Daughters of the Revolution and Their Times

by Charles Carleton Coffin

  XV.

  THE MIDNIGHT RIDE.

  Abel Shrimpton, loyal to the king, hated Samuel Adams and John Hancockand the Sons of Liberty, holding them responsible for the troublesthat had come to the people. In Mr. Shrimpton's attractive home, madebeautiful by the presence of his daughter, Tom Brandon had been awelcome visitor, but the relations between Mr. Shrimpton and Tom werechanging.

  "The Regulation Act," said Tom, "which in fact makes the king thegovernment, deprives the people of their liberties."

  "People who abuse their liberties ought to be deprived of them," Mr.Shrimpton replied.

  "We are not allowed to select jurors. The law takes away our right toassemble in town meeting, except by permission, and then we can onlyelect selectmen to look after town affairs," said Tom.

  "The people have shown they are not fit to govern themselves," saidMr. Shrimpton. "They allow the mob to run riot. It was a mob thatsmashed Chief Justice Hutchinson's windows. Your gatherings under theLiberty Tree are in reality nothing but mobs; you have no legalauthority for assembling. It was a mob that assaulted the king'stroops on the 5th of March; a mob threw the tea into the harbor, andI strongly suspect that Tom Brandon had a hand in that iniquity. Theking stands for law and order. The troops are here in the interest ofgood government, by constituted authority, to enforce the law and putdown riots."

  "Just who had a hand in throwing the tea overboard no one can findout, but I am glad it was done," said Tom.

  "So you uphold lawlessness, Mr. Brandon?"

  "I stand against the unrighteous acts of Parliament. We will not beslaves; we will not be deprived of our liberties. If King George andLord North think they can starve the people of this town intosubmission, they will find themselves mistaken," said Tom.

  "I hope he will compel every one of you to obey the laws, and thatwhoever had a hand in destroying the tea will suffer for it," Mr.Shrimpton replied.

  Tom saw the smile fade from the countenance of Mary as she listened tothe conversation. Her quick insight, and acquaintance with herfather's surly temper, enabled her to see what was withholden fromTom's slower perception.

  "Mary," said Mr. Shrimpton, after Tom took his departure, "I want youto stop having anything to do with Tom."

  "Why, father?"

  "Because I don't like him."

  "But I do like him."

  "No matter. He's an enemy to the king. I have good reason to believehe had a hand in throwing the tea overboard. If he did, he is nobetter than a thief. He willfully, wantonly, and with maliceaforethought stole the property of others from the holds of the ships,and destroyed it. It was burglary--breaking and entering. It was amalicious destruction of property of the East India Company. It was aheinous affair--not mere larceny to be punished by standing in thepillory, or sitting in the stocks, or tied up to the whipping-post andflogged, but an offense which, if it could be proved, would send everyone of the marauders to jail for ten or twenty years. Now I don't wantthe name of Shrimpton mixed up with that of Brandon. So you can cutTom adrift."

  "But, father"--

  "I don't want any buts. You will do as I tell you if you know what isgood for yourself."

  "Have you not, father, said in the past that he was an estimable youngman?"

  "But he is not estimable now. He meets others in secret to plotmischief. I have had spies on his track. He is a lawbreaker, amischief-maker, and sooner or later will be in jail, and possibly maybe brought to the gallows. Now, once for all, I tell you I will nothave him coming here."

  Mr. Shrimpton said it with a flushed face, setting his teeth firmlytogether as he rose from his chair.

  "Very well, father," said Mary, wiping the tears from her eyes.

  She knew how irascible he was at times,--how he allowed his anger tomaster reason, and hoped it might pass away. Through the night thewords were repeating themselves. What course should she pursue? Giveup Tom? What if he did help destroy the tea; was it not a righteousprotest against the tyranny of the king and Parliament? He did not doit as an individual, but as a member of the community; it was the onlycourse for them to pursue. Tom was not therefore a thief at heart. Washe not kind-hearted? Was he not giving his time and strength torelieve suffering? Had he not just as much right to stand resolutelyfor the liberties of the people as her father for the prerogatives ofthe king? Must she stop seeing him to please her father? It would notbe pleasant to have Tom call upon her, and have her father shut thedoor in his face; that would be an indignity. Should she withdraw herengagement? Should she plunge a knife into her own heart to please herfather? Never. Come what would, she would be true to Tom. She wouldnot anger her father by inviting Tom to continue his visits, but therewere the elms of Long Acre, Beacon Hill, the market, and other places,where from time to time they might meet for a few moments. True lovecould wait for better days.

  There came a morning when the people saw a handbill posted upon thewalls which said that the men who were misleading the people werebankrupt in purse and character. Tom Brandon's blood was at fever heatas he read the closing words:--

  "Ask pardon of God, submit to our king and Parliament, whom we have wickedly and grievously offended. Let us seize our seducers, make peace with our mother country, and save ourselves and children."

  He knew that the sentiments of the handbill were those of Mr.Shrimpton, and suspected that his hand had penned it. The rumor wasabroad that the king had sent word to General Gage to seize the twoarch leaders of the rebels, Adams and Hancock. The following eveningTom and other Sons gathered at the Green Dragon, laid their hands uponthe Bible, and made a solemn oath to watch constantly the movements ofthe Tories and soldiers, and give information to Samuel Adams, JohnHancock, Doctor Warren, and Benjamin Church, and to no others.

  There came a day when a great multitude assembled in town meeting, inthe Old South Meetinghouse, to listen to Doctor Warren's orationcommemorative of the massacre of the people by the troops. Citizensfrom all the surrounding towns were there to let General Gage knowthey had not forgotten it; besides, they knew they would hear burningwords from the lips of the fearless patriot.

  Tom Brandon and Abraham Duncan, looking down from the gallery upon thegreat throng, saw Samuel Adams elected moderator. He invited theofficers of the regiments to take seats upon the platform. Tomwondered if they were present to make mischief. The pulpit was drapedin black. Every part of the house was filled,--aisles, windows,seats,--and there was a great crowd in the porches. Tom was wonderingif it would be possible for Doctor Warren to edge his way through thesolid body of men, when he saw the window behind the pulpit opened byone of the selectmen and the doctor, wearing a student's black gown,enter through the window. The audience welcomed him with applause.For more than an hour they listened spellbound to his patriotic andfearless words. At times the people made the building shake with theirapplause. Some of the king's officers grew red in the face when healluded to their presence in Boston to suppress the liberties of thepeople. One of the officers of the Welsh Fusilliers sitting on thestairs was very insulting. Tom saw him take some bullets from hispocket and hold them in the palm of his hand to annoy Doctor Warren,but instead of being frightened, he very quietly rebuked the officer'sinsolence by letting his handkerchief drop upon the bullets. Bold andeloquent were his closing words.

  "Fellow-citizens," he said, "you will maintain your rights or perishin the glorious struggle. However difficult the combat, you will neverdecline it when freedom is the prize. Independence of Great Britain isnot our aim. Our wish is that Britain and the Colonies may, like theoak and the ivy, grow and increase in strength together. If pacificmeasures fail, and it appears that the only way to safety is throughfields of blood, I know you will not turn your faces from your foes,but will press forward till tyranny is trodden under foot and you haveplaced your adored goddess Liberty on her American throne."

  The building shook with applause when he sat down.

  "It is moved that the thanks of the town be presented to Doctor Warrenfor his orati
on," said the moderator.

  "No, no! fie, fie!" shouted a captain of the Royal Irish Regiment, andthe other officers around thumped the floor with their canes.

  Tom's blood was hot, as was the blood of those around him. Some of thepeople under the galleries, who could not see what was going on,thought the officers were crying fire, to break up the meeting. Veryquietly Samuel Adams raised his hand. The people became calm. Theofficers left the building, and the town went on with its business.The people were learning self-control.

  When the meeting was over, Tom and Abraham walked along Cornhill, andturned down King Street on their way home. They saw a crowd around theBritish Coffee House tavern,--the officers who a little while beforehad left the Old South Meetinghouse, laughing, talking, and drinkingtheir toddy. Tom soon discovered they were having a mock town meeting.One was acting as moderator, pounding with his cane and calling themto order. They chose seven selectmen and a clerk. Then one wentupstairs and soon appeared upon the balcony wearing a rusty and raggedold black gown, a gray wig with a fox's tail dangling down his back.He bowed to those below, and began a mock oration. He called SamuelAdams, Doctor Warren, and John Hancock scoundrels, blackguards,knaves, and other vile names. His language was so scurrilous, profane,and indecent that Tom could not repeat it to his mother and Berinthia.Those who listened clapped their hands. Tom and Abraham came to theconclusion that most of the officers of the newly arrived regimentswere too vile to be worthy the society of decent people.

  Tom was boiling hot two nights later, at the treatment given ThomasDitson of Billerica, who had come to market. A soldier persuaded theguileless young farmer to buy an old worn-out gun. The next moment hewas seized by a file of soldiers and thrust into the guardhouse forbuying anything of a soldier against the law. He had only the barefloor to sleep on. In the morning, Lieutenant-Colonel Nesbit orderedthe soldiers to strip off Ditson's clothes, and tar and feather him.

  It was a pitiful spectacle which Ruth Newville saw,--Colonel Nesbitmarching at the head of his regiment, the soldiers with their bayonetssurrounding a man stripped to the waist, smeared with tar, coveredwith feathers, the fifes playing, and the drums beating the Rogue'sMarch.

  "It is disgraceful," she said, with flashing eyes, to her mother."Colonel Nesbit ought to be ashamed of himself. If he ever calls hereagain, I'll not speak to him."

  Fast Day came, and again the eyes of Miss Newville flashed when shesaw the king's troops parading the streets; the drummers and fiferstaking their stations by the doors of the meetinghouses to annoy thepeople, playing so loud they could scarcely hear a word of what theminister was saying.

  "Do you think, father, that General Gage will win back the affectionsof the people, or even retain their respect by permitting suchoutrages?" Ruth asked.

  "Perhaps it is not the wisest course to pursue. Quite likely theofficers of the regiments did it of their own notion," Mr. Newvillereplied.

  If Lord North and King George thought a show of military force wouldoverawe the people of Boston town, they were mistaken. Possibly theydid not reflect that military repression might beget resistance byarms; but when the regiments began to arrive, the Sons of Libertyresolved to prepare for whatever might happen. They appointed acommittee of safety to protect the rights of the people.

  * * * * *

  Winter was over, and with their singing the birds were making theApril mornings melodious. The Provincial Congress was in session atCambridge, and Samuel Adams and John Hancock had left Boston and withDorothy Quincy were with Reverend Mr. Clark in Lexington. AbrahamDuncan discovered that General Gage had sent Captain Brown and EnsignDe Berniere into the country to see the roads.[53] Sharp-eyed Sons ofLiberty watched the movements of the soldiers. They saw Lord Percymarch his brigade to Roxbury, and return as if for exercise, with noone opposing them.

  [Footnote 53: Captain Brown and Ensign De Berniere, March 20, visitedConcord and Worcester and intermediate towns, dressed as citizens. Thevigilant Sons of Liberty were cognizant of all their movements andnotified the patriotic citizens, who had them under surveillance everymoment. Ensign De Berniere has written a narrative of the journey.]

  "We can march from one end of the continent to the other, withoutopposition from the cowardly Yankees," said the boasting soldiers.

  Paul Revere, Tom Brandon, Robert Newman, and a score of the Sons ofLiberty were keeping watch of the movements of the redcoats. They sawthe sailors of the warships, and of the vessels which had brought thenew troops, launching their boats and putting them in order. They knewGeneral Gage wanted to seize Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and quitelikely the military supplies which the committee of safety hadcollected at Concord. Paul Revere rode out to Lexington on Sunday tosee Adams and Hancock, and let them know what was going on in Boston.

  "The launching of the ship's boat means something," said Mr. Adams."It looks as if the troops were going to make a short cut acrossCharles River instead of marching over Roxbury Neck."

  "We will keep our eyes open and let you know the moment they make anymovement," said Revere.

  "Quite likely Gage will set a patrol so you can't leave Boston," saidHancock.

  "I'll tell ye what we'll do. If the troops leave in the night by wayof Roxbury, I'll get Robert Newman to hang a lantern in the steeple ofChrist Church; if they take boats to make the short cut across CharlesRiver, I'll have him hang out two lanterns. I'll tell Deacon Larkinand Colonel Conant, over in Charlestown, to keep their eyes on thesteeple."

  * * * * *

  It was Tuesday morning, April 18. Abraham Duncan wondered how ithappened that so many British officers with their overcoats on weremounting their horses and riding out towards Roxbury, not in a group,but singly, or two together, with pistols in their holsters.

  "We will dine at Winship's tavern in Cambridge, and then go on," heheard one say.

  He also noticed that the grenadiers and light infantry guards were noton duty as on other days.

  He hastened to inform Doctor Warren, who sent a messenger with aletter to the committee of safety.

  It was evening when Richard Devens and Abraham Watson, members of thecommittee of safety, shook hands with their fellow members, ElbridgeGerry, Asa Orne, and Colonel Lee at Wetherby's, bade them good-night,and stepped into their chaise to return to their homes in Charlestown.The others would spend the night at Wetherby's, and they would allmeet in Woburn in the morning.

  Satisfying to the appetite was the dinner which landlord Winship setbefore a dozen British officers,--roast beef, dish gravy, mealypotatoes, plum-pudding, mince pie, crackers and cheese, prime oldport, and brandy distilled from the grapes of Bordeaux.

  "We will jog on slowly; it won't do to get there too early," said oneof the officers as they mounted their horses and rode up past thegreen, and along the wide and level highways, towards Menotomy, payingno attention to Solomon Brown, plodding homeward in his horse-cartfrom market. When the old mare lagged to a walk, they rode past him;when he stirred her up with his switch she made the old cart rattlepast them. The twinkling eyes peeping out from under his shaggy browssaw that their pistols were in the holsters, and their swords wereclanking at times.

  "I passed nine of them," he said to Sergeant Munroe when he reachedLexington Common; and the sergeant, mistrusting they might be comingto nab Adams and Hancock, summoned eight of his company to guard thehouse of Mr. Clark.

  Mr. Devens and Mr. Watson met the Britishers.

  "They mean mischief. We must let Gerry, Orne, and Joe know," Mr.Devens said.

  Quickly the chaise turned, and they rode back to Wetherby's. The moonwas higher in the eastern sky, and the hands of the clock pointed tothe figure nine when the officers rode past the house.

  "We must put Adams and Hancock on their guard," said Mr. Gerry; and alittle later a messenger on horseback was scurrying along a bypathtowards Lexington.

  In Boston, Abraham Duncan was keeping his eyes and ears open.

  "What's the news, Bil
ly?" was his question to Billy Baker, apprenticeto Mr. Hall, who sold toddy to the redcoats.

  "I guess something is going to happen," said Billy.

  "What makes you think so?"

  "'Cause a woman who belongs to one of the redcoats was in just nowafter a toddy; she said the lobsters were going somewhere."

  "Is that so?"

  "Yes; and they are packing their knapsacks."

  Abraham whispered it to Doctor Warren, and a few minutes later WilliamDawes was mounting his old mare and riding toward Roxbury. She wasthin in flesh, and showed her ribs; and the man on her back, whodressed calf-skins for a living, jogged along Cornhill as if in nohurry. The red-coated sentinels, keeping guard by the fortificationson the Neck, said to themselves he was an old farmer, but weresurprised to see him, after passing them, going like the wind outtowards Roxbury, to the Parting Stone, then turning towards Cambridge,making the gravel fly from her heels as she tore along the road.

  * * * * *

  Berinthia Brandon, sitting in her chamber, looking out into thestarlit night, saw the faint light of the rising moon along theeastern horizon. Twilight was still lingering in the western sky. Inthe gloaming, she saw the sailors of the warships and transports werestepping into their boats and floating with the incoming tide up theCharles. What was the meaning of it? She ran downstairs and told herfather and Tom what she had seen; and Tom, seizing his hat, tore alongSalem Street and over the bridge across Mill Creek to Doctor Warren's.The clock on the Old Brick Meetinghouse was striking ten when herattled the knocker.

  Paul Revere's House.]

  "The boats are on their way up the river with the tide," he said, outof breath with his running.

  Abraham Duncan came in, also out of breath.

  "The lobsters are marching across the Common, toward Barton's Point,"he said.

  "All of which means, they are going to take the boats and crossCharles River, instead of marching by way of Roxbury," said thedoctor, reflecting a moment.

  He asked Tom if he would please run down to North Square and ask PaulRevere to come and see him.

  A few minutes later Revere was there.

  "I've already sent Dawes, but for fear Gage's spies may pick him up, Iwant you to take the short cut to Lexington and alarm people on yourway; you'll have to look sharp for Gage's officers. Tell Newman tohang out the two signals."

  Revere hastened down Salem Street, whispered a word in the ear ofRobert Newman, ran to his own home for his overcoat, told two youngmen to accompany him, then ran to the riverside and stepped into hisboat. The great black hull of the frigate Somerset rose before him. Bythe light of the rising moon he could see a marine, with his gun onhis shoulder, pacing the deck; but no challenge came, and the rowersquickly landed him in Charlestown.[54]

  [Footnote 54: In the _Tales of a Wayside Inn_, the poet Longfellowrepresents Paul Revere as impatiently waiting beside his horse, on theCharlestown shore, for the signal lights:--

  "On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere. Now he patted his horse's side, Now gazed at the landscape far and near, Then, impetuous, stamped the earth, And turned and tightened his saddle-girth; But mostly watched with eager search The belfry tower of the Old North Church, As it rose above the graves on the hill, Lonely and spectral and sombre and still. And lo! as he looks, on the belfry height A glimmer, and then a gleam of light! He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns, But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight A second lamp in the belfry burns!"

  From the narrative of Paul Revere in the archives of theMassachusetts Historical Society, we learn that the signals were seenbefore he reached the Charlestown shore:--

  "When I got into town, I met Colonel Conant and several others; theysaid they had seen our signals; I told them what was acting, and Iwent to get me a horse; I got a horse of Deacon Larkin. While thehorse was preparing, Richard Devens, Esq., who was one of theCommittee of Safety, came to me and told me that he came down the roadfrom Lexington after sundown, that evening; that he met ten Britishofficers, all well mounted and armed, going up the road."]

  Robert Newman, sexton, had gone to bed. The officers of one of theking's regiments, occupying the front chamber, saw him retire, but didnot see him a minute later crawl out of a window to the roof of ashed, drop lightly to the ground, make his way to the church, enter,turn the key, lock the door, climb the stairs to the tower, and hangthe lanterns in the loft above the bell. It was but the work of amoment. Having done it, he hastened down the stairway, past the organ,to the floor of the church. The full moon was flooding the archesabove him with its mellow light; but he did not tarry to behold thebeauty of the scene; not that he feared ghosts would rise from thecoffins in the crypt beneath the church,--he was not afraid of deadmen,--but he would rather the redcoats should not know what he hadbeen doing. He raised a window, dropped from it to the ground, randown an alley, reached his house, climbed the shed, and was in bedwhen officers of one of the regiments came to make inquiry about thelanterns. Of course, Robert, being in bed, could not have hung themthere. It must have been done by somebody else.[55]

  [Footnote 55: Paul Revere in his narrative says "a friend" made thesignals. It has been claimed that John Pulling, and not Robert Newman,hung the lanterns. The evidence favoring Newman and Pulling is ineach case circumstantial. Both were Sons of Liberty and intimate withRevere. Newman was sexton in possession of the keys of the church. Itis said that Pulling obtained them; that the suspicion was so strongagainst him he was obliged to leave the town secretly, not daring toapply for a pass. Newman was arrested, but General Gage could find nodirect evidence against him. I have followed the generally acceptedopinion, favoring Newman.]

  Paul Revere the while is flying up Main Street towards CharlestownNeck. It is a pleasant night. The grass in the fields is fresh andgreen; the trees above him are putting forth their young and tenderleaves. He is thinking of what Richard Devens has said, and keeps hiseyes open. He crosses the narrow neck of land between the Mystic andCharles rivers, and sees before him the tree where Mark was hung tenyears before for poisoning his master. The bones of the negro nolonger rattle in the wind; the eyeless sockets of the once ghostlyskeleton no longer glare at people coming from Cambridge and Medfordto Charlestown, and Paul Revere has no fear of seeing Mark's ghosthovering around the tree. It is for the living--Gage's spies--that hepeers into the night. Bucephalus suddenly pricks up his ears. Ah!there they are! two men in uniform on horseback beneath the tree. Heis abreast of them. They advance. Quickly he wheels, and rides backtowards Charlestown. He reaches the road leading to Medford, reinsBucephalus into it. He sees one of them riding across the field to cuthim off; the other is following him along the road. Suddenly the riderin the field disappears,--going head foremost into a clay pit. "Ha!ha!" laughs Revere, as the fleet steed bears him on towards Medfordtown. He clatters across Mystic bridge, halts long enough to awakenthe captain of the minute-men, and then rattles on towardsMenotomy.[56]

  [Footnote 56: "After I passed Charlestown Neck, and got nearlyopposite where Mark was hung in chains, I saw two men on horsebackunder the tree. When I got near them I discovered they were Britishofficers. One tried to get ahead of me, and the other to take me. Iturned my horse quick and galloped towards Charlestown Neck, and thenpushed for the Medford road. The one who chased me, endeavoring to cutme off, got into a clay pond. I got clear of him and went throughMedford over the bridge up to Menotomy. In Medford I awaked thecaptain of the minute-men, and after that I alarmed every house till Igot to Lexington."--Revere's _Narrative_.]

  It is past eleven o'clock. The fires have been covered for the nightin the farmhouses, and the people are asleep.

  "Turn out! turn out! the redcoats are coming!"

  Paul Revere is shouting it at every door, as Bucephalus bears himswiftly on. The farmers spring from their beds, peer through theirwindow-panes into the darkness,--seeing a vanishing form, and flashingsparks struck from the stones by th
e hoofs of the flying horse. Oncemore across the Mystic on to Menotomy, past the meetinghouse and thehouses of the slumbering people, up the hill, along the valley, toLexington Green; past the meetinghouse, not halting at Buckman'stavern, but pushing on, leaping from his foaming steed and rappingupon Mr. Clark's door.

  "Who are ye, and what d'ye want?" Sergeant Munroe asked the question.

  "I want to see Mr. Hancock."

  "Well, you can't. The minister and his family mustn't be disturbed, sojust keep still and don't make a racket."

  "There'll be a racket pretty soon, for the redcoats are coming," saidPaul.

  "Who are you and what do you wish?" asked Reverend Mr. Clark in hisnight-dress from the window.

  "I want to see Adams and Hancock."

  "It is Revere; let him in!" shouted Hancock down the stairway.

  "The regulars are coming, several hundred of them, to seize you!"

  "It is the supplies at Concord they are after," cried Mr. Adams.

  A moment later other hoofs were striking fire from the stones, andanother horseman, William Dawes, appeared, confirming what Revere hadsaid.

  REVEREND JONAS CLARK'S HOUSE Where Samuel Adams, JohnHancock, and Dorothy Quincy were staying]