The 1777 March of the Saratoga Convention Army

How many connections are there between Concord and Lexington, and the 1777 march of the Convention Army?  On the American side, countless Massachusetts militiamen who answered the call on April 19th, 1775, did so again in the summer and fall of 1777.  On the British side just one unit, the 47th Regiment of Foot , took part in both the 1775 raid on Concord, and Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne's 1777 expedition from Canada.   The militia troops who mobilized on April 19th came from towns and villages in Essex County, as well as Middlesex County .  The Reverend Manasseh Cutler of Ipswich, Massachusetts, would note in his diary: "... At sunset [on April 19, 1775] we got almost into Cambridge, and met with our people just after they fired their last gun.  The British fought upon a retreat from Concord to Cambridge, where they had boats to take them on board for Boston.  It is not known how many were killed on either side..." [1]  Fortunately, the Ma...

How many connections are there between Lexington, Concord, and the 1777 march of the Convention Army?  On the American side, countless Massachusetts militiamen who answered the call on April 19th, 1775, did so again in the summer and fall of 1777.   During the Saratoga campaign, twenty militiamen from Lexington served in Captain Samuel Farrar's company with Colonel Jonathan Reed's Middlesex County militia regiment and escorted the German column of the Convention Army to Winter Hill.  The  pay receipt they signed   is now in the collection of the Lexington Historical Society.  Benjamin Lock, one of those men, kept a  journal of his march to Saratoga and back .  Another , Benjamin Wellington , is said to be the first armed man taken by the British in the Revolutionary War .  Militiamen from Concord and neighboring Acton also served in Reed's Middlesex County regiment during the Saratoga campaign.  According to Lemuel Shattuck, i...

How many connections are there between Concord and Lexington, and the 1777 march of the Convention Army?  On the American side, countless Massachusetts militiamen who answered the call on April 19th, 1775, did so again in the summer and fall of 1777.  Benjamin Lock of Lexington appears to be one of them, as evidenced by a deposition he signed on April 25, 1775,  the journal he kept in 1777  documenting his  journey to Saratoga and his return home after the surrender as a guard with the German column of the Convention Army, and a   pay receipt for service during the Saratoga campaign   that is now in the collection of the Lexington Historical Society.  Was Benjamin Lock among the men on Lexington Green who were fired upon by British troops on the morning of April 19th, 1775, as pictured here in an engraving by Ralph Earl and Amos Dolittle? [1]   When Lock submitted his claim for a pension in 1833, he did not mention that he was on Lexingt...

How many connections are there between Concord and Lexington, and the 1777 march of the Convention Army?  On the American side, countless Massachusetts militiamen who answered the call on April 19th, 1775, did so again in the summer and fall of 1777.  Benjamin Lock of Lexington is said to be one of them, as evidenced by  the journal he kept in 1777  documenting his  journey to Saratoga, and his return home after the surrender as a guard with the German column of the Convention Army, as well as the pay receipt he signed in Lincoln in 1778 seven months later.    Benjamin Wellington, eighth on the Lexington list , has an interesting story of his own.  A bronze plaque (pictured here) at the corner of Follen Road and Pleasant Street in Lexington, on the lawn of Scared Heart Church, notes his capture with the words:  "Near this spot at early dawn on the 19th of April 1775, Benjamin Wellington, a minute man, was surprised by British scouts and...