Just in time for Independence Day, I’ve found an ancestor who fought in the Battle of Lexington, the engagement that triggered the Revolutionary War. The Moore brothers are fourth great-grandsons of Joseph Abbot, Jr., born in 1752. Joseph’s father had been a Lieutenant in the French and Indian War; perhaps it was natural for Joseph to join the militia. Furthermore, his soon-to-be-wife’s brother, John Buckman, was the owner of Buckman’s Tavern, the unofficial headquarters of the rebels in Lexington.
In early 1775, as resistance to colonial rule increased in Massachusetts, it became clear that the British had lost control of the countryside. In February, the British declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion. British General Thomas Gage hoped to avoid war by staging small raids to seize rebel weaponry. On the night of April 18-19, Lt. Col. Francis Smith and 700 British regulars set out for Concord, about 25 miles away, to seize a rumored cache of arms.
Rebel spies had provided advance warning of the raid. The spies had also reported instructions from London that Gage was to capture and imprison rebel leaders. Although this was not a purpose of Gage’s raid, some clumsy inquiries by scouting parties convinced the rebels that Smith intended to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, then sheltering in Lexington.
The alarm went out.
By 2:00 am on April 19, the vanguard of the British forces met the militia unit of Capt John Parker on the Lexington Commons. Both sides acted in an undisciplined manner and misunderstood the intentions of the other. A shot came from somewhere and the battle began. One British soldier was wounded, but eight Americans were dead and ten wounded.
The British continued their advance to Concord. After fighting another skirmish, they found no arms there. The rebels had used their warning time to relocate the weapons, burying some in the furrows of newly plowed fields. It was time to return to Boston. However, the road back went through Lexington.
By the time the British returned to Lexington, militia units from the area had joined, including the Lincoln militia and Corporal Joseph Abbott. The rebel force was now perhaps 2000 and eventually grew to 4000. Using ambush style tactics, firing from behind trees and stone walls, the rebels harassed the British for the length of the retreat route, killing perhaps 80 British soldiers.
By the 20th, Boston was surrounded by 15,000 militia from all parts of New England. The British raid had triggered the war that it was intended to prevent.
Later, Joseph Abbott served in the fortification of Dorchester Heights, forcing the liberation of Boston, and in the defense of Fort Ticonderoga before mustering out in Albany, New York at the end of 1776. I will tell those stories some other time.
I found my way to Joseph Abbott’s military record via his pension records. In the 1830s, Congress decided to provide a pension to veterans of the Revolution. Joseph Abbott was granted a pension of $20.31 per year beginning March 4, 1831. Upon his death 20 months later, his widow applied for the pension but was rejected because their marriage had occurred after his service. Later the law was changed and she was eventually granted the pension. Apparently, giving a hard time to the Vets is a long, sad tradition in the U.S.