Winter was over, and with their singing the birds were making the April mornings melodious. The Provincial Congress was in session at Cambridge, and Samuel Adams and John Hancock had left Boston and with Dorothy Quincy were with Reverend Mr. Clark in Lexington. Abraham Duncan discovered that General Gage had sent Captain Brown and Ensign De Berniere into the country to see the roads.[53] Sharp-eyed Sons of Liberty watched the movements of the soldiers. They saw Lord Percy march his brigade to Roxbury, and return as if for exercise, with no one opposing them.
“We can march from one end of the continent to the other, without opposition from the cowardly Yankees,” said the boasting soldiers.
Paul Revere, Tom Brandon, Robert Newman, and a score of the Sons of Liberty were keeping watch of the movements of the redcoats. They saw the sailors of the warships, and of the vessels which had brought the new troops, launching their boats and putting them in order. They knew General Gage wanted to seize Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and quite likely the military supplies which the committee of safety had collected at Concord. Paul Revere rode out to Lexington on Sunday to see Adams and Hancock, and let them know what was going on in Boston.
“The launching of the ship’s boat means something,” said Mr. Adams. “It looks as if the troops were going to make a short cut across Charles River instead of marching over Roxbury Neck.”
“We will keep our eyes open and let you know the moment they make any movement,” said Revere.
“Quite likely Gage will set a patrol so you can’t leave Boston,” said Hancock.
“I’ll tell ye what we’ll do. If the troops leave in the night by way of Roxbury, I’ll get Robert Newman to hang a lantern in the steeple of Christ Church; if they take boats to make the short cut across Charles River, I’ll have him hang out two lanterns. I’ll tell Deacon Larkin and Colonel Conant, over in Charlestown, to keep their eyes on the steeple.”
It was Tuesday morning, April 18. Abraham Duncan wondered how it happened that so many British officers with their overcoats on were mounting their horses and riding out towards Roxbury, not in a group, but singly, or two together, with pistols in their holsters.
“We will dine at Winship’s tavern in Cambridge, and then go on,” he heard one say.