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Women On April 19, 1775

What role did women in Concord, Lincoln, and Lexington play in the social, political, and military needs of their communities on April 19th? (Divide myth from fact in local lore, e.g., Catharine Smith caring for a wounded British soldier, Mary Hartwell personally spreading the alarm, Mary Hartwell ensuring proper burial of British soldiers, women taking their valuables and hiding in woods, etc.)


Alyssa Kariofyllis, M.A., 2016 Scholar in the Park Minute Man National Historic Park

Men and women alike were startled out of bed in Concord, Lincoln, and Lexington early on April 19, 1775. As the alarm spread through the towns, men gathered their guns and congregated with their neighbors and friends to meet the approaching British troops. Many of the stories about this historic day focus on the movements of the Minutemen and the British Red Coats throughout the Massachusetts countryside. Yet, behind the valiant actions of Concord, Lincoln, and Lexington’s Minutemen were the many women and children who watched over the contraband the Regulars searched for, prepared food for their fathers, husbands, and brothers, and waited anxiously to hear whether the British had succeeded and if everyone was safe. There are many myths that have circulated about the various ways women participated on the day of the battle. While it is difficult to verify each one as true, these stories represent pieces of the true events of the day, even if they might be credited to the wrong people or places.

Women received word of the alarm in various ways. Phebe (née Bliss) Emerson was alerted by Frank, one of her slaves who had been chopping wood in the back. He entered their home with an axe in hand saying, “The Red Coats have come!” Phebe fainted from the news. Reverend William Emerson, Phebe’s husband, seems to have stayed at their home during the fighting. While some have thought he had been with the soldiers for the entire day, Phebe said that many people visited the Emerson home in search of protection. When telling these stories to her grandchildren, she also mentioned that she also felt hurt he was not spending more time with his own family. At one point, she may have tapped on one of the windows in her home to get his attention so she could tell him “she needed him as much as the others.”1 This story seems to have originated with William and Phebe Emerson’s graddaughter Sarah Ripley and Ansley and great-granddaughter Phebe Ripley Chamberlin. Both women claimed their grandmother told them as much before she died in 1829.2

Other women received word of the approaching troops from friends and neighbors. Mary (née Flint) Hartwell may have personally delivered word to the nearby Smith household on the morning of April 19. There is much controversy around what actually happened in the Hartwell household on April 19. Historians have discovered many discrepancies in the literature surrounding Mary’s heroic actions. Some accounts claim that the Hartwell family owned a slave named Sukey, who was directed to run to Captain Smith’s home to notify them the British were coming. Sukey was scared and lamented that the British would catch and kill her, thereafter refusing to leave the house. Mary gave her five-month-old daughter to Sukey and agreed to deliver the news herself if Sukey looked after the child. Mary then put on her cloak and stepped out into the early morning to warn her neighbors.3 Mary allegedly returned to her home to prepare breakfast, milk the cows, and turn the cattle loose. Only after her children were fed and her morning chores were completed did she take her children to her father Ephraim Flint’s Lincoln home.4 Other sources suggest the Hartwells did not own a slave at all but instead were notified by Ephraim Hartwell’s slave Victoria or Violet.5 Alternately, the Concord Freeman reported in 1880 that the Hartwells were notified by a free woman of color living nearby.6 Despite the discrepancies surrounding the story, we know that Mary left her children in someone else’s care while she delivered the news to neighbors close by.7

The first and most common description of women’s actions on the day of the battle is that they fled. Women gathered their children and valuable possessions and left the town to hide in the woods, in other houses, or in other towns entirely.8 Stories survive about the different ways women chose to escape the tensions of battle, though nearly all of them are based in the widespread terror that took hold of the towns. One such story was remembered at a meeting of the Lexington Historical Society in 1887. In a paper about Colonel Francis Faulkner’s participation in the battle, Reverend Cyrus Hamlin told the story of an unnamed woman. As she found the British were getting closer, she picked up her child and ran quickly from her house to another house off the road nearly a mile away. Only upon arriving at the second house did she realize she had taken the cat instead. Hamlin continued his story saying she “flew back with still swifter steps” and found her child uninjured. Hamlin ended the tale by commending the British for having the decency not to harm the child.9 While this story was likely not based in truth, it demonstrates how stories of the day evolved over the next century to showcase women’s decision to flee their homes to seek safety out of fear.

Other stories of women attempting to save their children from the battle have been preserved in family histories. In his 1860 book, Henry Austin Whitney retold the life stories of Samuel Whitney, a well-respected merchant and Concord’s muster master who briefly lived with his wife at their Concord home, which would later become known as The Wayside. During their tenure in Concord, they would have nine children, though in April 1775, they had six. On April 19, Samuel Whitney left his home to continue to spread the alarm and join the men who had already gathered. His wife, Abigail (née Cutler), remained at their home with their children until later in the day when Samuel deemed it necessary to send his family to a safer place. Abigail, who was forty years old at the time, and the children were placed in their large country chaise, a luxury most colonists could not afford, and began the journey toward Bedford. As they traveled through town, a bullet entered the chaise, “just grazing the heads of the children.” Abigail and the children returned to their home in the afternoon to find it largely undisturbed, a very lucky discovery compared to the destruction residents of Lexington encountered the same day.10

Sarah (née Whittemore) Reed, daughter of Jacob Whittemore and wife of Moses, had given birth to their third child, Sarah, just eighteen days before the fighting broke out on April 19. She had still not recovered from the event and was quite ill. The story generally told about the Whittemores surrounds the fact that Moses did not report for muster that day. Historians have argued that it is likely he was concerned for the health and safety of his bedridden wife and three young children. Reed family history suggests that Sarah was wheeled away from the house in a cart as the British soldiers moved closer to the house. She and her parents, husband, and children hid in the woods until it was safe.11

Lydia Mulliken of Lexington also decided to seek a safer space on April 19. Elizabeth Harrington, great granddaughter of Lydia and great-great-granddaughter of Ensign Robert Munroe, recalled her ancestor’s trials on the day of the battle. Upon hearing the approach of the British, Mulliken, forty-six year old widow of clock maker Nathaniel, quickly hid her silver around the large property her husband had left her. She buried some in her yard and hid the rest around the shop attached to her house and in her well. Harrington does not recall where Mulliken stayed as the British raided her home. When Mulliken returned, she found her house with adjoining shop had been burned and much of her silver was missing. She estimated her loss of property and silver at £435.12

Marcy Farrar (née Hoar) of Lincoln was thirty six on April 19. She was married to Samuel Farrar Jr. Her departure from her home was passed down in Lincoln lore through the nineteenth century, appearing multiple times in a mid-nineteenth century local newspaper, Concord Freeman. She received word that the British were firing into houses and, fearing they would pass her house on their return, she laid her infant son in the cradle, and gathered the large family Bible, silver spoons, and looking glass and traveled with her three year old son to a nearby wood, Oaky Bottom. Marcy’s descendent, Mary B. Farrar added corrections to this original story, noting that many of the goods she brought were still preserved and that, during her journey, they often looked back at the house to see if it had been set on fire.13

Some women were not given a choice about whether they wanted to leave their home. Hannah Adams was hardly able to leave her bed after recently giving birth. British officers searching her home entered her room. One pointed a bayonet at her breast while the other warned that they would not harm her if she agreed to leave her home so they could burn it. Hannah agreed to leave the home, though her children remained hiding under her bed. Her son might have followed the soldiers around the house as they stole items and searched for contraband. Ultimately, the regulars set the home on fire and Adams’ older children managed to extinguish it.14

While many women and their children left their homes concerned for their safety, still others remained in the town to assist in the war effort. As the men of Lexington departed to meet the enemy, many of their wives and children gathered to prepare meals for their husbands, fathers, and sons. Reverend Cyrus Hamlin recalls that women brought beef, pork, potatoes, and cabbages from their homes and gathered them together collectively. Some of the older boys were designated to bring the food to the men fighting by packing it in saddlebags and journeying to Concord. Hamlin’s purpose in telling this story is not so much to recognize the efforts of Lexington’s mothers, daughters, and wives but instead to recount the experiences of the boys as they traveled on deserted roads and empty towns, careful to avoid the British soldiers so the food would not feed the wrong men.15 This kind of activity is also preserved in Alice Stearns Abbott’s statement about her experiences as an eleven year old on the day of the battle. As her father and brother made a start for Concord from Bedford, she, eleven at the time, and her mother began to prepare meals for soldiers and make cartridges for the army.16

Not all women fed their husbands, fathers, and sons. When British troops arrived mid-morning to search her home, Mrs. Millicent (née Estabrook, of Lexington) Barrett, wife of Colonel James Barrett, had to provide them with refreshments.17 When the soldiers offered to pay her for the food and drink, she said, “We are commanded to feed our enemies.” When they insisted they pay her in some form, she reportedly said, “This is the price of blood.” When her son, Stephen, entered the room, the officers demanded to know his name and attempted to arrest him for trial as a rebel. He was only spared this treatment because his mother addressed the men and said he was not the master of the house. After that, the soldiers collected some gun carriages for burning and retreated.18 Mrs. Barrett may have also helped Acton fifer Luther Blanchard, who was slightly wounded. After examining the wound, Barrett reportedly remarked, “A little more and you’d been killed.” Blanchard responded, “Yes and a little more and t’wouldnt have touched me.”19

The actions of widow Martha Moulton of Concord are also well remembered. In her 1776 petition to the General Court, she argued she deserved payment for her heroic actions on the day of the battle. As the six or seven hundred British soldiers lingered in the town, Moulton, seventy- one at the time, discovered most of the other townspeople had left, leaving her and one infirm and elderly man. The British soldiers set fire to gun carriages near a house and the fire spread quickly to Concord’s meeting house. Moulton pleaded with the soldiers to put out the fire but was rebuffed multiple times, as the soldiers said, “O, mother, we won’t do you any harm” and “Don’t be concerned, mother.” Noticing that the fire would spread quickly to four or five homes and the school house, she continued to beg the men until they did eventually extinguish the fire. The General Court awarded Moulton £3 for her courage.20

Still more women are remembered for having saved the goods hidden throughout Concord from discovery by the British troops. Though the soldiers were ordered to search the towns for military supplies and contraband, they were also instructed not to disturb or confiscate private property.21 This distinction between various types of property allowed women like Dorothy Wood and Hannah Barron, both of Concord, to protect goods that were very nearly exposed. Dorothy Wood (née Dakin, of Sudbury), 46, told British soldiers that frightened women were hiding behind a locked door when that room actually held hidden military stores.22 Hannah Barron, a barmaid living with tavern keeper Ephraim Jones, protected treasurer Henry Gardner’s chest of money and papers by claiming the trunk was her personal property.23

During and after the battle, the men and women of Lincoln, Lexington, and Concord were charged with caring for wounded Minutemen and British soldiers. Abel Prescott Jr. of Concord was shot in the side returning from warning the towns of Sudbury and Framingham. He was able to escape to Widow Heywood’s house, where he was treated. Despite the widow’s help, the son of well-known Concord doctor Abel Prescott died months later of dysentery.24

Catharine Louisa Smith of Lincoln may have offered care to a wounded British soldier on April 19. The soldier was reportedly carried into Captain William Smith’s house, where his wounds were dressed. The soldier was aware of the burden of his presence and asked them to dispatch him. After three or four days of suffering, his health began to fail and he told the maid that she would find a gold coin in the lining of his coat. Though the maid could not locate it, Mrs. Smith found it herself after the man had died. The soldier was buried in a field south of the road and west of Folly Pond.25

One of the most well-known stories about the burial of soldiers after the fighting ended surrounds Mary Hartwell. She allegedly followed her father-in-law as he collected dead British soldiers and buried them at the Lincoln Burying Ground. Some histories have called her the “first mourner” for this reason.26 Other historians are more skeptical of this story, especially because of how few sources discuss the event.27 While each retelling cites information from her descendants who claimed they heard the stories from their grandmother, each published account contains a wide array of inconsistencies and contradictory accounts.28 While Mary may well have watched as British soldiers were buried, there is not a stable source upon which to rely.

Mrs. Mary Sanderson (née Munroe) of Lexington, 27, had fled with her infant child and a young girl who lived with them when the fighting began. When she returned to her home next to the Munroe Tavern, she discovered a wounded British soldier inside. Sanderson initially refused to care for the man, though ultimately acquiesced after town authorities insisted she must. When George Smith remembered her story at a meeting of the Lexington Historical society, he said that Sanderson’s hatred for her country’s enemies continued to grow as she aged. Her feelings toward the wounded man were so visible that he refused to eat or drink things she prepared for him unless first tasted by members of her family. Smith concludes his story before explaining what came of the wounded man. The story suggests that women made a variety of sacrifices, even patriotic ones, in the wake of the war when they needed to care for the same men who had recently destroyed entire towns. That the town forced her to care for the man also shows that the connection between the mother country and colonists remained strong for the early years of the Revolution.29

The end of the battle meant that other women had become widows. Hannah Davis of Acton was married to Captain Isaac Davis, who died on April 19. Isaac had been a gunsmith and had become captain of the Acton minutemen shortly before April 19.30 Soon before his death, Davis reportedly stated “I haven’t a man that is afraid to go” before ordering his men to march forward. One of the men in his company remembered him as a “man of great firmness, and energy of character, -- an excellent officer, and had the respect and esteem of all who knew him.” 31 Hannah provided a deposition in 1835 about her experiences on the day of the battle. Her husband and his company paused to make cartridges at their house. Upon leaving, he told her to “take good care of the children.” When his body was returned to their home, Hannah recalled that his countenance was “pleasant, and seemed but little altered.” It is not immediately clear where the bodies of Isaac and the other fallen men, James Hayward and Abner Hosmer, were brought. Some sources, including Hannah’s 1835 deposition, claim that they were brought to her home.32 Other sources suggest they were brought to Major Buttrick’s home before the detachment returned from Colonel Barrett’s home.33 Though none of the sources specifically speak to what Hannah did on the day or after her husband’s body was returned to her home, it is likely that she prepared his body for the funeral with the help of other women. Preparing bodies for burial was customarily one of women’s tasks.34 Hannah was, of course, not alone in becoming a widow on April 19. As one Cambridge woman wrote as she recalled being able to see some of the hostilities in Cambridge, “We were for some time in sight of the battle, the glistening instruments of death proclaiming by an incessant fire that much blood must be shed, that many widowed and orphaned ones be left as monuments of that persecuting barbarity of British tyranny.”35

Elizabeth Hager found herself both aiding wounded soldiers and repairing weapons. Hager was twenty five years old on April 19. She had been bound out as a servant at a young age after her parents died. She acquired machinery skills at some point, as she worked with Samuel Leverett to retool six cannons that the British left behind. They also repaired colonial militia muskets and manufactured more ammunition. While doing this hard work, she also helped nurse wounded minutemen.36 After the war, she married Concord minuteman John Pratt.37

Women’s support for their communities extended beyond April 19. In June of 1775, the Norwich Packet praised the women of Concord for providing a chest of clothes to Cambridge to help support the soldiers.38 Concord’s town records also show that the town paid some women and men for providing shirts, stockings, or shoes. A town meeting in March of 1778 raised £276 to procure these items from the townspeople and the practice continued into 1780.39 Abigail Jones was paid £22.10.0 in April of 1780 for three pair of stockings.40 Though Abigail is the only woman paid directly, it seems likely that the other nine payments between 1778 and 1780 were a product of women’s labor. Most payments were about £3 for a few shirts or pairs of stockings, though Samuel Buttrick was paid £14 in February of 1780 for two shirts and John Haudley was paid £148.10.0 in May 1780 for eleven pairs of shoes.41 Much of women’s work was focused on textile production so payments to men for textile goods likely the result of time that women spent preparing and making the fabric goods.

There are surely many more stories of women’s participation similar to these. Unfortunately, many of them do not appear in surviving records. Because many of the same stories have been repeated and used to represent a common experience, historians have become skeptical of some of them as popular myths. Despite the suspicion, these stories as a collection depict the many actions women took on April 19 as well as the losses they suffered. Many of them also show that, despite the conflict happening nearby, women continued to provide care and safety for their families and neighbors through their labors.




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Last updated: October 20, 2021