 
in letters of sober affection of husband to wife, in tender 
epistle of lover to his mistress, in all, and on every page 
of all, you will find the name of God, and the acknowledg 
ment of his authority. That this sense of God s immediate 
sovereignty had lost something of its distinctness in the 
century and a half between Plymouth Rock and Concord 
Fight, one readily admits. But you read the language of 
him who was the brain and heart, if any one man could be, 
of the Revolution, and who yet was himself Puritan of Puri 
tans, Samuel Adams, and you see that the old faith was all 



52 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

there in the hearts of the people, if not on their tongues. 
" It is the glory of the British Constitution," he says, " that it 
hath its foundation in the law of God." What is that but 
the whole doctrine of God as real sovereign, expressed in a 
line ? The same principle is in our blood to-day. Drive a 
true New-England man to the wall, what is the ultimate 
foundation upon which he takes his stand ? Not upon 
power, not even upon legal precedent, but upon right. 
And what is right, but the best we know of the will of Him 
who sits upon the throne of the universe, and whom we call 
God? 

The men who marched down the hill, a hundred years ago, 
to the bridge, were, for the most part, sober, earnest men, 
men who went to church Sundays, men who read their Bibles 
and believed in them, men who girded on their armor with 
the same serious and God-fearing spirit with which they went 
up to the house of God. What made them resolute, fearless, 
and, in the end, unconquerable, was that they truly thought 
that they were on God s side. When Major Buttrick cried 
out, " Fire, fellow-soldiers, for God s sake, fire ! " I do not take 
it to have been an unmeaning phrase, or a piece of irrever 
ence. I think that from his heart that gallant soldier believed 
that he stood in arms for God s sake and for the sake of the 
truth and the right. 

It does not admit of a doubt, that this overlapping, in the 
Puritan mind, of true religion and true politics, shaped from 
the beginning the relation of the New-England colonies to 
royalty. The doctrine of the divine right of kings never 
had any great acceptance either at Plymouth, or Boston, or 
Salem, or Concord. A king was a servant of God; his 
work, the welfare of God s people. Supple courtiers might 
flatter a bad monarch, but not the Puritan. All the elements 
of resistance to oppression were in the air in 1675 just as 
much as in 1775: what prevented an explosion was, that as 
yet the colonies were too weak and insignificant to attract 



SUNDAY SERVICES. 53 

the attention of tyrants. The sullen opposition which was 
made, ten years later, to the minions of James the Second, 
the decision with which Nelson, Foster, and Waterhouse, the 
predecessors of Otis, Hancock, and Adams, arrested and sent 
home Sir Edmund Andros on that iQth of April, just eighty- 
six years before a igth of April still more famous, prove this. 
Said John Higginson, plain minister of Salem, to the proud 
governor, " The people of New England hold their land by 
the grand charter of God." Not Patrick Henry, not John 
Adams, not any of the later patriots, ever spoke a bolder 
word. So when the great Boston leader said in 1771, "Kings 
and governors may be guilty of treason and rebellion, and 
they have in general, in all ages and countries, been more 
guilty of it than their subjects; nay, what has commonly 
been called rebellion in the people has- often been nothing 
else but a manly and glorious struggle in opposition to the 
lawless power of rebellious kings and princes, who, being 
elevated above the rest of mankind, and paid by them only 
to be protectors, have been taught by enthusiasts to believe 
they were authorized by God to enslave and butcher them," 
he gave expression to no new thought, but only made a clear 
statement of an old truth, which had been embedded in the 
New- England consciousness from the beginning. It was 
John Adams, if I mistake not, who declared that the old 
Puritan word was, A magistrate is the servant, not of his own 
desires, not even of the people, but of his God. 

I trace the influence of this religious interpretation of the 
foundation of government in that deep respect for law which 
grew up in the New-England mind, and which was never 
more characteristic of it than in the period of the Revolution. 
Law to it was the embodiment, in an orderly manner, of the 
right. Its ultimate foundation was God ; its end, the welfare 
of the governed. Any thing which had not such a founda 
tion and purpose was not law at all. You can in no other 
way than this account for the almost superstitious tenacity 



54 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

with which the patriotic leaders clung to the substance, and 
the forms, too, of legality. This tendency is evident at every 
step. When the Stamp-Act riot took place, by which the 
houses of Hutchinson and Oliver were gutted, John Adams 
records his painful emotions in his private diary, and Samuel 
Adams agreed with Mayhew, that he would rather have lost 
his right hand than it had happened. Not because either of 
them had any personal sympathy with the sufferers, but 
because their whole souls revolted at the idea of righting 
wrongs by unlawful violence. When the legislature made its 
final break with Gov. Gage at Salem, its last act was to declare 
the illegality of the proceedings of the royal officer, and the 
legality of its own proceedings. It was so all through. Fifty 
years ago, in this town, one of New England s greatest 
orators spoke of the events of the igth of April as the 
result of an almost spontaneous rising of the people, with 
little or no organization or preparation behind it. I do not 
so read history. No doubt the spirit of the people, who were, 
mind, heart, soul, and conscience, on the side of what they 
held to be rightful authority, had much to do with the success 
of the struggle. But unquestionably the militia and minute- 
men of Concord came together that morning in obedience to 
a preconcerted arrangement. Unquestionably the men of 
Lincoln, of Acton, of Bedford, and Carlisle, and of many 
another town, turned their faces toward North Bridge, because 
such had been the previous order. It would be far nearer 
the truth to say, that not a minute-man was raised, not an 
officer chosen, not a gun forged, not a cartridge rolled, not a 
pound of provisions stored in a farmer s barn, except in obe 
dience to what was held to be lawful government, resisting 
those who had ceased to use the sword to execute the law, 
and who had changed it into a deadly weapon to slay the law 
in the house of its friends. Law followed "the embattled 
farmers " as they marched down from Buttrick s Hill to the 
Bridge. They heard the three signal-guns fired by the 
enemy to summon to their aid re-enforcements. They saw 



SUNDAY SERVICES. 55 

the musket-balls of the British skip along the quiet surface 
of the river. They waited until a deadly volley had slain 
two of their bravest before they fired a return-shot. Why? 
Not because they were surprised, not because they were 
afraid, not, probably, because they shrank from opening a 
civil war, but because the law, a solemn thing then and now 
to a New-England man, the law, which to them was the 
best expression in organized life of the divine will, com 
manded them not to fire until first they had been fired upon. 
To my mind, in all human history there is no more noble 
instance of the subordination of passion to duty than the 
silence, until the lawful order came, of those four hundred 
muskets at North Bridge. I cannot understand how any one 
can read carefully the records of the Provincial Congress of 
Massachusetts, and not see that the course of New England 
was the farthest possible remove from irregular violence and 
sedition ; that it was the calm, orderly, resolute defence of 
what was solemnly believed to be alike the law of the land 
and the law of God against the rebellion of King George the 
Third and Gov. Gage, Col. Smith and Major Pitcairn, his in 
struments of illegality. In short, as I read history, the Revo 
lution was that reverence of God s proper sovereignty and 
his righteous will, enacted into law, and brought into martial 
array. It was the outcome of that deep religion, which was 
in Puritan blood modified by the practical needs and struggles 
of one hundred and fifty years life in the wilderness. 

The Revolution, therefore, was no restless throwing off a 
yoke which galled. The fight at North Bridge was no fierce 
outburst of revenge. Those eight years of loss and great 
endurance were not given simply for selfish good of any kind : 
they were all parts of a steady, solemn refusal to be subject 
to the whims and caprices of any man, or of any body of men, 
be they called king or parliament, and as steady and solemn 
an acceptance of those charters, compacts, laws, which were 
the best approach which mortal wisdom had made to that 
absolutely wise law of God, which secures the welfare of all 



56 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

and each. It was this that the Revolution was founded not 
on feeling, but on principle ; that the forces which created it, 
and the forces which sustained it, were profound moral and 
spiritual convictions which has made it a permanent blessing 
to mankind. Fifteen years later, France, in a storm of hate 
and defiance, rose, burst all restraints, and levelled in the dust 
the proudest of European monarchies. She enjoyed a long 
carnival of blood. Princes, nobles, spiritual peers, all who 
were supposed to have trampled upon the poor, and made 
them miserable, expiated their real or supposed crimes. But 
there were no principles beneath this movement ; and, in ten 
years more, the people were back again under the power of 
one man. Thirty years later still, the Spanish colonies, lust 
ing for absolute freedom, intolerant of any kind of subjection, 
achieved their liberty. But in their life there was no moral 
balance-wheel, no united, profound, grand allegiance of the 
whole people to any thing ; and presidents, protectors, dic 
tators, emperors, have appeared with a bewildering rapidity. 
But the work of the men of 1775 lasted. Says old Hooker, 
" That which doth assign unto each thing the kind, that 
which doth moderate the force and power, that which doth 
appoint the form and measure of working, the same we term 
a law." And, according to Locke, law, to be good and valid, 
"must be conformable to the law of nature, i.e., to the will of 
God." Law as good, as favorable to human welfare, as con 
formable to God s will, as mortals had achieved, the imperial 
majesty of the law that was the principle underneath the 
Revolution. And to-day, in the simplest town-meeting in the 
smallest of New-England hamlets, you see the same principle 
triumphant, the majesty of law. Without arms, without 
compulsion, what are legal rules in any gathering, whether of 
cultured or of uncultured American men. And* the thought 
and hope of all good people is, not to subvert the law, but 
to perfect and purify law, and make it more and more the 
clear reflection of the divine will. So -they who built on 
great principles built securely. 



SUNDAY SERVICES. 57 

That other considerations, considerations of personal rights 
and of public and material welfare, entered, and rightly, into 
the conflict, no person familiar with the history of the period 
would for a moment deny. That meaner motives, growing 
out of the selfish and passionate feelings of the human heart, 
were mingled, as they always are mingled, with nobler mo 
tives, that, too, is certain. But, when all proper limitations 
are established, it still remains true that the struggle was far 
more one of conscience than of interest. The deeper you 
search, the more thoroughly you will believe that the hopes and 
aims of the great men who carried the Revolution to a suc 
cessful issue looked so directly to the vindication of the 
right, to the maintenance of the laws of nature and of God, 
and to the furtherance of the true welfare of God s children, 
that they may be properly called religious hopes and aims. 
And therefore it is no flight of fancy or rhetoric to say that 
this old meeting-house in which our fathers transacted so 
much of the business of town and state, which sheltered for 
so many days the representatives of struggling freedom in 
Massachusetts, which rang with the impassioned eloquence, 
or was stilled by the strong logic, of some of the greatest men 
New England ever produced is proper type and symbol of 
spiritual principles, which seemed almost to belong to Puritan 
blood, and which, quite as much as any material influences, cre 
ated the Revolution, gave dignity to it, and made it successful. 

We are on the eve of the first great centennial. To-mor 
row, with roar of cannon, with song of bells, with blare of 
martial music, with the presence of the great and honored of 
the land, with even files of disciplined soldiery, with long 
civic train, we shall seek to emphasize a great event. It is 
well ; for no pageant can be grand enough to symbolize the 
blessings and greatness which have proceeded out from the 
brave fidelity of the humble men, who first, on the banks of 
yonder quiet stream, offered effectual resistance to the onset 
of British oppression. To-morrow, with words of splendid 



58 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

eulogy, with tears of sincere admiration, we shall remember 
those, who, in their modesty, 

" little thought how pure a light 
With years should gather round that day ; 
How love should keep their memories bright, 
How wide a realm their sons should sway." 

And that is well too. For they were men whom conscience 
alone brought into the field, who had no ambition, except to 
till well the ancestral acres, to walk in peace their native 
plains, to rear up their children in the fear of God, and, when 
it was God s will, to sleep with their lathers in the old burial- 
place. But best of all we shall keep the day, if we remember 
that under the least and the greatest of the conflicts by 
which our nation came into existence were moral principles ; 
that our fathers fought to achieve freedom under the law, 
freedom through the law, and freedom chastened and re 
strained by the law. We shall be children of the fathers, if 
we see to it that the law is to us what it was to the fathers, 
the best expression of the divine will in the social state, to* 
which man has attained. We shall be children of the fathers, 
if we keep human law abreast with the noblest moral and 
spiritual thoughts and ideas of the age, and make it the clear 
record of man s progress in divine wisdom, the bright tran 
script of God s righteous will, the steady promoter of human 
welfare and happiness. 

At the Congregational Trinitarian Church, which is situated on a 
portion of the farm formerly owned and occupied by Ehenezer 
Hubbard, and near the place where the British soldiers broke open 
the storehouse of Capt. Wheeler, and destroyed tne flour, appro 
priate services were also held. 

The floral decorations were very attractive ; and an American flag 
ornamented the pulpit. The morning services were conducted by Rev. 
Joseph Cook of Boston, assisted by the pastor, Rev. Henry M. Grout, 
who was just recovering from a protracted illness. The subject of 
the morning discourse was "Our Lord the World s Lord." It was 
listened to with great attention by a large audience. 



SUNDAY SERVICES. 59 

.In the afternoon, the Concord Artillery and their military guests 
occupied the centre of the house. Governor Peck and staff of Ver 
mont were present; and the church was crowded. The Adelphi 
Quartette, and the organist who officiated at the Unitarian Church 
in the morning, took part in the exercises here. The musical exer 
cises were a voluntary on the organ, anthems and hymns especially 
suited to the devotional character of the occasion. 

The subject of the discourse, by Rev. Joseph Cook, was, <4 The 
Ultimate Results of Concord Fight." The words of the text, from 
Joshua ii. i, were, "View the Land." In opening, the preacher said, 
"When Lafayette held in his hand the musket fired in 1775 by Col. 
Buttrick, at Concord Bridge, he exclaimed, This is the alarm gun 
of liberty. The most thoughtful and patriotic poet of our own 
nation, however, is alarmed in 1875 as to liberty itself, and calls the 
United States the land of broken promise. In 1813, John Adams 
wrote to Thomas Jefferson, Many hundred years must roll away 
before we shall be corrupted. Our pure, virtuous, public-spirited, 
federative republic will last forever, govern the globe, and introduce 
the perfection of man. Read these great and grave words to-day to 
Disraeli, -to Gladstone, to Carlyle, or even to John Bright, or our 
own congressional and municipal investigating committees, and they 
excite a smile. As to America, said Lord Macaulay, * I appeal to 
the twentieth century. Hegel s opinion was, that, if the forests of 
Germany had been in existence eighty years ago, the French Revolu 
tion would not have occurred. 

" It is not commonly known, even in cultivated circles, that the 
amount of arable soil in North and South America is greater than 
that in Europe, Asia, and Africa taken together. The American 
continent, although less than half the size of the Old World, yet con 
tains a greater extent of productive soil. Both the promise and the 
perils of our future are underrated by the popular imagination." Our 
scandalous politics, feeble newspapers (with exceptions), and ineffi 
cient churches (with exceptions), were severely criticised. " Safe 
Republicanism in America must consist of four things : I. The diffu 
sion of liberty ; 2. The diffusion of intelligence ; 3. The diffusion 
of property; 4. The diffusion of conscientiousness. The first is 
the business of the government ; the second, of the schools ; the third, 
of commerce ; the fourth, of the church ; but the fourth is the most 
important of the four. Neither the education nor the conscientious 
ness of the masses of American citizens is commensurate with their 
political power. Let the family, the press, the schools join the church 



6O THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

in the diffusion of conscientiousness ; and let the ballot-box, through 
civil service reform, join in the same work. 

"The times have not ceased to be critical. America is yet in the 
gristle. In America, he is not a Christian who is not a patriot, and he 
is not a patriot who is not a Christian." 

Although on Saturday and Sunday the population of the town 
was more than doubled, it was interesting to notice both on those 
clays and on the day of the celebration, as showing the depth and 
honesty of the spirit of patriotism that called so many together, that 
there was no disturbance of that public peace which is one of New 
England s jewels. 

The streets of the village were thronged with carriages, and men 
and women on foot, during the whole of Sunday. The square in 
front of the old meeting-house was densely packed in the morning 
with citizens from the neighboring towns, who were unable to get 
inside to attend the services, and every thing betokened an event of 
unusual importance and interest ; yet there was no noise or disorder, 
and the night of Sunday was as still as any night of the year. 



THE CELEBRATIOiN 



THE CELEBRATION. 



THE PROCESSION. 



THE morning of the iQth was cold and windy, the thermometer 
indicating 20 Fahrenheit, much to the discomfort of the thou 
sands, who, by a common impulse, sought by the various lines 
of railroad, on foot and in carriages, to reach Concord. In accord 
ance with the established programme, a centennial salute of one 
hundred guns, at sunrise, from a section of Battery A, ist Artillery, 
M. V. M., stationed on Nashawtuck, or Lee s Hill, opened the com 
memorative exercises of the day. This section of artillery was the 
contribution of the Commonwealth to our celebration, and, under 
orders from the Governor, it left Boston about eleven o clock on the 
night of Sunday, and arrived in Concord before daybreak. At pre 
cisely eighteen minutes past five o clock, the first gun was fired; 
and the regular succession of one hundred heavy guns called early 
attention to the birth of the new century of freedom. 

Next in the order of the published programme was the forming of 
the procession. By publication in all the newspapers, by hand-bills 
and circulars which had been universally distributed, the Chief Mar 
shal had endeavored to bring to the attention of every person who 
should come to the celebration the exact spot where each division 
of the procession would form, and its direction from the railroad sta 
tion. Printed cards, bearing the names of the streets in full-faced 
type, were nailed up at every corner. Guidons, with the names of 
the towns thereon, were stationed where the citizens of the towns 
were to assemble. Every thing which ingenuity could suggest, or 
activity execute, had been done to further the well-nigh impossible 
task of marshalling an assemblage of perhaps ten thousand persons, 
suddenly dropped from railroad-cars and carriages, in a strange place, 
between the hours of eight and nine o clock in the morning of an 
April day, into an orderly, systematic procession. 

The large capacities of the Fitchburg and Lowell Railroads were 
soon tried to their utmost, and the vast numbers that came pouring 
into Thoreau Street showed that the estimate of an attendance 



64 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

of ten thousand persons was nearly six times too small. Nor was it 
merely curiosity, or a desire to see or form a part of a great pageant, 
that induced so many persons to leave their business on a day not 
recognized by the law as a holiday, on a day, also, that was raw and 
uninviting, and at personal inconvenience and exposure that in many 
instances were considerable, to be present in a small New England 
town on the anniversary of such a fight as that of April 19, 1775. 
But it was because patriotic memories were awakened; and the 
vast population that within one hundred years has sprung from those 
towns whose citizens were in arms on that day, the myriads of men 
and women of every State, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, whose 
ancestors are buried in the little country graveyards of eastern 
Massachusetts, felt in their veins the blood of the Revolution, and 
knew that the centennial celebration was a recognition by what was 
best in them of what was noblest in their fathers. 

It was through an under-estimate, therefore, of the strength of 
that sentiment, that a popular attendance of only ten thousand was 
looked for. As it proved, the limit was the carrying capacity of 
the roads and railroads. And the railroads could not furnish trans 
portation for all who desired it. From an early hour in the morning, 
the stations in Boston were besieged by crowds. Every ten or fifteen 
minutes, loaded trains were started, and at all the way-stations large 
numbers were gathered. The Boston and Lowell Railroad proved 
utterly unequal to its burden ; and the resources of the Fitchburg 
were barely sufficient to answer the demand made on them. From 
eight until ten o clock, there was hardly a moment that a train from 
one direction or the other was not unloading in Concord. The cars 
of the Framingham and Lowell Railroad were run directly to the 
Fitchburg station ; and, in that manner, men from Lowell, from Provi 
dence, from Hartford, from Fitchburg, Worcester, and Boston, arrived 
simultaneously in Concord. Many, however, who had come from a 
distance, many who were averse to being pushed and jostled in the 
strife for transportation, many old men and delicate women, had to 
turn away from the Boston stations, and give up all hopes of partici 
pating in the celebration. 

The Reception Committee had their tent pitched near the Fitch 
burg station in Concord, and were active in receiving distinguished 
guests as they arrived, and in giving directions to ail who were in 
search of their places in the procession. A breakfast was served in 
Agricultural Hall, to which the veteran military organizations were 
conducted as they arrived. 



THE PROCESSION. 5 

The Governor of Massachusetts with his staff, under escort of 
the First Corps, of Cadets, Lieut-Col. Edmands, reached Concord 
at about half-past nine, and was greeted with a salute of fifteen guns. 
Soon afterwards, twenty-one guns announced that the President of 
the United States and his Cabinet were taking their places in the 
line. We had hoped to march by ten o clock, and to that end it 
was announced that the procession would form at nine. At half-past 
nine, the several divisions were nearly complete ; and, to those who 
were punctually in their places, the slight delay in the biting wind 
seemed longer than it really was. 

Punctually at ten o clock the Chief Marshal gave the word, and 
there marched down Main Street as magnificent a pageant as was 
ever seen in New England. Nearly two miles in length, compact, 
well arranged, containing the chief national and state officers, escorted 
by famous military organizations, enlivened by banners and martial 
music, it marched through solid masses of spectators, in the following 
order : 

FIRST DIVISION. 

Platoon of Boston Police, sixteen in number, Sergeant John H. Laskey commanding. 

Medford Band, F. A. Hersey, leader, 25 pieces. 

Fifth Regiment of Infantry, M. V. M. as Escort. 

Colonel, Ezra J. Trull. 

Lieutenant-Colonel, Charles F. King. 

Major, B. Frank Stoddard. 

Adjutant, Henry G. Jordan. 

Quartermaster, Horace S. Perkins. 

Surgeon, Edward J. Forster. 
Chaplain, William T. Stowe. 
Paymaster, George D. Putnam. 

Company A, Boston. Captain, John E. Phipps ; First Lieutenant, John L. Curtis ; 
Second Lieutenant, George W. Whiting. 61 men. 

Company B, Somerville. Captain, Rudolph Kramer; First Lieutenant, William S. 
Howe ; Second Lieutenant, Charles K. Brackett. 61 men. 

Company D, Boston. Captain, Fred. B. Bogan ; First Lieutenant, Michael J. Singleton. 

40 men. 

Company E, Medford. Captain, Warren W. Manning; First Lieutenant, Jophamus H. 
Whitney ; Second Lieutenant, Charles M. Green. 61 men. 

Company F, Waltham. Captain, Leonard C. Lane; First Lieutenant, Laroy Brown; 
Second Lieutenant, G. Frank Frost. 54 men. 



66 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Company H, Boston. - Captain, Joseph M. Foster; First Lieutenant, Frank D. Wood- 

bury. 61 men. 
Company I, Hudson. -Captain, John F. Dolan ; First Lieutenant, Edward L. Powets ; 

Second Lieutenant, William O Donnell. 58 men. 

Company K, Cambridge. - Captain, George A. Keeler ; First Lieutenant, William L. B. 
Robinson ; Second Lieutenant, Henry N. Wheeler. 61 men. 

[The Fifth marched in column of sixteen platoons, Company G being absent, and 
Company C escorting the President in another division.] 

Chief Marshal, Major-Gen. FRANCIS C. BARLOW. 
Aides, Col. Henry L. Higginson, Dr. Edward W. Emerson. 

George Keves, Chairman of Committee of Arrangements ; Rev. Grindall Reynolds, Chap 
lain of the day; Henry F. French, the father of D. C. French, the artist of the 

monument ; and Horace Heard, the executor of Ebenezer Hubbard. 

E. R. Hoar, President of the Day ; George W. Curtis, Orator of the Day ; James Russell 
Lowell, Poet of the Day ; and Ralph Waldo Emerson, chosen to deliver the adc 

of dedication. 
Monument Committee and Committee of Arrangements. 

Metropolitan Band ; Arthur Hall, leader. 

First Corps of Cadets, escorting the Governor of Massachusetts, 
Lieut.-Col. Thomas F. Edmands commanding. 

Major, Charles P. Horton. 
Captain and Paymaster, Charles E. Stevens. 

Surgeon, B. Joy Jeffries. 

Captain and Acting Adjutant, John D. Parker, jun. 

Quartermaster, Charles C. Melcher. 

Captain, William F. Lawrence. 

Captain, William E. Perkins. 

Captain, George R. Rogers. 

First Lieutenant, Charles J. Williams. 

First Lieutenant, William L. Parker. 

[The Cadets numbered no men, and were accompanied by Cols. C. C. Holmes and John 
Jeffries, past commanders of the corps, and Adjutant-Gen. Cunningham.] 

His Excellency, WILLIAM GASTON, Governor of Massachusetts; 

Col. Edward Wyman and Col. Leverett S. Tuckerman, Aides ; Lieut.-Col. George H. 

Campbell, Military Secretary. 

Judge Advocate, Gen. Patrick A. Collins ; Col. A. A. Haggett and Col. Edward 
Gray, Governor s Aides ; and Col. Charles W. Wilder, Assistant Quartermaster- 
General ; Lieut.-Gov. Knight ; Col. Whitney of the Executive Council ; Col. 
Joshua B. Treadwell, Assistant Surgeon-General ; and Col. Isaac F. 
Kingsbury, Assistant Adjutant-General; Col. George O. Brastow 
of the Executive Council ; and Hon. Charles Endicott, Auditor. 

Attorney-Gen. Charles R. Train, Surgeon-Gen. William J. Dale, Charles Adams, jun., 
Treasurer, and Oliver Warner Secretary of the Commonwealth. 



THE PROCESSION. 67 

Messrs. Couch, Brevvster, Leland, and Turner, of the Executive Council. 

Messrs. Dunn and Baker of the Executive Council, and ex-Councillors Milp Hildreth 

and F. H. Stickney. 

Chief Justice Gray, and Associate Justices Wells and Morton, of the Supreme Judicial 
Court; and Charles Kimball, Sheriff of Middlesex. 

Hon. Charles Devens, jun., Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachu 
setts, and His Excellency, DANIEL L. CHAMBERLAIN, Governor of South Carolina. 
Judges of the Superior, Probate, and other Courts. 

Col. Charles W. Davis, Aide to Chief Marshal. 
American Band of Boston, Charles Thompson leader. 

Newburyport Veteran Artillery Association, 100 men, in citizens dress, with chapeau and 

black rosette, escorting the Legislature. Col. Eben F. Stone, Commander ; Lieuts. 

Warren Currier, George H. Stevens, R. M. Perley, and S. Levy ; W. P. 

Saimders, Chief of Staff; J. P. Evans, Adjutant; George Creasy, 

Quartermaster s Sergeant ; A. W. Thompson, Orderly Sergeant ; 

and Joseph H. Currier and Charles Noyes, Standard- 

Bearers. 

[Accompanying the Veterans were citizens of Newburyport, including Mayor Atkinson, 
Ex-Mayors Kelly, Boardman, and Graves ; Mr. W. H. Huse, Collector of the Port ; 

and other gentlemen.] 

Senators Harwood and Edson, and Representatives Blunt, Tompkins, Brewer, Fitzgerald, 
and Burr, of the Legislative Committee of Arrangements. 

Hon. George B. Loring, President of the Senate ; and Hon. John E. Sanford, Speaker of 
the House of Representatives. 

Members of the Senate and House of Representatives of Massachusetts, to the number of 
about 200, marching in column, four abreast. 

SECOND DIVISION. 

Col. Theodore Lyman, Chief of Division. 

United States Marine Band of Washington, D.C., 45 men, in scarlet uniform, in charge 
of Lieut. Zielin of the United States Marine Corps. 

Concord Artillery, Company C, Fifth Regiment, M. V. M., 60 men. Captain, George P. 
How ; First Lieutenant, A. B. C. Dakin ; Second Lieutenant, Richard F. Barrett. 

[The Artillery bore the flag of the old Forty-seventh Regiment, M. V. M., in which they 
served during the war, and acted as special escort to the President.] 

Barouche drawn by four bay horses, containing 
His Excellency, ULYSSES S. GRANT, 

President of the United States ; 

Hon. HENRY WILSON, Vice-President of the United States; 

Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State ; and Gen. Babcock, Military Secretary to the 

President. 

[Flanking the barouche was a guard of twelve of the Concord Artillery.] 



68 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Hon. William W. Belknap, Secretary of War ; Hon. George M. Robeson, Secretary of 
the Navy ; Hon. Columbus Delano, Secretary of the Interior ; Hon. Mar 
shall Jewell, Postmaster-General. 

Hon. James G. Elaine, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives ; Hon. 

George S. Boutwell, United States Senator from Massachusetts ; Hon. 

Bainbridge Wadleigh, United States Senator from New Hampshire ; 

George W. Childs, Esq., of Philadelphia. 

Hon. John H. Burleigh, Member of Congress from Maine ; Hon. Charles O Neill, Member 

of Congress from Pennsylvania ; Hon. Stephen W. Kellogg, Member of 

Congress from Connecticut; Hon. M. E. Phinney of New York; 

Col. Henry S. Russell, Aide to Chief Marshal. 

Hon. Henry L. Dawes, United States Senator from Massachusetts ; Hon. Chester W. 

Chapin, Hon. Kufus S. Frost, Hon. John K. Tarbox, Hon. George F. Hoar, 

Hon. B. W. Harris, and Hon. Charles P. Thompson, Members of 

Congress from Massachusetts ; and W. W. Rice, Esq., 

of Worcester. 

Hon. George F. Shepley, Judge of the Circuit Court of the United States for the First 

Circuit ; Hon. John Lowell, Judge of the District Court of the United States 

for the District of Massachusetts ; Hon. Daniel Clark, Judge of the 

District Court of the United States for the District of New 

Hampshire ; Roland G. Usher, United States Marshal ; 

Hon. George P. Sanger, United States Attorney ; 

John M. Clark, Sheriff of Suffolk. 

Major-Gen Benham U. S. A. ; Commodore Edward T. Nichols U. S. N. ; Brevet Major-Gen. 

Nelson A. Miles, U. S. A. ; Capt. R. W. Livermore, U. S. Engineer Corps ; 

Commander George Brown, U. S. N. ; Lieut. F. M. Wise, U. S. N., 

of the staff of Vice-Admiral Rowan.* 



THIRD DIVISION. 

Col. William B. Storer, Chief of Division. 
Chandler s Band of Portland, Me., 22 men. 

Portland Mechanic Blues, 50 men, Capt. Charles J. Pennell, escorting 
His Excellency, NELSON DINGLEY, Jun., Governor of Maine, and staff. 

Gen Joshua L. Chamberlin, commanding the Maine Volunteer Militia ; Gen. George L. 
Beal, Chief of Staff ; Gen. John Marshall Brown, Inspector of First Division ; 
Gen. Joseph S. Smith ; Col. A. M. Benson, Quartermaster of First Divis 
ion ; and Lieut. -Cols. A. W. Bradbury and George S. Follansbee, 
Aides-de-Camp ; Roswell M. Richardson, Mayor of 
Portland ; Hon. B. Kingsbury, jun., Ex-Mayor 
of Portland ; Adjutant Thomas A. Rob 
erts, formerly colonel of the 
Seventeenth Maine Regiment ; Lieut. Henry A. Gray. 

Manchester Cornet Band, 26 men. 

Amoskeag Veterans of Manchester, N.H., 100 men, Major George C. Gilmore, escorting 
His Excellency, JAMES A. WESTON, Governor of New Hampshire, and staff. 



THE PROCESSION. 69 

Ex-Govs. Smyth, Stearns, and Harriman, and Hon. Person C. Cheney, of New Hampshire. 
St. Albans Brigade Band, 22 men. 

Ransom Guards of St. Albans, Vt., 60 men, Capt. J. W. Newton, escorting His 
Excellency, ASAHEL PECK, Governor of Vermont, and staff. 

Judge Luke P. Poland, Ex-Member of Congress from Vermont ; Hon. J. H. Page, Treas 
urer; Dr. George Nichols, Secretary of State; Ex-Gov. J. Gregory Smith 

of Vermont ; 

Gen. William Wells ; Hon. Worthington C. Smith, Ex-Member of Congress from 
Vermont ; Gen. John L. Barstow of Burlington ; and Gen. Bigelow of St. Albans. 

Capt. John F. Stark, Aide to Chief Marshal. 
First Light Infantry Veteran Fife and Drum Corps, 12 men. 

First Light Infantry Veteran Association of Providence, R.I., Col. W. W. Brown 
commanding ; Major-Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, Major ; no men and 25 honorary 

members, escorting 

His Honor, Lieut.-Gov. CHARLES C. VAN ZANDT, acting Governor of Rhode Island, 

and staff. 

Fife and Drum Corps of the Putnam Phalanx. 

Putnam Phalanx of Hartford, Conn., 122 men, Major Henry Kennedy, escorting 
His Excellency, CHARLES R. INGERSOLL, Governor of Connecticut,, and staff. 



FOURTH DIVISION. 



Col Charles L. Peirson, Chief of Divison. 

American Brass Band, of Lowell, 22 men ; Henry White, veteran drummer of 
Mexican War, aged seventy-three years. 

Old Sixth Regiment Association, eight companies, Lieut.-Col. B. F. Watson, commanding. 
[The Association carried the old flags borne by the regiment in 1861, and the 
occasion was of double interest to it, being the fourteenth anni 
versary of the bloody march through Baltimore.] 

Nathan Warren of Weston, a soldier of the war of 1812, and Elijah W. Stearns of Bedford. 

[Mr. Warren, who was eighty years old, wore his old 1812 military cap, a sort of 

helmet made of leather, with a high red feather plume tipped with white.] 

The Massachusetts Society of the Order of the Cincinnati, 25 members, Admiral Henry 

Knox Thatcher, President. 

The President and Fellows of Harvard University. 

The Overseers of Harvard University. 

The Faculty of Harvard College. 

Members of the Press. 

The Standing Committee of the Bunker Hill Monument Association. 
The Council of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 



7Q THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Committee from the New England Historic-Genealogical Society! 

Society of the old Guard of the war of 1812, Col. Gus tavus B. Hutchinson, President ; 

Col Thomas M. Wheeler and Col. George M. Barnard, jun., Aides to Chief Marshal. 

Acton Brass Band, 28 pieces. 

Acton Minute-Men 83 men, Capt. Aaron C. Handley [with banner bearing the 
inscription, "Acton Minute-Men, April 19, 1875." On the reverse, 

" I haven t a man that is afraid to go." CAPT. DAVIS], 
escorting the official delegations from the following cities and towns : 

Acton, Bedford, Billerica, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Lincoln, Littleton, Stow, Sudbury, West- 
ford, Arlington, Belmont, Boston, Boxboro , Brookline, Burlington, Cam 
bridge, Charlestown, Declham, Everett, Framingham, Lowell, Lynn, 
Lynnfield, Maynard, Medford, Melrose, Needham, Newton, Norwood, 
Peabody, Pepperell, Reading, Somerville, Wakefield, Waltham, 
Watertown, Wayland, Weston, Winchester, Woburn. 

[Accompanying the Acton delegation, in a carriage, were two of the grandchildren of Capt. 

Isaac Davis, Amos W. Fitch of Cattaraugus County, New York, aged 

seventy-one ; and Mrs. Simon Davis of Acton, aged seventy-eight. The 

Wayland delegation was preceded by the Cochituate Brass Band, 

24 pieces, and a company of light infantry, 80 men, 

Capt. D. W. Ricker.] 

FIFTH DIVISION. 

Col. Charles E. Fuller, Chief of Division. 

Capt. James Thompson, Capt. William E. Wilson, and Capt. E. S. Barrett, Aides. 

American Brass Band of Providence, R 1 , 28 men. 

Marshal, Edward J. Bartlett. 

Aides, William Wheeler, Arthur Mills, Nathan B. Smith, James L. Whitney, and William 

H. Brown. 

Citizens of Concord, with banner of heavy white silk with inscription, " 1775, Concord, 
1875," and on reverse a large pine-tree. 

Platoon of Salem Police. 
Salem Brass Band, 21 men. 

Second Corps of Cadets, 87 men, Lieut. -Col A. P. Brown commanding, escorting 
Hon. Henry L. Williams, Mayor, and the City Government of Salem. 

Citizens of Salem. 

Marshal, Capt. Cyrus Page. 



Flag one hundred and thirty-eight years old, which was used in the French and Indian 
wars, and was carried at Concord April 19, 1775, by the Bedford Minute-Men. 
It has ever since been in the possession of the Page family. It bears 
the device of an arm with a drawn sword, and fourteen cannon- 
balls, with the inscription " Vincere autmorire." Appended to 
this flag was the legend, " Capt. Jonathan Wilson, killed 
April 19, 1775 H C cue d f r us an d Liberty." 
Citizens of Bedford. 



THE PROCESSION. J \ 



Citizens of Billerica. 
Dunstable Cornet Band, mounted, 18 pieces. 

Company F, Spaulding Light Cavalry, of Chelmsford, 90 men, Capt. Christopher Roby 

commanding, escorting 

Citizens of Carlisle, under the direction of Marshal N. A. Taylor, and with a banner 

bearing the inscription, " Joseph Spaulding of Carlisle fired the first gun at 

Concord, April 19, 1775. That shot was heard round the world." 

Citizens of Lincoln. 
Marshal, E. B. Cobleigh. 

Citizens of Boxboro , with banner, on which was inscribed, " Luther Blanchard, wounded by 
the first shot fired by the British." 

Marshal, L. P. True. 

Citizens of Everett. 

Marshall, George W. Tuttle. 

Citizens of Littleton with banner. 
Marshal, J. P. Hildreth. 

Citizens of Stow, with banner inscribed with, "The Fathers came in 1775: the Sons are 

here to-day, April 19, 1875." 

Drum Corps. 

Manchester, N.H., High School Cadets, F. H. Challis, Captain, 46 guns. 
Cavalcade of citizens of Sudbury, under command of Capt. George Butterfield. 
Caravan drawn by six horses, containing twenty-eight aged citizens of Sudbury. 

Marshal, Luther Prescott. 
Assistants, George T. Day and J. M. Chamberlain. 

Citizens of Westford with banner inscribed "Lieut.-Col. Robinson, Old North Bridge, 
April 19, 1775. Hi s Townsmen, April 19, 1875." 

Citizens of Arlington. 

Marlboro Brass Band. 

Henry Wilson Post 86, G. A. R., of Maynard; Commander, E. E. Haynes. 

Citizens of Maynard. 
Marshal S. A. Ranlett. 

Citizens of Melrose. 

Citizens of Medford. 

Citizens of Brookline. 

Citizens of Cambridge. 

Citizens of Dedham. 

Citizens of Lowell. 

Citizens of Need ham. 

Marshal George J. Curtis. 

First Regiment Band, 30 men. 



72 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Claflin Drum Corps, of Newton. 

Cla*flin Guard, Company C, First Regiment M. V. M. ; A. C. Walworth, Captain ; 75 men, 

escorting 
Mayor and City Government of Newton. 

Citizens of Newton. 
Reimbach s Band, 20 men. 

Post 29, G. A. R. of Waltham ; G. M. Hudson, Commander ; 75 men, escorting 
Citizens of Waltham under the direction of Marshal E. Stearns. 

Caravan containing ladies and gentlemen of Waltham dressed in costume of ye olden 
time. The caravan bore the inscription, " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" 

Citizens of Watertown. 
Citizens of Norwood. 
Citizens of Peabody. 
Citizens of Pepperell. 

Drum Corps. 

Company of Coniinentallers from Weston, Capt. F. W. Bigelow, 50 men. 

Natick Brass Band. 

Citizens of Natick. 

Saxonville Brass Band. 

Marshal, Gen. George H. Gordon. 

Post 142 G. A. R. of South Framingham, 60 men. 

Citizens of Framingham, 140 men. 



This division, numbering about twenty-five hundred men, closed the 
procession. The march was rapid on account of the cold ; and it was 
fortunate for the spectators who covered sidewalk and roadside, and 
filled fences, porches, and windows, and, in some instances, were sta 
tioned even on the housetops, that the long column of six thousand or 
more was moved punctually and with speed. The several divisions 
were greeted with cheer upon cheer. The President and Cabinet, the 
admirable precision of the Ransom Guards, the Continental uniform of 
the Putnam Phalanx, the unexpected appearance of Major-Gen. Burn- 
side marching on foot with the First Light Infantry veterans, the old 
Sixth veterans of the late war, the Acton Minute-Men, and several 
of the town delegations, gay with banners and music, were each in 
turn, all along the line, greeted with prolonged and renewed applause. 

It had been intended to march through Walden, Heywood, and 
Lexington Streets, round the site of the mill-pond into which the 
stores and ammunition were thrown by the British, and past the old 



THE PROCESSION. 73 

meeting-house; but in accordance with the decision, that, if necessary, 
the route should be shortened, that portion was omitted. This was a 
disappointment to some three or four thousand persons who had 
assembled on those streets to see the procession pass ; but the change 
seemed unavoidable, as it was of prime necessity that the hours 
allotted to each of the various exercises of the day should be strictly 
adhered to, and only by the punctuality of starting, and the consum 
mate skill of the Chief Marshal in conducting the procession, were 
we enabled to carry through the whole programme for the day without 
any delays. 

The. whole route was profusely decorated. The Committee had 
caused lines of flags and streamers to be thrown at frequent intervals 
across the streets ; the houses were ornamented, according to the 
taste of the owners, with bunting, flags, and mottoes ; and the whole 
appearance was that of an occasion of great triumph and rejoicing. 
" So gaily decked a town," said the Boston Journal of the next morn 
ing, " was never before seen in the Commonwealth." We cannot 
give space, however, to any minute description of the decorations on 
dwellings and public buildings. Suffice it to say that Main Street, 
Lexington Street, Walden Street, and Monument Street were fairly 
ablaze with festoons and color ; and many houses not on the line of 
march were dressed in honor of the day. 

As the head of the procession reached the monument grounds, 
the Fifth Regiment marched to the right, and, facing to the front, 
saluted the column as it passed through Monument Avenue, past the 
old monument, and the graves of the two British soldiers (over which 
the British ensign hung at halfmast), and across the bridge. A slight 
halt, and the Chairman of the Monument Committee unveiled the 
statue ; and with as little attendant ceremony as when, one hundred 
years before, on that spot his prototype proclaimed himself to his 
countrymen and to the world, the emblematic Minute-man stood 
forth to command forever the admiration of men. 

From the bridge to the high ground beyond is a march of only a 
few rods ; and, at about eleven o clock, enough of the procession had 
entered the tent to form, with those admitted before its arrival, an 
audience some four thousand in number. 

The tent was capable of holding six thousand persons, and had 
been decorated with flags and streamers. A few seats were placed in 
front, near the platform, for ladies : the rest of the audience stood. 
The platform was raised about two feet from the ground, and was 



74 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

supplied with seats for two hundred persons. So many persons, other 
than the dignitaries for whom it was intended, crowded upon the 
platform as to make sitting, except for a very few, impossible. 

The rear of the column had scarcely reached the square in the 
middle of the town, when the exercises in the tent began. 

The audience was increased to the full capacity of the tent by addi 
tions from the fifth division of the procession ; and multitudes who 
were unable to approach near enough to hear the speakers, stood in 
the sun, sheltered on the north by the canvas, and tried to keep 
themselves comfortable. 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. 



Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, the President of the Day, called the 
assemblage to order, and said, 

FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS, In this solemn hour, when the nation 
enters upon its second century, on the spot which was its birthplace, let us 
reverently ask God to be with us, as he was with our fathers. 

Rev. Grindall Reynolds, the Chaplain of the Day, then offered the 
following 

PRAYER. 

Almighty God, Giver of every good, from whose kind 
providence every blessing and joy, all honor, all greatness, 
and all success, do proceed, we praise and magnify thy holy 
name. We rejoice in this bright, beautiful morning, which 
smiles upon us, as we meet to remember the great, pure, and 
honorable deeds which have made this spot sacred. 

We rejoice, in this great presence, that the sons and 
daughters of this town, from the east and from the west, have 
gathered together to refresh heart and soul by tearful remem 
brance and by glad thanksgiving. We rejoice in the pres 
ence of this great multitude, who have come up hither from 
all the towns and states of a great and free country, which 
has grown up since the day we commemorate. We rejoice 
in the presence of these citizen soldiers, representatives of 
the men who came forth from farm-houses, from counting- 
rooms, from all the places of human duty and labor, to offer 
up their lives a sacrifice to liberty. 

We rejoice in the presence of those who have been called 
to rule over this country, in the presence of him who is the 
chief magistrate of this great nation, and of all who, in their 



78 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

various places, seek to do their part in executing the laws, in 
promoting the welfare of the people, and in building this 
nation up to a greater glory and to a purer righteousness. 
We thank thee for the memories which we cherish of the 
plain, simple men, who, not for any worldly honors, but for 
conscience sake, and God s sake, confronted the enemy in 
that hour of fiery trial. 

And, as we gather to deepen and make sacred these recol 
lections of their courage and sacrifice, we rejoice that thy 
goodness has blessed their toils, and from a little people built 
us up to be a great nation. With hearts full of gratitude, 
we bow, and say, " Not unto us the glory, but unto thy great 
name, O Lord of Hosts." Prepare our hearts for the words 
which shall be spoken to-day, for the eloquent utterances 
which the memories and the hopes of the hour shall call 
forth. Prepare us for the sacred influences which shall steal 
into our hearts, that, when this day is over, we may return to 
our homes, here or in distant places, to do our duty, to be 
good citizens, honestly and nobly to fill our places in the 
world. And as thy blessing comes to us in the beauty of 
this morning, may it be with us throughout the day, and may 
it go with us to our homes. We ask and offer all in the 
name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 

The President of the Day then said, 

In the presence of the President and Vice-President of the United States, 
attended by the Cabinet, in the presence of the Governor, the Executive 
Council, and the Legislature of Massachusetts, in the presence of the Gov 
ernor of each of the New England states, we have to-day dedicated a 
statue to the memory of the first soldiers of the Revolution upon the spot 
where the first order was given to the soldiers of the people to fire upon 
the soldiers of the king. In appropriate notice of that act, you will be 
addressed for a few moments by Mr. Emerson. 

Mr. Emerson was received with great applause, after which he 
delivered the following : 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. 



ADDRESS. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS, Ebenezer Hubbard, a farmer who 
-inherited land in this village on which the British troops 
committed depredation, and who had a deep interest in the 
history of the raid, erected, many years ago, a flagstaff on his 
ground, and never neglected to hoist the stars and stripes on 
the Nineteenth of April, and the Fourth of July. It grieved 
him deeply that yonder monument, erected by the town in 
1836, should have been built on the ground on which the 
enemy stood in the Concord Fight, instead of on that which 
the Americans occupied ; and he bequeathed in his will one 
thousand dollars to the town of Concord, on condition that 
a monument should be erected on the identical ground occu 
pied by our minute-men and militia on that day; and an 
additional sum of six hundred dollars, on the condition that 
the town should build a foot-bridge across the river, on the 
site where the old bridge stood in 1775. The late Mr. Sted- 
man Buttrick having given the necessary piece of land on 
the other side of the river, the town accepted the legacy 
of Mr. Hubbard, built the bridge, and employed Daniel C. 
French to prepare a statue to be erected on the specified 
spot. Meanwhile the United States Congress gave to this 
town ten bronze cannon to furnish the artist with fit materi 
al to complete his work. The finished statue is before you : 
it was approved by the town, and to-day it speaks for itself. 
The sculptor has rightly conceived the proper emblems of 
the patriot farmer, who, at the morning alarm, left his plough 
to grasp his gun. He has built no dome over his work, be 
lieving that blue sky makes the best canopy. The statue is 
the first serious work of our young townsman, who is now in 
Italy to pursue his profession. 



8O THE CONCOKD CENTENNIAL. 

In the year 1775, we had many enemies and many friends 
in England ; but our one benefactor was King George the 
Third. The time had arrived for the political severance of 
America, that it might play its part in the history of this 
globe; and the inscrutable Divine Providence gave an insane 
king to England. In the resistance of the colonies, he 
alone was immovable on the question offeree. England was 
so dear to us, that the colonies could only be absolutely- 
united by violence from England ; and only one man could 
compel the resort to violence. So the king became insane. 
Parliament wavered ; Lord North wavered ; all the ministers 
wavered ; but the king had the insanity of one idea. He 
was immovable, he insisted on the impossible: so the army 
was sent, America was instantly united, and the nation born. 
On the i Qth of April, eight hundred soldiers with hostile 
purpose were sent hither from Boston : on their way, they 
made the previous attack on Lexington, then continued their 
march hither to search for and capture military stores. Three 
companies were left at this bridge, two of which were drawn 
back towards the hill close behind us. The number of our 
own militia companies is believed to have been from two 
hundred and fifty to three hundred men. 

In some memorable events in history, Nature has seemed to 
sympathize with Man. We mark in the rude air and the still 
brown fields of this morning the slow departure of winter; 
but on the same clay of the year 1775, a rare forwardness of 
the spring is recorded, marked by the fact that "the rye 
waved on the igth of April." Shall we believe that the 
patriotism of the people was so hot, that it melted the snow? 

We gladly see among us this morning the representatives 
of Acton, Bedford, Lincoln, and Carlisle, four towns once in 
cluded in our town limits, whose citizens were mindful of 
their mother-town, and risked their lives for her on the mem 
orable day we celebrate. Isaac Davis of Acton was the first 
martyr; Abner Hosmer of Acton, the next. In all noble 
action, we say tis only the first step that costs. 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. 8 1 

Who will carry out the rule of right must take his life in 
his hand. 

We have no need to magnify the facts. Only two of our 
men were killed at the bridge, and four others wounded. 
But here the British army was first fronted, and driven back ; 
and if only two men, or only one man, had been slain, it was 
the first victory. The thunderbolt falls on an inch of ground; 
but the light of it fills the horizon. The British instantly 
retreated. We had no electric telegraph ; but the news of 
this triumph of the farmers over the King s troops flew 
through the country, to New York, to Philadelphia, to Ken 
tucky, to the Carolinas, with speed unknown before, and 
ripened the colonies to inevitable decision. 

This sharp beginning of real war was followed, sixty days 
later, by the battle of Bunker Hill; then by General Wash 
ington s arrival in Cambridge, and the raising of his redoubts 
on Dorchester Heights. In ten months and twenty-five days 
from the death of Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer, one hun 
dred and twenty vessels loaded with General Howe and his 
army (eight thousand men), with all their effects, sailed out of 
Boston Harbor never to return. It is a proud and tender 
story. I challenge any lover of Massachusetts to read the 
fifty-ninth chapter of Bancroft s History* without tears of 
joy. 

At the conclusion of Mr. Emerson s address, the President of the 
Day said, 

" FELLOW-CITIZENS, We have the pleasure to-day, not announced before 
hand, of the presence of this our Middlesex County poet, the poet of Cam 
bridge and Concord ; and I introduce to you, with great delight, James 
Russell Lowell." 



* History of the United States, vol. viii. chap. li.r. 



82 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Mr. Lowell then read the following : 



ODE. 



WHO cometh over the hills, 

Her garments with morning sweet, 

The dance of a thousand rills 

Making music before her feet ? 

Her presence freshens the air ; 

Sunshine steals light from her face ; 

The leaden footstep of Care 

Leaps to the tune of her pace, 

Fairness of all that is fair, 

Grace at the heart of all grace, 

Sweetener of hut and of hall, 

Bringer of life out of nought, 

Freedom, oh, fairest of all 

The daughters of Time and Thought ! 



n. 

She cometh, cometh to day : 
Hark ! hear ye not her tread, 
Sending a thrill through your clay, 
Under the sod there, ye dead, 
Her nurselings and champions? 
Do ye not hear, as she comes, 
The bay of the deep-mouthed guns, 
The gathering buzz of the drums ? 
The bells that called ye to prayer, 
How wildly they clamor on her, 
Crying, " She cometh ! prepare 
Her to praise and her to honor, 
That a hundred years ago 
Scattered here in blood and tears 
Potent seeds wherefrom should grow 
Gladness for a hundred years ? " 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. 83 

III. 

Tell me, young men, have ye seen 

Creature of diviner mien 

For true hearts to long and cry for, 

Manly hearts to live and die for ? 

What hath she that others want ? 

Brows that all endearments haunt, 

Eyes that make it sweet to dare, 

Smiles that glad untimely death, 

Looks that fortify despair, 

Tones more brave than trumpet s breath ; t 

Tell me, maidens, have ye known 

Household charm more sweetly rare, 

Grace of woman ampler blown, 

Modesty more debonair, 

Younger heart with wit full grown ? 

Oh for an hour of my prime, 

The pulse of my hotter years, 

That I might praise her in rhyme 

Would tingle your eyelids to tears, 

Our sweetness, our strength, and our star, 

Our hope, our joy, and our trust, 

Who lifted us out of the dust, 

And made us whatever we are ! 



IV. 

Whiter than moonshine upon snow 

Her raiment is, but round the hem 

Crimson stained; and, as to and fro 

Her sandals flash, we see on them, 

And on her instep veined with blue, 

Flecks of crimson, on those fair feet, 

High-arched, Diana-like, and fleet, 

Fit for no grosser stain than dew : 

Oh, call them rather chrisms than stains, 

Sacred and from heroic veins ! 

For, in the glory-guarded pass, 

Her haughty and far-shining head 

She bowed to shrive Leonidas 

With his imperishable dead ; 

Her, too, Morgarten saw, 

Where the Swiss lion fleshed his icy paw ; 



THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

She followed Cromwell s quenchless stir 

Where the grim Puritan tread 

Shook Marston, Nasby, and Dunbar : 

Yea, on her feet are dearer dyes 

Yet fresh, nor looked on with untearful eyes. 



v. 



Our fathers found her in the woods 

Where Nature meditates, and broods 

The seeds of unexampled things 

Which Time to consummation brings 

Through life and death and man s unstable moods. 

They met her here, not recognized, 

A sylvan huntress clothed in furs, 

To whose chaste wants her bow sufficed, 

Nor dreamed what destinies were hers. 

She taught them bee-like to create 

Their simpler forms of Church and State ; 

She taught them to endue 

The past with other functions than it knew, 

And turn in channels strange the uncertain stream of Fate ; 

Better than all, she fenced them in their need 

With iron-handed Duty s sternest creed, 

Gainst Self s lean wolf that ravens word and deed. 



Why cometh she hither to-clay 

To this low village of the plain 

Far from the Present s loud highway, 

From Trade s cool heart and seething brain ? 

Why cometh she ? She was not far away. 

Since the soul touched it, not in vain, 

With pathos of immortal gain, 

Tis here her fondest memories stay. 

She loves yon pine-bemurmured ridge 

Where now our broad-browed poet sleeps, 

Dear to both Englands ; near him he 

Who wore the ring of Canace ; 

But most her heart to rapture leaps 

Where stood that era-parting bridge, 

O er which, with footfall still as dew, 

The Old Time passed into the New ; 

Where, as your stealthy river creeps, 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. 85 

He whispers to his listening weeds 

Tales of sublimest homespun deeds. 

Here English law and English thought 

Gainst the selfvvill of England fought ; 

And here were men (co-equal with their fate), 

Who did great things, unconscious they were great. 

They dreamed not what a die was cast 

With that first answering shot-; what then? 

There was their duty ; they were men 

Schooled the soul s inward gospel to obey, 

Though leading to the lion s den. 

They felt the habit-hallowed world give way 

Beneath their lives, and on went they, 

Unhappy who was last. 

When Buttrick gave the word, 

That awful idol of the unchallenged Past, 

Strong in their love, and in their lineage strong, 

Fell crashing: if they heard it not, 

Yet the earth heard, 

Nor ever hath forgot, 

As on from startled throne to throne, 

Where Superstition sate on conscious Wrong, 

A shudder ran of some dread birth unknown. 

Thrice venerable spot ! 

River more fateful than the Rubicon ! 

O er those red planks, to snatch her diadem, 

Man s Hope, star-girdled, sprang with them, 

And over ways untried the feet of Doom strode on. 

VIT. 

Think you these felt no charms 

In their gray homesteads and embowered farms? 

In household faces waiting at the door 

Their evening step should lighten up no more ? 

In fields their boyish steps had known? 

In trees their fathers hands had set, 

And which with them had grown, 

Widening each year their leafy coronet ? 

Felt they no pang of passionate regret 

For those unsolid goods that seem so much our own ? 

These things are dear to every man that lives, 

And life prized more for what it lends than gives. 

Yea, many a tie, by iteration sweet, 

Strove to detain their fatal feet ; 



86 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

And yet the enduring half they chose, 

Whose choice decides a man life s slave or king, 

The invisible things of God before the seen and known 

Therefore their memory inspiration blows 

With echoes gathering on from zone to zone ; 

For manhood is the one immortal thing 

Beneath Time s changeful sky, 

And, where it lightened once, from age to age, 

Men come to learn, in grateful pilgrimage, 

That length of days is knowing when to die. 



VIII. 



What marvellous change of things and men ! 
She, a world-wandering orphan then, 
So mighty now ! Those are her streams 
That whirl the myriad, myriad wheels 
Of all that does, and all that dreams, 
Of all that thinks, and all that feels, 
Through spaces stretched from sea to sea ; 
By idle tongues and busy brains, 
By who doth right, and who refrains, 
Hers are our losses and our gains ; 
Our maker and our victim she. 



IX. 

Maiden half mortal, half divine, 

We triumphed in thy coming ; to the brinks 

Our hearts were filled with pride s tumultuous wine ; 

Better to-day who rather feels than thinks. 

Vet will some graver thoughts intrude, 

And cares of sterner mood ; 

They won thee : who shall keep thee? From the deeps 

Where discrowned empires o er their ruins brood, 

And many a thwarted hope wrings its weak hands and weeps, 

I hear the voice as of a mighty wind 

From all heaven s caverns rushing unconfined, 

* I, Freedom, dwell with Knowledge : I abide 

With men whom dust of faction cannot blind 

To the slow tracings of the Eternal Mind, 

With men by culture trained and fortified, 

Who bitter duty to sweet lusts prefer, 

Fearless to counsel and obey. 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. 87 

Conscience my sceptre is, and law my sword, 

Not to be drawn in passion or in play, 

But terrible to punish and deter ; 

Implacable as God s word, 

Like it, a shepherd s crook to them that blindly err. 

Your firm-pulsed sires, my martyrs and my saints, 

Shoots of that only race whose patient sense 

Hath known to mingle flux with permanence,- 

Rated my chaste denials and restraints 

Above the moment s dear-paid paradise : 

Beware lest, shifting with Time s gradual creep, 

The light that guided shine into your eyes. 

The envious Powers of ill nor wink nor sleep. 

Be therefore timely wise, 

Nor laugh when this one steals, and that one lies, 

As if your luck could cheat those sleepless spies, 

Till the deaf Fury comes your house to sweep ! " 

1 hear the voice, and unarTrighted bow; 

Ye shall not be prophetic now, 

Heralds of ill, that darkening fly 

Between my vision and the rainbowed sky, 

Or on the left your hoarse forebodings croak 

From many a blasted bough 

On Yggdrasil s storm-sinewed oak, 

That once was green, Hope of the West, as thou : 

Yet pardon if 1 tremble while I boast ; 

For thee 1 love as those who pardon most. 



x. 

Away, ungrateful doubt, away ! 
At least she is our own to-day. 
Break into rapture, my song, 
Verses, leap forth in the sun, 
Bearing the joyance along 
Like a train of fire as ye run ! 
Pause not for choosing of words, 
Let them but blossom and sing 
Blithe as the orchards and birds 
With the new coming of spring! 
Dance in your jollity, bells ; 
Shout, cannon ; cease not, ye drums ; 
Answer, ye hillside and dells ; 
Bow, all ye people ! She comes, 



88 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Radiant, calm-fronted, as when 

She hallowed that April day. 

Stay with us ! Yes, thou shalt stay, 

Softener and strengthener of men, 

Freedom, not \von by the vain, 

Not to be courted in play, 

Not to be kept without pain. 

Stay with us ! Yes, thou wilt stay. 

Handmaid and mistress of all, 

Kindler of deed and of thought, 

Thou that to hut and to hall 

Equal deliverance brought ! 

Souls of her martyrs, draw near, 

Touch our dull lips with your fire, 

That we may praise without fear 

Her our delight, our desire, 

Our faith s inextinguishable star, 

Our hope, our remembrance, our trust, 

Our present, our past, our to be, 

Who will mingle her life with our dust, 

And makes us deserve to be free ! 



The President of the Day then said, 

A man whose studious youth was passed near the Old North Bridge in 
Concord, and whose eloquent words have since been known throughout the 
nation, will address you as the orator of the day, George William Curtis, 
once of Concord, now of New York. Before he begins, as you may not all 
be in the tent at the dinner, I will hold up for this audience to see, all that 
is left of the sword that Isaac Davis carried at Concord North Bridge. 
There is about a foot gone ; but it would only require him to have taken one 
step farther forward, which he would willingly have done. 

Loud applause followed these remarks ; and Mr. Curtis was also 
warmly applauded as he rose. After acknowledging the greeting of 
the audience, he delivered the following: 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. 89 



ORATION. 

WE are fortunate that we behold this day. The heavens 



bend benignly over ; the earth blossoms with renewed life ; 
and our hearts beat joyfully together with one emotion of filial 
gratitude and patriotic exultation. Citizens of a great, free, 
and prosperous country, we come hither to honor the men, 
our fathers, who, on this spot and upon this day, a hundred 
years ago, struck the first blow in the contest which made 
that country independent. Here beneath the hills they trod, 
by the peaceful river on whose shores they dwelt, amidst the 
fields that they sowed and reaped, proudly recalling their 
virtue and their valor, we come to tell their story, to try our 
selves by their lofty standard to know if we are their worthy 
children, and, standing reverently where they stood and 
fought and died, to swear before God and each other, in the 
words of him upon whom in our day the spirit of the Revo 
lutionary fathers visibly descended, that government of the 
People, by the People, for the People, shall not perish from 
the earth. 

This ancient town, with its neighbors who share its glory, 
has never failed fitly to commemorate this great day of its 
history. Fifty years ago, while some soldiers of the Concord 
fight were yet living. twenty-five years ago, while still a few 
venerable survivors lingered, with prayer and eloquence 
and song you renewed the pious vow. But the last living 
link with the Revolution has long been broken. Great events 
and a mightier struggle have absorbed our own generation. 
Yet we who stand here to-day have a sympathy with the men 



9O THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

at the old North Bridge, which those who preceded us here at 
earlier celebrations could not know. With them, war was a 
name and a tradition. So swift and vast had been the change 
and the development of the country, that the Revolutionary 
clash of arms was already vague and unreal, and Concord 
and Lexington seemed to them almost as remote and historic 
as Arbela and Sempach. When they assembled to celebrate 
this day, they saw a little group of tottering forms, eyes from 
which the light was fading, arms nerveless and withered, thin 
white hairs that fluttered in the wind ; they saw a few vener- 
erable relics of a vanished age, whose pride was, that, before 
living memory, they had been minute-men of American 
Independence. But with us how changed ! War is no longer 
a tradition half romantic and obscure. . It has ravaged how 
many of our homes ! it has wrung how many of the hearts 
before me! North and South we know the pang. Our com 
mon liberty is consecrated by a common sorrow. We do not 
count around us a few feeble veterans of the contest ; but we 
are girt with " a cloud of witnesses." We are surrounded 
everywhere by multitudes in the vigor of their prime. Behold 
them here to-day sharing in these pious and peaceful rites, 
the honored citizens, legislators, magistrates, yes, the Chief 
Magistrate of the republic, whose glory it is that they were 
minute-men of American liberty and union. These men of 
to-day interpret to us with resistless eloquence the men and 
the times we commemorate. Now, if never before, we under 
stand the Revolution. Now we know the secret of those old 
hearts and homes. We can measure the sacrifice, the cour 
age, the devotion ; for we have seen them all. Green hills of 
Concord, broad fields of Middlesex, that heard the voice of 
Hancock and of Adams, you heard, also, the call of Lincoln 
and of Andrew ; and your Ladd and Whitney, your Prescott 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. QI 

and Ripley and Melvin, have revealed to us more truly the 
Davis and the Buttrick, the Hosmer and the Parker, of a 
hundred years ago. 

The story of this old town is the history of New England. 
It shows us the people and the institutions that have made 
the American republic. Concord was the first settlement in 
New England above tide-water. It was planted directly from 
the mother-country, and was what was called a mother-town, 
the parent of other settlements throughout the wilderness. 
It was a military post in King Philip s war; and two hundred 
years ago just a century before the minute-men whom we 
commemorate the militia of Middlesex were organized as 
minute-men against the Indians. It is a Concord tradition, 
that in those stern days, when the farmer tilled these fields at 
the risk of his life, Mary Shepard, a girl of fifteen, was watch 
ing on one of the hills for the savages, while her brothers 
threshed in the barn. Suddenly the Indians appeared, slew 
the brothers, and carried her away. In the night, while the 
savages slept, she untied a horse which they had stolen, 
slipped a saddle from under the head of one of her captors, 
mounted, fled, swam the Nashua River, and rode through the 
forest home. Mary Shepard was the true ancestor of the 
Concord matrons who share the fame of this day, of Mrs. 
James Barrett, of the Widow Brown, of Mrs. Amos Wood, 
and Hannah Burns, with the other faithful women whose self- 
command, and ready wit and energy, on this great morning, 
show that the mothers of New England were like the fathers, 
and that equally in both their children may reverence their 
own best virtues. 

A little later than Philip s war, one hundred and eighty-six 
years ago last night, while some of the first settlers of Massa 
chusetts Bay still lingered, when the news came that King 



Q2 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

James the Second had been dethroned, a company marched 
from this town, and joined that general uprising of the colony 
which the next day, this very day, with old Simon Bradstreet 
at its head, deposed Sir Edmund Andros, the king s govern 
or, and restored the ancient charter of the colony. "We 
demand only the traditional rights of Englishmen," said the 
English nobles, as they seated William and Mary upon the 
throne. " We ask nothing more," said the freemen of Con 
cord, as they helped to dissolve royal government in America, 
and returned to their homes. Eighty-five years later, the first 
Provincial Congress, which had been called to meet at Con 
cord, if, for any reason, the General Court at Salem were 
obstructed, assembled in the old meeting-house on the nth of 
October, 1774, the first independent legislature in Massachu 
setts, in America ; and from that hour to this the old mother- 
town has never forgotten the words, nor forsworn the faith, of 
the Revolution, which had been proclaimed here six weeks 
before : " No danger shall affright, no difficulties intimidate 
us ; and if, in support of our rights, we are called to encounter 
even death, we are yet undaunted, sensible that he can never 
die too soon who lays down his life in support of the laws 
and liberties of his country." 

But the true glory of Concord, as of all New England, was 
the town meeting, the nursery of American Independence. 
When the Revolution began, of the eight millions of people 
then living in Old England, only one hundred and sixty 
thousand were voters ; while in New England the great 
mass of free male adults were electors. And they had been 
so from the landing at Plymouth. Here in the wilderness the 
settlers were forced to govern themselves. They could not 
constantly refer and appeal to another authority twenty miles 
away through the woods. Every day brought its duty, that 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. 93 

must be done before sunset. Roads must be made, schools 
built, young men trained to arms against the savage and the 
wild-cat, taxes must be laid and collected for all common pur 
poses, preaching must be maintained ; and who could know 
the time, the means, and the necessity, so well as the commu 
nity itself? Thus each town was a small but perfect repub 
lic, as solitary and secluded in the New England wilderness 
as the Swiss cantons among the Alps. No other practicable 
human institution has been devised or conceived to secure 
the just ends of local government so felicitous as the town 
meeting. It brought together the rich and the poor, the good 
and the bad, and gave character, eloquence, and natural 
leadership full and free play. It enabled superior experience 
and sagacity to govern ; and virtue and intelligence alone are 
rulers by divine right. The Tories called the resolution for 
committees of correspondence the source of the rebellion; but 
it was only a correspondence of town meetings. From that 
correspondence came the confederation of the colonies. Out 
of that arose the closer, majestic union of the Constitution, 
the greater phoenix born from the ashes of the lesser ; and the 
national power and prosperity to-day rest securely only upon 
the foundation of the primary meeting. That is where the 
duty of the citizen begins. Neglect of that is disloyalty to 
liberty. No contrivance will supply its place, no excuse 
absolve the neglect; and the American who is guilty of that 
neglect is as deadly an enemy of his country as the British 
soldier a century ago. 

But here and now I cannot speak of the New England 
town meeting without recalling its great genius, the New- 
Englander in whom the Revolution seemed to be most fully 
embodied, and the lofty prayer of whose life was answered 
upon this spot and on this day. He was not eloquent like 



94 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Otis, nor scholarly like Quincy, nor all-fascinating like War 
ren, yet bound heart to heart with these great men, his friends, 
the plainest, simplest, austerest, among them, he gathered all 
their separate gifts,*and, adding to them his own, fused the 
whole in the glow of that untiring energy, that unerring per 
ception, that sublime will, which moved before the chosen 
people of the colonies a pillar of cloud by day, of fire by 
night. People of Massachusetts, your proud and grateful 
hearts outstrip my lips in pronouncing the name of Samuel 
Adams. Elsewhere to-day, nearer the spot where he stood 
with his immortal friend Hancock a hundred years ago this 
morning, a son of Massachusetts, who bears the name of a 
friend of Samuel Adams, and whose own career has honora 
bly illustrated the fidelity of your State to human liberty, will 
pay a fitting tribute to the true American tribune of the peo- 
p] e? the father of the Revolution, as he was fondly called. 
But we also are his children, and must not omit our duty. 

Until 1768, Samuel Adams did not despair of a peaceful 
issue of the quarrel with Great Britain. But when, in May 
of that year, the British frigate " Romney " sailed into Boston 
harbor, and her shotted guns were trained upon the town, he 
saw that the question was changed. From that moment, he 
knew that America must be free, or slave; and the unceasing 
effort of his life by day and night, with tongue and pen, was % 
to nerve his fellow-colonists to strike when the hour should 
come. On that gray December evening, two years later, 
when he rose in the Old South, and in a clear, calm voice 
said, " This meeting can do nothing more to save the coun 
try," and so gave the word for the march to the tea-ships, he 
comprehended more clearly, perhaps, than any man in the 
colonies, the immense and far-reaching consequences of his 
words. He was ready to throw the tea overboard, because he 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. 95 

was ready to throw overboard the King and Parliament of 
England. 

During the ten years from the passage of the Stamp Act 
to the day of Lexington and Concord, this poor man, in an 
obscure provincial town beyond the sea, was engaged with 
the British ministry in one of the mightiest contests that his 
tory records. Not a word in parliament that he did not hear, 
not an act in the cabinet that he did not see. With brain 
and heart and conscience all alive, he opposed every hostile 
order in council with a British precedent, and arrayed against 
the Government of Great Britain the battery of principles 
impregnable with the accumulated strength of centuries of 
British conviction. The cold Grenville, the brilliant Towns- 
end, the obsequious North, the reckless Hillsborough, the 
crafty Dartmouth, all the ermined and coroneted chiefs of 
the proudest aristocracy in the world, derided, declaimed, de 
nounced, laid unjust taxes, and sent troops to collect them, 
cheered loudly by a servile parliament, the parasite of a head 
strong king; and the plain Boston Puritan laid his finger 
on the vital point of the tremendous controversy, and held to 
it inexorably king, lords, commons, the people of England, 
and the people of America. Entrenched in his own honesty, 
the king s gold could not buy him ; enshrined in the love 
of his fellow-citizens, the king s writ could not take him : 
and whereon this morning, the king s troops marched to seize 
him, his sublime faith saw beyond the clouds of the moment 
the rising sun of the America that we behold; and careless of 
himself, mindful only of his country, he exultingly exclaimed, 
" Oh, what a glorious morning ! " 

Yet this man held no office but that of clerk of the assembly, 
to which he was yearly elected, and that of constant modera 
tor of the town meeting. That was his mighty weapon. The 



96 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

town meeting was the alarm-bell with which he aroused the 
continent: it was the rapier with which he fenced with tht; 
ministry : it was the claymore with which he smote their coun 
sels : it was the harp of a thousand strings that he swept into 
a burst of passionate defiance, or an electric call to arms, or a 
proud paean of exulting triumph, defiance, challenge, and exul 
tation all lifting the continent to independence. His indom 
itable will, and command of the popular confidence, played 
Boston against London, the provincial town meeting against 
the royal parliament, Faneuil Hall against St. Stephen s. 
And as long as the American town meeting is known, its great 
genius will be revered, who with the town meeting overthrew 
an empire. So long as Faneuil Hall stands, Samuel Adams 
will not want his most fitting monument; and, when Faneuil 
Hall falls, its name with his will be found written as with a 
sunbeam upon every faithful American heart. 

The first imposing armed movement against the colonies, 
on the i Qth of April, 1775, did not, of course, take by sur 
prise a people so prepared. For ten years they had seen the 
possibility, for five years the probability, and for at least a 
year, the certainty, of the contest. They quietly organized, 
watched, and waited. The royal governor, Gage, was a sol 
dier; and he had read the signs of the times. He had fought 
with -provincial troops at the bloody ambuscade of Braddock ; 
and he felt the full force of the mighty determination that 
exalted New England. He had about four thousand effec 
tive troops, trained veterans, with brilliant officers, who de 
spised and ridiculed the Yankee militia. Massachusetts had 
provided for a constitutional army of fifteen thousand men. 
Minute companies were everywhere organized, and military 
supplies were deposited at convenient towns. Everybody 
was on the alert. Couriers were held ready to alarm the 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. 97 

country, should the British march, and wagons to remove the 
stores. In the early spring, Gage sent out some of his officers 
as spies; and two of them came in disguise as far as Concord. 
On the 22d of March, the Provincial Congress met in this 
town, and made the last arrangements for a possible battle, 
begging the militia and minute-men to be ready, but to act 
only on the defensive. 

As the spring advanced, it was plain that some movement 
would be made; and on Monday, the lyth of April, the 
Committee of Safety ordered part of the stores deposited 
here to be removed to Sudbury and Groton, and the cannon 
to be secreted. On Tuesday, the i8th, Gage, who had 
decided to send a force to Concord to destroy the stores, 
picketed the roads from Boston into Middlesex to prevent 
any report of the intended march from spreading into the 
country. But the very air was electric. In the tension of 
the popular mind, every sound and sight was significant. It 
was part of Gage s plan to seize Hancock and Adams, who 
were at Lexington; and, on the evening of the i8th, the 
Committee of Safety, at Cambridge, sent them word to be 
ware, for suspicious officers were abroad. A British grena 
dier, in full uniform, went into a shop in Boston. He might 
as well have proclaimed that an expedition was on foot. In the 
afternoon, one of the governor s grooms strolled into a stable 
where John Ballard was cleaning a horse. John Ballard was 
a son of liberty; and when the groom idly remarked, in ner 
vous -English, that "there would be hell to pay to-morrow," 
John s heart leaped, and his hand shook ; and, asking the 
groom to finish cleaning the horse, he ran to a friend, who 
carried the news straight to Paul Revere, who told him he 
had already heard it from two other persons. 

That evening, at ten o clock, eight hundred British troops, 



9 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

under Lieut-Col. Smith, took boat at the foot of the Com 
mon, and crossed to the Cambridge shore. Gage thought 
that his secret had been kept; but Lord Percy, who had 
heard the people say on the Common that the troops would 
miss their aim, undeceived him. Gage instantly ordered that 
no one should leave the town. But Dr. Warren was before 
him ; and, as the troops crossed the river, William Dawes, 
with a message from Warren to Hancock and Adams, was 
riding over the Neck to Roxbury, and Paul Revere was row 
ing over the river farther down to Charlestown, having 
agreed with his friend Robert Newman to show lanterns 
from the belfry of the Old North Church 

" One, if by land, and two, if by sea " 

as a signal of the march of the British. Already the moon 
was rising ; and, while the troops were stealthily landing at 
Lechmere Point, their secret was flashed out into the April 
night; and Paul Revere, springing into the saddle upon the 
Charlestown shore, spurred away into Middlesex. 

u How far that little candle throws his beams ! " 

The modest spire yet stands, reverend relic of the old town of 
Boston, of those brave men and of their deeds. Startling 
the land that night with the warning of danger, let it remind 
the land forever of the patriotism with which that danger 
was averted, and for our children, as for our fathers, still stand 
secure, the Pharos of American liberty. 

It was a brilliant April night. The winter had been un 
usually mild, and the spring very forward. The hills were 
already green ; the early grain waved in the fields ; and the 
air was sweet with blossoming orchards. Already the robins 
whistled, the bluebird sang, and the benediction of peace 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. 99 

rested upon the landscape. Under the cloudless moon the 
soldiers silently marched, and Paul Revere swiftly rode, gal 
loping through Medford and West Cambridge, rousing every 
house as he went, spurring for Lexington, and Hancock and 
Adams, and evading the British patrols who had been sent 
out to stop the news. Stop the news ! Already the village 
church bells were beginning to ring the alarm, as the pulpits 
beneath them had been ringing for many a year. In the 
awakening houses, lights flashed from window to window. 
Drums beat faintly far away and on every side. Signal-guns 
flashed and echoed. The watch-dogs barked, the cocks crew. 
Stop the news! Stop the sunrise! The murmuring night 
trembled with the summons so earnestly expected, so dreaded, 
so desired. And as, long ago, the voice rang out at midnight 
along the Syrian shore, wailing that great Pan was dead, but 
in the same moment the choiring angels whispered, " Glory 
to God in the highest, for Christ is born," so, if the stern 
alarm of that April night seemed to many a wistful and loyal 
heart to portend the passing glory of British dominion, and 
the tragical chance of war, it whispered to them with pro 
phetic inspiration, " Good-will to men : America is born ! " 

There is a tradition, that, long before the troops reached 
Lexington, an unknown horseman thundered at the door of 
Capt. Joseph Robbins, in Acton, waking every man and 
woman, and the babe in the cradle, shouting that the regu 
lars were marching to Concord, and that the rendezvous was 
the old North Bridge. Capt. Robbins s son, a boy of ten 
years, heard the summons in the garret where he lay, and in 
a few minutes was on his father s old mare, a young Paul 
Revere, galloping along the road to rouse Capt. Isaac Davis, 
who commanded the minute-men of Acton. He was a young 
man of thirty, a gunsmith by trade, brave and thoughtful, and 



IOO THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

tenderly fond of his wife- and four children. The company 
assembled at his shop, formed, and marched a little way, when 
he halted them, and returned for a moment to his house. He 
said to his wife, " Take good care of the children," kissed 
her, turned to his men, gave the order to march, and saw his 
home no more. Such was the history of that night in how 
many homes ! The hearts of those men and women of Mid 
dlesex might break ; but they could not waver. They had 
counted the cost. They knew what and whom they served ; 
and, as the midnight summons came, they started up, and 
answered, " Here am I ! " 

Meanwhile the British bayonets, glistening in the moon, 
moved steadily along the road. Col. Smith heard and saw 
that the country was aroused, and sent back to Boston for 
re-enforcements, ordering Major Pitcairn, with six companies, 
to hasten forward, and seize the bridges at Concord. Paul 
Revere and Dawes had reached Lexington by midnight, and 
had given the alarm. The men of Lexington instantly mus 
tered on the Green ; but, as there was no sign of the enemy, 
they were dismissed to await his coming. He was close at 
hand. Pitcairn swiftly advanced, seizing every man upon the 
road, and was not discovered until half-past four in the morn 
ing, within a mile or two of Lexington meeting-house. Then 
there was a general alarm. The bell rang, drums beat, guns 
fired; and sixty or seventy of the Lexington militia were 
drawn up in line upon the Green, Capt. John Parker at their 
head. The British bayonets, glistening in the dawn, moved 
rapidly toward them. Pitcairn rode up, and angrily ordered 
the militia to surrender and disperse. But they held their 
ground. The troops fired over their heads. Still the militia 
stand. Then a deadly volley blazed from the British line; 
and eight of the Americans fell dead, and ten wounded, at the 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. IOI 

doors of their homes, and in sight of their kindred. Capt. 
Parker, seeing that it was massacre, not battle, ordered his 
men to disperse. They obeyed, some firing upon the enemy. 
The British troops, who had suffered little, with a loud huzza 
of victory pushed on toward Concord, six miles beyond. 

Four hours before, Paul Revere and William Dawes had 
left Lexington to rouse Concord, and were soon overtaken 
by. Dr. Samuel Prescott of that town, "a high son of liberty," 
who had been to Lexington upon a tender errand. A Brit 
ish patrol captured Revere and Dawes ; but Prescott leaped a 
stone wall, and dashed on to Concord. Between one and 
two o clock in the morning, Amos Melvin, the seiitifte 1 ; at Vhe 
court-house, rang the bell, and roused the town,-, fie sprang, 
of heroic stock. One of his family, thirty years -before; had 
commanded a company at Louisburg, and another at Crown 
Point; while four brothers of the same family served in the 
late war, and the honored names of the three who perished 
are carved upon your soldiers monument. When the bell 
rang, the first man that appeared was William Emerson, the 
minister, with his gun in his hand. It was his faith that the 
scholar should be the minute-man of liberty, a faith which 
his descendants have piously cherished, and illustrated before 
the world. The minute-men gathered hastily upon the Com 
mon. The citizens, hurrying from their homes, secreted the 
military stores. Messengers were sent to the neighboring 
villages, and the peaceful town prepared for battle. The 
minute-men of Lincoln, whose captain was William Smith, 
and whose lieutenant was Samuel Hoar, a name not unknown 
in Middlesex, in Massachusetts, and in the country, and, 
wherever known, still honored for the noblest qualities of the 
men of the Revolution, had joined the Concord militia and 
minute-men; and part of them had marched down the Lex- 



IO2 THK CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

ington road to reconnoitre. Seeing the British, they fell back 
toward the hill, over the road at the entrance of the village, 
upon which stood the liberty-pole. 

It was now seven o clock. There were, perhaps, two hun 
dred men in arms upon the hill. Below them, upon the Lex 
ington road, a quarter of a mile away, rose a thick cloud of 
dust, from which, amidst proudly rolling drums, eight hundred 
British bayonets flashed in the morning sun. The Ameri 
cans saw that battle where they stood would be mere butchery; 
and they fell gradually back to a rising ground about a mile 
north of the meeting-house, the spot upon which we are 
no<w assembled. The British troops divided as they entered 
the,, town; the infantry coming over the hill from which the 
Afnericaris^had retired, the marines and grenadiers marching 
by the high-road. The place was well known to the British 
officers through their spies ; and Colonel Smith, halting before 
the court-house, instantly sent detachments to hold the two 
bridges, and others to destroy the stores. But so care 
fully had these been secreted, that, during the two or three 
hours in which they were engaged in the work, the British 
only emptied about sixty barrels of flour, half of which was 
afterward saved, knocked off the trunnions of three cannon, 
burned sixteen new carriage-wheels and some barrels of 
wooden spoons and trenchers, threw five hundred pounds of 
balls into the pond and wells, cut down the liberty-pole, and 
fired the court-house. 

The work was hurriedly done ; for Colonel Smith, a veteran 
soldier, knew his peril. He had advanced twenty miles into 
a country of intelligent and resolute men, who were rising 
around him. All Middlesex was moving. From Acton and 
Lincoln, from Westford, Littleton, and Chelmsford, from Bed 
ford and Billerica, from Stow, Sudbury, and Carlisle, the sons 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. IO3 

of Indian fighters, and of soldiers of the old French war, 
poured along the roads, shouldering the fire-locks and fowling- 
pieces and old king s-arms that had seen famous service when 
the earlier settlers had gone out against King Philip, or the 
later colonists had marched under the flag on which George 
Whitefield had written, "Nil desperandum Cristo Duce? 
Never despair while Christ is captain ; and those words 
the children of the Puritans had written on their hearts. As 
the minute-men from the other towns arrived, they joined the 
force upon the rising ground near the North Bridge, where 
they were drawn into line by Joseph Hosmer of Concord, 
who acted as adjutant. By nine o clock, some five hundred 
men were assembled, and a consultation of officers and chief 
citizens was held. That group of Middlesex farmers, here 
upon Punkatasset, without thought that they were heroes, 
or that the day and its deeds were to be so momentous, is a 
group as memorable as the men of Rlitli on the Swiss Alps, 
or the barons in the meadow of Runnymede. They con 
fronted the mightiest empire in the world, invincible on land, 
supreme on the sea, whose guns had just been heard in four 
continents at once, girdling the globe with victory. And 
that empire was their mother-land, in whose renown they had 
shared, the land dear to their hearts by a thousand ties of 
love, pride, and reverence. They took a sublime and awful 
responsibility. They could not know that the other colonies, 
or even their neighbors of Massachusetts, would justify their 
action. There was as yet no Declaration of Independence, 
no continental army. There was, indeed, a general feeling 
that a blow would soon be struck ; but to mistake the time, 
the place, the way, might be to sacrifice the great cause itself, 
and to ruin America. But their conscience and their judg 
ment assured them that the hour had come. Before them 



IO4 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

lay their homes, and on the hill beyond, the graveyard in 
which their forefathers slept. A guard of the king s troops 
opposed their entrance to their own village. Those troops 
were at that moment searching their homes, perhaps insulting 
their wives and children. Already they saw the smoke as of 
burning houses rising in the air, and they resolved to march 
into the town, and to fire upon the troops if they were op 
posed. They resolved upon organized, aggressive, forcible 
resistance to the military power of Great Britain, the first 
that had been offered in the colonies. All unconsciously 
every heart beat time to the music of the slave s epitaph in 
the graveyard that overhung the town : 

li God wills us free ; man wills us slaves : 
I will as God wills : God s will be done." 

Isaac Davis of Acton drew his sword, turned toward his 
company, and said, " I haven t a man that s afraid to go." 
Colonel Barrett of Concord gave the order to march. In double 
file, and with trailed arms, the men moved along the causeway, 
the Acton company in front; Major John Buttrick of Con 
cord, Captain Isaac Davis of Acton, and Lieutenant-Colonel 
John Robinson of Westford, leading the way. As they 
approached the bridge, the British forces withdrew across it, 
and began to take up the planks. Major Buttrick ordered 
his men to hasten their march. As they came within ten or 
fifteen rods of the bridge, a shot was fired by the British, 
which wounded Jonas Brown, one of the Concord minute- 
men, and Luther Blanchard, fifer of the Acton company. A 
British volley followed ; and Isaac Davis of Acton, making a 
way for his countrymen, like Arnold von Winkelried at Sem- 
pach, fell dead, shot through the heart. By his side fell his 
friend and neighbor, Abner Hosmer, a youth of twenty-two. 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. IO5 

Seeing them fall, Major Buttrick turned to his men, and, rais 
ing his hand, cried, " Fire, fellow soldiers ! for God s sake, 
fire!" John Buttrick gave the word. The cry rang along 
the line. The Americans fired. The Revolution began. It 
began here. Let us put off the shoes from off our feet ; for 
the place whereon we stand is holy ground. 

One of the British was killed, several were wounded ; and 
they retreated in confusion toward the centre of the village. 
The engagement was doubtless seen by Smith and Pitcairn 
from the graveyard hill that overlooked the town ; and the 
shots were heard by all the searching parties, which imme 
diately returned in haste and disorder. Colonel Smith instantly 
prepared to retire ; and at noon, one hundred years ago, at 
this hour, the British columns marched but of yonder square. 
Then and there began the retreat of British power from the 
American colonies. Through seven weary and wasting years 
it continued. From Bunker Hill to Long Island, from 
Princeton, Trenton, and Saratoga, from the Brandywine, 
Monmouth, and King s Mountain, through the bloody snow 
at Valley Forge, through the treachery of Arnold and of Lee, 
through cabals and doubt, and poverty and despair, but 
steadily urged by one great heart that strengthened the con 
tinent, the heart of George Washington, the British 
retreat went on from Concord Bridge and Lexington Green 
to the plains of Yorktown, and the king s acknowledgment 
of American Independence. 

Of the beginning of this retreat, of that terrible march of 
the exhausted troops from this square to Boston, I have no 
time fitly to tell the tale. Almost as soon as it began, all 
Massachusetts was in motion. William Prescott mustered 
his regiment of minute-men at Pepperell ; and Timothy Pick 
ering, at Salem and Marblehead. Dedham left no man 



IO6 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

behind between the ages of sixteen and seventy. The 
minute-men of Worcester marched out of the town one way 
as the news went out the other, and, flying over the moun 
tains, sent Berkshire to Bunker Hill. Meanwhile the men 
of Concord and the neighborhood, following the British over 
the Bridge, ran along the heights above the Lexington road, 
and posted themselves to await the enemy. The retreating 
British column, with wide-sweeping flankers, advanced steadi 
ly and slowly. No drum beat, no fife blew : there was the 
hushed silence of intense expectation. As the troops 
passed Merriam s Corner, a little beyond Concord, and the 
flank-guard was called in, they turned suddenly, and fired 
upon the Americans. The minute-men and militia instantly 
returned the fire ; and the battle began that lasted until 
sunset. 

When Colonel Smith ordered the retreat, although he and 
his officers may have had some misgivings, they had, probably, 
lost them in the contempt of regulars for the militia; but, 
from the moment of the firing at Merriam s Corner, they 
were undeceived. The landscape was alive with armed men. 
They swarmed through every wood-path and by-way, across 
the pastures, and over the hills. Some came up in order 
along the roads, as from Reading and Billerica, from East 
Sudbury and Bedford; and John Parker s company from 
Lexington waited in a woody defile to avenge the death of 
their comrades. The British column marched steadily on ; 
while from trees, rocks, and fences, from houses, barns, and 
sheds, blazed the withering American fire. The hills 
echoed and flashed. The woods rang. The road became an 
endless ambuscade of flame. The Americans seemed to the 
appalled British troops to drop from the clouds, to spring 
from the earth. With every step, the attack was deadlier, 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. IO/ 

the danger more imminent. For some time, discipline, and 
the plain extremity of the peril, sustained the order of the 
British line. But the stifling clouds of dust, the consuming 
thirst, the exhaustion of utter fatigue, the wagons full of 
wounded men moaning and dying, madly pressing through 
the ranks to the front, the constant falling of their comrades, 
officers captured and killed, and, through all, the fatal and 
incessant shot of an unseen foe smote with terror that 
haughty column, which, shrinking, bleeding, wavering, reeled 
through Lexington panic-stricken and broken. The officers, 
seeing the dire extremity, fought their way to the front, and 
threatened the men with death if they advanced. The 
breaking line recoiled a little, and even steadied under one of 
the sharpest attacks of the day ; for not as yet were Hes 
sians hired to enslave Americans, and it was English blood 
and pluck on both sides. At two o clock in the afternoon, 
a half-mile beyond Lexington meeting-house, just as the 
English officers saw that destruction or surrender was the 
only alternative, Lord Percy, with a re-enforcement of twelve 
hundred men, came up, and, opening with two cannon upon 
the Americans, succored his flying and desperate comrades, 
who fell upon the ground among Percy s troops, their parched 
tongues hanging from their mouths. 

The flower of General Gage s army was now upon the field ; 
but its commander saw at once that its sole hope of safety 
was to continue the retreat. After half an hour s delay, 
the march was resumed, and with it the barbarities, as well as 
the sufferings, of war. Lord Percy threw out flanking-parties, 
which entered the houses upon the line of march, plundering 
and burning. The fields of Menotomy, or Arlington, through 
which lay the road, became a plain of blood and fire. But 
the American pursuit was relentless ; and beyond Lexington 



IO8 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

the lower counties and towns came hurrying to the battle. 
Many a man afterward famous was conspicuous that day ; 
and, near West Cambridge, Joseph Warren was the inspiring 
soul of the struggle. It was now past five o clock. The 
British ammunition was giving out. The officers, too much 
exposed in the saddle, alighted, and marched with the men, 
who, as they approached Charlestown, encountered the hot 
test fire of the day. General Gage had learned the perilous 
extremity of his army from a messenger sent by Percy, and 
had issued a proclamation threatening to lay Charlestown in 
ashes if the troops were attacked in the streets. The town 
hummed with the vague and appalling rumors of the events 
of the day, and, just before sunset, the excited inhabitants 
heard the distant guns, and soon saw the British troops run 
ning along the old Cambridge road to Charlestown Neck, 
firing as they came. They had just escaped the militia 
seven hundred strong from Salem and Marblehead, the 
flower of Essex ; and, as the sun was setting, they entered 
Charlestown and gained the shelter of their frigate-guns. 
Then General Heath ordered the American pursuit to stop, 
and the battle was over. But all that day and night the news 
was flying from mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, rousing 
every city, town, and solitary farm in the colonies ; and before 
the last shot of the minute-men on the British retreat from 
Concord Bridge was fired, or the last wounded grenadier had 
been rowed across the river, the whole country was in arms. 
Massachusetts, New England, America, were closing around 
the city ; and the siege of Boston, and the war of American 
Independence, had begun. 

Such was the opening battle of the Revolution, a con 
flict, which, so far as we can see, saved civil liberty in two 
hemispheres, saved England as well as America, and 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. ICX) 

whose magnificent results shine through the world as the 
beacon-light of free popular government. And who won this 
victory ? The minute-men and militia, who, in the history of 
our English race, have been always the vanguard of freedom. 
The minute-man of the American Revolution who was he ? 
He was the husband and father, who, bred to love liberty, 
and to know that lawful liberty is the sole guaranty of peace 
and progress, left the plough in the furrow, and the hammer 
on the bench, and, kissing wife and children, marched to die 
or to be free. He was the son and lover, the plain, shy 
youth of the singing-school and the village choir, whose heart 
beat to arms for his country, and who felt, though he could 
not say, with the old English cavalier, 

" I could not love thee, deare, so much, 
Loved I not honor more." 

The minute-man of the Revolution ! he was the old, the 
middle-aged, and the young. He was Captain Miles of Con 
cord, who said that he went to battle as he went to church. 
He was Captain Davis of Acton, who reproved his men for 
jesting on the march. He was Deacon Josiah Haynes of Sud- 
bury, eighty years old, who marched with his company to the 
South Bridge at Concord, then joined in the hot pursuit to 
Lexington, and fell as gloriously as Warren at Bunker Hill. 
He was James Hay ward of Acton, twenty-two years old, fore 
most in that deadly race from Concord to Charlestown, who 
raised his piece at the same moment with a British soldier, 
each exclaiming, "You are a dead man!" The Briton 
dropped, shot through the heart. James Hayward fell mor 
tally wounded. " Father," he said, " I started with forty balls : 
I have three left. I never did such a day s work before. 
Tell mother not to mourn too much; and tell her whom I 



I IO THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

love more than my mother, that I am not sorry I turned 
out." 

This was the minute-man of the Revolution, the rural citi 
zen trained in the common school, the church, and the town 
meeting, who carried a bayonet that thought, and whose gun, 
loaded with a principle, brought down not a man, but a sys 
tem. Him we gratefully recall to-day, him, in yon manly 
figure wrought in the metal which but feebly typifies his 
inexorable will, we commit in his immortal youth to the 
reverence of our children. And here among these peaceful 
fields, here in the county whose children first gave their 
blood for American union and independence, and, eighty-six 
years later, gave it first also for a truer union and a larger 
liberty, here in the heart of Middlesex, county of Lexing 
ton and Concord and Bunker Hill, stand fast, Son of Liberty, 
as the minute-man stood at the old North Bridge ! But 
should we or our descendants, false to liberty, false to justice 
and humanity, betray in any way their cause, spring into 
life as a hundred years ago, take one more step, descend, and 
lead us, as God led you in saving America, to save the hopes 
of man! 

At the end of a century, we can see the work of this day 
as our fathers could not: we can see that then the final 
movement began of a process long and unconsciously pre 
paring, which was to intrust liberty to new forms and insti 
tutions that seemed full of happy promise for mankind. And 
now, for nearly a century, what was formerly called the experi 
ment of a representative republic of imperial extent and 
power has been tried. Has it fulfilled the hopes of its found 
ers, and the just expectations of mankind? I have already 
glanced at its early and fortunate conditions, and we know 
how vast and .splendid were its early growth and devel- 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. Ill 

opment. Our material statistics soon dazzled the world. 
Europe no longer sneered, but gazed in wonder, waiting and 
watching. Our population doubled every fifteen years ; and 
our wealth every ten years. Every little stream among the 
hills turned a mill; and the great inland seas, bound by the 
genius of Clinton to the ocean, became the highway of 
boundless commerce, the path of unprecedented empire. 
Our farms were the granary of other lands. Our cotton- 
fields made England rich. Still we chased the whale in the 
Pacific Ocean, and took fish in the tumbling seas of Labra 
dor. We hung out friendly lights along thousands of miles 
of coast to tempt the trade of every clime ; and wherever, on 
the dim rim of the globe, there was a harbor, it was white 
with American sails. Meanwhile at home the political fore 
boding of Federalism had died away ; and its very wail seemed 
a tribute to the pacific glories of the land. 

" The ornament of beauty is Suspect, 

A crow that flies in heaven s sweetest air." 

The government was felt to be but a hand of protection 
and blessing; labor was fully employed ; capital was secure; 
the army was a jest; enterprise was pushing through the 
Alleghanies, grasping and settling the El DoVado of the 
prairies, and still braving the wilderness, reached out toward 
the Rocky Mountains, and, reversing the voyages of Colum 
bus, rediscovered the Old World from the New. America 
was the Benjamin of nations, the best-beloved of Heaven ; 
and the starry flag of the United States flashed a line of 
celestial light around the world, the harbinger of freedom, 
peace, and prosperity. 

Such was the vision and the exuking faith of fifty 
years ago. " Atlantis hath risen from the ocean ! " cried 



112 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Edward Everett to applauding Harvard ; and Daniel Webster 
answered from Bunker Hill, " If we fail, popular governments 
are impossible." So far as they could see, they stood among 
the unchanged conditions of the early republic. And those 
conditions are familiar. The men who founded the republic 
were few in number, planted chiefly along a temperate coast, 
remote from the world. They were a homogeneous people, 
increasing by their own multiplication, speaking the same 
language, of the same general religious faith, cherishing the 
same historic and political traditions, universally educated, 
hardy, thrifty, with general equality of fortune, and long and 
intelligent practice of self-government, while the slavery that 
existed among them, inhuman in itself, was not seriously 
defended, and was believed to be disappearing. But within 
the last half-century causes then latent, or wholly incalculable 
before, have radically changed those conditions; and we enter 
upon the second century of the republic with responsibilities 
which neither our fathers, nor the men of fifty years ago, 
could possibly foresee. 

Think, for instance, of the change wrought by foreign 
immigration, with all its necessary consequences. In the 
State of Massachusetts to-day, the number of citizens of 
foreign birth who have no traditional association with the 
story of Concord and Lexington is larger than the entire 
population of the State on the day of battle. The first fifty 
years after that day brought to the whole country fewer immi 
grants than are now living in Massachusetts alone. At the 
end of that half-century, when Mr. Everett stood here, less 
than three hundred thousand foreign immigrants had come 
to this country; but, in.the fifty years that have since elapsed, 
there has been an immigration of more than nine millions of 
persons. The aggregate population in the last fifty years has 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. I 13 

advanced somewhat more than threefold ; the foreign immigra 
tion, more than thirty-fold; so that now immigrants and the 
children of immigrants are a quarter of the whole population. 
This enormous influx of foreigners has added an immense 
ignorance, and entire unfamiliarity with republican ideas and 
habits, to the voting-class. It has brought other political tra 
ditions, other languages, and other religious faiths. It has 
introduced powerful and organized influences not friendly to 
the republican principle of freedom of thought and action. 
It is. to the change produced by immigration that we owe the 
first serious questioning of the public school system, which 
was the nursery of the early republic, and which is to-day the 
palladium of free popular government. 

Do not misunderstand me. I am not lamenting, even in 
thought, the boundless hospitality of America. I do not for 
get that the whole European race came hither but yesterday, 
and has been domesticated here not yet three hundred years. 
I am not insensible of the proud claim of America to be the 
refuge of the oppressed of every clime; nor do I doubt in her 
maturity her power, if duly directed, to assimilate whole 
nations, if need be, as in her infancy she achieved her inde 
pendence, and in her prime maintained her unity. But if 
she has been the hope of the world, and is so still, it is be 
cause she has understood both the conditions and the perils 
of freedom, and watches carefully the changing conditions 
under which republican liberty is to be maintained. She will 
still welcome to her ample bosom all who choose to be called 
her children. But, if she is to remain the mother of liberty, 
it will not be the result of those craven counsels whose type 
is the ostrich burying his head in the sand, but of that wise 
and heroic statesmanship, whose symbol is her own heaven- 
soaring eagle, gazing undazzled even at the spots upon the 
sun. 



114 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Again: within the century, steam has enormously expanded 
the national domain ; and every added mile is an added strain 
to our system. The marvellous ease of communication both 
by rail and telegraph tends to obliterate conservative local 
lines, and to make a fatal centralization more possible. The 
telegraph, which instantly echoes the central command at the 
remotest point, becomes both a facility and a temptation to 
exercise command; while below upon the rail. the armed blow 
swiftly follows the word that flies along the wire. Steam 
concentrates population in cities. But, when the government 
was formed, the people were strictly rural, and there were but 
six cities with eight thousand inhabitants or more. In 1790, 
only one-thirtieth of the population lived in cities: in 1870, 
more than one-fifth. Steam destroys the natural difficulties 
of communication ; but those very difficulties are barriers 
against invasion, and protect the independence of each little 
community, the true foundation of our free republican sys 
tem. In New England, the characteristic village and local 
life of the last century perishes in the age of steam. Mean 
while the enormous accumulation of capital engaged in great 
enterprises, with unscrupulous greed of power, constantly 
tends to make itself felt in corruption of the press, which 
moulds public opinion, and of the legislature which makes the 
laws. Thus steam and the telegraph tend to the concentra 
tion of capital, and the consolidation of political power, a 
tendency which threatens liberty, and which was wholly 
unknown when the republic began, and was unsuspected 
fifty years ago. Sweet liberty is a mountain nymph, because 
mountains baffle the pursuer. But the inventions that level 
mountains and annihilate space alarm that gracious spirit, 
who sees her greater insecurity. But stay, heaven-eyed maid, 
and stay forever! Behold, our devoted wills shall be thy 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. I IjJ 

invincible Alps, our loyal hearts thy secret bower, the spirit 
of our fathers a cliff of adamant, that engineering skill can 
never pierce nor any foe can scale. 

But the most formidable problem for popular government 
which the opening of our second century presents springs 
from a source which was unsuspected a hundred years ago, 
and which the orators of fifty years since forbore to name. 
This was the system of slave labor, which vanished in civil 
war. But slavery had not been the fatal evil that it was, if, 
with its abolition, its consequences had disappeared. It holds 
us still in mortmain. Its dead hand is strong as its living 
power was terrible. Emancipation has left the republic ex 
posed to a new and extraordinary trial of the principles and 
practices of free government. A civilization resting upon 
slavery, as formerly in part of the country, however polished 
and ornate, is necessarily aristocratic,. and hostile to republi 
can equality, while the exigencies of such a society forbid 
that universal education which is indispensable to wise 
popular government. When war emancipates the slaves 
and makes them equal citizens, the ignorance and venality 
which are the fatal legacies of slavery to the subject class, 
whether white or black, and the natural alienation of the mas 
ter class, which alone has political knowledge and experience, 
with all the secret conspiracies, the reckless corruption, the 
political knavery, springing naturally from such a situation, 
and ending often in menacing disorder that seems to invite 
the military interference and supervision of the government 
all this accumulation of difficulty and danger lays a 
strain along the very fibre of free institutions; for it suggests 
the twofold question, whether the vast addition of the 
ignorance of the emancipated vote to that of the immi 
grant vote may not overwhelm the intelligent vote of the 



Il6 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

country, and whether the constant appeal to the central hand 
of power however necessary it may seem, and for whatever 
reason of humanity and justice it may be urged must not 
necessarily destroy that local self-reliance which was the very 
seed of the American republic, and fatally familiarize the 
country with that employment of military power which is 
inconsistent with free institutions, and bold resistance to 
which has forever consecrated the spot on which we stand. 

These are some of the more obvious changes in the condi 
tions under which the republic is to be maintained. I men 
tion them merely ; but every wise patriot sees and ponders 
them. Does he therefore despond ? Heaven forbid! When 
was there ever an auspicious day for humanity that was not 
one of doubt and conflict? The robust moral manhood of 
America confronts the future with steadfast faith and indomi 
table will, raising the old battle-cry of the race for larger lib 
erty and surer law. It sees clouds, indeed, as Sam Adams 
saw them when this day dawned ; but with him it sees 
through and through them, and with him thanks God for the 
glorious morning. There is, indeed, a fashion of scepti 
cism of American principles, even among some Americans; 
but it is one of the oldest and worst fashions in our history. 
There is a despondency, which fondly fancies, that, in its begin 
ning, the American republic moved proudly toward the future 
with all the splendid assurance of the Persian Xerxes de 
scending on the shores of Greece, but that it sits to-day 
among shattered hopes, like Xerxes above his ships at Sala- 
mis. And when was this golden age ? Was it when John 
Adams appealed from the baseness of his own time to the 
greater candor and patriotism of this? Was it when Fisher 
Ames mcrurned over lost America, like Rachel for her chil 
dren, and would not be comforted? Was it. when William 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. I I/ 



9 

Wirt said that he sought in vain for a man fit for the presi 
dency or for great responsibility ? Was it when Chancellor 
Livingston saw only a threatening future, because Congress 
was so feeble ? Was it when we ourselves saw the industry, 
the commerce, the society, the church, the courts, the states 
manship, the conscience, of America seemingly prostrate 
under the foot of slavery ? Was this the golden age of these 
doubting sighs, this the region behind the north wind of 
these reproachful regrets? And is it the young nation which 
with prayer and faith, with untiring devotion and unconquer 
able will, has lifted its bruised and broken body from beneath 
that crushing heel, whose future is distrusted ? 

Nay, this very scepticism is one of the foes that we must 
meet and conquer. Remember, fellow-citizens, that the im 
pulse of republican government given a century ago at the 
old North Bridge has shaken every government in the world, 
but has been itself wholly unshaken by them. It has made 
monarchy impossible in France. It has freed the Russian 
serfs. It has united Germany against ecclesiastical despot 
ism. It has flashed into the night of Spain. It has emanci 
pated Italy, and discrowned the pope, as king. In England, 
repealing the disabilities of Catholic and Hebrew, it forecasts 
the separation of Church and State, and step by step trans 
forms monarchy into another form of republic. And here at 
. home how glorious its story ! In a tremendous war between 
men of the same blood, men who recognize and respect 
each other s valor, we have proved what was always- 
doubted, the prodigious power, endurance, and resources of 
a republic ; and, in emancipating an eighth of the population, 
we have at last gained the full opportunity of the republican 
principle. Sir, it is the signal felicity of this occasion, that, 
on the one hundredth anniversary of the first battle in the 



Il8 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

war of American Independence, I may salute you, who led to 
victory -the citizen-soldiers of American liberty, as the first 
elected president of the free republic of the United States. 
Fortunate man ! to whom God has given the priceless boon 
of associating your name with that triumph of freedom which 
will presently bind the East and the West, the North and the 
South, in a closer and more perfect union for the establish 
ment of justice, and the security of the blessings of liberty, 
than these States have ever known. 

Fellow-citizens, that union is the lofty task which this hal 
lowed day and this sacred spot impose upon us. And what 
cloud of doubt so dark hangs over us as that which lowered 
above the colonies when the troops of the king marched into 
this town, and the men of Middlesex resolved to pass the 
Bridge ? With their faith and their will we shall win their 
victory. No royal governor, indeed, sits in yon stately capi 
tal, no hostile fleet for many a year has vexed the waters of 
our coasts, nor is any army but our own ever likely to tread 
our soil. Not such are our enemies to-day. They do not 
come proudly stepping to the drum-beat, with bayonets flash 
ing in the morning sun. But wherever party spirit shall strain 
the ancient guaranties of freedom ; or bigotry and ignorance 
shall lay their fatal hands upon education ; or the arrogance 
of caste shall strike at equal rights ; or corruption shall poison 
the very springs of national life, there, minute-men of lib 
erty, are your Lexington Green and Concord Bridge; and as 
you love your country and your kind, and would have your 
children rise up and call you blessed, spare not the enemy! 
Over the hills, out of the earth, down from the clouds, pour 
in resistless might. Fire from every rock and tree, from door 
,and window, from hearthstone and chamber; hang upon his 
flank and rear from noon to sunset, and so, through a land 



EXERCISES IN THE ORATION TENT. IIQ 

blazing with holy indignation, hurl the hordes of ignorance 
and corruption and injustice back, back, in utter defeat and 
ruin. 



At ten minutes before one o clock, before the close of the oration, 
Mr. Curtis paused at the request of Judge Hoar, who said, 



" Ladies and gentlemen, Concord always keeps faith with Lexington. We 
promised to deliver to them the President at one o clock ; and he is therefore 
obliged to leave. Give him three parting cheers." 



Three cheers were then given, which the President acknowledged 
by bowing to the assembly, and with the Vice-President, the Cabinet, 
Governor Gaston, the Executive Council and Legislature of Massa 
chusetts, the Judges of the Supreme Judicial Court, and several 
others of our guests who had accepted the Lexington invitation, left 
the tent. 

A special train had been provided to convey this distinguished 
party over the Middlesex Central Railroad to Lexington; but the 
road was hopelessly blocked ; and the Committee, in order that all 
the exercises, whether in Concord or Lexington, might be carried out 
as far as it was in their power to forward them, tendered carriages 
to the President and his Cabinet, and to Governor Gaston and the 
Executive Council. This courtesy was accepted by General Grant, 
who, with his Cabinet, was rapidly driven over the road to Lexington, 
and by this means arrived there in season to review the procession, and 
attend the dinner. Governor Gaston, however, who, with the First 
Corps of Cadets and the Legislature, was waiting at the depot for the 
stipulated train, felt obliged to decline our offer of transportation, as 
he did not wish to leave his escort behind. After a delay of somewhat 
over an hour, the blockade was so far broken as to allow one train to 
pass over the road, carrying those who were anxiously waited for to 
participate in the afternoon exercises in Lexington. 

At the conclusion of the oration, the Fifth Regiment M. V. M. 
was drawn up in two lines, extending from the platform entrance of 
the oration tent to the east entrance of the dinner tent ; and through 
the lane thus formed, the invited guests were immediately conducted 
to dinner. At the same time, the grand entrance on the west was 
opened, and the general public admitted. 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 



THE dinner tent was a magnificent sight. Of new, snowy canvas, 
four hundred and ten feet in length, eighty-five feet wide, and forty feet 
in height, surmounted with flags, it was the centre of attraction. It 
was owned by Andrew Erickson of Boston, who deserves the greatest 
credit for his skill in spreading so large a canvas, and protecting it 
from the high winds that had prevailed for several days. 

The interior was profusely decorated with flags, bunting, and 
streamers. Long pennants were festooned from the top of each 
pole to the base of the canopy. On the thirteen tent-poles were 
hung as many shields bearing the coats-of-arms of the thirteen 
original states, and underneath each Shield two American flags were 
gracefully looped. The following mottoes in conspicuous letters 
were hung on the sides of the canvas : 

" Concordia res parvce crescunt" 
" Concord that elevates the mind and stills." WORDSWORTH. 

" Tis still observed those men most valiant are, 

That are most modest ere they come to war." HERRICK. 

" The first shot fired in America separates the Colonies." CHATHAM. 

" They little thought how pure a light 

With years should gather round that day, 
How love should keep their memories bright, 

How wide a realm their sons would sway." BRYANT. 

" We find in our dull road their shining track." LOWELL. 
"Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, give glory. 

" So nigh is grandeur to our dust, 

So near is God to man, 
When Duty whispers low, Thou must, 
The youth replies, I can. " EMERSON. 



124 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Tables to accommodate four thousand persons were placed in rows 
running across the tent from side to side. On the south-easterly 
side, a platform was arranged, the floor of which was on the level of 
the ground tables. On this platform were placed tables to accommo 
date two hundred persons. At the. centre table were seated the 
President of the Day, the Orator of the Day, Mr. Ralph Waldo Emer 
son, Hon. James G. Elaine, and Hon. Joseph R. Hawley ; on the right, 
Governor Ingersoll of Connecticut and his staff, Governor Dingley of 
Maine and his staff, and Governor Peck of Vermont and his staff ; 
on the left, Hon. George S. Boutwell, Hon. George F. Hoar, President 
Eliot of Harvard College, and other distinguished guests. The 
tables at both ends of the tent were filled by the veteran military 
companies, and by the Fifth Regiment M. V. M. The whole centre 
was filled by a great concourse of ladies and gentlemen. In front 
of the table of the President of the Day was placed a collection 
of relics, among which were, 

The sword of Captain Isaac Davis, carried by him at the old North 
Bridge. 

The musket of Major John Buttrick, fired by him in answer to his famous 
order, " Fire, fellow-soldiers ! for God s sake, fire ! " 

A sword taken by Nathaniel Bemis of Watertown from a British officer 
whom he shot ; and the gun, marked " David Bemis, 1775," with which he shot 
him. 

The sword of Lieutenant Davis of Bedford, worn by him at the North 
Bridge. 

The sword of Oliver Wheeler of Acton, worn by him April 19, 1775. 

A six-pound cannon-ball, thrown into the mill-pond by the British, and 
found long afterwards. 

The sword of Lieutenant James Potter of the British marines, who was 
taken prisoner April 19, 1775, and confined in the house of Reuben Brown. 
This sword bears the inscription, " X th - Rgt. Co. VI. N- 10." 

A British cartridge-box, stamped " G. R.," taken from the regulars. 

A powder horn, inscribed " Concord, William Buttrick. His Horn, Sept. 

15, 1774-" 

The powder-horn of Amos Barrett. 

The sword of Captain Nathan Barrett, carried by him April 19, 1775. 

A powder-horn carried by Joseph Chaffin of Acton, at Concord, and 
during the chase to Charlestown Neck, and at Bunker Hill. 

A stack of Revolutionary flint-lock muskets. 

The old flag carried by the Bedford minute-men, mentioned above in the 
account of the procession. 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 125 

One of the famous " Coffin handbills," styled " The Bloody Butchery by 
the British troops, or the Runaway Fight of the Regulars," 

and various other interesting relics of the fight. 

After somewhat more than half an hour had been spent in dining, 
the American Band of Providence played Auld Lang Syne, and a 
medley of patriotic airs. The President of the Day then rose, called 
the assemblage to order, and said, 

FELLOW-CITIZENS, Patriotic memories are the strength of a 
nation. America, as a nation, to-day eijters upon her second century. 
We have assembled to celebrate as worthily as we may the great 
centennial anniversary of the Revolution. The British parliament in 
1 774 had voted a law to prohibit the holding of town meetings in 
New England, except for the purpose of choosing officers. It was 
too late : the town meetings had done their work. The villages of 
New England had responded to Faneuil Hall ; the discussions in the 
towns had responded to the fiery eloquence of Adams and Otis ; 
preparations had been made ; the people had determined to maintain 
their liberties at any cost ; and they were waiting only for the time 
when by any forcible act by which their property should be seized, or 
their rights violated, they might be-called upon to defend both in arms. 
And the day came, a glorious day for Lexington, for Concord, for 
Acton, for the towns of Middlesex and Essex and Norfolk, for Massa 
chusetts, and for the country. It was accidental only, that the spark 
first kindled here into a flame ; for the whole country, from one end to 
the other, was heated, and ready to flame at the slightest spark. And 
when the day came have you considered, fellow-citizens, what a day 
of transformation it was ? The men who were called from their beds 
at midnight, at the tap of the drum at Lexington, were English colo 
nists. The men who marched down to the old North Bridge, saying 
that they had a right to go to Concord on the King s highway, and 
they would go to Concord, were British subjects, claiming the rights 
of Englishmen. That was America on the morning of the igth of 
April, 1775. At night on that day, the American people were besie 
ging in Boston a foreign enemy, whom they had driven in hurried and 
ignominious rout to take refuge under the shelter of his ships-of-war. 
The American nation was born that day. Every thing that succeeded 
it in the Revolution was but a corollary of this first and primal 
proposition. At Philadelphia, in 1776, our fathers declared what had 
already been made a fixed fact. All the victories of the war were 
simply the steps by which the American people were driving the 



126 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

British Government to an acknowledgment of the fact, which was 
established as surely on the igth of April, 1775, as it is established on 
the i Qth of April, 1875. When a people have found something that 
they are willing to die for; when the humblest men among them, who 
could have gone on tilling their fields, working at their trades, and 
taking their comfort and ease in life, are. willing instead, for a princi 
ple, for a public object, as citizens who feel that they have a duty to 
mankind and their country to discharge, to take their lives in their 
hands, and say, " We will lay them down, if need be, for this object," 
you have before you a people whose independence is secure, whose 
future is certain. 

I do not propose to detain you to listen to any speech of mine. 
The nineteenth of April, I believe, pervades me through and through, 
and I could talk about it for a week ; but I do not intend to do so. I 
know it is in all of you also. Every one of you feels it as thoroughly, 
the spirit of the Revolution. I offer as the first regular sentiment 
of the day : 

The Nineteenth of April, Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-jive : A glorious day for Lex 
ington and Concord, for the towns of Middlesex, for Massachusetts, for America, for free 
dom, and the rights of mankind. " Every blow struck for liberty among men since the ipth 
of April, 1775, has but echoed the guns of that eventful morning." 

The President : The President of the United States has left us to 
unite in the kindred ceremonies at Lexington ; but we have the 
pleasure to have with us a gentleman whom I shall invite to address 
you, in whom, I may say, Pennsylvania has undertaken to pay back the 
debt which she owes to New England for giving her Benjamin Frank 
ly a man whose national fame, and right to speak for the people of 
the United States, need no introduction and no comment from me, 
James G. Elaine. 

Mr. Blaine was received with loud applause as he rose to respond. 



REMARKS OF HON. JAMES G. BLAINE. 

MY modesty will not permit me to accept the reason given by the honored 
Chairman of the Day for calling me out as the first speaker. It occurs to me 
that he was unconsciously moved by an entirely different consideration. He 
has served recently in the House of Representatives, where he learned, that, 
on a call of States, Maine always stands first ; and, owing to that habit, I 
have the great honor of being presented to you. In listening, this morning, 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. I2/ 

to the matchless eulogy of a matchless event in history, I was struck by one 
fact which the gravity of the occasion forbade the eloquent orator from 
alluding to. They have been searching these hundred years past for reasons 
why the first blow for American liberty should have been struck at Concord ; 
but I think they have neglected the real, primal, instinctive reason that 
underlay the whole. The truth is, that the people of Concord from the early 
settlement of the town had been, to use a somewhat slang phrase, " spoiling 
for a fight." They had the Apostle Eliot among them early to train and 
subdue the Indians ; but they relied a great deal more upon their muskets 
than upon his mild maxims. When the colonists got into a row with Sir 
Edmund Andros, it was a company from Concord that drove him away ; 
when King Philip attempted his ravages, it was Concord men that met 
him ; and, when the period of the Revolution came, it was just as inevitable 
that the first conflict should come at Concord, as it was that King George 
should insist upon the measures that should drive the colonists to resistance. 
I have, therefore, had no trouble in determining in my own mind, from the 
fighting generations of Concord people that I have myself known, that here 
was the precise place where the clash of arms should first resound. In 
reading the annals of the great event tint we have been celebrating to-day, 
you will find that one of the first things the people of Concord did was to 
refuse to allow the royal judges to sit ; and, further, that they humbled the 
Tories. Lord, how I pity those Tories ! I believe the name of a single Tory 
that was humbled by the Concord people has never been recorded in history. 
They never could find out where they went ; but it is perfectly easy to be 
lieve, that, under the weight of the humiliation inflicted through the Concord 
indignation, every one resorted to the better fate of suicide. 

We have been told by an eminent English historian that there were fifteen de 
cisive battles in the world. He closed his history about 1854. I think, if he had 
written a little while later, he would have found a few more decisive struggles 
to add to the list. In going over those battles, from Marathon to Waterloo, 
you get, in effect, the history of all the great powers that have risen and have 
fallen, the Persian, the Assyrian, the Egyptian, the Roman, and the Greek. 
The great changes that have come over the face of modern Europe are also 
chronicled. But there is one list of battles that has not yet been gathered 
by the historian. We are all familiar with Marathon ; we all know what 
Waterloo did ; we know, also, what was done at Sedan ; we know what was 
done on our own continent, at Petersburg, in the Wilderness, at Vicksburg 
and Chattanooga ; but that list of battles which, I may say, may be classed as 
those that force the issue, whether in the moral, or political, or military world, 
have never yet been classified. John Quincy Adams fought one in the 
House of Representatives, when he insisted upon presenting a petition for a 
slave. That forced the issue, and was the battle which decided the right of 
petition in this country. A Pennsylvania representative (I speak of it with 
some sensibility, since my honored friend alluded to myself somewhat in that 



128 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

connection) forced the great issue of slavery in this country, by moving a 
proviso to a simple territorial bill. And what these Concord men did was 
simply to force the issue. It was a small battle. The men killed in the 
first fight and, indeed, in the whole day s transactions, bloody as they were 
would not amount to the loss in a picket skirmish in the last war ; but 
yet, it gave birth to what ? To a nation, and a nation so vast and so grand, 
that, if I were to stop to survey what has since transpired, I should want 
more than the week Judge Hoar desired, to rid himself of the impression of 
the iQth of April. Why, we were but three millions of people then. The 
House of Representatives, which I have had the honor to serve in for some 
years, has to-day more than two thirds of its members taken from the 
country where the foot of the white man, up to that day, had never trodden* 
except the adventurous hunter. More than two thirds of the entire House of 
Representatives come from land then undreamed of for settlement. The day 
that gun was fired across yonder bridge there did not exist on the American 
continent fifty thousand white settlers fifty miles from the tide-water of the 
Atlantic. It was only a narrow rim of people, stretching from Maine to 
Georgia, but not penetrating the interior at all. But all this has followed, as 
directly as consequence follows cause, from the blow that was struck that day 
in the small fight at Concord Bridge. 

Gentlemen, to allude to that battle, or even to gather up a single crumb 
from the table at which we have fed so bounteously to-day, seems to be a 
work of supererogation, if not of impossibility. All that remains to us, all 
that can remain to us, is to see, that, one hundred years hence, we may be 
remembered as honorably and as indelibly as those whose deeds we this day 
celebrate. It might possibly have been a matter of doubt with us, but for 
the late terrible experience of this country, whether we had within us the 
same heroic blood that fought and fell that day. But happily, out of the 
great griefs and the great sufferings of our own time, we know that we, their 
descendants, have not grown less strong in arm or less dauntless in heart 
than those that fought for us then. It remains for us to transmit to those who 
come after us a record in the line of civil duty, in the line of preserving all 
for which that generation and our own have fought, that shall secure to our 
descendants, to the remotest generations, the blessings which nothing but 
public virtue and personal courage can give to any people. 



Music: "America" and "Yankee Doodle." 

The President : I propose to present matters on this occasion in a 
somewhat orderly and- methodical manner, and I call to mind that we 
are honored by the presence to-day of a representative of the blood 
of Paul Revere ; and that memory, as you all know, belongs to the 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 



night before, and very early in the morning before, the events either 
at Lexington or Concord ; and I give you as a sentiment, 



Paul Revcre s Ride. 

A hurry of hoofs in the village street, 
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, 
And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet : 
That was all. And yet through the gloom and the light 
The fate of a nation was riding that night ; 
And the spark struck out by that steed in his flight 
Kindled the land into flame with its heat." 



I ask the grandson of Paul Revere to stand up, and let us see him. 
He does not make speeches any more than his grandfather did. His 
name is JOHN REVERE. 

Upon Mr. Revere s manifesting himself to the assembly, he was 
greeted with three hearty cheers. 

The President : First of those who fell, in our memory of the day 
we celebrate, are the martyrs on Lexington Common. Their deeds, 
their immortal fame, are now being worthily celebrated by their neigh 
bors and descendants at Lexington. I give you : 



Tke martyrs on Lexington Common, Parker, Monroe, Hadley, the Harringtons, Muz- 
zcy, Brown. 

" With us their names shall live 
Through long succeeding years, 
Embalmed with all our hearts can give, 
Our praises, and our tears." 



FELLOW-CITIZENS, No one from Lexington can be found here 
to-day to respond to this sentiment, as I suppose no one from Con 
cord could be found at Lexington to acknowledge any courtesies ex 
tended to us. So be it. The legacy of glory will go round, and is 
enough for all. But I thought it fitting to send, and have sent, in 
your name, a message to Lexington from Concord, to this effect : 

"Concord sends greeting to Lexington on the hundredth anni 
versary of the glorious morning, by the hands of the President of the 
United States. The Great Republic, whose thirty-seven states span 
the continent from ocean to ocean, is the harvest of which the seed 
was sown on the iQth of April, 1775." 



I3O THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Music. 

The President : And next in memory are the men who were first 
to fall at the North Bridge at Concord, 

Captain Isaac Davis, and Abner Hosmer, a private of his company of Minute-Men of 
Acton, the first to lay down their lives in an organized military attack upon the soldiers of 
Great Britain in the Revolutionary War. The grateful country for whose liberties they died 
accords to them a foremost place upon her roll of honor. 

I invite the Rev. Mr. Wood of Acton to respond on behalf of that 
town. 

ADDRESS OF REV. F. P. WOOD. 

I FULLY appreciate the honor done me on this memorable occasion in being 
permitted, in the name of the town of Acton, to respond to this toast. But 
without wasting words, when time is most precious, who were the men whose 
names appear in the toast just presented ? No better reply can be given 
than that which is found in this sentiment. They were citizen-soldiers cf 
Acton, and Provincial minute-men, who, one hundred years ago to-day, 
demonstrated the quality of their patriotism by being the first to lay down their 
lives in a regularly organized defence of their country in its just rights against 
the encroachments of Great Britain. The Orator of the Day has done such 
ample justice to the causes which led to the Revolution, which had its real 
beginning one hundred years ago, that to add to it would be superfluous. 

I will simply say, it is very evident that the town of Acton was alive to the 
importance of passing events, from the fact, that in 1770, and again in 1772, 
her citizens, in town meeting assembled, passed most emphatic resolutions 
in remonstrance to the oppressive policy of the Biitish ministry. That the 
town of Acton was, at least, abreast of the patriotic sentiment of the time is 
also proven by the fact, that, one hundred years ago to-day, she hadihrefe mil 
itary companies thoroughly drilled, ready for immediate action, drilled, too, 
at the expense of the town, though the town was then poor in every thing but 
patriotism. In these companies there were enrolled nearly one hundred and 
fifty men, though the population of the town was but little over half a thou 
sand. In those days, every one in Acton who was able to carry a gun was a 
soldier, and, before the clay was over, had a part in the achievements which 
are to-day celebrated. One of these companies was a choice one of minute- 
men, under the command of Captain Isaac Davis, a fit leader for such a 
company of men, courageous and beloved. He was in the flush of early 
manhood, being only thirty years old, though the father of four children, all 
of whom were sick on the morning of the eventful clay. Abner Hosmer, a 
young man of twenty-three, and son of a revered deacon in the Congrega- 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 131 

tional church, was a member of Davis s company. In accord with the re 
commendation of the Provincial Congress, the Acton companies had drilled 
regularly during the previous winter and spring. It is, probably, the case, 
however, that very few of them thought that a tilt of arms with the troops of 
King George was really imminent. But one hundred years ago this morning, 
before dawn, hours before the British entered Concord, a horseman, whose 
name was never known, rode at full speed up to the house of Captain Rob- 
bins, the commander of a militi i company, the commissioned officer of Acton, 
who lived nearest the North Bridge, and with a heavy club, as it seemed to 
those within, struck the corner of the house, and cried at the top of his voice, 
" Captain Robbins ! Captain Robbins ! Up, up ! The regulars have come to 
Concord. Quick as possible alarm Acton ! " -In a very few minutes the son of 
Captain Robbins, a mere lad, was on horseback, and hastening to the house 
of Captain Davis, who commanded the minute-men, with the thrilling message 
so m \steriously given ; and he, though his children were sick, in an incredi 
bly short time had his company together, ready for the march to Concord. 
Time does not permit me even to refer to what took place as the brave leader 
and his men set forth upon their perilous march. I will only say that his 
whole manner, as he went forth, carried a presentiment that he should never 
return alive. At this point allow me to quote the words of a poet who has 
attempted to portray the scene in verse : 

" Then on the children of this man the flames 
Of fever fed, wasting their feeble frames. 
His wife was worn with watching o er their bed. 
And must thou leave these children thus ? she said. 
But we ve a Guardian : I ll not stop thee, no ! 
Thy country calls thee : God is with thee, go ! 
Guard well these children ! is his brief reply, 
A tear-drop standing in the father s eye ; 
When Acton s minute-men to Concord sped 
In martial order, Davis at their head." 

So energetically did Captain Davis enter into the spirit of his work, and so 
promptly did his men respond to his call, that, at nine o clock on the morning 
of this glorious day, he had his company marshalled in line of battle with 
the Provincial troops near the old North Bridge. 

Here let me quote a part of the inscription upon the stately monument 
which stands near my home on Acton Common, over the ashes of the three 
citizens of Acton who fell mortally wounded one hundred years ago to-day. 

This monument was erected by the State of Massachusetts and the town 
of Acton as a tribute to the memory of these heroic men. 

In the inscription upon this monument appear these words : 

On the morning of that eventful day, the provincial officers held a council of war near 
the old North Bridge in Concord; and as they separated Davis exclaimed, " I haven t a 



132 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

man that is afraid to go! " and immediately marched his company from the left to the 
right of the line, and led in the first organized attack upon the troops of George III., in 
that memorable war, which, by the help of God, made the thirteen colonies independent of 
Great Britain, and gave political being to the United States of America. 



I quote these words especially as an authorized encomium upon the ser 
vices of Captain Davis. 

I am happy that to-day there is present on this occasion the son of one of 
Captain Davis s company, who proved without a doubt that his father s patriot 
blood still flows in his veins, by going through Baltimore with the Acton 
company, under the lead of Captain Daniel Tuttle, in the glorious Old Sixth 
Regiment, which, in that baptism of blood, covered itself with glory on the 
iQth of April, 1861, no less than did their fathers on the igth of April, 1775. 
Truly the soul of Captain Davis was marching on in this goodly company of 
Acton. This man before mentioned, Mr. Luke Smith, whose father 
fought at the old North Bridge, has gone over the ground about this sacred 
spot with his father, and heard from his lips the thrilling story which is told 
in a few words upon the monument. 

I would be the last to detract from the courage of any of those who were 
engaged in the movement in which the Acton men held the post of danger. 
They were all of them men of stout hearts, lineal descendants of Puritans, 
who, when in the way of duty, like John Knox, "feared not the face of 
man." Others will recount their praises : to me it is given to speak simply 
for the men of Acton. Captain Davis was the youngest commander of min 
ute-men. As men advance in years, they become more cautious. For the 
very reason that Davis was the youngest captain, and had a company of 
picked men, it might be expected, without disparaging the courage of any 
one, that he would speak first as a volunteer, with his men, to take the post 
of greatest danger. 

The orator of the day has portrayed to us what it was to lead in the attack 
one hundred years ago this morning. It was to take a step, which, though 
long talked of and threatened, had not really yet been taken. It was to cease 
to be mere remonstrants, and to become rebels. It was to expose themselves, 
not simply to the perils of battle, but to the ignominy of the scaffold. Major 
Buttrick, Captain Davis, Colonel Robinson, and the Acton minute-men, led 
the column of Provincial soldiers as they took this position. At the first fire 
from the enemy, the fifer of the Acton company was wounded ; and at the 
first volley, Captain Davis, in the act of raising his gun to take aim, was shot, 
and instantly killed. His blood gushed out in one great stream: it drenched 
his clothes, and these shoe-buckles which I hold in my hand, and fell as a 
baptism of patriotism upon some of the comrades who stood near. Abner 
Hosmer, a member of his company, fell at the same volley. But these men 
did not die in vain. No, no ! The mantle of their patriotism fell upon their 
fellow-soldiers ; and, before the sun went down, the arrogant servants of a 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 133 

tyrannical king learned to appreciate the might of even yeoman soldiers 
when committed to the defence of a righteous cause. Members of Davis s 
company were in many of the battles of the Revolution ; and one of those 
upon whom Davis s blood fell went through the whole war," and said, that, 
wherever he went, he seemed to see that blood upon his clothes, urging him 
to do his duty. 

As citizens of Acton, we enter into the spirit of this occasion most hear 
tily. Most fitting is it that we should eulogize the courage of those men, 
who, one hundred years ago, 

"Fired the shot heard round the world." 

Fitting it is that a monument should mark the spot where these heroes 
fought and fell. And as the citizens of Acton were alive to a sense of their 
duty, and active in the performance of it on the iQth of April, 1775, and 
again on the igth of April, 1861, so we trust that in love of country, and 
devotion to her defence, we ever may prove ourselves to be not unworthy 
descendants or townsmen of those whose memories we honor on this occa 
sion, which is in itself memorable. 

The President : I am now going to read to you a very few lines, 
but they tell a story to the American heart more touching than any 
thing to be drawn from ancient history ; and the beautiful simplicity 
of the style should make it a classic. When, in her extreme old age, 
the widow of Captain Isaac Davis, who fell at the North Bridge, was 
seeking to obtain from Congress a pension for her husband s ser 
vices on that day, her deposition was taken ; and she told this story 
under oath. I will try to get through with reading it ; but I never did 
yet without breaking down. 



DEPOSITION OF CAPT. DAVIS S WIDOW. 

" I, Hannah Leighton of Acton, testify that I am eighty-nine years of age. Isaac 
Davis, who was killed in the Concord fight, in 1775, was my husband. He was then thirty 
years of age. We had four children, the youngest about fifteen months old. They were 
all unwell when he left me in the morning, some of them with the canker-rash. The alarm 
was given early in the morning. My husband lost no time in getting ready to go to Con 
cord with his company. A considerable number of them came to the house, and made 
their cartridges there. The sun was from one to two hours high when they marched for 
Concord. My husband said but little that morning : he seemed serious and thoughtful, 
but never seemed to hesitate as to the course of his duty. As he led the company from the 
house, he turned round, and seemed to have something to communicate. He only said, 
"Take good care of the children," and was soon out of sight. In the afternoon, he was 
brought home a corpse. He was placed in my bedroom until the funeral. His counte- 



134 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

nance was pleasant, and seemed little altered. The bodies of Abner Hosmer and of 
James Hayward, one of the militia company who was killed in Lexington in the afternoon, 
were brought by their friends to the house, where the funeral of the three was attended. 

HANNAH LEIGHTON." 

Undoubtedly, fellow-citizens, every one of the thirty-one towns 
whose inhabitants participated in the events of the igth of April, 
1775, would have a story to tell, and would desire that the heroes 
of their own neighhorhood should receive particular honor. We 
cannot, the time will not suffice to, render the tribute to them in 
detail and succession that we would gladly do. In their own towns, 
among their kindred and descendants, their memories and names 
are fresh. But to-day the names of Lexington and Concord must 
.suffice for all. We take as our model, in this respect, the old Greek 
epigram : 

" Athenian ./Eschylus, Euphorion s son, 
Buried at Gela s fields these lines declare: 
His deeds are registered at Marathon, 
Known to the deep-haired Mede, who met him there." 

On the battle-ground from the North Bridge to Charlestown Neck, 
the men of the Massachusetts towns in arms did their duty and 
finished their work. Whoever died on that day, standing in arms for 
his country s defence, is a sharer in the glories of the fight and the 
victory. 

We have been honored to-day by the presence of the Chief Execu 
tive Magistrate of the Commonwealth, of his Council, of the Legis 
lature, of a large number of the high officers of the state. With our 
entire consent that a due share of the distinction of their official 
presence might be given to the celebration at Lexington, they have 
left us to join with our friends in that town in their solemn cere 
monies. But I invite to respond, on behalf of the State of Massa 
chusetts, on this occasion, our senior Senator, Gov. Boutwcll, whom 
I am happy to see at our table. 



ADDRESS OF HON. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL. 

MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN, The events which we com 
memorate to-day I had occasion to consider a quarter of a century ago ; and 
one fact I venture to reproduce, because it is a great fact in our history and 
a great fact in the history of the republic. In June, 1776, when Maryland 
debated whether she would agree to the Declaration of Independence, 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 135 

Acton, in town meeting assembled, first of all organized communities on this 
continent, declared for an American Republic, and said upon the record, 
" This is the only form of government we desire to see established." 

I shall not review the events of the contest which began on the nineteenth 
day of April, 1775. That day is ranked justly with the great days of Ameri 
can history. Its claim to this distinction is admitted. The essential facts 
on which the claim is based belong to that day, and they relate to no other 
day. Therefore its honors cannot be divided, its right cannot be ques 
tioned, its pre-eminence cannot be denied. It stands alone. Like the day 
of the Declaration of Independence, it has no rivals. But this eminence 
of equality in fame with the Fourth of July is not due to the events of the 
day. The drama which opened at Lexington, and was continued to Con 
cord, and there, with characters changed and conditions reversed, was re- 
enacted on the highway from Concord to Boston, could never have rendered 
the day illustrious, nor even have made it memorable for a century in the 
traditions. and annals of a thoughtful people. 

Three municipalities contend for the honor and glory of the day ; and to 
those three municipalities the honor and glory of the day are first and 
specially clue. Whether shared equally or unequally, enough of just fame 
belongs to each to stimulate the ambition of every generation to cherish, 
improve, and defend the institutions of the country, wh ich their ancestors had 
so large a part in founding. But the ultimate justice of mankind counts 
nothing heroic or noble in action, that does not proceed from right princi 
ples and virtuous purposes. Therefore the actors in the events of the i9th 
of April are not to be judged now nor hereafter by what they did, but by the 
opinions they held, and by the character of the ends they sought. Of them 
it can be said that they had no love of military glory. They never sought 
distinction on the field of battle. But their principles and their purposes, 
they made known. The political life of Massachusetts was not a secret. It 
had been declared, it had been laid open indeed, in the convincing state 
ments and unanswerable arguments of its House of Representatives ad 
dressed to the provincial governors, through a controversy of ten years. 
The principles and purposes of the colonists had been more than once set 
forth by the inhabitants of the town of Boston in their public meetings ; and 
especially they had been declared by the people of the county of Middlesex, 
and never better than by the people of the county of Middlesex, by their 
representatives in convention assembled at Concord, in August, 1774. 

First, as Englishmen they claimed the rights and liberties of Englishmen ; 
and then, secondly, they claimed the rights and liberties of Englishmen, not 
only because they were Englishmen, but for the higher and better reason that 
they were men, and therefore could not be deprived justly of those rights 
and liberties by any power whatsoever. 

The world had before seen many contests against oppression and tyranny, 
because oppression and tyranny were disagreeable; but it had never before 



136 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

seen a contest for liberty, because liberty was a common human right. It 
was on the breath of liberty that the shot fired at Concord was heard around 
the world ; and its echoes will never cease to disturb the dreams of tyrants, 
until liberty and equality the child of liberty are the possession of all. 
By this the iQth of April, 1775, was rendered illustrious ; and for this the 
iQth of April, 1775, is memorable in the traditions and annals of a thought 
ful people. 

The President: Thank God, fellow-citizens, that the sun of the 
Hundredth Anniversary of the Nineteenth of April, 1775, through 
our broad land, has neither risen upon a master, nor will it set upon a 
slave ! 

I have to remind you that the people of New England were ready 
for the occurrences of the iQth of April, whenever they should happen, 
for a long time previous. The historical fact may not be known to 
many of you, that there was a false alarm, which came pretty near 
bringing on the conflict at a much pleasanter season of the year, when 
we should not have been so chilly in celebrating it. Governor Gage 
seized a part of the Province stores, which were deposited in the edge 
of Charlestown, up near Winter Hill, on the ist of September, 1774; 
and the fact that he had seized the powder was circulated through the 
Colony, and through the adjoining Colonies. And what happened ? 
Singularly enough, almost as if prophetic, the report accompanied 
this notice, that the soldiers had fired upon the people, and killed six 
of them. " The militia of Worcester County " (I read from the histo 
rian of America), " hearing of the removal of the powder belonging to 
the Province, rose en masse, and began the march to Boston. On 
Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, volunteers from Hampshire 
County advanced eastward as far as Shrewsbury. On the smallest 
computation, twenty thousand men were in motion. The rumor of 
the seizure reached Israel Putnam in Connecticut, with the addition 
that the British troops had fired on the people, and killed six men at 
the first shot. Sending forward the report to Norwich, New London, 
New Haven, New York, and so to Philadelphia, he summoned the 
neighboring militia to take up arms. Thousands started at his call; 
but these, like the volunteers of Massachusetts, were stopped by 
expresses from the patriots of Boston, who sent word that at present 
nothing was to be attempted." 

On this national occasion we are honored by the presence of all the 
Governors of New England, and of one or more of the Governors of 
the other thirteen original states. The Governor of South Carolina 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 137 

has been with us to-day ; and I am sorry he is not present now to 
address you. He has gone to Lexington. But I will invite the hon 
ored Governor of the State of Connecticut, whose citizens were ready, 
under General Putnam, to respond with such alacrity a hundred years 
ago, to let us know that that state shares in the glory of the opening 
of the Revolution. Allow me to present to the audience Governor 
Ingersoll of Connecticut. 



ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR INGERSOLL. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS, I am at a loss fittingly to acknowledge the honor 
which your distinguished President has done my state. It is some comfort, 
however, to know, that, when a Massachusetts man speaks in praise of Con 
necticut, he receives some portion of his reward as he goes along ; for his 
praise of Connecticut reflects upon Massachusetts, whose child she was. 
The three vines which I see yonder, and which, for nearly two centuries and 
a half, have typified our fruitful existence, are only offshoots of that parent 
vine which was planted when the heathen were cast out of Massachusetts 
Bay. You know, Mr. President, how those offshoots came to shoot off. It 
was a long time after the promised land in the valley of the Connecticut 
was discovered before the restless colonists could make up their minds to emi 
grate. The mother colony was very strongly averse to such a secession ; and, 
for many months of prayerful worry, the question hung in the scales, until, 
finally, an event occurred which caused the scale to kick the beam. The 
General Court of Massachusetts resolved that they should not go ; and being 
the children of Massachusetts, why, nothing else was needed to determine 
them to go ; and they went. And then sagacious Massachusetts, when she 
found that they were determined to go, resolved, in her General Court, that 
they might go, provided only that they would remain under the jurisdiction 
of her General Court. The only reply, Mr. President, that was ever made 
to that was the vote, which, from that day to this, has remained as the corner 
stone of the government of Connecticut. " We have established a Com 
monwealth, the supreme power of which, under Almighty God, is in the 
freemen of our General Court." It was the first declaration of independence 
on this continent. It was the beginning of constitutional government in 
modern times. And, Mr. President, that has a significance for this occasion. 
For, when old mother Massachusetts found her troubles gathering thick and 
fast about her one hundred years ago, she found at her right hand this rebel 
offspring, equipped as no other British colony was equipped, with a govern 
ment all its own, automatic ; with every official, from Brother Jonathan down, 
the choice of her own freemen ; with her treasury in her own keeping, her 
militia subject to her own order, and, back of all, a body of freemen instinct 



138 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

with this inherited spirit of independence. In our generation we have seen 
patriotic uprisings ; but we have seen nothing equal to what we hear as hav 
ing occurred at that time in Connecticut, and to which allusion has just been 
.made so touchingly by your President. When the tidings came, albeit by a 
false alarm, that the British general had seized upon Boston Town with his 
military arm, fully one half of the arms-bearing population of Connecticut 
were on the roads leading to Massachusetts Bay. And when the tidings 
finally came in truth, that blood had been spilled in the streets of your village, 
why, every function of the government of Connecticut was set in motion. 
Her Governor set the militia at work. Within eighteen hours from the time 
that Putnam, then a major-general of her militia, heard at Pomfret, one 
hundred miles away, the tidings, he was in the streets of Concord. More 
than that : from the treasury of Connecticut was then organized that expedi 
tion which struck the first aggressive blow against the power of Great Britain, 
and brought down Ticonderoga and Crown Point, " in the name of the Great 
Jehovah and the Continental Congress." 

This day, Mr. President and gentlemen, is therefore historic in the annals 
of Connecticut as it is in the annals of Massachusetts. It commenced with 
us a period from which, for many anxious years, war was the business of 
Connecticut for the accomplishment of that great seminal principle of New 
England political life, the right of self-government. That is the gift which 
America has given to the nineteenth century. It rules the civilized world 
to-day. Wherever you may look, whatever may be the form of government, 
public opinion, whether expressed in the ballot, or by any of the manifold 
agencies of modern civilization, rules to day every government in Christendom. 

Mr. President, it is pardonable, and perhaps expected, that, on an occasion 
of this sort, I should indulge in a little vain glory. I fear that I may have 
abused my privilege. But I thank you for your kind attention. 



Music. 

The President : Fellow-citizens, what has been said by our friend, 
the Governor of Connecticut, reminds me that a part of New England 
was not a state, or even a colony, or a province in 1775, and 
what it was, except the residence of a set of pretty sturdy patriots, 
who meant to manage the place where they lived in their own way, I 
do not know that I can describe, but it is now the State of Ver- 
mdnt. It was then a place that was carried on " in the name of the 
Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." The Governor of 
that State has honored us with his presence ; and, as in the case of 
the Governor of Connecticut, he has brought with him a splendid 
military company, as an escort, to decorate our festivities. I intro 
duce Governor Peck of Vermont. 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 139 



ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR PECK. 

MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN, I will not undertake to add 
any thing to the masterly expositions which have been given to-day of the 
principles involved in the event which we commemorate. I fear, if I should 
attempt to do so, it would be but throwing dust in the face of the sun. But 
in the maintenance of those principles I have simply to say that Vermont, 
I trust, in every emergency, will be true to the motto which she has engraven 
upon her seal, " Freedom and Unity." And a guaranty for that is the tried 
patriotism of her people, and the history of her soldiery from Ticonderoga to 
Appomattox. 

Allow me, Mr. President, simply to express the thanks in my own behalf, 
and in behalf of the people who have accompanied me on this memorial 
occasion, for the courteous reception which we have received at the hands of 
the citizens of Concord and its vicinity. And allow me to say that we shall 
ever cherish, and remember with pleasure, the visit from my beloved Green 
Mountain State, which was the cradle of my infancy, to the good old Com 
monwealth of Massachusetts, the State of my birth. 

Jhe President : The men of New Hampshire were on their way to 
Concord and Lexington before night on the igthof April, 1775. New 
Hampshire has honored us to-day with her official presence, and the 
presence of her citizen-soldiers. I will call on Governor Weston of 
New Hampshire. 

Governor Weston not appearing, the President continued, 

I am afraid the propensity that was so highly developed in the 
people of this region on the igth of April, 1775, to follow down on 
the track of the British to Boston, has taken away a good many of 
our friends from whom we should be glad to hear. 

The Governor of a state from which Massachusetts was set off 
about fifty years ago has come up to take the part of that state in 
the old ancestral glories, and brought us that beautiful company, the 
Portland Mechanic Blues, as bis guard on this occasion. I hope 
that Governor Dingley will allow the audience to hear a few words 
from him. 



ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR DINGLEY. 

MR. PRESIDENT, At this late hour, it is hardly fitting that I should oc 
cupy more time than simply to thank you for the courtesy which has permitted 
my presence as the representative of the State of Maine upon this occasion. 



I4O THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

But, sir, you have been pleased to refer to the state which I have the honor 
to represent, as having, a half-century since, separated from the parent Com 
monwealth of Massachusetts. My friend, the Governor of Connecticut, was 
pleased to say, a few moments since, that Connecticut was the child of Mas 
sachusetts returning to the old homestead. Sir, I have to remind you on 
this occasion, that \\hile Maine is proud to proclaim herself the child of Mas 
sachusetts, yet, sir, she did not leave the old homestead until the parent 
Commortwealth was free from her troubles, and could allow the children to 
leave home in safety. 

It is, indeed, a pleasant thought to me (and I but express the feelings of 
the people of the State of Maine, whom I represent on this occasion), that 
her sons stood by you in the days that tried men s souls ; that the glories of 
Massachusetts were her glories, and your battle-fields were her battle-fields. 
It is indeed grateful to me, and a memory which the people of the State of 
Maine cherish, that old Massachusetts is their mother ; that Concord is hers, 
that Lexington is hers, that Bunker Hill is hers. 

My friends, accept my thanks for the courtesy extended, and permit me to 
hope that the feelings which have here been indulged, the uords which have 
here been expressed, and the patriotic thoughts which have here been uttered, 
may go from one end of this Union to the other, animating the heart of 
every citizen, and binding the people of this nation more closely together in 
love and friendship. 



The President: There is one more New England State, fellow- 
citizens, the little State of Rhode Island. I do not know that our 
friends from that state will like to have that adjective precede the 
name: so I will say the great State of Rhode Island. I regret that 
the Executive of that state has been obliged to leave us too early to 
respond to the honorable notice which we wished to take of their 
Commonwealth on this occasion. I had hoped, in his absence, that I 
might be able to call upon a man, who, I think, is now seeking to 
achieve some celebrity as Major Burnside of the Providence Light 
Infantry. He has been here in command of that body to-day ; proba 
bly a command, which, for this purpose, is as high as anybody s ; but 
I think I have heard the name before on some larger fields, if not of 
more historic celebrity. But with the natural desire to " kill two birds 
with one stone," and with the feeling that Rhode Island a state 
which undertook to commence the Revolution about three years before 
it began, and pretty nearly did it, sending out, one day in 17/2, an 
expedition of whale-boats to seize the " Gaspee " should be heard 
from on this occasion, it was borne in upon me that bur friend whose 
magnificent oration has stirred our souls, and touched our hearts, 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 14! 

to-day, although I introduced him as a man whose youth was spent 
in Concord, and who is now an eminent citizen of New York, is a 
native of Rhode Island. I rather think he has some quality which 
would enable him adequately to represent any state in the Union. I 
introduce the orator of the day, Mr. Curtis. 



ADDRESS OF GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. 

MR. PRESIDENT, AND FELLOW-CITIZENS OF CONCORD, OF MIDDLESEX 
COUNTY, OF MASSACHUSETTS, OF THE UNION, I see, what you may not, the 
deep malevolence of the President of the Day. For as he knows that in the 
unequal contest of my voice with a hundred bands of music and a cracking 
platform, that voice got irretrievably the worst of it, in revenge for holding so 
many of my fellow-citizens for more than an hour in the cold, the President 
of the Day, with malicious intent, is resolved to make an end of that voice 
altogether. But, sir, when the name of Rhode Island is mentioned, every son 
of Rhode Island falls into line. Little in size, but great in soul ! Like the 
minute-men of one hundred years ago, who marched to the North Bridge 
under three leaders, so Rhode Island always marches under her three his 
torical men, Roger Williams, Dr. Channing, and Gen. Greene, the friend 
of Washington. Little in size, but great in soul ! for the founder of Rhode 
Island was the first man among the founders of States who ever asserted 
absolute religious liberty as the truest foundation of human society. 

Fellow-citizens, as I stand here in Middlesex County on a day devoted to 
Revolutionary remembrances, it is my pleasure to remember that when the 
first regiment from Massachusetts marched to the late war, when it was pass 
ing through the city of New York, a friend of mine joined a soldier on the 
march, and said to him, " Well, my friend, what part of the old Common 
wealth do you come from ?" And that soldier, whose ear for music, I take 
it, was not very good, anxious to answer the question while he still kept time 
to the drum-beat, answered my friend as he marched on, " From Bunker 
Hill, from Bunker Hill, from Bunker Hill." And so, fellow-citizens, I think 
we may take this lesson from this day, and the spot on which we stand, that 
every American citizen, whatever the summons may be, when it is a sum. 
mons to march for liberty, may reply, when asked from what part of this 
Union he takes his departure, not from Maine, from Florida, from Massa 
chusetts, from Rhode Island, from Virginia, from Illinois, from Nevada, from 
Oregon : let him say only, " From Concord Bridge, from Concord Bridge, 
from Concord Bridge," and then the whole world will know that he, too, is 
marching to victory. 

77/6 President: I hope it will be always as true as it was- one hun 
dred years a^o, if a man should be asked, when he is marching to fight 



142 



THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 



or die in the service of his country, from what part of Massachusetts 
he came, that he might answer, " From the whole of it ; " and it would 
not be a very hard thing to say of Rhode Island. 

We have here, to which I must call attention, a good many Revolu 
tionary relics. You have had already shown to you what is left of 
the sword broken off, a foot of it, and the point sharpened that 
Isaac Davis carried at the North Bridge. There is before me a 
sworci taken by Nathaniel Bemis of Watertown from a British officer 
whom he himself shot ; and the gun is here with which he shot him. 
The sword bears the legend, and the gun has on the breech, " David 
Bemis, I/75-" But, gentlemen, I hold in my hand one sacred relic, 
whose historic glory is unsurpassed. Little local jealousies may exist 
among neighboring towns as to the particular share that this or that 
spot had in this great American day. The title of Concord North 
Bridge rests upon one unquestioned fact : that there first, by a duly 
commissioned officer in command of soldiers, an order to the soldiers 
of the people to fire upon the soldiers of the King was given, and was 
obeyed. Major John Buttrick of Concord, whose gun I hold in my 
hand, gave the order to fire, and fired this gun, his own gun that he 
held in his hand, in execution of his own order; and it was the first 
gun fired in obedience to military authority in the war of the Revo 
lution. Fifty years ago, when Lafayette visited the United States, 
this gun was shown to him, and this story told him. He grasped and 
held it up over his head, and said it was " the alarum gun of liberty 
throughout the world." 

I have already said to yo u that I considered the independence of 
America as assured by what took place between the North Bridge 
and Charlestown Neck one hundred years ago. It made conciliation 
impossible, and independence certain. Lord Chatham had already 
prophesied in the British parliament, in January, 1775, that the first 
drop of blood shed in civil and unnatural war might be a wound that 
never could be cured. He put into that speech a recommendation to 
the ministry, which, read in the light of this day, sounds curiously 
enough, although not in the meaning which he gave to it. He intro 
duced into the British parliament a resolution calling on the King to 
withdraw his troops from Boston. It did not pass : it received but a 
few votes in the House of Lords. In the course of that speech, 
he said that he advised the ministry " to make the first advances to 
Concord." And Gen. Gage made them. You know how they turned 
out. 

Now, my friends, although this, as we all know, is the great centen- 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 143 

nial, some allusion was made by the orator, in an oratorical spirit, 
undoubtedly, to the Fourth of July. He knows that comes this year 
and next, and we think very well of the Fourth of July. It is a nat 
ural deduction from the iQth of April; and whoever gets the spirit of 
the i Qth of April may be trusted anywhere on the Fourth of July. 
My friend General Hawley, late Governor Hawley of Connecticut, 
entitled to memory as General Hawley of the late war, Chairman of 
the National Centennial Commission, is here ; and I am sure, if any 
body can say any thing in favor of the Fourth of July, he can say it, 
and I should like to hear from him on that subject. 



ADDRESS OF GENERAL HAWLEY. 

MR. CHAIRMAN AND FELLOW-CITIZENS, I am very much obliged to Mr. 
Boutwell and the Chairman for the few kind words they have said for the 
Fourth of July. I began to fear it hadn t any friends, even in old Massachu 
setts. The temptation to every speaker is, of course, to dwell somewhat upon 
the day, and the events that belong to it. I must pass that by for the duty 
more especially devolving upon myself. 

I was just looking at a newspaper account of the circumstances that fol 
lowed, in my own State, this iQth of April, as the courier, Isaac Bissell, gal 
loped down through the State of Connecticut, getting a fresh horse in every 
town, and receiving upon his paper the receipt of some of the leading citi 
zens. The alarm spread through the State ; and forty-seven towns started 
out ninety-three companies, containing thirty-six .hundred men, for Boston. 
In many cases, citizens started out alone. I know the story of old James 
McLane, young James McLane then, of Glastenbury. He was one of the 
minute-men our orators have so grandly described. I suppose he was not a 
great scholar or learned man. Perhaps he ought to have stopped to think 
about this : he ought to have reflected, that, in some mysterious way, culture 
would redeem this world without fighting, and remained at home, and smoked 
his pipe. But James was a plain man. His gun was out of order : his new 
shoes were not ready. James went over to his shoemaker, and told him they 
must be done before night. He walked five miles to a gunsmith s, and had 
his musket put in order ; and the next morning, with his new shoes and 
repaired musket, and a proper allowance of powder and ball, James started 
for Boston, and came home at the end of the war as Captain James McLane. 
He was one of the minute-men, one of the thirty-six hundred that Connecti 
cut started as soon as she got the word. And, wherever Massachusetts was 
found in the struggle, Connecticut was by her side. 

But I must not dwell upon the reminiscences that come into my mind in 
connection with these events. I am very glad of the opportunity to say a 



144 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

word to you concerning the great International Exposition and National 
Celebration next year. It was inevitable that there should be such a 
celebration. You could not have kept Concord and Lexington from celebrat 
ing this day. But, while we all claim a certain share in it, the nation has 
adopted the Fourth of July as the national holiday, the great day in which 
all these glories are garnered into one, the prophesied day of John Adams, 
of bonfires and illuminations and bell-ringing. 

You could not have carried this people by it without some sort of national 
celebration It became quite appropriate and natural that there should be 
on that day, to apply, perhaps, a phrase below the dignity of the affair, some 
thing like taking an account of stock of our possessions and our great pro 
gress, a comparison of the America of 1876 witn the America of 1776. You 
know we should have got not only this interesting collection of relics, but 
thousands of others like them, representing the progress of the whole art of 
war up to that time, the great guns and the small guns, and the ships and 
implements of war; and quite naturally we should have placed by their side 
the implements which would be used in a war to-day, the improved guns, 
the modern appliances, the models of our ships j and we should have had a 
great exhibition. Here is a part of it now. When you begin to talk of a 
national celebration, you will fill a building with things of this kind. 

But there is a new battle to be fought, a new time coming. The work 
of the next century is not to be the work of the last. The world is to be 
better one hundred years hence than it is now. The time was one hundred 
years ago when you must pour out blood to save the right. We will learn in 
the next one hundred years to save the blood and the right also, that the 
world may live in peace. The arts of peace are to be glorified. Massachu 
setts does not look backward forever, but only to take inspiration for the 
future. We shall gather in this great exhibition all that shows our prowess 
in a hundred battle-fields. The soldier is not king always. I take off my 
hat when I go into the great machine-shops, in the presence of my master, 
the mechanic of the nineteenth century. Now we want in this exhibition 
samples of the skill of the workmen in the textile fabrics, in iron and steel, 
the work of the painter and sculptor, specimens of our soils and minerals : 
we want collected there every thing that will show the wonderful resources 
of this continent, and to ask all our people to come together during those 
six months, and shake hands, and thank God for what he has done for us, 
and take courage for the future. 

I might dwell upon the material benefits of this exposition ; but, as I have 
thought of it, its moral benefits rise still greater to my sight. You cannot 
meet here without some necessity for shaking hands over some of the old 
dissensions. I find -Lexington a little jealous of Concord, and Concord of 
Lexington, and Acton of both ; and you have these little controversies and 
disputes. When the great War of Independence was over, your towns were 
full of Tories; and you had to b-j reconciled to them. We in this country have 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 145 

been through a struggle, of which we cannot speak without great pride, to be 
sure, and gratitude to Almighty God ; but so terrible was it, that no man 
approached the thought of it but with the most serious reflections. We want, 
in this great celebration and exhibition of 1876, all our Southern friends 
there, that we may shake hands with the men of the South. Reconciliations 
are not always made by orations and by platforms, by letters and addresses. 
When you have quarrelled with your brother, it is often just as well to say 
nothing, but let the eye and the hand settle it, and let the past be buried. 
Our friends of the South will not contribute greatly to the material display 
of that exhibition ; but we of the North must do it largely, mostly. But let 
from Massachusetts, from New England, from all the North, go out such a 
voice of welcome and entreaty to them to come, that they must be there. 

The influence of the exhibition is not confined to this land alone. Having 
a national exhibition, and having been invited to all the national ones on 
the Eastern Continent, we could not hold one without inviting foreigners ; and 
they are coming from the great civilized nations, and from many we have 
treated as half-civilized and barbarous. They are all coming.; some with 
a display that will astonish you in your pride as American mechanics and 
artists. You may lose something of your vanity ; but you can be instructed 
and benefited. They will be there as our fellow-men, as our friends. Our 
British friends will be there with a great display. In the first place, they 
cannot afford to stay away from this, their great market. In the second place, 
their good-will is with us to-day. There is not a statesman in that land who 
does not think it is just as well that we left them at the time we did, and is 
not proud of us, as an English-speaking nation, with rights and liberties born 
of English soil. They are our friends and neighbors. 

The theme enlarges as you dwell upon it. Massachusetts has had the 
glory of leading off in the great series of centennial celebrations. I beg of 
Massachusetts men to take into consideration the great national celebration 
of 1876. We have in process of construction over fifty acres of buildings 
on the finest site ever selected for such a purpose. Our contracts are made 
for the earliest construction with the heaviest penalties. There never was so 
fine an arrangement made for bringing goods and people together as under 
those roofs. The exhibition, I tell you seriously, will be the finest the world 
has ever seen. It may be one hundred per cent better than we think it will 
be, if you say it is to be, and the world will come and see. Your national 
honor is committed to it ; and let America see that the exhibition is not one 
that she can in any respect be ashamed of. 



The President : On the 22cl of August, 1775, the overseers of Har 
vard College met, and, having read the report of a committee pre 
viously appointed, unanimously voted, " That it is of great importance 
that the education of the youth in this Colony in piety and good 



146 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

literature should be carried on with as little interruption as may be ; 
that the education of the scholars of Harvard College cannot be 
carried on at Cambridge while the war in which we have been forced 
to engage for the defence of our liberties shall continue ; and, there 
fore, that it is necessary that some other place should be speedily 
appointed for that purpose." The committee, reported as their 
opinion, that Concord was a town suitable for the purpose; and one 
of the results of the igth of April was the removal of Harvard 
College from Cambridge to Concord, where it staid about a year. 
The chill of the weather, I am afraid, has deprived me of the oppor 
tunity of calling upon President Eliot of Harvard College to reply 
to the following sentiment : 

Harvard College: Its founding was said to have hastened the American Revolution fifty 
years. 

Now, fellow-citizens, there are but two things more to which I wish 
to ask your attention before parting. I cannot go over these relics 
lying on the table before me, in detail. We have a pair of scissors 
with which all the cartridges were cut that were used here on the 
1 9th of April, 1775 ; and the son of the young lady who used them 
at that time has sent them on. He mended them himself sixty-three 
years ago, and had them from his mother with their curious story- 
Here is, also, an old silver tankard of the date of 1700, that was buried 
in a barrel of soft soap when the British came to Concord in 1775, by 
way of preservation. Here are, also, powder-horns, swords, and guns, 
which were borne on that day. In the procession to-day, carried by 
the town of Bedford, has been a flag which was carried on the iQth of 
April, 1775. 

As a close to the particular memories of the occasion, I wish to 
give you as a sentiment : 

Lexington and Concord, and the memory of Col. James Barrett, Major John Buttrick, 
and Lieut. Col. John Robinson. 

" In pride, in all the pride of woe, 
We tell of them, the brave laid low, 

Who for their birthplace bled : 

In pride, the pride of triumph then, 

We tell of them, the matchless men 

From whom the invaders fled." 

We have received from men eminent in public station, and honored 
throughout the country, many letters in reply to invitations to be 



EXERCISES IN THE DINNER TENT. 147 

present, which it would have given me pleasure to read to the assem 
bled company. But the chill in the air has been too much for us ; and 
I will not detain you by reading more than one. That one is of such 
a representative character in connection with the memories of this 
occasion, that I desire to lay it before you now. It begins with an 
excuse by the writer, for having failed to receive his invitation sea 
sonably enough to make arrangements to attend. 

"WASHINGTON, April 16, 1875. 

Please consider me as sincerely grateful for the honor implied in the 
invitation extended me, and accept my best wishes for the success of the 
proposed celebration. The opening of the Revolutionary War was the 
opening of this continent to a higher and purer liberty than the world had 
known before, a liberty in presence of which no privileged classes of 
wealth or religion, race or color, can long endure. 

Fully appreciating the kindness and significance of the invitation ex 
tended me, I am, 

With great respect, yours truly, 

FREDERICK DOUGLASS." 

If there is any one of our friends who desires to add a word, or has 
any particular suggestion or memory, I invite him now to address 
you : otherwise he will have to await his next opportunity at the next 
centennial, at which I am very sure I shall not preside. 

A Citizen: May I be allowed to repeat a sentiment which was 
given fifty years ago to-day by a citizen of this town ? It was this : 

" The Tree of Liberty: May it take deep root, and grow until its branches shall cover the 
whole earth." 

The exercises then closed, and the company dispersed. 



From the many letters received from distinguished men, accepting 
the invitation to attend the celebration, or regretting their inability 
to be present, the following are selected for publication : 

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 3, 1875. 

GENTLEMEN, It is with much regret, that, in behalf of my brethren and 
myself, I write to say, that it will be out of our power to accept the invi- 



THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

tation of the inhabitants of the town of Concord to unite with them in 
celebrating the centennial anniversary of the opening of the Revolutionary 
War. 

I beg you to be assured, that nothing less than the demands of the very 
important business, which requires the attention of the court before its 
adjournment on the third of next month, could have induced us to forego the 
pleasure of participating in the commemoration of that great historical event 
on the spot where it came to pass. 

Very gratefully yours, 

M. R.WAITE. 
MESSRS. E. R. HOAR, R. W. EMERSON, G. HEYWOOD, Committee. 



HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES, 
ST. Lpuis, Mo., Dec. 7, 1874. 

GENTLEMEN, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your beau 
tiful card of invitation to be present as the guest of the town of Concord, 
Mass., on the iQth of April, 1875, to assist in celebrating the centennial 
anniversary of the opening event of the Revolutionary War. 

Although a slip which accompanies the card does not contemplate an 
answer earlier than April i, 1875, I cannot risk the delay, lest it then be 
overlooked, and prefer now to thank you truly for including my name among 
the honored guests. I can hardly promise myself the pleasure to share in 
the festivities of the occasion ; but I assure you, that, if I happen to be east 
of the Alleghany Mountains next spring, I will endeavor to time my visit so 
as to see the place where the people first had the hardihood to defend with 
arms their property against a detachment of the British army. 1 

With great respect, most truly your friend, 

W. T. SHERMAN, General. 
MESSRS. E. R. HOAR, R. W. EMERSON, GEO. HEYWOOD, Committee. 



AMESBURY, MASS., i2th 4th mo., 1875. 

GENTLEMEN, Your invitation to the celebration of the centennial anni 
versary of the opening of the Revolutionary War, in Concord, has been 
received. 

It will not be in my power to accept your invitation. Lifelong habit and 
the state of my health, alike deter me from joining the great multitude which 
the occasion will call together. As a son of Massachusetts, and as a friend 
of human freedom, I am not insensible to the associations of the place and 
the time. I recognize and rejoice in the results of the great struggle com 
menced in two small villages of my native state one hundred years ago. 

1 Pursuant to the promise contained in this letter Gen. Sherman visited Concord on June 18, 1875, and 
was received by the Committee of Arrangements, and escorted to the battle-ground by a large body of citizens. 



LETTERS. 149 

But I am sure you will unite with me in the hope, that, long before the next 
centennial of the event which has made your town famous the world over, all 
disputes of governments and peoples will be referred to peaceful arbitrament, 
and nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor the people learn war 
any more. I am very truly your friend, 

JOHN G. WHITTIER. 

To E. R. HOAR, R. W. EMERSON, G. HEYWOOD, Committee. 

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE ATLANTIC, 
NEW YORK, i3th April, 1875. 

GENTLEMEN, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your polite 
.invitation to myself and staff to be the guests of the inhabitants of Concord 
on the iQth inst, and to join with them in celebrating the centennial 
anniversary of the opening of the Revolutionary War. 

The occasion is one of deep interest to every American. Nothing was 
permitted by the minute-men of Concord to interfere with their performance 
of great deeds. To take part in commemorating the services of these 
pioneers of our liberties is an honor and a pleasure that I only forego with 
sincere regret. 

But a recent domestic affliction will not permit my acceptance of your 
kind invitation ; nor will it be practicable for the members of my staff to 
be present. 

With the highest appreciation of the compliment paid to myself and staff, 
I have the honor to be,* gentlemen, 

Your very obedient servant, 

WINFIELD S. HANCOCK, Major- General, U. S. A. 

To MESSRS. E. R. HOAR, R.. W. EMERSON, GEO. HEYWOOD, 

Committee of Invitations, &c., Concord, Mass. 

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, GOVERNOR S OFFICE, 
RICHMOND, April 15, 1875. 

SIR, Official engagements will prevent me from uniting with you on ihe 
1 9th inst., in celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the opening of 
the Revolutionary War. 

As the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the republic approaches, 
it is my devout hope and it is, undoubtedly, the ardent aspiration of the 
Southern people that the patriotism of our great ancestors shall be re 
awakened, that sectional animosities shall disappear forever, that the last 
of the Federal statutes which prejudice or impair the full co-equality of the 
states shall be swept from existence, and that the original purity and 
simplicity of the government shall- return with real peace, prosperity, and 
fraternity to every section. I have the honor to be, 

Very respectfully yours, 

JAMES L. KEMPER. 

SAMUEL HOAR, Esq., Sec. Com. of Arrangements, Concord, Mass. 



I5O THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 20, 1875. 

GENTLEMEN, I gratefully acknowledge your invitation to be present as 
the guest of the inhabitants of Concord on the igth of April next, on the 
occasion of celebrating the centennial anniversary of the opening of the 
Revolutionary War. I am sincerely sorry that engagements indispensable 
will prevent me from having the pleasure of being present on that great 
interesting occasion. 

I think that no American whose heart beats time to that noblest music 
of resistance to tyranny, and of liberty under law, can fail to feel proud 
emotions as he looks back over one hundred years to that great day, and 
measures the ever renewed and beneficent harvest of progress for our 
country and our race, that has ripened from the blood of martyrs shed on 
that day. Civil liberty, tolerance of religious opinion, the separation of 
Church and State, order, equal rights under the reign of republican law, 
have, as it seems to me, all been touched, and warmed into stronger life, by 
the fires kindled on that single field. Well, then, may the inhabitants of 
your ancient town celebrate with pride and circumstance the century of 
results flowing from the conflict of the first battle-field of the republic. But 
not they alone : the nation itself, from the Atlantic to the shores of the 
tranquil ocean, should take up your rejoicings, and hold high festival every 
where, as a memorial of the men who laid the firm foundations of our great 
republic. 

From my heart I say, All hail ! Very sincerely yours, 

GEO. F. EDMUNDS. 

THE HONS. E. R. HOAR, R. W. EMERSON, GEORGE HEYWOOD, 

Committee of Invitation &<:., Concord, Mass. 



HARTFORD, CONN., March 31, 1875. 

GENTLEMEN, Your favor, covering an invitation to attend the centennial 
anniversary of the opening of the Revolutionary War, is at hand. 

I beg you to accept my thanks, and regret that my engagements absolutely 
forbid my acceptance. 

I have no doubt but a meeting such as Concord will have, upon an occa 
sion so interesting, may be productive of good all over the Union, tending 
to bring back the era of good feeling and brotherly confidence and affec 
tion, which characterized our ancestors when Massachusetts and Virginia, 
South Carolina and Connecticut, stood shoulder to shoulder in defence of 
the principles of civil liberty. 

May your celebration inaugurate anew the old affection ! 

Very sincerely, &c., 

WM. W. EATQN. 

MESSRS. E. R. HOAR, and Others. 



LETTERS. 151 

INDIANAPOLIS, IND., April 16, 1875. 

GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE OF INVITATION, Your invitation to 
attend the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the battle of Concord 
came to me at a time when I hoped to be able to attend ; but I find that I 
cannot do so. It would be most gratifying to meet with the descendants of 
the patriots who first openly, in arms, resisted oppression, upon the very spot 
illustrated by their heroism, to commemorate their deeds by joining in the 
inauguration of a monument. 

Looking backward to the few hardy and daring men who set the example 
to the people of the colonies, of resistance by force to oppression, we can, 
better than their contemporaries, appreciate the importance of their efforts. 
Some one must needs begin the struggle which was to end in revolution and 
desolating war ; some one must strike the first blow ; some one must sound 
the note that was to waken the American people to arms ; and it was set 
apart by Providence that the people of Concord should do these illustrious 
deeds. 

They were well done. The great procession of events that is still moving 
on dates back to that day and those men, as the beginning of our separate 
existence as a nation. Hoping, that, for ages and ages, a free and united 
people may yet meet to celebrate the deeds of the men of Concord, 

I remain yours truly, 

JOHN COBURN. 



WOONSOCKET, R.I., April 9, 1875. 

GENTLEMEN, Please accept my thanks for the cordial invitation to join 
the inhabitants of Concord in celebrating the centennial anniversary of the 
opening of the Revolutionary War on the i9th inst., an event which has 
inspired so many hearts to heroic efforts for liberty the world over. 

I hope to make my arrangements so as to be present, and join the citizens 
of Concord on the hallowed occasion. 

Witb high esteem, gratefully yours, 

L. W. BALLOU. 

To MESSRS. E. R. HOAR, R. W. EMERSON, GEO. HEYWOOD, Committee. 



GLOUCESTER, MASS., April 10, 1875. 

DEAR SIRS, I have received, through you, an invitation from the inhab 
itants of the town of Concord to join with them on the nineteenth day of 
April, 1875, in celebrating the centennial anniversary of the opening of the 
Revolutionary War, and assure you I highly appreciate your kindness, and 
shall be with you on that occasion, if within my power to do so. The im 
portance of the event you are to celebrate cannot be too highly estimated, 
nor the actors in it hold too high a place in our affections. The principles 



152 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

they fought to establish and vindicate were then, are now, and will remain, 
the true basis of all free governments, equality of all men before the 
laws, the greatest personal liberty compatible with individual security, and 
local self-government. This is the foundation upon which they built the 
state. May we be as ready to maintain, at every hazard, the government 
upon that foundation, as they were to establish it. I am, with great respect 
for your inhabitants and their committee, 

Truly their obedient servant, 

CHARLES P. THOMPSON. 

HONS. E. R. HOAR, R. W. EMERSON, GEO. HEYWOOD, 

Committee, Concord, Mass. 

CAMBRIDGE, MASS., April 9, 1875. 

MY DEAR SIR, I confess to great remissness of duty, as well as a lack 
of due courtesy, in delaying to answer the kind invitation of the committee to 
be present at the celebration in Concord on the approaching igth of April. 

I have been waiting to see if I could not make it consistent with duties 
and engagements elsewhere to accept the honor so kindly tendered me. 
But I cannot see my way clear to do so ; and, to relieve the suspense, I 
am obliged reluctantly to decline, which, in view of the splendid promise of 
a celebration of unparalleled interest upon a spot of such historic fame, I 
cannot do, without repeating with how much regret I do it. 

Very truly and respectfully, your obedient servant, 

EMORY WASHBURN. 

SAMUEL HOAR, ESQ., Secretary, &c. 

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 9, 1875. 

MY DEAR SIRS, I regret I cannot be present at the centennial anni 
versary of the battle of Lexington and Concord. The occasion has every 
element of a national festival. 

The encounter was not accidental, but the result of the principles and 
character of the people, transmitted from generation to generation. It was 
as much the flowering-out of a succession of ages as the Iliad of Homer, or 
the Cologne Cathedral. It might have happened in other villages in New 
England ; but it could have happened only in a New-England country town. 

It is said, that, when the Romans invaded Germany, an aged matron met 
them with the command, " Go back ! " The word of command given on the 
hillock in Concord marks the moment when the measures of persecution 
and tyranny, devised under the Tudors and the Stuarts, began to recede ; 
and the cause, which had been lost in the mother-country by Hampden and 
Cromwell, entered upon that career of success which was to help the mother- 
country itself to better institutions, and teach the true art of colonization to 
the world. 

Yours most truly, 

GEORGE BANCROFT. 

HON. E. ROCKWOOD HOAR, and Other Members of the Committee of Invitations. 



LETTERS. 153 

BOSTON, April 12, 1871;. 

GENTLEMEN, For the cordial invitation to me, in behalf of the citizens 
of Concord, "to be present as their guest on the igth of this month, and to 
join with them in celebrating the centennial anniversary of the opening of 
the Revolutionary War," I return my sincere thanks to them and to your 
selves. Circumstances, however, will prevent my attendance. 

The event to be commemorated, though only a local skirmish, bore such a 
relation to the seven-years struggle for American independence as will for 
ever invest it with historical interest and importance. Probably it was not 
given to any of those who participated in it to foresee what would be the 
consequences, beyond the peril of the hour, and the liability to seal with 
their blood their resistance to tyrannical dominion ; but, with them, sufficient 
unto the day was failure or success, obscurity or renown. They were not 
battling for fame, but for freedom ; and whether their patriotic uprising 
should afterward be deemed to possess only a local significance, or whether 
it should prove (as it did) what the early dawn is to the coming day, they 
knew not and cared not. One purpose, at least, animated their breasts : 
it was to be enrolled among 

" Men who their duties know, 
But know thair rights, and, knowing, dare maintain, 

Prevent the long-aimed blow, 
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain." 

There are, indeed, various methods of assailing oppression, and main 
taining the cause of liberty. As an advocate of peace, in a very radical 
sense, it would not be consistent for me to glory in the shedding of human 
blood, however desirable the end in view ; yet in every conflict (however 
sanguinary) between the oppressors and the oppressed, force against force, 
all my sympathies, hopes, and best wishes have been, and will continue to 
be, with the down-trodden side. Men cannot exceed their highest convic 
tions of duty j and if, in reducing them to practice, though there may be 
a higher plane of action not yet attained, and nobler instrumentalities to be 
used, there is shown a readiness to confront death itself in the service of 
freedom, they will be sure to have their self-sacrificing spirit crowned with 
respect and honor by mankind. 

It is an easy matter to celebrate the deeds of such, and to be proud of 
them as ancestors. To make the occasion worthy of us, there should be 
drawn from it an admonitory lesson to chasten our exultation, lessons of 
justice not yet enforced, of equal rights still denied, of national unity not 
yet attained. The Declaration of Independence still remains to be carried 
out in its fundamental principles and " self-evident truths." True, the 
atrocious system of chattel slavery has been abolished, and its victims 
nominally admitted to citizenship ; but they still need to have their rights 
protected, and to be put in possession of all those privileges and immunities 



154 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

which are accorded even to aliens and foreigners on our soil. Moreover, in 
persistently denying to one half of our population (solely on the ground of 
sex) all political power, all representation in legislative and municipal assem 
blies, all voice in the enactment and administration of the laws, and classify 
ing them in an opprobrious manner, we are trampling under foot our 
own heaven-attested declaration, that " governments derive their just powers 
from the consent of the governed," and, in imitation of the mother-country 
under George the Third, imposing taxation, but denying the right of repre 
sentation. This great injustice must be removed. 

Very respectfully yours, 

WM. LLOYD GARRISON. 

MESSRS. E. R. HOAR, R. W. EMERSON, GEO. HEYWOOD, 

Committee of Invitation. 

NEW YORK, April 3, 1875. 

GENTLEMEN, I regret extremely that inexorable engagements will pre 
vent me from accepting the invitation of the inhabitants of the town of Con 
cord " to join with them in celebrating the centennial anniversary of the 
opening of the Revolutionary War." 

My personal associations from early childhood, with this ancient town, 
and my familiar acquaintance ever since, with some of its distinguished 
inhabitants, would increase the interest of the approaching celebration to 
me, as they do my regret at not being able to take part in it. 

With profound thanks to the town for the honor it has done me by the 
invitation, I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant, 

WM. M. EVARTS. 
To THE COMMITTEE. 

FARMINGTON AVENUE, HARTFORD, March 6. 

GENTLEMEN, I offer my thanks to the citizens of Concord for their 
courteous invitation, and shall be glad indeed to be present on the igth of 
April, and assist in laying the last stone of the basement story ot American 
history. Very truly yours, 

SAML L. CLEMENS. 

To HON. E. R. HOAR, R. W. EMERSON, ESQ., GEO. HEYWOOD, ESQ., 

Committee, &c. 

PHILADELPHIA, April 3, 1875. 

GENTLEMEN, Your note conveying the invitation of the inhabitants of 
the town of Concord, Massachusetts, to be present with them as their guest 
on the iQth of April next, and to join with them in celebrating the centen 
nial anniversary of the memorable and momentous event of which their 
town was the scene on the 19111 of April, 1775, has been received, and, 
appreciating the high compliment thus rendered, I thank you, and those 
whom you represent, and gratefully accept the invitation. 



LETTERS. 155 

Regarding the day to be commemorated as a decisive epoch in the history 
of liberty in the American world, its celebration can hardly fail to be pro 
ductive of the best results in recalling to us of the present generation the 
sound principles of the great men of that day, their firm adherence to prin 
ciple, even to the sacrifice of property and life, and the virtue and wisdom of 
the people who chose as their leaders, and sent to their assemblies and con 
gresses, the ablest and best men of their several communities. What hap 
pened at Lexington and Concord, and all along the road from Concord back 
to Charlestown in the month of April a hundred years ago, was not an act 
of aggression against the British crown, but an act of defence of the con 
stitutional rights symbolized by that crown, and of rights which were there 
after embodied in the written laws of the United States. Concord and Lex 
ington were the best logical results of the long resistance of Boston and 
Massachusetts to " general warrants," to taxes laid without the consent of 
the colonists, to the invasion of the rights of property and the sanctity of the 
domicile, and to the many other usurpations of a parliament in which the 
colonies had no representation, accompanied as these infringements of natural 
and constitutional rights were accompanied by an obstinate purpose on the 
part of the advisers of the British crown, to establish them as law in the colonies 
by armed force. Thus were matters of vital principle upheld by the men of 
that day and this is one of the lessons to be revived by the coming celebra 
tion. Another is, that the American people of 1775 and 1776, arid for a 
generation following, had the virtue to choose for their representatives the 
men who best understood those principles, who would most conscientiously 
adhere to them, and to whom they could most safely intrust their highest 
interests. The review of the past, which the centennial celebration of Con 
cord and Lexington will bring to us all, may also bring with it renewed and 
strengthened fidelity to the principles and virtues of our fathers. This, too, 
let us hope, will be among the best fruits of the centennial commemoration 
of that greatest political event in the history of mankind, which followed 
on the Fourth of July in the year succeeding Lexington and Concord, to 
the promotion and acceleration of which event the illustrious men of those 
neighborhoods devoted their fortunes and their lives, conspicuous amongst 
whom were, as I believe, your own immediate ancestors, as well as Warren 
and Revere and Dawes and the Adamses and Hancock. 

Again thanking you for the privilege of accepting the invitation of the 
inhabitants of the town of Concord to unite with them in celebrating the 
centennial of so memorable an event, 

I am very truly your obedient servant, 

GEO. W. CHILDS. 

HON. E. R. HOAR, R. W. EMERSON, ESQ., GEO. HEYWOOD, ESQ., 

Committee. 



156 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL 

CHICOPEE, MASS., April 12, 1875. 

GENTLEMEN, I am in receipt of the kind invitation extended to me by 
the citizens of Concord, Mass., to be present as their guest, and to join 
with them in celebrating the centennial anniversary on the iQth inst, for 
which I desire to extend my sincere thanks. 

I had hoped that my business engagements would admit of my accepting 
the invitation, but find it is not practicable. 

I congratulate your committee in having secured in the " Minute Man," 
so fine a work of art in commemoration of the first who fell in the Revolu 
tionary War. It is unquestionably the finest single statue ever erected in 
our Commonwealth. Yours very truly, 

A. C. WOODWORTH, 
Agent Ames Manufacturing Co. 
HON. E. R. HOAR, R. W. EMERSON, GEO. HEYWOOD. 

FLORENCE, ITALY, March 6, 1875. 

GENTLEMEN, Although my studies in Florence will render it impossible 
for me to be present at the celebration of the igth of April, I would thank 
you most sincerely for the compliment you have shown me through your 
invitation. 

To the town which I am proud to call my home, I must ever feel most 
deeply indebted ; and I would express my grateful sense of the honor con 
ferred on so inexperienced a man, by the confidence implied in the commis 
sion for a statue which is to commemorate so important an event. 

If, by persevering in my profession, I am ever enabled to accomplish any 
thing worthy of my citizenship, I shall owe my gratitude to my friends at 
home for the encouragement they have so early and generously extended to 
me. 

Thanking you again for your courteous remembrance of me, 

I am, gentlemen, most respectfully and obediently, 

DANIEL C. FRENCH. 

HON. E. R. HOAR, R. W. EMERSON, GEO. HEYWOOD, 

Committee of Invitation* 



THE BALL. 



THE BALL. 



MANY of our guests remained to join in the festivities of the 
evening. Those who were present will appreciate our feeling, that 
no mere words can adequately portray the decorations, the dresses, 
the music, the enthusiasm, that made the grand ball so marked a 
success ; but the account of Concord s great centennial celebration 
would be deemed to be incomplete, if it did not contain at least an 
attempt to preserve some of the bright colors of that happy occasion. 

The following gentlemen composed the Ball Committee : 

Andrew J. Harlow, Henry J. Walcott, H. H. Buttrick, Richard F. 
Barrett, Sidney J. Barrett, James D. Wright, Samuel W. Brown, 
Samuel Hoar, Charles D. Tuttle, Joseph D. Brown, George P. How, 
James B. Wood. 

Andrew J. Harlow was chosen manager, with 

Henry J. Walcott, Henry J. Hosmer, George P. How, James C. 
Melvin, Joseph D. Brown, Richard F. Barrett, Samuel Hoar, and 
William Wheeler, as assistants, and 

George M. Brooks, Richard Barrett, George Heywood, Reuben N. 
Rice, John S. Keyes, William W. Wilde, and George Keyes, to act as 
reception committee. 

The Middlesex Agricultural Society generously permitted the com 
mittee to use their hall, situated on the Fair Grounds, on the bank of 
the Sudbury River, west of the Fitchburg Railroad Station. This 
building has an upper and lower hall, and several ante-rooms, which 
were heated for the occasion by a furnace, and lighted by gas. 

The lower hall, used by the society for its annual exhibition of fruits 
and flowers, was decorated with great skill by Messrs. Lamprell and 
Marble of Boston. The entrance was through an arch, on the face 
of which was inscribed, " 1775, April iQth, 1875 ;" and on each side 
were festoons of bunting, and flags of all nations, interspersed with 
shields. The hall, which is not finished or plastered, was thereby 
better fitted for the art of the decorator, who had so transformed it, 
that it was fairly ablaze with color. The ceiling was completely hidden 



I6O THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

by large flags, mostly those of the republics of the world, appropriately 
contrasted. The walls were curtained with festoons and drapery of 
flags of all nations, with naval signals and bunting. At intervals 
were placed trophies of sabre-blades, arranged in the form of stars, 
on a blue ground ; also shields, representing the various seasons, 
and glories of American flags on staves tipped with gold. The floor 
was carpeted with white drilling, the effect of which more than coun 
teracted the light-absorbing quality of the bunting. 

The pillars through the centre of the hall were wreathed and 
draped with trophies of flags, and festoons and rosettes of bunting. 
Long streamers were stretched from pillar to pillar, and ribbons of red, 
white and blue bunting were looped and festooned along the cornices. 
Muskets, cutlasses, swords, pistols, and bayonets, were grouped on the 
pillars, or hung against the walls, in the forms of stars, shields, and 
sunbursts, and by their brilliancy relieved the almost monotonous 
beauty of the flags. 

At each end of the hall was placed a platform for the musicians ; 
and perhaps the most noticeable feature of the decorations was at the 
westerly end, the head of the hall, behind the grand orchestra. This 
was a device representing a globe resting on the shield of the United 
States, surmounted by an eagle holding in his beak a wreath of laurel 
and olive, and flanked on each side by American flags, and sun-bursts 
of muskets on a blue ground spangled with stars. A fragrant bank of 
hothouse-plants in full flower, massed together, concealed the platform 
from the floor to its edge. 

From eight until after ten o clock, select music was furnished for 
the promenade concert by the United States Marine Band of Wash 
ington, dressed in their showy uniforms of scarlet, assisted by the 
Grand Orchestra, under the direction of D. W. Reeves of Providence. 

Dancing began at half-past ten o clock, and continued until sunrise. 

Prompted by the spirit of the occasion, many of the ladies wore the 
costumes of the last century. Family chests were ransacked, and the 
long-disused dresses of great-grandmothers were brought out. Rich 
brocades, long trains, puffed petticoats, torturing high-heeled slippers, 
powdered hair drawn up over cushions, high ruffs, with now and then 
a black patch, to add, by contrast, to the effect of a beautiful com 
plexion, were conspicuous among the dancers, and presented a mass 
of rich, soft color, in strong and agreeable contrast to the prevailing 
hues of the decorations. The gentlemen, for the most part, wore the 
solemn black of the modern evening costume, but there were not 
wanting uniforms of the army and navy to add to the variety and 
brilliancy of the picture. 



THE BALL. l6l 

Altogether, the scene was one long to be remembered with pride 
and satisfaction, a fitting termination of so glorious a celebration. 
From half-past eleven until one o clock, supper was served in the 
upper hall by William Tufts of Boston, in his most approved manner. 
This, the dining-hall of the society, was also decorated with bunting, 
and lighted with gas, and easily accommodated at its tables the large 
number of guests. 

The charms of the music, and the fascination of dancing, triumphed 
over the fatigues attending so vast a celebration, and prolonged the 
ball, until, as the last dancers went homeward, they saw the sun 
rising. 

So ended the celebration, twenty-four hours after the booming of 
cannon had announced its beginning. 



THE LITERATURE 



OF 



THE NINETEENTH QF APRIL 



And underneath is written, 

In letters all of gold, 
How valiantly they kept the bridge 

In the brave days of old. 

Lays of Ancient Rome. 




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THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL IN LITERATURE. 

[PREPARED BY JAMES L. WHITNEY .] 



This Month remar[kable] for y e . g*est Events taking Pla[ce] in y c pr[escnt] Age. 

Entry in the Diary of the Reverend William Emerson, April, 1775* 

1775- 

. THE materials for a full and exact history of the events of this time can 
be found neither in contemporary public documents nor in the popular 
accounts of the day. 

The official records of the Second Provincial Congress, which met at 
Cambridge, Concord, and Watertown, from February i to May 29, have, in 
great part, been lost. This is owing, it is thought, to the confusion arising 
from the changes of the place of meeting, and from the suddenness of the 
march of the British force to Concord. Documents of importance may 
have been purposely destroyed, lest they should fall into the hands of the 
enemy. We are not, however, without much of an authentic character. This 
can be found in a work prepared by William Lincoln, and published by the 
State of Massachusetts in 1838. The Journals of the First, Second, and 
Third Provincial Congress, are here reprinted, together with the Journals 
of the Committee of Safety and of the Committee of Supplies. The last 
include the record of several meetings at Concord in April, with the ad 
dresses to the people of Massachusetts and other colonies. 

This publication contains also the following : 

The list of the Provincials killed, wounded, and missing on the Nine 
teenth of April. 

The Circumstantial Account sent by General Gage to Governor Trumbull 
of Connecticut. 

The Report of the Committee on the damages done on the line of march 
of the king s troops, and copies of letters written after the attack. 

The student of the history of this time will find Force s " American 
Archives " an important source of information, the statements of which 
should, however, be confirmed by other authorities. This is a documentary 

1 Acknowledgment is due to Mr. Justin Winsor for the use made of his article on Centennial 
Reading in the Bulletin of the Boston Public Library. 



l66 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

history of the colonies to 1787, and contains, besides various documents 
already mentioned, the following : 

The Instructions of General Gage to Captain Brown and Ensign De 
Berniere 1 [De Berniere, ?] February 22, 1775, ordering sketches to be made 
of the country between Boston and Worcester, with the Narrative of De 
Berniere: also, various political pamphlets which appeared in America and 
Great Britain at this time ; the proceedings of Parliament, and of various 
legislative bodies in America ; extracts from public and private letters ; an 
account of the events which followed the Nineteenth of April ; the proceed 
ings of the conventions of the people in the counties of Massachusetts ; and 
narratives of the excursion and ravages of the king s troops, with the depo 
sitions taken by order of the Provincial Congress ; also, the following : 

" An account of the commencement of Hostilities between Great Britain 
and America, in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay. By the Reverend 
Mr. William Gordon of Roxbury, in a Letter to a Gentleman in England, 
dated May 17, 1775 ;" with other papers. 

Almon s " Remembrancer " was established about this time at London, with 
a view of gathering together important political papers, American and British. 
To this collection all writers upon the American Revolution have been 
largely indebted. Almon was hostile to the ministerial party, and his collec 
tion, therefore, includes mostly letters, speeches, and publications that favor 
the interests of the colonists. 

Accounts of the events of the Nineteenth of April appeared first in news 
papers and broadsides. According to Thomas s " History of Printing," in 
April, 1775, there were five newspapers published in Boston. Of these, two 
were removed, "The Massachusetts Spy" to Worcester, just before the 
nineteenth, and " The Boston Gazette " to Watertown. Two others sus 
pended publication. There were, besides these, only two newspapers in 
Massachusetts, and nine in New England. In New York there were four 
(or, as it is now believed, only three), and in the British colonies, now com 
prised in the United States, thirty-seven. 

" The Massachusetts Spy " published the report of the events of the day in 
its first issue at Worcester, May 3. The accounts in the " Essex Gazette," and 
in "The Salem Gazette, or Newbury and Marblehead Advertiser," appeared 
in the numbers for April 21, 25, and May 5. These last, with a list of the 
killed and wounded, and a funeral elegy, were published at Salem, 1775, i n a 
handbill, entitled " Bloody Butchery, by the British Troops ; or the Runaway 
Fight of the Regulars. Being the Particulars of the Victorious Battle fought 
at and near Concord, situated Twenty Miles from Boston, in the Province of the 
Massachusetts-Bay, between Two Thousand Regular Troops, belonging to His 
Britannic Majesty, and a few Hundred Provincial Troops, belonging to the 

1 Called, probably incorrectly, by some authorities, Berniere. Henry De Berniere made a plan of 
the battle of Bunker Hill, which was engraved and published in " The Analectic Magazine," February, 
1 818, and which is said to be the first plan that appeared in an American engraving. It is there 
represented to be from a sketch found in the captured baggage of a British officer in 1775. 



THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL IN LITERATURE. l6/ 

Province of Massachusetts-Bay, which lasted from sunrise until sunset, on 
the igth of April, 1775, when it was decided greatly in favor of the latter." 
Above the title were forty coffins, on which were the names of the Americans 
who were then reported to be killed. 

The Narrative of the Reverend William Emerson, who was a spectator of 
the action at the North Bridge, is in the form of a diary, written upon blank 
leaves inserted in an almanac, and is dated April 19, 1775. This was first 
printed in R. W. Emerson s " Historical Discourse," 1835, at the second 
centennial anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Concord. This 
pamphlet was republished in 1875. A heliotype of the original manuscript 
(now in the possession of R. W. Emerson, a grandson of the author) is 
given at the beginning of this article. 1 

During the week after the battle, the depositions of citizens of Concord 
and Lexington were taken by order of the Provincial Congress, and a nar 
rative was prepared by a committee. These were printed in American and 
English newspapers, and were sent to the Continental Congress, to every 
town in the province, and to Great Britain. They were published subse 
quently by Isaiah Thomas, by order of the Provincial Congress, in a pam 
phlet, with the title " Narrative of the Excursion and Ravages of the King s 
Troops under the Command of Gen. Gage, on the Nineteenth of April, 
1775, Together with the Depositions taken by order of Congress to sup 
port the Truth of it." These important documents have been frequently 
reprinted. Most of the original manuscripts are in the Library of Harvard 
College, where also can be found manuscript letters of Joseph Warren, Cam 
bridge, April 27 and May 16, and John Dickinson, April 29, 1775, all touch 
ing upon the events of the Nineteenth of April. 

The letters and journals, which were written at this time, add much to our 
knowledge of events. They are too numerous to be mentioned in detail. 
The following have been published by the Massachusetts Historical Society : 

A Letter from Colonel Paul Revere to the Corresponding Secretary of the 
Society. This is dated January i, 1798, and gives an account of his memora 
ble ride. 2 

A Journal kept during the Time y* Boston was shut up in 1775-6. By 
Timothy Newell, Esqr., one of the Select Men of the Town. This begins 
April ig. s 

Letters of John Andrews, Esq., of Boston, 1772-1776. Compiled and 
edited from the original MSS. by Winthrop Sargent. 4 

Letters of David Greene and Joseph Greene, Boston, May 6 and TO, 1775. 6 

Letter of Doctor Isaac Foster (?), April 18, 21, 1775. 

1 Mr. Emerson states in his Historical Discourse that the context and the testimony of some of the 
surviving veterans incline him to think that the word not was accidentally omitted [before the last 
word (yt) in the tenth line from the top of the third column of this manuscript]. 

2 Collections, Series I., vol. 5. 4 Proceedings, July, 1865. 

8 Collections, Series IV., vol i. 5 Proceedings, June, 1873. 

6 Proceedings, April, 1870. 



l68 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Papers in regard to the carrying of the news of the battle to England. 1 
Also other documents already mentioned. 

The manuscript Diary of the Reverend Ezra Stiles of Newport, afterwards 
president of Yale College, contains particulars of the events of this and of 
the subsequent time. It gives a relation of Major Pitcairn s version 
of the beginning of the firing. This Diary is in the Library of Yale College. 
Letters can be found, also, in Niles s " Principles and Acts of the Revolu 
tion," in " The Detail and Conduct of the American War," published 
before 1780, in Dawson s "Historical Magazine," and in the general col 
lections mentioned at the beginning of this article. 

" The Journal of the Continental Congress," and " The Parliamentary 
Register," contain the proceedings of these bodies at this time. " The Par 
liamentary History of England," and the "Journals of the House of Lords" 
and the "Journals of the House of Commons," should also be consulted. 

English accounts of the battle, and of its effects upon the nation, with dis 
cussions of its political bearings, can be found in the English papers of the 
time, and in "The Annual Register" for 1775. In this work, the articles 
upon the American Revolution were written principally, if not wholly, by 
Edmund Burke. 

Lord Mahon (Earl Stanhope) appends to the account of the battle, in 
his " History of England," the official report of Lieutenant-Colonel Smith to 
General Gage, also a letter from Edward Gibbon the historian, dated May 

3 T > J 775- 

John Home, who was afterwards called Home Tooke, and became cele 
brated as the author of " The Diversions of Purley," was brought to trial in 
1777, before the King s Bench. He was charged with libelling the king 
in publishing the statement that the Americans were inhumanly murdered 
by the king s troops at Lexington and Concord. He was condemned to 
imprisonment for twelve months, and to pay a fine of two hundred pounds. 
The case is reported at length, and is interesting as showing the state of 
feeling in England. 2 

Accounts of the Nineteenth of April were published, in 1776, in Lowe s 
and in George s Almanacs ; also in Stearns s North American Almanac. 
The first two were written by the Reverend William Gordon of Roxbury, who 
made use of the material in his " History of the Rise, Progress, and Establish 
ment of the Independence of the United States of America. London, 1788." 

A pamphlet was published at Boston, in 1779, containing General Gage s 
Instructions, and De Berniere s Report, with an Account of the Transactions 
of the British Troops, and a List of their killed, wounded, and missing. 

At Lexington, on the first anniversary, the Reverend Jonas Clark delivered 
a sermon, which was published in 1776, and reprinted in 1875. The day was 

1 Proceedings, April, 1858. 
2 Rex vs. Home. Cowper, 672. Howell s State Trials, xx. 651-802. 



THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL IN LITERATURE. 169 

celebrated in this town for eight successive years, 1776-1783, and the anni 
versary sermons were printed. They can be found in the Library of the Mas 
sachusetts Historical Society. 

The " Brief Narrative of the Principal Transactions of that Day," which 
was appended to Clark s sermon, was republished in 1875, in folio, with helio- 
types of four engravings, which were published at New Haven in 1775. Of 
the pictorial representations which appeared at this time, these are especially 
worthy of mention. They are described as " neatly engraven on copper from 
original paintings taken on the spot." The artists, Earl, a portrait-painter, 
and Amos Doolittle, an engraver, were soldiers in the New Haven com 
pany that set out for Cambridge, April 20. One of the plates gives a view 
of Concord, with the ministerial troops destroying the stores ; another (given 
in reduced size in this volume), the battle at the North Bridge. There are 
views also of the attack at Lexington and of the retreat of the British troops. 
The original plates were twelve by eighteen inches in size. 

There is a view of Concord in 1776, in "The Massachusetts Magazine," 
July, 1794. 

John Boyle s " Eulogium on Major-General Joseph Warren, by a Colum 
bian," Boston, 1781, contains a poetical description of the battle. Samuel 
Langdon, President of Harvard College, in a sermon preached before the 
Provincial Congress at Watertown, May 31, 1775, alludes to the events of 
the preceding month. This sermon was published in 1775, anc ^ republished 
in J. Wingate Thornton s " Pulpit of the American Revolution." 

1800. 

The preceding works include most of the contemporary publications 
which have come down to us. From 1800 until 1825, but little appeared, 
except in general histories and in biographies. Among these are Mrs. 
Mercy Warren s " History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the 
American Revolution" (1805), James Thacher s " Military Journal during 
the American Revolutionary War" (1823), and the "Memoirs of Major- 
General Heath" (1798), who, late in the day, acted as commander of the 
Provincials. 

1825. 

In 1825, the semi-centennial anniversary was celebrated at Concord, 
Edward Everett delivering the oration, which was published the same year. 
Accounts of the proceedings are given in " The Concord Gazette and Mid 
dlesex Yeoman," and in other newspapers. The same year, Elias Phinney s 
" History of the Battle at Lexington" was published, followed, in 1827, by the 
Reverend Doctor Ezra Ripley s " History of the Fight at Concord . . . show 
ing that then and there the first regular and forcible Resistance was made to 
the British Soldiery, and the first British Blood was shed by armed Ameri 
cans, and the Revolutionary War thus commenced." The title indicates the 



I/O THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

points in controversy between these authors and the two towns. These were, 
whether the British fire was first returned at Lexington, or at Concord. 
Ripley s book was republished in 1832, and Phinney s in 1875. It was 
claimed that neither account gave due credit to Captain Davis and his men ; 
and, in 1835 and 1850, Josiah Adams, in an address and in a letter, detailed 
the honorable part Acton had taken in the events of the day. In a pam 
phlet of six pages, published about 1835, Rufus Hosmer of Stow reviews 
the first three of the above. The three works by Phinney, Ripley, and 
Adams, contain depositions made at the time of their preparation by sur 
vivors of the fight. Happily the echo of this controversy had quite died 
away before the coming of the centennial year. 

In 1835, Shattuck s "History of Concord" was published, containing a 
detailed account of the history of the town in 1775, an< ^ during the Revolu 
tion. This work, which has become quite rare, is regarded as an accurate, 
and important contribution to the early history of New England. 

Lexington celebrated the sixtieth anniversary in 1835. Edward Everett 
delivered the oration, which was published in a pamphlet containing an 
account of the proceedings. It was republished in 1875. This oration, and 
that at Concord ten years before, can be found in the first volume of Everett s 
" Orations and Speeches." 

The same year, Danvers laid the corner-stone of a monument in memory 
of the seven citizens of the town who were killed on the Nineteenth of 
April. Daniel P. King delivered an address, which was published. 

1850. 

On the seventy-fifth anniversary, there was a union celebration at Concord, 
by the towns of Concord, Lexington, Acton, Lincoln, Sudbury, Bedford, and 
Carlisle. The oration, by Robert Rantoul, junior, was published the same 
year, with an Appendix containing an account of the proceedings on the 
occasion. The Concord Free Public Library has preserved in a scrap-book, 
prepared by William W. Wheildon, newspaper cuttings giving the order of 
exercises, the oration, the after-dinner speeches by Everett, Choate, Palfrey, 
and others ; also, in manuscript, the minutes of the meetings of the com 
mittee, as well as the letters received from the invited guests. 

The parts taken by Acton, West Cambridge, Cambridge, and Lexington, 
have also been commemorated by public celebrations, in 1851, 1864, 1870, 
and 1871. The addresses, by George S. Boutwell, Samuel A. Smith, 
the Reverend Alexander McKenzie, and George B. Loring, have been 
published. John Pierpont was the author of the poem at the first-mentioned 
celebration. It is not contained in any edition of his works. 

In 1851 there was published, in a pamphlet of forty-six pages, by request 
of the town of Acton, the Speech delivered in the House of Representatives 
of Massachusetts, February 3, 1851, by James Trask Woodbury, upon the 



THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL IN LITERATURE. I /I 

question of granting two thousand dollars to aid the town in building a 
monument over the remains of Captain Isaac Davis, Abner Hosmer, and 
James Hayward. 

In 1852, Josiah Adams published, in a pamphlet of eight pages, a " Let 
ter to the people of Acton, relative to the evidence which procured the grant 
for the Davis monument" 

One of the chapters in Edward Everett s " Mount Vernon Papers," pub 
lished in 1860, is entitled "The Nineteenth of April, 1775." 

" Concord Fight," a poem by S. R. Bartlett, and " The Fight at Lexing 
ton," an illustrated ballad by Thomas D. English, appeared in 1860, the 
latter in " Harper s New Monthly Magazine." Charles Hudson s " History 
of Lexington" was published in 1868. More than one hundred pages of 
this work are devoted to the events of the Nineteenth of April. 

1875. 

In regard to the Centennial Celebration, but little need be added to the 
record given in the preceding pages. An address was delivered M;irch 30, 
before the people of Concord, by the Reverend Grindall Reynolds. This 
appeared later in "The Unitarian Review and Religious Magazine," and as 
an independent pamphlet. An illustrated article by Frederic Hudson, entitled 
" The Concord Fight," was published in " Harper s New Monthly Magazine," 
in May. The Ode at the Concord Centennial, by James Russell Lowell, was 
first published in "The Atlantic Monthly," June, 1875. 

"Potter s American Monthly," April, 1875, contains an account of Jona 
than Harrington, the last survivor of the fight. 

Th^ proceedings at Lexington were published by order of the town. The 
oration, by Richard H. Dana, junior, has been separately printed. 

The Reverend Henry Westcott delivered, April n, 18, and 25, three 
sermons in the First Congregational Church at Lexington. They were 
published as * Lexington Centennial Sermons " the same year. 

" The New-England Historical and Genealogical Register," October, 1875, 
contains the orations and accounts of the proceedings at Concord and 
Lexington. 

The Reports for 1875 - 1876 of the town officers of Concord and 
Lexington give further particulars in regard to the two celebrations. 

At the time of the Centennial Celebration, statements hitherto unpub 
lished related the part taken in the fight by Jonas Brown 1 and Amos Barrett, 2 
both of Concord. The former, although wounded at the North Bridge, joined 
in the pursuit of the enemy through the day. He enlisted afterwards to 
serve through the war, and became a lieutenant. 

The enterprise of the present day is strikingly contrasted with the past in 
the publicity given by the press to this celebration; the Semi-Centennial 
having received only the notice of a paragraph in most of the Boston papers. 

1 Lowell Courier. 2 Cincinnati Times. 



1/2 THE CONCORD CENTENNIAL. 

Of the innumerable publications issued at this time, pamphlets, maga 
zines, newspapers, circulars, photographs, and engravings, much has been 
collected by the Public Libraries of Concord and Boston, where, also, are to 
be preserved the original manuscripts of the orations, poems, and corre 
spondence. 

GENERAL WORKS. 

The authorities thus far mentioned are confined mainly to the Nineteenth 
of April, and to the events immediately preceding and following. Other 
more comprehensive works, show the connection of the events of this day 
with the history of the times. Of these, Frothingham s "History of the 
Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill," 
is first to be mentioned for its thoroughness. 

The Histories of the United States, by Hildreth and by Bancroft, " The 
History of Massachusetts," by Barry, and Dawson s " Battles of the United 
States by Sea and Land," contain chapters upon this period. Edward E. 
Hale s " One Hundred Years Ago " is a fresh presentation of the subject. 
Other authorities do not need mention here. 

Of early English authorities, Adolphus and Belsham are best known. 
The former defends the British ministry ; the latter, the Americans. " The 
History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War," by 
C. Stedman (1794), details military operations. The author criticises the 
movements of Howe, Clinton, and Cornwallis, under whom he served. 
Andrews s History (1785) should also be consulted, and Aikin s "Annals of 
the Reign of King George the Third" (1816). Among later authorities are 
Hughes s " History of England" (1835), Smyth s chapters on the American 
Revolution in his "Lectures on Modern History" (1839), Stanhope (already 
mentioned), and Massey s " History of England during the Reign of George 
the Third "(1858). 

The Oxford Prize Essay, 1869, by John Andrew Doyle, on "The 
American Colonies previous to the Declaration of Independence " deserves 
especial mention in this place. It is admirable in its spirit, and masterly in 
its treatment. 

The part taken in the fight at Concord and Lexington by the British 
regiments is mentioned in the historical records of those regiments, which 
have been published by the War Department. 

The lives of the leaders in the opening scenes of the Revolution present 
vivid pictures of the times. Such are the biographies of Franklin and 
Washington, of the Adamses and Hancock, of Warren, Putnam, Gerry, and 
Timothy Pickering. 

The last mentioned has been blamed for not appearing upon the scene 
of action with the Essex regiment, on the Nineteenth of April. He is 
defended by Swett, in a pamphlet entitled, " Defence of Pickering against 
Bancroft," and also in " The Life of Timothy Pickering," by his son, Octavius 
Pickering. 



THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL IN LITERATURE. 

The various biographies of* George the Third are important sources of 
information for the student of this period, as well as the speeches and 
correspondence of Burke, Lord Chatham, Fox, and Lord North. 

The views of the best French and German authorities can be found in 
the following : 

Chas and Lebrun. " Histoire politique et philosophique de la Revolution 
de 1 Amerique septentrionale. Paris, 1800." 

E. R. L. Laboulaye. " Histoire politique des Etats-Unis . . . 1620-1789. 
Paris, 1855-1866." 

M. C. Sprengel. " Geschichte der Revolution in Amerika. Speier, 

1785." 

K. F. Neumann. "Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika. 
Berlin, 1863-1866." 

Of the poetry and fiction called forth by the events of the Nineteenth of 
April, the most important are Longfellow s " Paul Revere s Ride," Haw 
thorne s " Septimius Felton," and the familiar Hymn by Ralph Waldo 
Emerson. To these should be added the poems by John G. Whittier, and 
Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

The verses on the " Story of the Battle at Concord," etc., by " Eb. Stiles," 
written March 15, 1795, of which the manuscript is in the Library of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society, deserve mention only on account of their 
age and patriotic fervor. 

In Cooper s " Lionel Lincoln," a tale of the American Revolution, two 
chapters describe the advance of the British to Concord, and their retreat. 
This story has been dramatized by Stephen E. Glover, in " The Cradle of 
Liberty, or Boston in 1775." 

Hawthorne makes the adventures of the " Grandfather s Chair," which 
passed from one distinguished man to another for nearly two centuries, tell 
the story of the Nineteenth of April as a part of its account of the early 
history of this country. 

As this volume goes to press, a centennial drama, by Doctor J. S. Jones, 
is being represented at the Boston Museum. It is entitled " Paul Revere 
and the Sons of Liberty," and its scenes include the battles at Concord, 
Lexington, Bunker Hill, and the siege and evacuation of Boston. 



APPENDIX. 



(A.) 

LEXINGTON, Nov. 12, 1873. 

GENTLEMEN, The cherished desire of the citizens of Lexington to celebrate the one 
hundredth anniversary of the I9th of April, 1775, assumed a tangible form at our annual 
meeting on the 4th inst., when the undersigned were chosen a committee, "to take such 
preliminary steps as they may deem expedient, towards preparing for a centennial celebra 
tion of the iQth of April, 1775." We communicate this to you to solicit your good services 
in awakening a popular interest among the people of your town ; so that, before any specific 
arrangements are made, you may be enabled to participate with us in commemoration of 
an event in which we have a common interest, and which has made Concord and Lexington 
household words, not only in this country, but in Europe. Being thus connected, we trust 
you will unite with us as cordially as we united with you in celebrating the seventy-fifth 
anniversary. 

We hope to have a celebration worthy of the day, when we shall be able to unveil the 
statues of the proscribed patriots Hancock and Adams ; so that the statesman and the soldier 
may stand forth together in our Memorial Hall as equally worthy of our veneration and 
gratitude. 

In due time you may expect a more direct and full invitation to join us in commemorat 
ing the valor and disinterested patriotism displayed by our fathers over the whole field, 
from Concord North Bridge to Charlestown Neck. 

We are, gentlemen, very respectfully, 

Your humble servants, 

CHARLES HUDSON, \ 

M. H. MERRIAM, > Committee. 

R. W. REED, ) 

To THE HON. BOARD OF SELECTMEN OF CONCORD, MASS. 



1/6 APPENDIX. 

(B.) 

CONCORD, Jan. 12, 1874. 

GENTLEMEN, Your communication of the I2th November last, extending an invitation 
to the town of Concord to unite with you in celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of 
the i pth of April, 1775, was duly received, and we owe you an apology for not replying 
earlier ; but we have delayed doing so, thinking we might have a town meeting, at which we 
could bring the matter before the town. The subject of a celebration on that day has been 
talked of among some of our prominent men for several months. The town of Concord, 
as you are aware, celebrated the fiftieth and the seventy-fifth anniversary of the day, and had 
proposed to have a good centennial celebration, at which time we propose to dedicate a 
statue of a continental minute-man, to be erected at the battle-ground. A committee was 
chosen at the annual meeting in March, 1873, to procure a model of a statue, which was 
accepted at the November meeting, and the work is now in course of construction. In view 
of the action of the town before receiving your communication, and knowing the desire of 
our citizens to celebrate the day in a proper manner, we feel that it would be exceeding our 
authority to speak definitely in relation to your invitation, without laying the subject before 
the town, which we will do at our annual meeting in March, with the view of having a com 
mittee appointed to confer with you in relation to a joint observance of the day, in which 
we certainly have a common interest. 

Very respectfully yours, 

HENRY F. SMITH, \ 

WILLIAM W. WILDE, ? Selectmen of Concord. 

JOHN B. MOORE, 

HON. CHARLES HUDSON, M. H. MERRIAM, R. W. REED, 

Committee, Lexington. 



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