Years ago, I did a fairly extensive research of members of the family who served during the American Revolution. It was an interesting project yielding a nine-hundred page document.
Today is April 19th, the day 250 years ago when there was a shot heard around the world beginning the battle of
Lexington and Concord. The first step in the direction of an Age of Enlightenment republican constitution which is today the oldest continuous codified government in the world.
Seventeen members (minimum) responded to the Lexington Alarm made famous by
Paul Revere’s ride. They came from the next village over from Lexington and they came from as far away Connecticut. Some were old and had experienced battle in the
French and Indian War. Some were young in their twenties. Some fought through the rest of the war, some served that one day, April 19th, 1775.
We have multiple family lines rooted in the Great Migration of 1630-1640 when some 20,000 Puritans emigrated from England to the New World. Most of these settled in the Massachusetts Colony and Connecticut. Many of them in the towns and villages near Concord and Lexington. When the shot that was heard around the world was fired, many of our family were there, having dropped what they were doing and marched with or led their town militias to defend their neighbors. And, given how large the families were, and given that they had been there five and six generations, neighbors were to a greater or lesser degree family.
On this day, April 19, 2025, it occurred to me that as we get farther away in time, we tend to shade things into the conceptual and abstract. There was nothing conceptual or abstract at the time though. A call for help and men leaving their large families to go and help their kith and kin the next town or county over. Hard marches, sudden danger, a running battle from late morning to sunset. Death and injury and the discovery that this was the first battle of an eight year war leading to the Declaration of Independence and eventually the Constitution.
I am listing all those direct family members who I have been able to document responded to the Lexington Alarm, 250 years ago. I am generally omitting cousins. I am omitting all those many others who served later in the war. Today is for those who answered that first call, the Lexington Alarm.
History is never just history; it is always family and stories. And it is worth remembering the ordinary men (and their wives and families) who took action that astonishing day. It is worth remembering that most these men had large families they left behind.
Some who were there on April 19th, 1775 served throughout the next four years of the Northern Campaign. Some only served that one, pivotal, day.
When you get into the details (Revolutionary War Ancestors V16), it is astonishing how many served in so many capacities, as young as eleven and as old as their seventies. There are many wonderful stories which I am omitting because they were not at the Lexington Alarm or because they were not direct or immediate family (uncles).
The main lines here are the Longley, Pinney, Porter, Whitcomb, and Whitman families.
We had two Great Grandfathers (5th and 6th) at Lexington and Concord.
We had thirteen Great Grand-Uncles (6th or 7th) at Lexington and Concord.
We had (a minimum) of two 1st cousins (8 times removed) at Lexington and Concord.
17 close family members. Probably another 60 cousins and second cousins.
There were 77 American Militia at Lexington and 400 at Concord. By the time the chase ran its course all the way back to Boston, a total of some nearly 4,000 militia had poured in from towns as far away as Connecticut
I have provided a few external sources to give some of the color and detail of that day.
Names in bold are direct family members.
Bold, indented and underlined are uncles and cousins.
LONGLEY FAMILY
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Longley (5th Great-Grandfather, 1734-1802). Minute Men. 23rd Massachusetts Continental Line (Whitcomb’s Regiment).
He enlisted at the very beginning, age 41 and responded to the Lexington Alarm. He was a Captain in Colonel Asa Whitcomb’s regiment. He served at Lexington, Bunker Hill and during the Siege of Boston, through December 1776.
Robert Longley had five brothers, mostly older, all of whom served in various capacities during the Revolution. Three of them were at Lexington along with Robert.
William Longley (6th Great-Uncle, 1708-1788), Patriotic Support. He was 67 years old at the commencement of the war with the Lexington Alarm.
William Longley the father [ed. 6th great-uncle, 1708-1788], and William the son [ed. 1st Cousin 6x removed, 1738-1813], were both millers. In order to distinguish the craftsmen, the good farmers of the locality, who brought their grist to the ground at the mill on the Catacunemaug, called the elder “Old Will the Miller." No disrespect was implied; for the rugged yeomen looked upon Old Will as their great benefactor. He had been the first to set up that indispensable institution, a mill, thus relieving them of much of the burden of life.
The Longley and Hazen mill was rude indeed, but in keeping with the dwellings of the farmers, made as they were from rough-hewn logs, and affording but little beyond the bare necessities. The farmers, young and old, delighted in listening to Old Will's recitals of his father's experience during the five years of his life in captivity. Waiting for grist was no hardship for them if Old Will, dressed in powdered apparel, was tending the stones. The elder William was a sufferer from rheumatism, and not in a mood for story-telling at all times; but when he was at his best in describing the life among the Indians, the farmer's boy was reluctant to leave. In fact, the fathers were known to tarry long after Old Will had taken his toll, and emptied a fresh sack into the hopper.
These stories of savage warfare served a two-fold purpose. They amused the miller's patrons, and prevented their being impatient while waiting their turn, and also kindled a fire of patriotism in the minds of the farmers, which served them well when the time came for opposing the king.
The news of the Stamp Act aroused the miller to a high state of indignation, and he declared his readiness to fight against all such oppression. The Port Bill reanimated his spirit of patriotism, and he dipped deep into his toll-bin for the aid of the poor of the distressed port.
He had reached almost the allotted age of man when the Lexington alarm was sounded through the town. The exemption from service granted to millers was no excuse for him. The ardor of youth possessed his spirit when his sons, neighbors, and friends were hastening to and fro in preparation for the march. But his bowed and crippled form made it impossible for him to join the company; yet he insisted, saying, “True, I cannot handle a musket, yet I will fight the redcoats with my two canes;" at the same time brandishing those formidable weapons as though his words were not to be disregarded. He reluctantly remained at home with the few who were compelled to stay because of age or infirmity. But no citizen of the town evinced more genuine patriotism, watched the progress of the war with more interest, or manifested more joy when the yoke of oppression was thrown off, than did Old Will the miller.
John Longley (6th Great-Uncle, 1710-1792), Patriotic Service. He was 65 years old at the commencement of the war with the Lexington Alarm. John Longley was the Clerk of the Shirley Town Council and a supporter of the colonist’s cause.
The Indian depredations had ceased before the incorporation of Shirley; yet the French war, which terminated in the surrender of the Canadas to the English government, was still being waged, and the town's first human sacrifice in that struggle was Joseph Longley [6th great-uncle, 1724-1758], who was wounded at
Fort William Henry, and died at Greenbush, N. Y., in 1758. He was first selectman and town clerk. That spirit which prompted them to fight for the king impelled them to take up arms against him when such a course was needed to sustain the rights and liberties of the Colonies. The Stamp Act brought them to action. They held a town meeting October 18, 1765, and unanimously instructed their representative, who was Abel Lawrence, Esq.: —
“Is it a matter of wonder that every thinking person in the Colonies of North America is greatly alarmed by the late act of Parliament, called the
Stamp Act, as it affects the state and liberty of every loyal subject of said Colonies? . . . We look upon said act as a burden, grievous, distressful and insupportable: not only likely to enslave the present but future generations. The great and heavy load lying upon us, occasioned by the late war, with its increasing interest, and all other incidental charges at home for the support of the government, etc., have sunk us so low already that we are wholly unable to bear the duties imposed upon us by the stamp act, which, if it takes place, must and will immediately prove our certain ruin. . . . We are far from saying or acting anything whereby we might be charged with disloyalty, as subjects to the best of kings, or that we have not a proper sense of the British Court, but we do think that our charter privileges, and natural rights, as the free-born sons of Britain, are infringed upon by said stamp act. Our advice, instruction and direction, therefore, to you is, that upon all proper occasions you use and exercise your utmost endeavors, and strongest efforts, in a modest, becoming and respectful manner, to prevent said act from taking place in the government; and that you with a watchful eye, upon every occasion, diligently guard and protect the liberties of your country, to the utmost of your power, against all encroachments and innovations. . . .
By order of the Committee,
John Longley. [ed. 6th great-uncle, 1710-1792]"
On January 11, 1773, the people indorsed the act of the Committee of Correspondence in Boston, saying, —
“We are fully persuaded, if the Judges of the Superior Court of this Province have their salaries from the king, . . . that our liberties are greatly infringed thereby, and that we shall have no better chance for justice, no better security of life and property, than the people have in the most despotic government under heaven.” They further say “that our grateful acknowledgments are due to the inhabitants of the town of Boston, for their vigilance upon this and many other occasions of like nature.
John Longley, [ed. 6th great-uncle, 1710-1792] "Dis. Clerk”
The passage of the act on tea by the British Parliament brought out the people of Shirley in a series of resolutions, which bear the impress of decided patriots. They stand out upon the town book in bold hand. Art. I. is: —
“Voted, that we will neither buy. nor sell, nor drink (nor suffer it to be drunk in any of our families) any tea that is subject to an American duty."
Private Jonas Longley (6th Great-Uncle, 1712-1799), Massachusetts Militia Lexington Alarm. He was 63 years old, also from the town of Shirley, when he marched for Lexington. He served from April 19th, 1775 until April 23rd, 1775. He was a Private in Captain Henry Haskell’s company, of Colonel James Prescott’s regiment. He was with Robert Longley at Lexington.
“In the easterly part of the town [of Shirley] lived Jonas Longley, the third son of John, the redeemed captive. Although sixty-four years old at the opening of the Revolution, this old hero and his son Jonas shouldered their fowling-pieces, and marched to Cambridge on April 19, 1775.” (Abram English Brown “Beside Old Hearth-Stones,” Massachusetts American Local History Network, P.87)
Quartermaster Zachariah Longley (6th Great-Uncle, 1729-1815), Massachusetts Continental Line. He was 46 years old at the beginning of the Revolution and served from April 19th, 1775 until April 1780. He was first in the Massachusetts Militia and then in the Massachusetts Continental Line. He fought at Lexington, the Siege of Boston, Governor’s Island, New York, the Battle of Saratoga, the Battle of Cherry Valley and in the Sullivan Expedition. He was with Robert Longley at Lexington.
On or about the 1st of June, 1775, I enlisted into the Revolutionary War for eight months in Captain Joseph Morris’s Company, Lieutenant William Prescott’s Regiment. I joined my Regiment at Cambridge before the expiration of the first term. I enlisted again in the same company and Regiment for one year. We marched to New York; were stationed on Governor’s Island; and employed in fortifying the place till we were driven off by the British troops in the month of September; I served this term of enlistment out and was regularly discharged on the first day of January, 1777; In the month of April 1777, I enlisted again for three years in Captain Ballards company and Colonel Alders Regiment. I joined my Regiment at Albany. I was at the capture of Burgoine. Went into winter quarters at Albany. The next spring we marched to Cherry Valley where we fought the xxx to the month of June 1779. I went to the Genesan in the expedition with General Sullivan against the Indians; I returned to West Point, where I continued till the month of April 1780, when I was regularly discharged.
He omits his initial service, presumably because it was with the State Militia.
Longley, Zach'a, Groton. Private, Captain John Sawtell's company, Colonel William Prescott's regiment, which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, from Groton and Pepperell; service, 8 1/2 days.
Nathaniel Longley (6th Great-Uncle, 1727-1816) Massachusetts Militia. He was 38 at the war’s commencement and served from April 19th, 1775 until April 1780. He was also a member of the town’s Committee of Correspondence. He was with Robert Longley at Lexington.
WHITCOMB FAMILY
Anna Whitcomb (5th Great-Grandmother, 1737-1815) had three brothers, all three of whom served in the Revolution.
The Whitcombs were an old New England family with the founding ancestor arriving in Dorchester Massachusetts in 1633. Whitcombs were scattered from Maine and New Hampshire into Massachusetts and Connecticut. In this branch, most made their homes in Lancaster, Bolton, Leominster, and Harvard – all small towns to the northwest of Boston and directly west of Concord and Lexington in Massachusetts.
Most of the male family members served – overwhelmingly in the Lexington Alarm, followed by militia service for many.
Two brothers, General John Whitcomb and his younger brother Colonel Asa Whitcomb were both veterans of the French and Indian Wars of the 1750s-60s. Both were asked to take leadership roles, first in the Massachusetts Army and then by George Washington in the Continental Army. Both served two-three years at the beginning of the war before resigning their commissions on account of age.
Anna’s three brothers all responded to the Lexington Alarm.
Private Jonas Whitcomb, Sr. (6th Great-Uncle, 1723-1792), Minute Men Militia. He was 52 years old when he answered to the Lexington Alarm.
WHITCOM, JONAS, Bolton. Private, Captain Robert Longley's company, Colonel Asa Whitcomb’s regiment, which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775; left place of rendezvous May 5, 1775; service, 18 days; reported returned home.
Corporal David Whitcomb (6th Great-Uncle, 1730-1778). He was 45 years old when he marched to Lexington. He served during the Lexington Alarm and then enlisted from December 15th, 1776 for three years. He died in service at Valley Forge, May 2nd, 1778, one of the 1,700-2,000 men who died as a consequence of that winter. Out of an army of 12,000.
Private Oliver Whitcomb (6th Great-Uncle, 1732-1776), Massachusetts Minute Men. He was 43 years old when he responded to the Lexington Alarm.
Whitcom, OLIVER, Harvard. Private, Captain Joseph Fairbanks's company, Colonel Asa Whetcomb's regiment, which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, to Cambridge; left place of rendezvous April 25, 1775; service, 7 days.
Brigadier General John Whitcomb (1st cousins 8 times removed, 1712-1785) Massachusetts Line. He was 63 years old when he was called on to lead Massachusetts troops. He served from February 15th, 1775 through to June 1776. He fought at Lexington and Bunker Hill
The family relationship with John Whitcomb (1712-1785) and Asa Whitcomb (1719-1804) is a little complex. They are brothers. John Whitcomb married Rebecca Whitcomb, sister of Anna Whitcomb (our 5th Great-Grandmother, 1737-1815). John Whitcomb and Rebecca Whitcomb, however, were second cousins, once removed. Consequently both brothers are 1st cousins 8 times removed from us today. John Whitcomb is therefore both the brother-in-law of Anna Whitcomb (our ancestress), i.e. “husband of 6th great aunt” AND also 1st cousin 8 times removed. His brother, Asa Gage is simply a 1st cousins 8 times removed.
General John Whitcomb was a successful planter with extensive holdings, as well as businessman, owning and managing one of the first limestone quarries in the colonies. From 1755-60 he served as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Colonial Army, during the French and Indian War. He led in numerous battles and skirmishes.
Subsequently he returned to life as a farmer and businessman while simultaneously deeply involved in various civic roles.
As the sentiment turned towards separation from Britain, John Whitcomb served in various patriotic roles including the Committee for Public Safety. In preparation for the anticipated war to come, John accepted the commission as one of Massachusetts’ first three Generals. Residing in the area of Bolton, General Whitcomb was the most senior officer closest to Concord and Lexington at the time of the Alarm.
He gathered the Minute Men and Massachusetts Militia and force marched to Lexington where he led the harassing rear-guard action of the British all the way to Boston. After arrival, he remained on the outskirts of Boston. In the escalation towards the Battle of Bunker Hill, he was assigned to cover Lechmere Point to the northwest of Charlestown, Lechmere Point being where the British had landed when marching to Lexington.
In the event, the British landed to east of Charlestown and marched northeast to engage Colonel William Prescott on Breed Hill (Bunker Hill). As it became clear that this was the main attack and not a feint, General Whitcomb remained at his assigned post but began releasing companies to cross the hill and support Prescott during the Battle of Bunker Hill. This is why so many Bolton and Groton men participated at Bunker Hill even though their units were not officially in action.
After Bunker Hill, George Washington requested General John Whitcomb accept a commission as general in the Continental Army (as distinct from the Massachusetts Army). General John Whitcomb declined on account of his age and in late 1776 retired from the military even though he continued in various civic capacities in support of the Revolution.
Colonel Asa Whitcomb (1st cousins 8 times removed, 1719-1804), Massachusetts Militia, Lancaster Regiment. He was 55 years old at the Lexington Alarm. He served from September 19th, 1774 through to April 1st, 1777. Continued in Patriotic Service through the end of the war.
Colonel Asa Whitcomb was brother of John Whitcomb and also our 1st cousin 8 times removed. He similarly served in the French Indian Wars and therefore played a key role in Massachusetts in the early years of the war. He led the regiment constituted of companies from Lancaster, Bolton, Groton and other towns to the west of Concord. He therefore was in the position of leading not only neighbors but many family members, both direct and by marriage relations.
He mustered for the Lexington Alarm and then held the Dorcester position during the siege of Boston. While an experienced warrior, he was also alert to the needs of his soldier and was exceedingly popular among them.
After three years his personal finances were drained and he tendered his resignation based on age. After liquidating most his assets, and ruinously being paid in Continental dollars, he retired he settled into retirement on a small farm.
WHITMAN FAMILY
The Whitmans were located out of Stow, Massachusetts, just to the west of Concord. Of the three brothers of the anchor generation at the time of the Revolution, Zechariah Whitman (6th Great-Grandfather, 1722-1793) and his brother Charles Whitman (7th Great-Uncle, 1731-1807) were both resident in Stow, both marched in the Alarm to Concord and both appear to have fought at the North Bridge and then participated in the pursuit of the British back to Boston. There is some evidence that Zechariah Whitman may have served again into 1776.
Private Zechariah Whitman (6th Great-Grandfather, 1722-1793) Massachusetts Minutemen, 4th Middlesex Co. Regiment. 54 years old at the time of the Lexington Alarm. Served again in 1776.
Zechariah Whitman was 54 years old, married and with fourteen children when Stow received the Lexington Alarm. With 81 other Minute Men from the town, he marched ten and a half miles to Lexington, arriving at 10:30am. While accounts vary, it appears that the Stow Minute Men were in time for the engagement between the Americans and the British soldiers at the North Bridge and then joined in the pursuit of the British all the way back to Boston.
Zechariah Whitman was a farmer and had inherited Alcock-Assabet farm at Stow from his father. He also inherited extensive land holdings in New Hampshire and several of his married children subsequently moved to that new land.
It is possible but unverified whether Zechariah Whitman served into 1776. Zechariah's second son, Lt. Thomas Whitman' volunteered under General Gates's command, and his third son, Edward Whitman, then a young merchant at Boston, served under Colonel Paul Revere. In New Hampshire, son-in-law Timothy Gibson was elected to the Provincial Congress in 1775, and then was made a Captain in the Continental Army. Also serving were sons-in-law Lieutenant John Smith and Captain Solomon Taylor.
By the 1770s, Stow’s population had grown to about 900 residents – many of them fervent patriots in the colonies’ contentious relationship with the British government. One, Henry Gardner, was a prominent lawyer active in the Committees of Correspondence and the Provincial Congress that patriots established after locking the doors of the Colonial Legislature. Gardner served as provincial treasurer through the coming Revolutionary War.
Stow’s support for the patriot cause ran deep. In the period leading up to April 19, 1775, colonists, fearing a British move to seize arms stored in Concord, moved a portion of them to Stow. Cannon were hidden in the woods surrounding the Lower Common, gunpowder and other armaments in the Meeting House and a small powderhouse on Pilot Grove Hill. Stow citizens made up several companies of Minutemen, training on the Lower Common and ready to move out on short notice.
When word came that British regulars were marching on Concord, two companies of Stow Minutemen assembled in the early hours of April 19. In all, 81 Stow soldiers made the march to Concord, taking part in the rolling battle with the British that began at the “Bloody Angle” and continued all the way along “Battle Road” back to Boston. Official records noted that Stow’s small contingent “pursued the British so as to deserve special mention.”
Following the battle of April 19, the need for Minutemen yielded to a need for a permanent army. Some Minutemen came home, others stayed on. About 40 Stow soldiers served at the Battle of Bunker Hill, 27 in the Battle of Saratoga, and others later in the war.
At a subsequent town meeting, with Henry Gardner serving as Moderator, Stow’s citizenry officially voted to support independence from Great Britain – on July 1, 1776.
Zechariah and Elizabeth (Gates) Whitman had lived a good and happy life for thirty years when it was disrupted by the Revolution. The people of Massachusetts had been discontented for a decade over heavy taxes and illegal searches imposed by the British, but a crisis point was reached when patriots, refusing to pay tax on imported tea, dumped it into Boston's harbor. Other patriot groups began to form, and militiamen were trained on village greens for an eventual military confrontation.
In April 1775, the British commander at Boston heard that some secret munitions were stored at Concord and determined to seize them. Paul Revere rode through the night rousing the countryside - "to arms! to arms!" - and when word reached Stow, Zechariah Whitman, then aged 54, assembled with the local militia and marched to Concord Bridge to bar the British. There they were joined by remnants of Minute Men who had taken a stand at Lexington and escaped after being scattered by the British. When the King's troops arrived at Concord Bridge, the Minute Men held them off and forced them to retreat back to Boston, but the Revolution had begun.
Fight at Concord Bridge, April 19th, 1775, by Don Troiani.
“Ralph Earl’s sketch of the engagement at Concord Bridge was crude in its drawing but careful of its facts. Earl worked from interviews of survivors, and he represented accurately the positions of British and American troops at the first fire. His drawing also gives a good sense of the open terrain in 1775. The house in the distance (turned slightly on its axis) belonged to Major John Buttrick, who led the American advance on his own land. The field in the foreground was next to William Emerson’s Old Manse. (New York Public Library)
Private Charles Whitman (7th Great Uncle, 1731-1807) Captain Benjamin Munro’s 6th Company, 4th Regiment of Middlesex County Massachusetts Line. 44 years old.
It is clear that Charles Whitman was strong advocate of independence and supporter of the American Revolution. On February 8, 1773, at a meeting of the town of Stow, Charles Whitman signed their letter to the Committee of Correspondence at Boston expressing Stow’s support of Boston.
He was 44 years old at the beginning of the war, married and with ten children.
He was a prosperous farmer having inherited a large tract of land from his father at his father’s passing in 1772. Incidentally he also inherited a slave named Boston and was charged in his father’s will with providing support to him leading to his emancipation.
He marched as a private during the Lexington Alarm and fought at the battle of the north bridge in Concord and then in the running fight in pursuit of the British back to Boston.
By family tradition he further served, without enlisting, as a surgeon during two winters during the war.
He is known to have served as a State Representative in the state government in 1801.
PORTER FAMILY
Private Israel Porter (6th Great Uncle, 1746-1826), Lexington Alarm. 29 years old and served periodically from April 19th, 1775 through at least August 4th, 1777.
Israel Porter was born and lived in Danvers, Massachusetts, formerly Salem, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Minute Men and marched April 19, 1775 to Lexington. He is listed as one of Captain Parker’s muster of Minute Men who stood their ground on Lexington Common and received the first British volley of the war.
PINNEY FAMILY
Lieutenant Abraham Pinney (7th Great-Uncle, 1735-1813), Lieutenant in the 18th Regiment, Connecticut Militia. He enlisted in Simsbury, Connecticut and served as Lieutenant in the Lexington Alarm under Captain Lemuel Roberts.
Sergeant Major Aaron Pinney (7th Great-Uncle, 1743-1813). Aaron Pinney served in the French and Indian War when he was only 16. He was 32 at the Lexington Alarm. From Simsbury, Connecticut, his was among the most further distance militia who made it to Lexington.
Another clergyman (though not yet ordained) who answered the call of God and his country was Daniel Barber of Simsbury, Connecticut, a town that had long been under God's special Providence. On the eve of the Indian uprising known as King Philip's War, a miraculous warning shot from an unknown source had been heard within a radius of fifty miles, sounding the alarm and saving many Protestant lives; and when, in 1768, hailstones "full the bulk of goose-eggs" fell on the town, the damage, according to a report in the local newspaper, was much less than it would have been "had not the hail fell considerably perpendicular." In his memoirs Daniel Barber recalled how on hearing the news of Bunker Hill he had joined the Simsbury militia signing up for five months. His captain was Elihu Humphrey, "a well-bred gentleman" whose "sweetness of disposition secured him the love of all good men"; his lieutenant was Andrew Hilyer, "a handsome sprightly young gentleman"; his three sergeants were Aaron Pinney, "a man of a fierce and fiery countenance"; Jacob Tuller, whose "brow was generally knit together in a forbidding frown"; and Daniel Higley, "who had been a soldier in the old French war, was of a musical turn, and his old war songs made the time pass away to very good account." The Rev. Mr. Pitkin preached a farewell sermon on the text "Play the man for your country, and for the cities of your God; and the Lord do that which seemeth him good," which was well received. "It was tender and pathetic, lively and animating. It was like martial music; while it touched the finer feelings, it roused and animated for the dreadful onset—the shout of war and the cry of victory! During the time of its delivery, abundance of tears were seen to flow, from both old and young, male as well as female.)
After the service, the soldiers mingled with their families and sweethearts,
exchanging, as for the last time, the token of their love and the best affections of the heart. In the midst of this mingling scene of sorrow, the drums beat to arms. "Soldiers, take your places!" is the word; the line of march is formed; we add one more wishful, lingering look, while many a silent tear bespeaks the real feeling of the heart.
The word is given. We begin our march with silence, downcast looks, and pensive feelings and reflections. We were now leaving our homes, our friends, and all our pleasant places behind, and which our eyes might never again behold. The most of us had not, at that time, I believe, been twenty miles from home.
After marching awhile, we began to give way to more cheerful and lively feelings. We marched about eight miles that afternoon; at night put up at James Marsh's inn. Here, for the first time, I slept as a soldier on the floor, with a cartridge box for my pillow. At that period, horse wagons being very little in use, an ox team was provided to carry our provision for the way, and a barrel of rum. Our provision was salt pork and peas. Wherever we stopped, a large kettle was hung over the fire, in which the salt meat was put without freshening, and the dry peas without soaking. Cooks and stewards were appointed who took charge of the table department. When all was ready, a stroke on the drum was the signal to begin to eat; and we were generally hungry enough to stand in need of no great urging. While passing through Connecticut, the females were very polite in lending us knives and forks; but, after entering Massachusetts, we were not allowed the like favor, without pledging money or some other kind of security—the people saying that they had lost many of their spoons by the soldiers who had gone before us. Our bread was hard bisquit, in which there was a small quantity of lime, just sufficient to make the mouth sore. They were so hard that the soldiers called them candlestick bottoms.
Now for the first time we traveled on the Lord's day, under arms, and past meeting houses in the time of public worship, with drums and fifes playing martial music; all which was calculated to afford to a New England man some doubts and reflections whether God would be as well pleased with such parade and military performance as if we had stayed home to read our Bibles, or went to meeting to hear the minister. But military discipline and the habits of a soldier soon effected a degree of relaxation in most of us.
After about nine or ten days' marching in company, with our ox team loaded with our salt pork, peas, and candlestick bottoms for bread, and the barrel of rum to cheer our spirits and wash our feet, which began to be very sore by traveling, we came to Roxbury, the place of our destination. There the place of our encampment was already marked out, and a part of our regiment on the spot. For every six soldiers there was a tent provided. The ground it covered was about six or seven feet square. This served for kitchen, parlor, and hall. The green turf, covered with a blanket, was our bed and bedstead. When we turned in for the night, we had to lie perfectly straight, like candles in a box; this was not pleasant to our hip bones and knee joints, which often in the night would wake us, and beg to turn over. Our household utensils, altogether, were an iron pot, a canteen, or wooden bottle holding two quarts, a pail, and a wooden bowl. Each had to do his own washing, and take his turn at the cookery.
Sergeant Levi Pinney (7th Great-Uncle, 1750-1787), 22nd Regiment of Connecticut Continental Line. He was three days at Lexington as a Corporal.
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