Captured On April 19, 1775, Part II - "Treated With The Greatest Humanity"

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After the fighting at Lexington, Concord and the retreat back to Boston ended on April 19, 1775, Massachusetts authorities found themselves responsible for approximately thirty prisoners, some of whom were wounded.  These would be the first prisoners of many taken during the American Revolution.  Although provincial leaders had been preparing for the possibility of war for months, there doesn't seem to have been a plan for how to manage prisoners.  

Grenadiers from the British column on the road to Boston.
Among those taken was Samuel Lee from the Grenadier Company of the 18th Regiment of Foot.  Grenadiers were elite soldiers, easily distinguished by their large bearskin helmets, as seen here at the 2024 Battle Road commemoration of April 19th at Minute Man National Park in Lexington (note that the lead two are from the Grenadier Company of the 47th Regiment of Foot, the only regiment which fought at Lexington and Concord that would go on to participate in the Saratoga campaign).

A history of the town of Concord, Massachusetts, indicates that Lee claimed he was the first prisoner taken on April 19th, 1775, early in the morning between Lexington and Concord, but not who he was taken prisoner by and how it came to happen. [1]  

Lee's capture provided him with the opportunity to put service in the British army behind him.  According to a number of accounts, Lee remained in or returned to Concord after being captured (and presumably released), and married Mary Piper on July 11, 1776.  Samuel and Mary would have five children together, and Lee would remain in Concord until his death in 1790. [2]

Initial accounts of the fighting claimed the first prisoners were treated well.  The patriot printer Isaiah Thomas in Worcester would note in his account of the battle: "We have the pleasure to say, that notwithstanding the highest provocations given by the enemy, not one instance of cruelty, that we have heard of, was committed by our Militia; but listening to the merciful dictates of the Christian religion, they "breathed highest sentiments of humanity." [3] 

Lieutenant Edward Thornton Gould, of the 4th or "King's Own" Regiment of Foot concluded his statement to Provincial authorities by saying that after being captured, he was "... treated with the greatest humanity and taken all possible care of, by the provincials at Medford." [4]  

A letter written by the wife of one British soldier on May 2, 1775, illustrates the impact being captured could have on loved ones and families, regardless of how well the prisoners were treated.  Writing to her "Loving Brothers and Sisters" in England she shared: "The 19th of April the engagement happened, and my husband was wounded and taken prisoner, but they use him well, and I am striving to get to him... My husband is now lying in one of their hospitals, at a place called Cambridge... I hear my husband's leg is broke, and my heart is broke." [5]

Though Isaiah Thomas would claim that there was "not one instance of cruelty, that we have heard of", one incident would mar the reputation of the Provincial forces who fought that day.  Thomas Thorp of Acton would recall years later that after the militia returned fire on the British troops ordered to secure the North Bridge in Concord, and drove them back, he and his comrades recrossed the bridge towards the town center.  There, on the other side, they encountered one British soldier who was dead, and another who was wounded, but still alive - and arguably the first prisoner taken in the American Revolution, given the uncertain circumstances of Lee's capture.

Thorp would also share that after he crossed the bridge, one of their company attacked the wounded soldier "... with a hatchet, after being wounded and helpless."  [6]  Exactly what happened, including who that soldier was, is still in dispute, but he was killed.  What is accepted though is that two British soldiers were buried by the bridge, their graves marked as shown in this image from the Minute Man National Park website, which shares the story of this "Controversy at the Bridge".  

[1] Lemuel Shattuck, A History of the Town of Concord (Boston, MA: Russell, Odiorne, and Company, 1835), 117.
[2] Don N. Hagist, "The British Soldiers Who Marched To Concord, April 19, 1775", accessed April 18, 2024 at: https://allthingsliberty.com/2022/04/the-british-soldiers-who-marched-to-concord-april-19-1775/; "The First Prisoner of War (or possibly the First Deserter) of the American Revolution", accessed April 16, 2024, https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/early-america-review/volume-12/first-pow.
[3] Massachusetts Spy, Worcester, MA, May 3, 1775.
[4] A Narrative of the Excursion and Ravages of the King’s Troop Under the Command of General Gage On the nineteenth of April, 1775 (Worcester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, 1775), no page numbers.
[5] Peter Force, American Archives, Fourth Series (Washington, DC: M. St. Claire Clarke and Peter Force, 1839), 2:441.
[6] Josiah Adams, Letter to Lemuel Shattuck... In Vindication of the Claims of Capt. Isaac Davis of Acton (Boston, MA: Damrell & Moore, 1850), 15.



For more on the Convention Army's 1777 march from Saratoga to Boston, see:


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