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CHAPTER IV

BELFRY ECHOES CONTINUED. -- JOHN PARKER'S STORY, JOSHUA SIMONDS'S STORY

      NOT only were the old belfry's rude walls scarred by the bullets of the enemy, but its owner of later years was active on that eventful morning, and there rehearsed what he experienced, and what his brave father suffered, in all the trying scenes of the "bloody butchery."
      Here Eli learned his own grandfather's story of the capture of the first prisoner of war, and of the first trophy of that day's victory.
      To him and to others of the belfry's listeners, it mattered not how much great men contended for the honor of April 19, 1775, they were contented with the narratives told, without thought of preservation, and from lips that paled before the carnage about the very house in which they loved to linger, and which the sentiments of their later descendants have prompted them to return to its proper place.

JOHN PARKER'S STORY.

      At two o'clock, my father (Captain John Parker) ordered the roll of his company to be called,

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[Photo - "Buckman Tavern, Lexington"]

and gave orders for each man to load his gun with powder and ball. After being some time on parade, one of the messengers, who had been sent towards Boston, returned, reporting no evidence of the approach of the regulars. This led to the conclusion that the whole movement was another scheme of Gage's to alarm the people; and, the evening being cool, the company was dismissed, with orders to report again at the beat of the arum. Some went to their homes near by, but more gathered in Buckman's Tavern. Messengers were frequently sent in order to prevent a surprise. It was Thaddeus Bowman, the last one sent out, who returned with the certain intelligence of the approach of the king's troops; others, who preceded him as detectives, had been captured, and he had a narrow escape. It was about half-past four o'clock when my father ordered the alarm-gun to be fired, and the drum to beat to arms.[1]
      Sergeant William Munroe formed the company in two ranks, a few rods north of the meetinghouse. Father ordered the men not to fire unless fired upon. The minute-men's drum was the first heard that morning by the British soldiers ; for they had made a silent march, in hopes to catch


[1] The drum is said to have been a gift from John Hancock. A portion of the head is now seen in the Lexington historical collection; on it is to be seen a representation of a portion of the Hancock arms.

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the people napping. It was evidently taken by the British officers as a challenge. They halted, primed, and loaded, and then moved forward in double-quick time upon our men as they were forming. Some began to falter, when father commanded every man to stand his ground till he should order him to leave it, saying he would have the first man shot down who should attempt to leave his place. Then came the rush, and the shout of Major Pitcairn, "Disperse, ye rebels; lay down your arms and disperse!" Our men did not obey; and Gage repeated his order with an oath, rushed forward, discharged his pistol, and gave orders to his men to fire. A few guns were discharged; but no injury being done, our men supposed the enemy were firing only powder, and they did not return the fire. The next volley fired by the British took effect, and our men returned it. When father saw his men fall, and the rush of the enemy from both sides of the meetinghouse, as if to capture them all, he gave the order to disperse. The British continued firing, and our men returned the fire after leaving the field. Ebenezer Munroe first discovered that balls had been fired by the enemy, for he received a wound in his arm. In return for this he discharged his gun, and received two balls from the British, one grazed his cheek, and the other just marked his clothing.
      John Munroe did well, but loading with two balls, lost a part of the muzzle of his gun.

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[Photo - "Jonathan Harrington House, Lexington"]

      William Tidd, first lieutenant in our company, did well. When pursued by an officer, thought to have been Pitcairn himself, who cried out to him, "Stop, or you are a dead man," he sprang over a pair of bars, made a stand and fired, and thus escaped. John Tidd fared hard. He stayed too long on the Common, and was struck down with a cutlass by a British officer on horseback. He was robbed of all his belongings and left for dead; but John lived a good many years after that day. Poor Jonas Parker! how my father mourned over him! He had always said he'd never run from an enemy. He kept his word. Having loaded his musket, he put his hat, in which was his ammunition, on the ground between his feet, ready to load again. He was wounded at the enemy's second fire, and sank upon his knees; he then discharged his gun, and while loading again was run through by a bayonet thrust which finished him. My father could hardly keep back the tears when telling of Isaac Muzzy, Robert Munroe, and Jonathan Harrington, who were killed on the Common when the company was paraded. 'Twas strange that Ensign Robert should have served in the French war, been standard-bearer at the capture of Louisburg, and then been of the first to fall by the bullets of the king's army. Poor Harrington fell in front of his own house. His wife at the window saw him fall, and then start up, the blood gushing from his wounds. He stretched out his

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arms, as for aid, and after another effort fell dead at his own threshold. Samuel Hadley and John Brown were killed after leaving the Common. Asahel Porter was a Woburn man; but falling here, we felt as though he was one of our own men. He was not armed, having been captured in the morning by the British on their approach to Lexington, and in trying to make his escape was shot down near the Common. Jedediah Munroe received a double share. He was not only wounded in the morning, but was killed in the afternoon. Others who were wounded were John Robbins, Solomon Pierce, Thomas Winship, Nathaniel Farmer, and Francis Brown.

      "That's well done, John," cried a chorus of attentive listeners; "you had your eyes and ears open as well in your boyhood."
      "You've missed those men who were in the meeting-house after powder," said Mr. Simonds.
      "Sure enough," replied the mechanic, giving his workbench a thump with his huge mallet. "It's your turn now, Simonds; 'twas your father that dealt out the powder, and you may finish the story."

JOSHUA SIMONDS'S STORY.

THE FIRST PRISONER, AND FIRST TROPHY OF THE WAR.

      I was in charge of the town's stock of ammunition on the eventful morning. The magazine was

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the upper gallery of the meeting-house, and in the discharge of my duties I was there filling the powder-horns of my comrades when the regulars came into the town.
      As fast as the horns were filled, their owners made haste down the stairs, and out to the line of the company for action. Of the last two who left the house, one, Caleb Harrington, was detected and killed, while the other, Joseph Comee, running in the midst of a shower of bullets, was struck in the arm, but reached a dwelling-house, and passing through it made a safe retreat.
      I was left in the meeting-house with one associate, when, as it appeared, the truth flashed upon the British commander, and he determined to see what was in the house.
      We heard the order, "Clear that house!" My associate glancing out saw the situation, and said, "We are all surrounded!" He then hid in the opposite gallery.
      We heard the order, "Right about face!" I then determined to blow up the house and go with it rather than fall into the hands of the enemy. I cocked my gun already loaded, placed the muzzle upon the open cask of powder, and waited for their course to determine their fate and mine as well. With my heart throbbing to bursting, I heard the tramp, tramp, tramp, as the soldiers came up the steps, and the words of the commander, as his head rose above the casement,

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"Are there any more rebels in this house?" Tramp, tramp--they came nearer and nearer, then the word, "Halt," brought all to a stand. After an instant's pause, when the regulars, the meeting-house, myself, and comrade, were within a hair's breadth of destruction, the order was given, "Right about, march!" and they left the house.
      I looked from the window, and saw the enemy form in line, and start on towards Concord; while there lay on the Common my dead neighbors, but no sign of a living comrade outside.
      As soon as practicable we left the house, and in consternation went out upon the field. I soon espied a straggler from the regular army, who seemed to be somewhat indifferent to the whole situation.
      He made no attempt to escape, and I took him into my custody. He was an Irishman, fully six feet in height, and manifested but little interest in the morning excursion. To my inquiry as to his delay, I found he had been overcome with liquor, lingered behind, and lost his companions. I took him to a place of safe keeping, away from the possible line of march of the army when they should return. He was thus the first prisoner captured on that day.
      His musket, a good specimen of the king's arms, I also took, appropriated to my own use, and at the close of that day turned it over to

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Captain Parker as public property. I was not able to ascertain the remainder of the man's ex. perience, but the gun is of interest to all.
      The first trophy of the war was held by Captain Parker until his death in the autumn of that year, when it became the property of his son John, the mechanic; and it occupied a position over the door of the dwelling-house of the Parker homestead.
      The gun now became in a peculiar manner a piece of common property with the Parker and Simonds families.
      At the settlement of the estate of Captain Parker I bought a portion of the homestead, and my family occupied a part of the house. Large families of children had some things in common, one being the old musket.[1]

      The story of Joshua Simonds's experience told by his son William met with the approval of the belfry listeners, inasmuch as it accounted for the men omitted by John Parker, and made clear some things about which there was a little disagreement.
      In resuming, Mr. Eli Simonds said, "When


[1] Mr. Sylvanus Wood of Woburn claimed the honor of capturing the first prisoner. The discrepancy may be accounted for by the two incidents occurring at different places. Some twenty years after the death of Mr. Simonds, a claim was made for a pension by Mr. Wood, and obtained by aid of Hon. Edward Everett, then representative in Congress for the district of Middlesex.

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bent on a squirrel-hunt I went to the belfry shop and asked permission of John Parker to take the old musket. Realizing that it was my grandfather who captured it, and his grandfather who held it, he would playfully say when handing it down to me, 'You may take our gun.'
      "Among my associates and playfellows was Theodore Parker, son of the mechanic of the belfry. To his possession in later years the musket came; and through a, provision of his last will, that musket of history found its way to the Senate Chamber of the State of Massachusetts."

INSCRIPTION ON LEXINGTON MONUMENT

SACRED TO LIBERTY AND THE RIGHTS OF MANKIND!!!
THE FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE OF AMERICA,
SEALED AND DEFENDED WITH THE BLOOD OF HER SONS.

THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED
By THE INHABITANTS OF LEXINGTON,
UNDER THE PATRONAGE AND AT THE EXPENSE OF
THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,
To THE MEMORY OF THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS,
ENSIGN ROBERT MUNROE, AND MESSRS. JONAS PARKER,
SAMUEL HADLEY, JONATHAN HARRINGTON, JR.,
ISAAC MUZZY, CALEB HARRINGTON AND JOHN BROWN,
OF LEXINGTON AND ASAHEL PORTER, OF WOBURN,
WHO FELL ON THIS FIELD, THE FIRST VICTIMS TO THE
SWORD OF BRITISH TYRANNY AND OPPRESSION
ON THE MORNING OF THE EVER MEMORABLE
NINETEENTH OF APRIL, AN. DOM. 1775,
THE DIE WAS CAST!!!
THE BLOOD OF THESE MARTYRS
IN THE CAUSE OF GOD AND THEIR COUNTRY
WAS THE CEMENT OF THE UNION OF THESE STATES, THEN
COLONIES, AND GAVE THE SPRING TO THE SPIRIT, FIRMNESS,
AND RESOLUTION OF THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS.
THEY ROSE AS ONE MAN TO REVENGE THEIR BRETHREN'S
BLOOD, AND AT THE POINT OF THE SWORD, TO ASSERT AND
DEFEND THEIR NATIVE RIGHTS.
THEY NOBLY DAR'D TO BE FREE!!
THE CONTEST WAS LONG, BLOODY AND AFFECTING.
RIGHTEOUS HEAVEN APPROVED THE SOLEMN APPEAL,
VICTORY CROWNED THEIR ARMS; AND
THE PEACE, LIBERTY, AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA WAS THEIR GLORIOUS REWARD.

[Photo - "Battle Monument, Lexington"]

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