Needham Militia and the Battles of Lexington and Concord
The following account of the Needham Militia and their role in the Battles of Lexington and Concord is taken from History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911, written by George Kuhn Clarke and published in 1912.
Please note that we have made minor text corrections and edits to the text, but have not changed the meaning. Spacing, section headings, and notes have been added to help readers scan and understand the text.
Facts About the Needham Militia and the Battles of Lexington and Concord
- Needham, Massachusetts, is roughly 13 miles south of Lexington.
- Captain Caleb Kingsbury led the Needham Minutemen.
- Captain Robert Smith led the Needham East Militia Company.
- Captain Aaron Smith led the Needham West Militia Company.
- The Needham Minutemen and Militia Companies engaged the British Expedition in West Cambridge as it returned to Boston.
- Ephraim Bullard fired a gun to raise the alarm in West Needham.
- Abel Benson, just 9 years old, helped spread the alarm in Needham by playing his trumpet.
- The Lexington Alarm arrived in East Needham around 9:00 a.m. and was delivered by a rider on his way to Dedham.
- The Minutemen and both Militia Companies fought in the Battle of Menotomy.
- Five men from Needham were killed in the battle.
Needham and Events Leading to the Lexington Alarm and the Battles of Lexington and Concord
Massachusetts Convention of Towns
On September 20, 1768, Lieutenant Amos Fuller and Josiah Newell, Esq., were chosen “to act for them as a Committee in Convention with Such as are Chofen in Boston: and Such as may be Sent to join them: From the Several towns in this Province.” This convention was “To Consult what measures were best for the good of the Province.” Mr. Newell was paid sixteen shillings for his services as a delegate.
AHC Note — The Massachusetts Convention of Towns was held in response to the Townshend Acts and the Massachusetts Circular Letter.
Tea Crisis
On December 22, 1773, Dedham voted not “to join with the Committee of Correspondence of the Town of Boston; Relating to the Importation of Tea.”
Instructions to Pay Taxes to Henry Gardner
On March 23, 1775, however, the town voted that the collectors of the Province taxes should thereafter pay them to Henry Gardner, Esq., who had been appointed by the Provincial Congress, and not to the Honorable Harrison Gray, the agent of the Crown.
Suffolk County Convention
On August 31, 1774, the town chose Captain Eleazer Kingsbery, Captain Lemuel Pratt, Jonathan Deming, Samuel Daggett, and Captain Caleb Kingsbery “To attend a County Convention at the House of Mr. Woodward Inholder in Dedham on Tuesday the Sixth Day of September Next at Ten O’clock before Noon, To Deliberate and Determine Upon all matters as the Distressed Circumstances of this Province May Require.”
Massachusetts Provincial Congress
On September 30, Captain Eleazer Kingsbery was chosen representative and delegate to the Provincial Congress, which was to meet at Concord on the second Tuesday in October. It assembled at Salem on October 7, and that day adjourned to Concord.
The notice, dated December 10, 1774, from the Provincial Congress at Concord to the towns to choose delegates to meet at Cambridge on the first day of February, or sooner if necessary, is recorded in our town records, and on January 26, 1775, Captain Eleazer Kingsbery was chosen delegate, to whom in August £14, 19s., 8d. were granted for attending the County Convention and the Provincial Congress.
On May 29, 1775, Colonel McIntosh was elected delegate to the Third Provincial Congress to be held at the meetinghouse in Watertown, and that day £18, 2s., 8d. were voted “To pay the Committee that Met with County Congress: and to pay Captain Eleazar Kingsbery for his Attending at the Provincial Congresses””
Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety
On May 29, 1775, Capt. Robert Smith was chosen a Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety. The names of his successors, with the dates when they were chosen, are:
- John Slack, Michael Metcalf, and William Smith, on March 11, 1776.
- William Smith, Lieut. Ebenezer Fuller and Joseph Daniell, Jr., on March 10, 1777.
- Josiah Eaton, Henry Dewing, and Ebenezer Newell on March 9, 1778, and re-elected on March 11, 1779.
- Moses Man, Aaron Smith, Jr., and Eleazer Fuller on March 13, 1780.
- Crowner Nathaniel Fisher, Capt. Robert Smith and Capt. William Smith on April 5, 1781. who perhaps held over, as there is no record of the choice of such a committee in 1782.
- John Slack, Robert Fuller, Jr., and Aaron Smith, Jr., on May 12, 1783.
There is but little on record of the doings of these committees, although the opposition to the British rule largely centered in them.
AHC Note — The Committees of Correspondence played a significant role in organizing opposition to British policies. After the Gaspee Affair, intercolonial Committees were established to keep each colony in communication with the others.
The Lexington Alarm
On the morning of April 19, 1775, the news that the British were on their way to Concord was brought to Bullard’s Tavern, and the alarm was given by Ephraim Bullard, the tavern-keeper, or by his son of the same name, who fired a gun on Bullard’s Hill.
The West Company of militia rendezvoused at this tavern, great fires were made in the house, and bullets were molded, the women assisting. The West Company was the first from Needham to arrive at the scene of the conflict.
In “The Leg” the alarm was sounded by the trumpet of Abel Benson, a negro.
The news was received in East Needham about nine o’clock in the morning, from a messenger who rode through the town on his way to Dedham, and the militia company was drawn up in their minister’s east driveway, as the ammunition was then kept in his house.
The Reverend Samuel West addressed them earnestly and gave his blessing. In the cellar of Mr. West’s house…is a large brick chimney closet, which may have been the place where the military “Stores” were deposited.
At Watertown, the East Company stopped for refreshments but reached West Cambridge in time to join in harassing the King’s troops on their retreat.
Needham Casualties Suffered in the Battle of Menotomy
Seven Needham men were killed or wounded at West Cambridge:
Sergeant Elisha Mills, forty years of age, blacksmith, lived on what is now South Street, near Webster Street. The tradition is that he stepped out of a barn to fire at the enemy, and fell riddled with bullets. By the kindness of his neighbor, “Hawk” Aaron Smith, who afterward married his widow, his body was brought to Needham in a cart, on the 20th, and buried in the old graveyard. The others who died that day were interred at West Cambridge.
Jonathan Parker, also of the East Company, was twenty-eight years old, and lived a short distance south of the present Pierce house on Charles River Street, but on the other side of the road, a wooden tablet marking the site. He literally left his plow in the field, west of his house, to answer the call of duty, was surprised at West Cambridge by a flank guard at a barn, and shot while attempting to reach the woods. The Parker School, near his home, is named for him.
John Tolman of the East Company, while lying behind a wall with several others, was discovered by a flank guard. Those not disabled stood up, and Tolman twice tried to fire at the main column, but the powder flashed in the pan, although after his first failure, he had cleared the vent with a pin from his shirt collar. He then found himself in a crossfire, and was struck between the shoulders by a bullet, which later was extracted from his breast, and is still preserved. After long suffering, he recovered, and died in Fairhaven, Vt., in 1835, aged eighty-two years. He lived on the Gay Farm on Central Avenue. In 1906 or 1907, his remains and those of his wife were brought to Needham and interred in the Tolman lot. A large white gravestone and a footstone came with the bones, and there is now an S.A.R. marker on his grave. His great-granddaughter, Mrs. Anna M. Tolman Pickford, bore the expense of the removal.
None of the West Company were seriously hurt, but of the Minute Men First Lieut. John Bacon, aged fifty-four years, was killed on a ledge of rock in Menotomy. He was with “Old Hawes,” a former comrade in the French and Indian War, and Bacon had been lying behind a wall with his powder in his hat. Suddenly Hawes said, “Run or you are dead, here’s the guard “, and as they attempted to get over the wall Bacon was shot near the third button of his waistcoat. The next day his son, John, recognized his father’s old striped hat on a roll of clothes in a schoolhouse at West Cambridge. Lieutenant Bacon’s house, now a tenement and much changed, stands on North Main Street, near Bacon Street, and west of the watering trough. He was an energetic man, and frequently had eight or ten Indians and negroes, and four yokes of oxen working on his farm.
Nathaniel Chamberlain, another Minute Man, and a French and Indian War veteran, was slain, aged fifty-six years.
Amos Mills, a cousin of Elisha, lived on what is known as the Abijah Stevens place on Blossom Street. He was a Minute Man, and was killed at West Cambridge, aged forty-three years.
Lieut. Eleazer Kingsbery, of the Minute Men, was struck in the leg by a bullet, but it did not penetrate his leather breeches.
The five men killed at West Cambridge all left widows and large families.
Memorials to Needham’s Casualties
On November 10, 1845, Rufus Mills, Israel Whitney, and General Rice were chosen by the town a committee with reference to a monument to commemorate these five men, but nothing was accomplished until Mrs. Sarah Eames Mills Kingsbury and other ladies raised the necessary money in 1851, and placed on the hill in the old graveyard the handsome granite monument inscribed with the five names, and the words “For Liberty they died.”
The monument at West Cambridge (Arlington) is a granite shaft marking the common grave of twelve men slain on April 19, 1775. This memorial was erected in 1848 and bears on the east side an inscription giving the names of three Cambridge men, but a temporary tablet of later date on the west side has the names of the other nine, including the four from Needham.
Needham’s Minuteman and Militia Companies
Captain Caleb Kingsbury led Needham’s company of Minutemen. Three men from this company were killed during the Battle of Menotomy — John Bacon, Amos Mills, and Nathaniel Chamberlain.
Many of the Minutemen traveled thirty miles, some thirty-six, for which they were paid one penny per mile. Private Joseph Mudge only traveled nine miles. This was for the distance to and from their homes. Most of them served for two days before returning to their homes.
Captain Robert Smith led the East Militia Company. Most of them traveled thirty miles from their homes, including the return, and were paid the same as the Minutemen for travel and service. Many of the men in the East Militia Company served fourteen or sixteen days.
Captain Aaron Smith led the West Militia Company. Most of them traveled thirty-six miles from their homes and returned to them after serving a week or more. Captain Smith, Private Moses Daggett, and Private Samuel Pratt were on duty for fifteen days.
Many of the Needham men returned to service during the Siege of Boston. Captain Robert Smtih and some of his men participated in the Occupation of Dorchester Heights in March 1776, which forced the British to evacuate Boston.
Agnes Austin Witnesses the British Expedition’s Return
The author of this history includes a short anecdote from his childhood:
In my childhood, I was often taken to call upon a very ancient blind lady, Miss Agnes Austin, who was born in Charlestown and lived there for many years, and who delighted to tell her visitors that she saw the British troops under Earl Percy and Lieutenant Cololen Smith on their return at the close of the memorable nineteenth of April, 1775. A considerable number of the soldiers had thrown away their red coats and much of their equipment. The first legacy that I ever received was under the will of this venerable lady, who was a distant connection of my family.
The Legend of Abel Benson
According to the Framingham History Center, Abel Benson was just 9 years old when he was called on to spread the Lexington Alarm.
Abel Benson was born in Framingham in 1766, before the Revolutionary War. His grandfather was Nero Benson brought from Africa and the slave of Reverend John Swift the minister of the Framingham Church.
Nero was a trumpeter in the French and Indian War with Lieutenant Isaac Clark’s company. Nero’s wife, Dido Dingo, was also from Africa. They had a son William.
At the death of Reverend Swift, his slave Nero went to his son-in-law Ebenezer Roby of Sudbury.
Nero’s son William met a white woman in Sudbury named Sarah Perry. They were married and moved to Framingham where they had a daughter Katy and a son Abel.
When Abel was about 6 years old he was given his Grandpa Nero’s trumpet. Though Grandpa Nero died before Abel was born, he loved that trumpet and practiced until he got pretty good.
Sometimes he would blow it when the militiamen were drilling on Framingham Common.
In April 1775 when Abel was 9 years old some men from Boston saw him playing that trumpet.
One man said, “Boy, you blow a fine signal.”
“Thank you, sir,” Abel answered.
“Can you ride a horse?”
“Yes sir.”
“Then we’re going to make you one of our messengers.”
On the night of April 18, those men came and got Abel and his trumpet and told him: “Boy, ride to Natick, then on to Needham and Dedham and Dover. Blow your horn as loud as you can. Tell everyone the Regulars march. Everyone to Lexington and Concord.”
And Abel did just that.
He was one of those who got the word out that night along with Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott.
But he was the only one who spread the alarm by blowing a trumpet.
At 14 he joined the army, as a trumpeter and cook with the Massachusetts 8th and 3rd regiments. Most of the time he was in New York State near the Hudson River. He was discharged from the army in 1783 and was known as the Fiddler from Framingham.
Documenting April 18–19, 1775
The events that took place on April 18 and 19, 1775 include some of the most historic — and legendary — moments in American History. Many of the details about the events are found in the letters and depositions written at the time and have been used by many historians as the basis for articles and books about the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
However, what is often lost are interesting details that can be found in the histories of the towns that responded to the Midnight Riders and the Lexington Alarm. Militia forces from approximately 27 towns, including Needham, fought the British from Lexington to Concord, and then from Concord back to Boston. Many of those men stayed there and participated in the Siege of Boston.
Although these local histories are sometimes embellished and border on folklore, they still provide valuable insight into the pride towns felt over standing up against the British forces who fired on the King’s subjects at Lexington and Concord.
