Last updated: September 4, 2021
Person
Captain David Brown of Concord
NPS photo
Quick Facts
Significance:
Captain David Brown commanded one of Concord's two minute man companies. He led his company into battle at the North Bridge and along the Battle Road on April 19, 1775.
Place of Birth:
Concord MA
Date of Birth:
1732
Place of Death:
Concord MA
Date of Death:
1802
Place of Burial:
Concord MA
Cemetery Name:
Old Hill Burial Ground
What’s worth fighting for? How far would you go to defend your home, family and future? On April 19, 1775 Captain David Brown defended what was dear to him: land, home, family. Horrifyingly, it was all within sight of the deadly contest at Concord’s North Bridge.
Early Life
David Brown was born in Concord in 1732 to Ephraim Brown and Hannah Wilson. The Brown family were among the earliest English residents of the town of Concord. David’s great grandfather, Thomas Brown, purchased the farm, where David grew up and lived, in 1644.[i] David inherited the property in 1750 after the death of his father Ephraim. Sometime between 1750 and 1768 David demolished the old house that stood since the mid-1600s and built a new house “49 feet southwest of where the old house stood.”[ii] In all, the farm included a 20 acre house lot and 80 acres of various land parcels throughout Concord’s North Quarter.[iii]
In 1756 David married Abigail Munro of Lexington. By 1775 their family included nine children. The oldest, Purchase, was 18 years old and the youngest, Reuben, was 2. A tenth child, Joseph, was born in 1776. The household also included David’s brother Elias who was deemed “incapable of managing any business.”[iv]
Like most adult male property owners, David was active in town affairs. Among the many offices he held were surveyor of highways, tythingman and constable. He even served on Concord’s Board of Selectmen from 1767-1770. He was also, quite often, paid for work on the highways, the “Great North Bridge” and the causeway on the west side. These last two he helped to build and to maintain over the years.[v]
American Revolution before April 1775
The crisis that would lead to war with Great Britain in 1775 and independence in 1776 was slow in coming to Concord. In early 1774 the town first voted to ban the consumption of tea in their homes in protest of the Tea Act.[i] Prior to this vote the town was fairly quiet, but as the year 1774 progressed the people of Concord would be pulled further into the crisis.[ii] As the crisis deepened David Brown emerged as a leader in the town’s efforts to resist the British Parliament and secure their rights as Englishmen.On November 21, 1774 the town of Concord voted to join the Continental Association, a total boycott of trade items from Great Britain recommended by the 1st Continental Congress. An essential part of implementing the association was for local towns and communities to establish committees of inspection “to see to the punctual observance” of the boycott. The town elected David Brown, along with James Barrett, Joseph Hosmer, Jonas Heywood and Abijah Bond, to serve on the committee.[iii] The town also recommended that anyone discovered in violation of the boycott “should be treated with neglect and detestation.”[iv]
In January of 1775 David Brown was chosen to serve on a town Committee of Safety, the purpose of which was to “suppress all riots, tumults and disorders in said town, and to aid and assist all untainted magistrates who have not been aiding and assisting in bringing on a new mode of government on this Province, in the execution of the laws of this Province upon all offenders against the same.”[v]
That same month, the town began recruiting men to serve as minute men, volunteer soldiers who would be ready “at a minute’s warning.” David Brown, in his capacity as a lieutenant in the town’s militia, was appointed to a committee, to inspect the newly enlisted minute men in Concord. The committee found 15 recruits without guns and would need to be provided by the town.[vi] The town also agreed that the minute men should turn out to “learn the art military” (drill) “two half day[s] in a week, 3 hours in each half day.” They would be paid “one shilling and four pence” for each half day..[vii]
By early April, the town had two companies of minute mennumbering 50 men each., David Brown, now a captain, commanded one company and Captain Charles Miles the other. Among the minute men serving under Captain David Brown’s command were his son, Purchase, and nephew, Jonas.[viii]
April 19, 1775
On the early morning of April 19, 1775 the town of Concord was woken sometime between 1 and 2 a.m. ”by ye ringing of ye bells.”, according to the town’s minister, Reverend William Emerson, The dreaded moment had come. Dr. Samuel Prescott reported that a large number of British regular soldiers were out and likely headed for Concord. Concord was a target because it served as one of the Provincial Congress’ “principle magazines” and thus held a large quantity of military stores.
One can easily imagine the thoughts going through David’s mind as he and his wife Abigail awoke to the sound of church bells and prepared for a day of potentially dangerous military duty. As an officer commanding a minute company Brown likely had his arms and equipment ready for immediate use. Thus he took his equipment, crossed over the North bridge and made his way into town.
After several hours of nervous waiting, a mounted scout reported shots fired in Lexington. Soon after the column of British soldiers finally arrived between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m.[i] By that time, the minute men from Concord and Lincoln were deployed about a mile east of the town center at the end of a ridge overlooking Meriam’s Corner.
When they caught sight of the British column they fell back in an orderly fashion through town and over the North Bridge. In their retreat they would have passed close by David Brown’s house and family as they made their way to Punkatasset Hill to await reinforcements expected from other towns. 230 British soldiers followed soon after. A party of them continued west to the farm of Colonel James Barrett to search for military stores while another group, about 96 men, stayed and guarded the bridge and road and kept watch on the growing number of rebels.
Sometime before 9:00 am the assembled minute man and militia companies advanced from Punkatasset Hill to a lower elevation significantly closer to North Bridge. They formed in a pasture, known since as the Muster Field, owned by David Brown. He was within sight of his home. There is even some evidence that British soldiers entered the home and did some damage. A mirror that once belonged to David and Abigail, now in the collection of Concord Museum, still bears the scars of vandalism. The glass is smashed out except for a small sliver at one corner.[i] It is unknown if Abigail or any of the younger children were at home when this happened. Her anxiety must have been great knowing that her own husband, son and nephew were in harms way that morning.
About 9:00 a.m., with smoke rising ominously from Concord, the colonial officers in the Muster Field decided to advance to the North Bridge and save the town from being destroyed. As the colonial soldiers began their march to the North Bridge, Captain Brown’s company marched in column behind a minute company from Acton commanded by Captain Isaac Davis[i]. The British soldiers pulled back to the east side of the bridge and began pulling up the planks. This action caused the colonists to quicken their own pace. Three shots soon rang out from the British side, followed by a ragged volley which impacted the advancing colonial column. Captain Davis was killed along with a private from his company, Abner Hosmer. The colonists returned fire and 12 British soldiers were hit, 3 of them fatally. The British then broke and retreated to Concord.
Among the colonial wounded was Jonas Brown, David’s nephew. It was a slight wound near his neck which he dismissed with light language as his mother attended him. She warned him that an inch closer and that ball would’ve killed him. To this he replied, “And an inch t’other way and t’wouldn’t have touched me!”[i] Shortly after noon the British began their long, return march to Boston.[ii] Captain Brown’s company very likely joined in the pursuit.
Post April 1775 Military Service
The details of David Brown’s service later in the war are sparse. In May of 1775 he was paid 11 shillings by the town of Concord for “his son Purchase being a minute man…”[i] He was also paid by the Province for 6 weeks service, December, 1775-January 1776. The record does not specify where he served, although the main theater of war at that time was the environs surrounding Boston. Brown was also credited for 8 months service but the year is not given. His son, Purchase, however, served as a private in Col. Nixon’s Regiment during the Siege of Boston. David was also paid in September 1777 for conveying stores from Boston to Concord then returning “with empty teams” to Roxbury.[ii]
Life After the War
During and after the war, David Brown remained active in town government. He served as a member of the town’s Committee of Correspondence from 1776-1783. In 1781 he was elected to represent Concord at the Massachusetts Great and General Court. In 1789 he unsuccessfully ran for State Senate.[i]
In 1794 a group of Concord men formed the “Social Circle.” The purpose of this group was “To strengthen the Social affections and disseminate useful communications among its members.” A regular practice of this group was to publish biographies of its members after their death. David Brown, an active member, died in 1802. His biography appeared in Volume 1 of “Social Circle Memoirs” by John Shepard Keyes. The biography includes an interesting anecdote about David Brown that points to the importance of the events of April 19, 1775 in his life. “…the brave Captain never crossed alone to the causeway to the North Bridge after dark, on his way to and from the market, without singing at the top of his lusty voice some good old psalm tune, that would ring out in the night, and wake many a sleeper in the village. Perhaps to lay the ghosts of the British soldiers buried there, perhaps as a requiem to their souls…”[i]
[i] Keyes, J.S. “Social Circle Memoirs, Vol. 1” 1853, pgs 74-78
[i] Torres-Reyes, Ricardo, “Captain Brown’s House: Historic Data, Minute Man National Historical Park” 1969 Division of History, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, NPS. Pgs 4-5
[i] Concord Free Public Library: https://concordlibrary.org/special-collections/revolutionary-era-concord-town-records
[ii] Massachusetts Office of the Secretary of State, “Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War: a compilation from the archives, Vol. 2” Wright and Potter Printing Co. State Printers, 1896. Pgs 613, 676
[i] Gross, Robert, “The Minutemen and Their World,” Hill and Wang, New York, 1976, pg 131
[ii] Sabin, Doug, “April 19, 1775: A Historiographical Study Part III, Concord,” Minute Man National Historical Park, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Concord MA. 1987 pg 66
[i] Sabin, Doug, “April 19, 1775: A Historiographical Study Part III, Concord,” Minute Man National Historical Park, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Concord MA. 1987 pg 35
[i] Concord Museum, “The Shot Heard Round the World” online exhibit Concord Museum: The Shot Heard Round the World, April 19, 1975 (shotheardroundworld.org)
[i] Small, Edwin, Boston National Historic Sites Commission, “The Lexington-Concord Battle Road: Hour by Hour Account of Events Preceding and On the History-Making Day April 19, 1775,” Concord Chamber of Commerce, 1960. Pg 16
[i] Concord Free Public Library. (2021, August). Revolutionary-Era Concord Town Records. Retrieved from Concord Free Public Library: https://concordlibrary.org/special-collections/revolutionary-era-concord-town-records
[ii] Gross, Robert, “The Minutemen and Their World,” Hill and Wang, New York, 1976, pg 10
[iii] Concord Free Public Library. (2021, August). Revolutionary-Era Concord Town Records. Retrieved from Concord Free Public Library: https://concordlibrary.org/special-collections/revolutionary-era-concord-town-records
[iv] Torres-Reyes, Ricardo, “Captain Brown’s House: Historic Data, Minute Man National Historical Park” 1969 Division of History, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, USDoI, NPS pg 2
[v] Ibid
[vi] ibid
[vii] Ibid
[viii] Coburn, Frank W. “Muster Rolls of the Participating Companies of American Militia and Minute Men in the Battle of April 19, 1775,” Lexington MA, 1912. Pg 9
[i] Torres-Reyes, Ricardo, “Captain Brown’s House: Historic Data, Minute Man National Historical Park” 1969 Division of History, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, NPS. Pg 7
[ii] Synenki, Alan T., Pendery Steven, Sideris, Lou, “Traces of the Past: A Guide to Minute Man National Historical Park as Told Through the Archeological Story” Eastern National, Concord MA 2002, pg 23
[iii] Gross, Robert, “The Minutemen and Their World,” Hill and Wang, New York, 1976, pg 84
[iv] Ibid pg 83
[v] Torres-Reyes, Ricardo, “Captain Brown’s House: Historic Data, Minute Man National Historical Park” 1969 Division of History, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, NPS. Pg 13