Grave of British soldier near Folly Pond

This stone marks the approximate area where a British soldier is buried near Folly Pond.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

42.448998, -71.283696

Significance:

On April 19, 1775 British soldiers retreating from Concord, Massachusetts engaged Colonial militia in a running battle toward Boston. According to local legend, one British soldier was mortally wounded near the home of Captain William Smith in Lincoln, MA and left to the mercy of his pursuers. Unfortunately, this soldier perished from his wounds and the Smith family interred him along the battle road in an area known as Folly Pond.

Designation:

Grave Site

Amenities

4 listed

Accessible Sites, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Pets Allowed, Wheelchair Accessible

Like many individuals slain on April 19, 1775, little is known about this soldier and his experiences. Unfortunately, his name remains a mystery consumed by the passage of time and the scattered evidence of his death did not appear in historical records until nearly 125 years afterward.

According to local legend, this soldier was mortally wounded during the British retreat on April 19, 1775, and left to the mercy of his pursuers. Around the year 1900, a local Newspaper published an article claiming that a British Grenadier, mortally wounded during the retreat, was left in the care of Catherine Smith, wife of Captain William Smith. This article likely written by Frank Hersey, was repeated in his later work titled, "The Hero's of the battle road." According to Hersey, the children of Mary Hartwell, related:

"Near Captain Smith's house another grenadier was shot. His companions, seeing the wound was mortal, left him by the roadside. This soldier was later carried into Captain Smith's house and his wounds were dressed. Here he lingered alive three or four days. During this time he felt he caused the Smiths so much trouble, and he was suffering with such pain, that he begged them again and again to dispatch him. Finally, when dying, he told the maid that she would find a gold sovereign sewed in the lining of his coat. She could not find it, but he reiterated with his last words that it was there. After he was dead, Mrs. Smith herself found it. He is buried in a field on the southernly side of the road a little west of Folly Pond."

Again, little evidence of this encounter is present in the historical record today. Recent scholarship indicates a payment claim submitted by local Doctor Joseph Fiske may hold the truth of the matter. According to the claim, Fiske cared for two wounded soldiers in the town of Lincoln following the fighting, but the locations of those wounded are unlisted.

 

In the last decades of the 19th century, another historian, Frank Coburn traversed the battle road interviewing local farmers. While Coburn makes no mention of a soldier being cared for by Catherine Smith, he does relate: "…an American bullet terminated the life of one Briton at least. The remains were uncovered a few years ago when the road builders were widening and grading anew the highway. He was re-interred over the bordering wall in the field…a short distance… from Folly Pond." According to Coburn, "Mr. George Nelson, near-by resident… saw the remains and pointed out to me in 1890 the locations of the old and new graves."

 

Today a rough cut stone marks the approximate vicinity of this soldier's grave along the battle road trail. Although his name is forgotten and the circumstances of his burial are conflicted, the consequences of his passing likely rippled through the community of people who knew him. Today, we remember the fallen who never left this hallowed ground within Minute Man National Historical Park.

 

Sources:

• Jonas and Samuel Hartwell as cited by Frank Hersey in Hero's of the Battle Road, 1775, (Boston: Perry Walton, 1930), 27.
• Frank Hersey, "The British Regulars' Rout," Boston Evening Transcript, April 18, 1900, 16.
• Dr. Joseph Fiske's Bill of June 6, 1775, Lexington Historical Society Collection, Cary Memorial Library, microfilm roll 2.
• Frank Coburn, The Battle of April 19, 1775 in Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Arlington, Cambridge, Somerville and Charlestown, Massachusetts (Lexington, Ma: Author, 1912), 103.
• Donald L. Hafner, William Smith, Captain: Life and Death of a Soldier of the American Revolution (Lincoln, MA:Lincoln Historical Society, 2017).