1775.]

THE NEWS CARRIED SOUTHWARD.

393

yes

Lockwood's

"WALLINGFORD [Conn.], Monday 24th, 1775. "DEAR SIR: Colonel Wadsworth was over in this place most of terday, and has ordered twenty men out of each Company in his Regiment, some of which had already set off, and others letter. go this morning. He brings accounts, which came to him authenticated, from Thursday in the afternoon. The King's troops being reënforced a second time, and joined, as I suppose, from what I can learn, by the party who were intercepted by Colonel Gardner, were then encamped on Winter Hill, and were surrounded by twenty thousand of our men who were intrenching. Colonel Gardner's ambush proved fatal to Lord Percy, and another General Officer, who were killed on the spot the first fire. To counterbalance this good news, the story is, that our first man in command (who he is I know not) is also killed. It seems they have lost many men on both sides; Colonel Wadsworth had the account in a letter from Hartford. The Country beyond here are all gone, and we expect it will be impossible to procure horses for our wagons, as they have and will, in every place, employ themselves all their horses. In this place they send a horse for every sixth man, and are pressing them for that purpose. I know of no way, but you must immediately send a couple of stout, able horses, who may overtake us at Hartford possibly, where we must return Mrs. Noyes's, and Meloy's if he holds out so far. Remember the horses must be had at any rate.

"I am in the greatest haste, your entire friend and humble servant, "JAMES LOCKWOOD.

"N. B. Colonel Gardner took nine prisoners, and twelve clubbed their firelocks and came over to our party. Colonel Gardner's party consisted of seven hundred men, and the Regulars one thousand eight hundred, instead of one thousand two hundred, as we heard before. They have sent a vessel up Mystick River, as far as Temple's farm, which is about half a mile from Winter Hill. These accounts being true, all the King's forces, except four or five hundred, must be encamped on Winter Hill.” 1

This curious mixture of the account of personal need for horses and of the outbreak of a civil war, is hardly intelligible when compared with the facts. History has not known better than James Lockwood who was "the first man in command" on the American side. The rumor of his death probably rose from the death of Captain Davis, of Acton, in the attack on Concord Bridge. The account of Percy's being intercepted at Winter Hill is an instance where the wish was father to the thought. For a generation after, Colonel Pickering was 1 Preserved at Charleston, S. C. Published in Marshall's Remembrancer.

blamed unjustly, because he did not effect this consummation with the Essex regiment.1

The siege of
Boston.

With the twentieth of April, therefore, the "Siege of Boston" began. The patriots had studied, through the whole winter, a plan for withdrawing all the inhabitants from Boston, which Gage, naturally enough, had resented. But, with the shock of battle, the departure of the inhabitants came of course; and, eventually, when Gage found he was really besieged on the land side, he did not oppose it.

General Ar

As the minute-men arrived, they were posted in that part of Charlestown (now Somerville) which is outside Charlestown Neck, in Cambridge, and in Roxbury. Works were thrown up on Charles River and on the salt marshes, to prevent any movement of English troops by boats. The only egress from the city by land was over Boston Neck, by which Percy had marched out. This passage was commanded completely by a strong fort on the highland above temas Ward. the Roxbury Meeting-house.2 General Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury, was the senior officer in command of the Massachusetts troops, and a deference was yielded to him by Spencer, of Connecticut, Greene, of Rhode Island, and Folsom, of New Hampshire. These were the senior officers of the contingents from those colonies. But his orders to them take the form of requests. And his own commission as General and Commander-in-chief of the Massachusetts troops was not given him till the 20th of May. The works which have been alluded to were planned, and well planned, by Henry Knox, a young Boston bookseller, who had interested himself in military studies, and by Gridley, who had served in the French War. During all this period, there was a wretched deficiency of powder in the stores of this suddenly enlisted army. The Provincial Congress, in fear of a bold attack by Gage, which very probably would have resulted in their defeat, made provision for securing their records and stores, such as they were, in case of the necessity of a retreat.

The exodus from Boston.

As early as the 26th of April, a letter from Dr. Warren to Gage proposed that the people of Boston be allowed to leave the town. Gage agreed, but said their arms must be given up; and on the 27th a great number of arms were deposited at Faneuil Hall. The military habit of the time appears in the fact that there was almost one weapon for every grown man. At first, Gage

1 "And vanquished Percy, to complete the tale,

Had hammered stone for life in Concord jail." - LOWELL.

2 Now a little ornamental square, in which is the stand-pipe of the Boston Water Works. The "Meeting-house" was that made famous by the ministry for half a century of Eliot, "the Apostle to the Indians." See vol. i., p. 539.

3 Not the 20th, as printed by mistake in Force's Archives.

1775.]

THE NEWS SENT TO ENGLAND.

395

allowed the inhabitants to depart on the condition that only thirty wagons should leave the town daily. But so large a number left that the Tories in Boston, remembering the patriot plans of the last winter, took alarm, and compelled Gage to rescind his permission. On the day of the expedition to Concord, almost two hundred Tories were enrolled under General Ruggles, of Hardwick, said to be the best soldier in the colonies. Fearing that, unless the inhabitants should remain in the town, it would be burned by the American army, they told Gage that they would leave the town themselves if the emigration were not stopped, and he was obliged to yield.

The Provincial Congress, immediately after the events of Lexington and Concord, prepared an account of the battles, con- News of the firmed by depositions from the principal actors. These they sent to Engentrusted to Captain John Derby, of Salem, with the order

outbreak

land.

to sail to some convenient port of Ireland and thence to hasten to London, and deliver his pa

pers to the agent. With these orders Captain Derby started, and outsailed every other vessel on the way. Captain Brown, in the Sukey, with Gage's despatches, had sailed before him; but Captain Derby reached London eleven days before any other news arrived. This early announcement of the outbreak, which naturally enough took the view most favorable to the patriots, produced an immediate effect in England, such as the government depre

General Gage.

cated. The impression, of course, gained ground every day that they had news which they dared not publish.

Movements

around Boston.

On the 8th of May, so distinct a rumor was circulated at Cambridge that Gage intended to march out, that the minutemen of the towns near Boston were called into service. in and Gage had another opportunity to see how large was the reserve force at the service of his enemy. On the 13th, Israel Putnam-who, when the news of the fight at Lexington and Concord. reached him, left his plough in the field at Pomfret, Conn., mounted 1 The same who had presided at the first Continental Congress, ten years before.