"boldly defending the cause of his Countries rights:" Daniel Hemenway's April 19 Wound

NPS photo

By Joel Bohy

The diary of Reverend David McClure details his account of riding from Boston to Lexington on the morning of April 20, 1775. It was the day after the British expedition to Concord and the ensuing battle, but he wanted to see what had happened for himself. His words are very descriptive about the damage, destruction, and death he witnessed on his trip. He rode as far as Lexington Meetinghouse when it began to rain so he returned through Cambridge and its westerly village of Menotomy, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting on the afternoon of April 19. At one of the houses sprinkled along the road he decided to go inside. There he found a wounded Provincial as well as a badly wounded British soldier, Lieutenant Edward Hull, an officer from the light infantry company of the 43^rd Regiment of Foot. He had conversation with both men and described the scene:“I went into a house in Menotomy, were was a stout farmer, walking the room, from whose side a surgeon had just cut out a musket ball, which had entered his breast & glancing between the ribs, had lodged about half way to his back. He held the ball in his hand, & it was remarkable, that it was flattened on one side by the ribs, as if it had been beaten by a hammer. He was a plain honest man to appearance, who had voluntarily turned out with his musket, at the alarm of danger, as did also some thousands besides on that memorable day.”[1]

McClure then went on to talk with Lieutenant Hull who was mortally wounded having been hit by three musket balls, the first during the battle at North Bridge in Concord and two on the retreat to Boston. So we know both men were in the house and he had given us the name of the mortally wounded Hull, but who was the “stout farmer” he mentioned being in the house also receiving medical attention? In a book written by Samuel Abbott Smith on West Cambridge [Menotomy in 1775] there is a 19^th century account of the incident McClure had described and it mentioned the last name of the wounded Provincial. “Edward Hall [Hull], 1st Lieut. Of the Royal 43d Regiment, was wounded in the arm at Concord, and was brought down in a chaise in the centre of the troops. The horse was not so swift as the men, and falling a little to the rear he was wounded again, in the shoulder, this time mortally, near Samuel Butterfield’s. When Mrs. Butterfield, who lived on the north side of the road, returned to her own house she found her best bed covered in blood and occupied by this British officer, and a wounded Provincial (Hemmenway of Framingham,) in the other bed. The American recovered, but the officer lingered along a fortnight and then died having received every attention from his hostess; supplies also, and nurses for him, were sent out from Boston under a flag of truce. One of our people came into the house, and upbraiding Mrs. Butterfield as a tory, because she harbored her country’s enemy, threatened to kill him. She told the man, “Only cowards would kill a dying man.” [2]

Now we quite possibly have the last name of the wounded Provincial as well as the town he was from. A search of the records listed a man from Framingham as the only one wounded from that town on April 19, Daniel Hemenway. The history of Framingham also provided a little more information:"Daniel Hemenway, a member of Capt. Edgell's company, was the only one of our Minute Men who was wounded that day; but he kept on with his comrades to Cambridge, and remained in the service fourteen days." [3]

Based on the information above it was pretty clear that the badly wounded “stout farmer” mentioned by McClure was indeed Daniel Hemenway of Framingham and the story was complete!But there was a little more on Hemenway to be found. After the battles on April 19 and Bunker Hill, men who were badly wounded began to petition Massachusetts for some monetary assistance. With their being wounded and not able to work they had no way to pay the medical bills from their wounds let alone feed their families. The request from Daniel Hemenway describes the severity of his wound:

To the General Assembly of the Massachusetts Province
The Honorable Council & House of Representatives
The Petition of Daniel Hemenway of Framingham Humbly Sheweth That your Petitioner agreeable to the Province & Order of Congress Inlisted for the Service of the Province and equiped himself with all necessary requests to be ready for any Sudden emergency. And on the 19th day of April last your Petitioner by alarm with the Company he belonged too engaged the British Troops at Lexington & in which engagement was wounded at Cambridge received A ball from the Enemy that first passed through his right thumb & broak the bone to Splinters then penetrated his body at the lower part of the ribs & made its way through His midriff & was cut out at his back which after hath put him into great pain, his being at such Distance from his family when wounded, the pain & expense of getting home, his case for providing necessary comfortable things for his support the constant tendance day & night in the time of the extremity, the entire loss of four Months time in the season of the year when every thing for the Support of a large Family was Depending, the Surgeons Bills Doctr Hemenway for Dressing his wounds Seventy Seven times & necessary Topical & Internal remedies charges Ten Pounds Eight Shillings Doctr Stone For advices dressing & _________ Dollars & although the wounds are healed at the present timeIs unable to perform any hard service, and is everlikely to have the misfortune in a great measure to loose the use of his right thumb & your humble Petitioner begs your wise & their attentive considerationon his case that you would in your goodness administer the good misfortune he hath met with in boldly defending the cause of his Countries rights and your humble petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray.

Framingham
August ye 15 1775 Daniel Hemenway[4]

On October 16, 1775 he was given seventeen pounds, twelve shillings, and six pence which included the amount of six pounds, two shillings, and 4 pence to pay his medical bills and help with his finances.The petition from Hemenway really sealed the deal as to the “stout farmer” incident described so well by McClure. Although it took ten years to find all this information and compile the accounts this really puts the story together for a man only mentioned in the newspapers and history books as “wounded” on that important day.Daniel Hemenway was born in 1732 (location unknown) and married in 1763 (location unknown). He had a son, Moses Hemenway, who was born on November 29, 1781. Daniel died on December 1, 1815. The Hemenway family history section in the History of Framingham states about Daniel “like his f. and bro. he was of large stature.”[5] The stout farmer story is complete.

[1] Diary of David McClure, Doctor of Divinity, 1748-1820, Privately Printed, The Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1899, p. 161
[2] West Cambridge 1775, Third Edition, Published by the Arlington Historical Society, 1974, p. 45
[3] History of Framingham, Massachusetts: Early known as Danforth’s Farms, 1640-1880, Josiah Howard Temple, 1887, p. 587
[4] Petition of Daniel Hemenway, Massachusetts Archives Collection, Volume 207, p. 16-17
[5] History of Framingham, Massachusetts: Early known as Danforth’s Farms, 1640-1880, Josiah Howard Temple, 1887, p. 277