Reverend William Emerson

Reverend William Emerson of Concord inspired his congregation to resist the British Parliament

Wayne Chen

Quick Facts

Significance:

Reverend William Emerson was Concord's minister at the time of the start of the American Revolution. He inspired his community to take action against British policies and himself turned out on the alarm of April 19, 1775. He died the following year serving as a chaplain to the Continental Army at Fort Ticonderoga

Place of Birth:

Malden MA

Date of Birth:

May 31, 1743

Place of Death:

Rutland, Vermont

Date of Death:

October 20, 1775

Place of Burial:

West Rutland, Vermont

Cemetery Name:

Pleasant Street Cemetery

"No body of men are so extremely injurious to peace and tranquility as the clergy. They preach sedition openly from their pulpits."
Lord Percy, Commander of the Relief Column
 

Rev. William Emerson, a native of Malden, Massachusetts was chosen on February 18, 1765 to be Concord's pastor. He was 21 years old. He was ordained on January 1, 1766 and soon after married Phebe Bliss, the daughter of his deceased predecessor, Daniel Bliss, and by 1770, he had built the home now known as the Old Manse next to the North Bridge. Although Rev. Emerson today is best-known as the grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson, his part in the fateful events of April 19, 1775 in Concord distinguishes him in his own right. 

Rev. Emerson was born on May 31,1743, the twelfth of thirteen children of the Rev. Joseph Emerson and his wife, Mary Moody Emerson. Two of his brothers also entered the ministry. William Emerson entered Harvard College at the age of 14 and graduated at 18 in 1761. He first became a teacher but soon decided to follow in his father's footsteps.

Rev. Emerson came to the pulpit in Concord barely a month before the Stamp Act, the first major crisis that led to the separation of the American colonies from the mother country. From its passage and through the tense years of the Townshend Duties, the arrival of British troops in Boston, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party and the Intolerable Acts, Emerson, an enthusiastic patriot known for his inspirational sermons, fired up his parishioners after each new atrocity committed by the British Parliament.  Emerson never wavered in his firm belief that God was on the side of those who opposed British tyranny, no small comfort to the townspeople who looked to religion for guidance and encouragement.

And unlike many ministers, Emerson was not afraid of the consequences of events, even if it meant armed resistance. By the middle of March, 1775, Emerson was encouraging the newly-formed Minute Companies: "Arise! my injured countrymen! and plead even with the sword, the firelock and the bayonet, plead with your arms the birthright of Englishmen, the dearly-purchased legacy left you by your never-to-be-forgotten Ancestors..." He also was appointed chaplain to the Provincial Congress, an illegal body of patriots meeting in Concord in defiance of the Intolerable Acts which outlawed such unauthorized activity in the Bay Colony.

By April 19, 1775, Emerson was ready for the events that unfolded in Concord and at the North Bridge, a stone's throw from his home. He only wished for two things- that the patriotic forces did not fire first, and, that, if fired upon, they would not back down. He would not be disappointed. By his own account, he had joined the minutemen at the first alarm (1 or 2 am) and was with them as they climbed the "eminence" north of town to watch the British troops approaching.

Emerson also recorded his eye-witness account of the action at North Bridge, leaving his exact whereabouts and actions unclear. His family has upheld the tradition that Rev. Emerson was on the grounds of the Manse in case his wife Phebe and their four young children- son William (father of Ralph Waldo Emerson) and three daughters, Phebe, Mary and Hannah, needed any assistance. But others have argued that a man with such passionate convictions and a firelock would be with the militia and minute companies. Whatever he did, his spirit was certainly with the men of Concord and adjacent towns as they approached the North Bridge.

In his remaining months as Concord's minister, Rev. Emerson continued to immerse himself in unfolding events, including Bunker Hill. He met on numerous occasions with General Washington and his troops in Cambridge, and was instrumental in moving Harvard College to Concord for the duration of the British occupation of Boston.  In August, 1775, Rev. Emerson left Concord nine days after the birth of his daughter, Rebecca, for Fort Ticonderoga, where he would join the Continental army as Chaplain. After a short time, Rev. Emerson contracted dysentery and was discharged and sent home. He never made it, dying on October 20, 1775 at age 33 on his way back to Concord in Rutland, Vermont at the home of its minister, Benajah Roots. 

Jane Sciacca, May, 29, 2020

Sources: The Old Manse and the People Who Lived There, by Paul Brooks, 1983 "A Chaplain of the Revolution," Edward Waldo Emerson (great-grandson),1922 Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism: A Family History, Phyllis Cole, 1998 History of Concord, Lemuel Shattuck, 1835 The Minutemen and Their World, Robert A. Gross, 1976