Roxbury Militia and the Battles of Lexington and Concord
The following account of the Roxbury Militia and their role in the Battles of Lexington and Concord is taken from The Town of Roxbury, written by Francis Samuel Drake and published in 1908.
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 Roxbury and the Battles of Lexington and Concord
- Roxbury is southwest of Lexington and Concord. It is roughly 12 miles from Lexington and 18 miles from Concord.
- According to Drake and William Heath, Roxbury organized the first Minuteman Companies in Massachusetts.
- The commanding officers during the Battles of Lexington and Concord were Captain Lemuel Child, Captain William Draper, and Captain Moses Whiting.
- William Heath and Joseph Warren joined the fight at Lexington.
- Heath took command of American forces at Lexington and led the pursuit of the British back to Boston.
- The Roxbury Minutemen engaged the British during the Battle of Menotomy.
- Many of the men from Roxbury helped start the Siege of Boston.
- American forces under the command of General John Thomas were stationed in Roxbury for most of the siege.
- Roxbury men were involved in the skirmishes around Boston that were part of the New England Provision War.
- Moses Draper led a company of troops during the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Roxbury and the American Revolution
Stamp Act Crisis
With the passage of the Stamp Act, early in 1765, the American Revolution may be said to have begun; for although its repeal a year later removed that bone of contention, the discussions to which it gave rise had aroused an antagonism that was constantly increased by new acts of aggression, and that ceased only with the achievement of American independence.
Boston took the lead in opposition to the acts of Parliament, and Roxbury nobly sustained and seconded. Dr. Warren, William Heath, Col. Joseph Williams, and others of its leading men were in constant communication with Samuel Adams and other master spirits of what was then the “Hub” of revolution, and co-operated with them in counsel and in action. The town meetings were held in the old Meeting House of the First Parish.
Looking over the records of this period, one is not surprised that Lord Dartmouth, his Majesty’s secretary for the colonies, should have written to Governor Hutchinson that “The resolves of Roxbury, Marblehead, and Plymouth contained very extraordinary doctrines,” or that he should express the hope that few would follow their example, and that the House of Representatives would discountenance them.
Many of these papers were written by William Heath, and are vigorous and forcible presentations of the views and feelings of the people at large. The bold signature of Deacon Samuel Gridley, the veteran town clerk of Roxbury, is appended to all these anti-revolutionary documents.
Stamp Act Instructions
In the first of these, dated Oct. 22, 1765, the town instructs its representative. Col. Joseph Williams, to urge the repeal of the Stamp Act, and declares its unwillingness to submit to internal taxes other than those imposed by the General Court. This is its brief and expressive language —
“That you readily join in such dutiful remonstrances and humble petitions to the King and parliament, and other decent measures as may have a tendency to obtain a repeal of the Stamp Act, and a removal of the heavy burthens imposed on the American British Colonies thereby. And that you do not give your assent to any act of assembly that shall imply the willingness of your constituents to submit to any internal taxes that are imposed, any otherwise than by the Great and General Court of the Province according to the Constitution of this government. We also recommend a clear, explicit and spirited assertion and vindication of our rights and liberties as Inlierent in our very natures, and confirmed to us by charter.
Timothy Stevens
Ebenezer Newell
Eleazer Weld
AHC Note — The Massachusetts General Assembly protested the Stamp Act by helping organize the Stamp Act Congress. It also issued the Massachusetts Stamp Act Resolves on October 29, 1765.
Townshend Acts Crisis
One of the most important results of the agitation, caused by the laying of duties upon glass, paper, painters’ colors, and tea, in 1767, was the resolution to stop importation, and at the same time to create and develop domestic manufactures. Undoubtedly this policy had its rise in the idea of enforcing a hearing for the protests of America, rather than in that farseeing statesmanship that prescribes such a course upon its own merits, and it soon became general throughout the colonies.
AHC Note — The Townshend Acts were a series of acts passed by the British Parliament in 1767 and 1768. Colonial resistance led to Parliament sending troops to Boston in 1768.
Townshend Acts Non-Importation Agreement
At a town meeting held Dec. 7, 1 767, of which Joseph Williams was moderator, it was resolved, that —
“This town will take all proper and Legall measures to encourage the produce and manufactures of this Province, and to lessen the use of superfluities Imported from abroad, viz, Loaf sugar, mustard, starch, malt liquors, cheese, limes, lemons. Tea of all sorts, snuffs, Glew, cheney ware, Pewterers Hollow ware, all sorts of millinery ware, stays, Hatts, ready made apparell of all sorts, Gloves, shoes. Broadcloths, that cost more than ten shillings per yard. Muffs, fUrs, and tippets, Lace of all sorts, sole leather, jewelers ware, Gold and silver Buttons and Plate, silk Velvets, cambricks, silks, Linseed oyle, cordage, anchors, coaches and carriages, House furniture, nails, clocks and watches, fire engines &c. Provided that Boston and the neighboring towns will come into it And as it is the opinion of this town that divers new manufactures may be set up in America to its great advantage, and some others carried to a greater extent, therefore voted that this town will by all prudent ways and means, encourage the use and consumption of gloss and paper made in the Colonies of America, and more especially in this Province, and also of Linnen and woolen cloths.”
The committee to procure subscriptions to this document were William Bowdoin, Col. Joseph Williams, Capt. Eleazer Williams, Deacon Samuel Gridley, Eleazer Weld, Henry Williams, and Capt. Joseph Mayo.
AHC Note — Boston merchants agreed to the Boston Non-Importation Agreement on August 1, 1768. The agreement protested the Townshend Acts and established a trade boycott against British goods and products.
Violations of the Non-Importation Agreement
At a subsequent meeting for the purpose of “strengthening the hands of the merchants in their Non-importation Agreement,” the names of those who continued to import contrary to its tenor were read, and it was —
“Voted, That we do with the utmost abhorrence and detestation, view the little, mean and sordid conduct of a few traders in this Province who have and still do Import British Goods contrary to said agreement regardless of, and deaf to, the miseries and calamities which threaten this people.
Voted, That to the end the Generation yet unborn may Know who they were that laughed at the distress and calamities of this people; and instead of striving to save their country when in imminent danger, did strive to render ineffectual a virtuous and commendable plan, the names of these importers shall be annually read at March meeting.”
AHC Note — William Dawes, a member of the Sons of Liberty, was an early supporter of non-importation. He married Mehitable May on May 3, 1768, and wore a suit that was made entirely in North America. Dawes was one of the men who signed the Boston Non-Importation Agreement. Dawes is most famous for his involvement in the Midnight Ride to spread the Lexington Alarm.
Massachusetts Circular Letter
On May 26, 1769, Roxbury recommended a correspondence between the House of Representatives in Massachusetts and the assemblies of other provinces.
Samuel Gridley was chosen moderator, and the report of the committee on instructions, acted upon sentence by sentence, was published in the Boston papers.
These instructions, ten in number, direct their representative, Col. Joseph Williams, to “proceed in a cool, calm, and steady manner,” omitting no opportunity to express their loyalty to their “gracious sovereign,” and to strive to the utmost of his power “to cultivate and maintain a good harmony and union between Great Britain and its colonies;” to maintain their “invaluable charter rights;” to strive to presence the honor and dignity of the assembly; to inquire “why the King’s troops have been quartered in the body of the metropolis of the Province while the barracks provided heretofore have remained in a manner useless,” and not to comply with any requisition for payment therefor; to inquire why criminals have not been prosecuted and punished, and declare, with respect to the revenue acts, that instead of being reconciled to them, “we daily find them more and more burthensome; and when we view the trade and commerce of the Province under a very sensible decay and loaded with embarrassments, and the little circulating cash we have lefl daily draining from us, and the revenue officers, like the horse-leech, crying ‘give! give!’ our groans and complaints are increased, you will, therefore, by every constitutional method, strive to obtain a repeal of those acts.”
The remaining instructions relate to the encouragement of arts and manufactures within the Province; the removal of any unfavorable impressions respecting this Province from the minds of the British ministry caused by misrepresentations sent from hence; the cultivation of harmony and correspondence between the representative body of this Province and those of the sister colonies; and, finally, they enjoin frugality with respect to grants of the public moneys, “the load of debt remaining on the Province,” and the great scarcity of cash say they, “is a loud call to this.
Aaron Davis
Captain William Heath
Captain Joseph Mayo
Eleazer Weld
Lieutenant Nathaniel Ruggles
— Committee”
AHC Note — The Massachusetts Circular Letter was written primarily by Samuel Adams in opposition to the Townshend Acts and “Taxation Without Representation.” The letter helped coordinate colonial opposition to the Townshend Acts. Although it increased tension with Great Britain, it also contributed to the growing sense of unity between the American Colonies, laying the foundation for the establishment of Committees of Correspondence and the First Continental Congress.
Aftermath of the Boston Massacre
Three days after the “Massacre,” as the affray between the soldiers and the populace in King Street, Boston, was called, a committee, chosen at a full town meeting, consisting of Col. Joseph Willams, Eleazer Weld, John Williams, Jr., John Child, Nathaniel Ruggles, Capt. William Heath, and Major William Thompson, waited on Lieut.-Gov. Hutchinson with a petition of the inhabitants of Roxbury, praying for the removal of all the troops out of the town “immediately.”
The petitioners say that —
“Having often heard, and many of us seen, with pity and concern, the very great inconveniences and sufferings of our fellow subjects and countrymen, the inhabitants of the town of Boston, occasioned by several regiments of the King’s troops being quartered in the body of that town for many months past; in a peculiar manner we desire to express our astonishment, grief, and indignation at the horrid and barbarous action committed there last Monday evening by a party of those troops, by firing with small arms in the most wanton, cruel, and cowardly manner, upon a number of unarmed inhabitants of said town, whereby four of his Majesty’s liege subjects have lost their lives, two others are supposed to be mortally wounded, and several besides badly wounded and suffering great pain and distress; and the town still alarmed and threatened with farther and greater mischief.”
Hutchinson, on the same day, returned the following answer —
“Gentlemen:
I have no authority to order the King’s Troops from any place where they are posted by His Majesty’s order, or the order of the Commander in Chief of the forces here. Everything that is in my power to do with respect to any alteration of the place of quartering these troops has already been done by me in pursuance of the unanimous advice of His Majesty’s Council.
T. Hutchinson”
AHC Note — The reply from Thomas Hutchinson is dated March 8, 1770, three days after the Boston Massacre.
On the firm demand of Samuel Adams, the troops were removed and quiet was restored. Copley’s fine picture of the stern old patriot represents him when confronting Hutchinson with the memorable declaration that “Nothing short of the total evacuation of the town, by all the regular troops, will satisfy the public mind and preserve the peace of the Province.”
The bells of Roxbury were tolled in honor of the victims, whose memorial took place on the same day the petition was presented.
Colonial Officials to Receive Salaries from the Crown
On Nov. 16, 1772, at a meeting held to consider “the late alarming report that the judges were to receive their salaries direct from the Crown,” Capt. William Heath was chosen moderator, and a committee, consisting of Col. Joseph Williams, Isaac Winslow, Major Joseph Mayo, Major Nathaniel Ruggles, and William Bowdoin, were desired to report thereon and to draw up instructions for their representative, Capt. William Heath.
The committee, in their report, presented on Nov. 23, instructed Representative Heath to propose an act appropriating a sufficient fund to support the judges and render them independent of the Crown as far as possible, provided their commissions were during good behavior, and that they might be removed on application to the two Houses.
A letter from the town of Boston, requesting a free communication of sentiments “on our common danger,” was then considered, and Isaac Winslow, Major Joseph Mayo, William Bowdoin, Capt. Aaron Davis, Capt. William Heath, David Weld, Dea. Samuel Gridley, Noah Perrin, and Nathaniel Patten were chosen a committee to consider and report thereon.
The report of this committee to the “freeholders and other inhabitants” of the town, on Dec. 14, in the language of the record, “made great uneasiness in the meeting, and very difficult to understand the true state of the vote, and numbers of the inhabitants withdrew from the meeting, after which said report and letter of correspondence were read over again and accepted.”
In this document, which is not upon record, the committee observed that the papers in question contain nothing new, saving the following, viz.,
“The probability from the best intelligence they have been able to obtain that the Judges of the Superior Court, the King’s attorney, and the Solicitor General, are to receive their support from the revenues of America.”
Inasmuch, therefore, as the town of Roxbury had already instructed its representative in this particular, they believe that nothing more should be done. Their report, probably drawn up by the chairman, Isaac Winslow, Esq., whose conservative views finally led him to cast in his lot with the loyalists, is signed by all the committee except Capt. William Heath, William Bowdoin, and Nathaniel Patten.
The Boston Gazette gave full particulars of this stormy meeting, at which the conservative element in the town made a strenuous and well-nigh successful effort to check the popular movement.
It appears that after several unsuccessful attempts to ascertain the vote, the House was divided, and a majority rejected the report of the committee, whereupon those gentlemen and their friends withdrew.
Moderator Heath then read the minority report, prepared by himself, which was accepted, and which appeared in full in the Boston papers of the day.
In this document, the committee declared the rights of the colonists to be fully supported and warranted by the laws of God and nature, the New Testament, and the charter of the Province. “Our pious forefathers,” said they, “died with the pleasing hope that we, their children, should live free; let none, as they would answer it another day, disturb the ashes of those heroes by selling their birthright.”
After a recital of grievances, they proceeded to declare in their resolves that they “view these infringements and innovations as insupportable burdens to which they cannot submit,” and express “a grief of heart” that the prayer of the petition of Boston to the governor to permit the General Assembly to come together at the time to which it then stood prorogued was not granted.
They also thanked the town of Boston for the “great readiness and care discovered by them to do all that in them lies, to preserve the rights, liberties, and privileges of the people inviolate.”
A committee of correspondence was then chosen, consisting of Capt. William Heath, Nathaniel Patten, Nathaniel Felton, Samuel Sumner, Ebenezer Dorr, David Weld, and Capt. Ebenezer Whiting.
AHC Note — The Massachusetts Circular Letter explained the objections Boston and other towns had over the plan to play the salaries of colonial officials with revenue raised by the Townshend Revenue Act.
Tea Crisis
A new occasion was offered to the citizens of Roxbury for the expression of their patriotic sentiments by the scheme of the British ministry to raise revenue in the American Colonies by permitting the East India Company to send their tea free of duty.
It was at once seen that not only was this an odious monopoly of trade, but that it was calculated to circumvent the Americans into compliance with the revenue law and to thereby open the door to unlimited taxation.
Several of the young men of Roxbury were members of the famous “Tea Party,” and lent a hand in making a “teapot” of Boston Harbor on the evening of Dec. 16, 1773.
Committees from the towns of Roxbury Dorchester, Brookline, and Cambridge met with that of Boston, in Faneuil Hall, on Nov. 22, 1773, and were unanimous in opposition to the sale or landing of the obnoxious herb.
At a meeting held on Dec. 3, 1773, to consider this subject, the town, after voting to pass over in silence the patrolling of soldiers “about the streets of this town, with their arms, equipt in a warlike posture,” chose Capt. William Heath, Col. Joseph Williams, Aaron Davis, Major Nathaniel Ruggles. and Major Mayo a committee to draw up resolutions suitable to the occasion.
In these the committee found reason to apprehend that the Tea Act was designed to “take in the unwary” and resolve:
- that “the disposal of our own property is the inherent right of free men; that there can be no property in that which another can of right take from us without our consent; that the claim of Parliament to tax America is, in other words, a claim of right to levy contributions on us at pleasure;”
- that the purpose for which the tax is laid, namely, for the support of government, the administration of justice, and the defence of America, has a direct tendency to render assemblies useless, and to introduce arbitrary government and slavery;
- that “a virtuous and steady opposition to this plan of governing America is absolutely necessary to preserve even the shadow of liberty, and is a duty every freeman owes to his country;”
- that this plan is a violent attack upon the liberties of America; that whoever shall aid or abet in unloading, receiving, or vending the tea is an enemy to America; and that those who refuse to resign their appointments to receive and sell said tea “discover a temper inimical to the rights, liberties, and prosperity of America, and that in such light they will be viewed by this town, from whom they may not expect the least protection.”
Finally, they declared —
“That this town look upon themselves as in Duty Bound to themselves and Posterity to Stand fast in that Liberty wherewith the Supreme Being hath made them Free, and that they will readily Join with the Town of Boston, and other Sister Towns, in Such Constitutional Measures, as shall be Judged proper, to preserve and hand down to Posterity Inviolate those Inestimable Rights and Liberties handed down to us under Providence by our worthy Ancestors.”
AHC Note — The Boston Tea Party was a political protest on the night of December 16, 1773, at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. A mob organized by the Sons of Liberty raided three ships and threw all of the tea they were carrying into Boston Harbor. Parliament responded to the incident by passing the Intolerable Acts.
Intolerable Acts
As a consequence of the destruction of the tea in her harbor, Boston was singled out for the vengeance of the government. Her port was closed on June 1, 1774; Gage, the royal governor, fortified the Neck between Boston and Roxbury, and other measures were taken by both parties calculated to precipitate a conflict.
AHC Note — The Intolerable Acts, also known as the Coercive Acts, were five laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774. Four of the acts punished Boston and Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party. The Colonies responded by organizing the First Continental Congress.
Massachusetts Provincial Congress
A Continental Congress had been called, and a Provincial Congress was to be convened at Concord on Oct. 5, 1774.
To this body, Roxbury on Sept. 28, sent Capt. William Heath and Aaron Davis, giving them for their guidance the instructions voted by the town of Boston to its delegates, which, among other things, enjoined upon them “to act upon such matters as may come before you in such a manner as shall appear to you most conducive to the true interests of this town and Province, and most likely to procure the liberties of all America.”
These same delegates were re-elected to the second Provincial Congress, held in February following.
Continental Association
On Dec. 26, after choosing a committee of fifteen persons, viz., Moses Davis, Daniel Brown, Major Nathaniel Ruggles, Lieut. Robert Pierpont, Caleb Hayward, Ebenezer Dorr, John Williams, Ensign Joshua Felton, Lieut. John Greaton, Stephen Williams, tanner, Lieut. Jeremiah Parker, Major Ebenezer Whiting, Deacon David Weld, Col. William Heath, and Eleazer Weld, to “carry into execution the agreement and association of the late Continental Congress.”
AHC Note — The First Continental Congress created the Continental Association to enforce the Articles of Association — a trade boycott against British merchants.
Roxbury Minutemen
The town took the important step of adopting and encouraging its Minutemen by passing the following votes —
- To know if this Town will grant any Sum of Money for the Encouragement of one Quarter part of the Militia in this Town in order to their Perfecting themselves in Military Discipline, agreeable to the Recommendation of the Provincial Congress.
- To Encourage one quarter part of the Militia Minutemen, so cal’d.
- Then Voted that they hold themselves in Readiness at a Minutes Warning, compleat in Arms and Ammunition; that is to say a good and Sufficient Firelock, Baynot, thirty Rounds of Powder and Ball, Pouch and Napsack.
- Voted that these Minutemen meet and Exercise twice a week three Hours Each time.
- Then Voted to allow Each Person one Shilling Lawful Money for every three Hours Duty.
- Voted that their be a fine laid on them the said Mlnutemen in case they do not appear at time and place as Prefixt by the Commanding Officer.
- Then Voted that the fine be one Shilling Lawful Money for their non appearance unless they have an Excuse which shall be Satisfactory to their Commanding Officers.
- Voted to choose a Committee to Draw up the Articles of Inlistment for the said Company of Minutemen.
- Then Voted and chose a commlttee of three Persons, viz — Col. William Heath, Capt. Joseph Williams, Lieut. Robert Pierpont.
- Voted that the Commanding Officer of the said Minute Company order that a fair account be kept of the attendance of those Persons, after having Inllsted, that the said account may be brought before the Town when cal’d for.
At the meetings held on March 6 and 20, 1775, further action was taken on this subject. The companies were reorganized so that there was one in each parish, the pay of the men was increased to sixpence per hour, and the fine for non-attendance increased to two shillings. One hundred pounds was appropriated for their pay.
The First Minutemen in America
In a letter to Hon. Harrison Gray Otis, dated “Roxbury, April 21, 1798,” General Heath says, “The first company of minute-men raised in America in 1775 preparatory to the defence of their invaluable rights and liberties, was raised in this town, and that company, with others, distinguished itself in the Battle of Lexington on the 19th of April, 1775.”
The Boston Gazette of Nov. 28, 1774, tells us that “At a meeting in Roxbury last week for choice of military officers for the first parish, Rev. Mr. Adams opened the meeting with prayer, after which he was chosen moderator. The officers chosen were —
- Capt. Joseph Heath, Captain
- John Greaton, Lieutenant
- Joshua Felton, Ensign
And at another meeting since, for another company, there were chosen, — “
- Aaron Davis, Captain
- Robert Pierpont, Lieutenant
- Nathaniel Felton, Ensign
- Capt. Joseph Williams, Sergeant
Roxbury on Alert
Aggressive military operations having been begun by Gen. Gage, in the expedition to Salem, for the seizure of cannon belonging to the Province, early in March 1775, couriers were stationed by the Americans at Roxbury, Charlestown, and Cambridge, the three avenues from Boston, to alarm the country should the attempt be made to destroy the military stores that were being collected by them at Concord. The wisdom of this step was soon apparent.
The Battles of Lexington and Concord
Three companies of Roxbury Minutemen, commanded respectively by Moses Whiting, William Draper, and Lemuel Child, responded to their country’s call on the 19th of April and did good service on that memorable occasion.
Their lieutenants were Jacob Davis, Moses Draper, Thomas Mayo, John Davis, Lemuel May, and Isaac Williams.
William Heath, Joseph Warren, and John Greaton were actively occupied during the day in assembling the scattered guerilla parties of Minutemen and posting them advantageously, the former, on account of his rank, exercising command, or so much of it as the impromptu nature of the affair would admit of.
- Moses Whiting’s company afterward made part of Heath’s Regiment, and then of Greaton’s, serving throughout the campaigns of 1775 and 1776.
- Moses Draper led a company of Gardner’s Middlesex regiment at Bunker’s Hill.
- Edward Gayson Williams, a corporal in Capt. Child’s Company, afterwards commanded a cornpany in Greaton’s Regiment, and died in the service in 1777.
- Samuel Foster, first lieutenant to Edward Gayson Williams, also became a captain in Greaton’s, with Jonathan Dorr as his second lieutenant.
Other Roxbury men who held commissions in the army were:
- William Wyman, a captain in Patterson’s Regiment during the Siege of Boston, and who died in Roxbury on March 3, 1820, aged eighty-one.
- Samuel Mellish, lieutenant and quartermaster in Greaton’s Regiment.
- Robert Williams, lieutenant and paymaster of Henry Jackson’s Regiment, the father of Mrs. Walter Baker, of Dorchester, and grandfather of Alexander Williams, of the “Old Corner Bookstore” of Boston.
Siege of Boston
As the principal events of the ensuing siege are elsewhere related, only such matters will be here introduced as are unconnected with Roxbury localities.
Boston was so closely invested that the British army could supply itself with fresh meat, straw, or fodder only from the islands in the Liarbor. This brought on several skirmishes, in which the Americans, besides being initiated in warfare, were generally successful.
The Provision War in Boston Harbor
The first one occurred on the morning of May 21, at Grape Island, where the British attempted, to carry off a quantity of hay, but were driven off by the people of Weymouth and the adjacent towns, aided by three companies detached from Roxbury by Gen. John Thomas. Joseph Warren was present on this occasion, and the hay, the object of the expedition, was burned by the Americans.
Warren was again present at a similar affair on the 27th, at Noddle’s Island (East Boston), where the British were again defeated with loss.
On May 31 it was ordered that the stock taken from Noddle’s Island belonging to Henry Howell Williams, be delivered to his father, Col. Joseph Williams, of Roxbury, for the use of his son.
On the night of June 2, Col. Greaton commanded a party which took off about eight hundred sheep and lambs from Deer Island, together with a number of cattle, also a barge belonging to one of the men-of-war, with some prisoners.
These successes so encouraged the people that they stripped every island between Chelsea and Point Alderton of forage and cattle, and the lighthouse at the entrance of the harbor was burnt down.
American Forces at Roxbury
The forces under Gen. John Thomas at Roxbury, early in June, consisted of:
- the regiments of Thomas, Learned, Fellows, Cotton, Walker, Read, Danielson, Brewer, and Robinson, of Massachusetts, numbering four thousand;
- Gen. John Spencer’s Connecticut troops, containing the regiments of Spencer, Parsons, and Huntington;
- those of Rhode Island, under Gen. Nathanael Greene, stationed at Jamaica Plain (Varnum’s, Hitchcock’s, and Miller’s regiments), and
- three or four artillery companies with field pieces and a few heavy cannons.
Battle of Bunker Hill
On the 13th of June, authentic advice was given to the American commanders that the night of June 18 had been fixed upon by Gen. Gage to take possession of Dorchester Heights.
To counteract this move of the enemy, the Americans, on the night of the I6th, fortified Breed’s Hill and brought on the battle of the 17th of June.
The success of the British on this occasion was so dearly purchased as to prevent the accomplishment of their original object.
Greene declared that the Americans would like to sell them another hill at the same price.
But glorious as was the result to America, it was purchased at the sacrifice of one of her noblest sons, the sagacious, fearless patriot, Joseph Warren.
The Siege of Boston Ends
At the expiration of the siege, a portion of the army was sent to Canada, and the remainder to New York, the scene of operations of the following campaign. The citizens of Roxbury returned to the homes they had abandoned to the army, and the town resumed its wonted peaceful appearance. Some of the barracks were subsequently occupied as the rendezvous of recruits for the regiments of Colonels Greaton, Bailey, and others.
Loyalist Property
On May 23, 1775, the town instructed the selectmen to “take care of the estates of those gentlemen that have left them and gone into Boston.”
The loyalists of Roxbury were, without exception, men of high character and influence, most of whom abandoned valuable estates for the sake of principle.
Their houses and lands were leased by the selectmen until the passage of the Confiscation Act of 1779 made them the property of the State, for whose benefit they were eventually sold.
Support for Independence
On May 22, 1776, the town Instructed her representatives, Dr. Jonathan Davies, Aaron Davis, and Increase Sumner, that “if the Honorable Congress should, for the safety of the said colonies, declare them independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, they, the said inhabitants, will solemnly engage with their lives and fortunes to support them in the measure.”
Massachusetts Constitution
A year later, Roxbury instructed its representatives to favor the adoption of a constitution for the State, but it was not until May 1780, that it was accepted by the town.
Harassment of Loyalists
Toryism, which had been so effectually repressed two years before, again began to show itself. Pierce’s diary, under the date of April 19, 1777, says, “There were five tories carted out of Boston, and tip’t up in Roxbury. They were ordered never to return to Boston upon pain of death.”
Soon afterwards the town chose Samuel Williams, “agreable to an act of the General Court, to procure evidence of the inimical dispositions of any persons in the town, and to lay such evidence before a court appointed for the tryal of such persons.”
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation of the Thirteen United Colonies were adopted by the town on Jan. 30, 1778.
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 Roxbury, 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.
