Some of his soldiers ascended Lee's Hill, about one hundred feet[215] higher than, and overlooking, the river down to North Bridge. From there they could plainly see the growing excitement, as evidenced by the moving about of the minute-men, and the constant accession to their numbers. Finally there came echoing up the valley, the signal gun, then two more, then the volley; and they knew the scene on Lexington Common was being re-enacted.
They descended the Hill, and gathered with the others at the South Bridge, removed the planks therefrom to protect their retreat, and marched rapidly back to the main body in the village.[216]
Lieut.-Col. Smith now commenced to realize his distance from Boston and the dangers that might lurk along the way. He had his entire force assembled in Concord village very soon after ten o'clock, but his many wounded soldiers required attention before he could begin his return march. Some of them were attended by Dr. Cumings and Dr. Minot, of the village.[217] As no provision had been made by the British commander for the transportation of his disabled soldiers, the people of Concord were called upon to supply the deficiency. A chaise was confiscated from Reuben Brown, and another from John Beaton. Bedding from near-by houses was added for the comfort of the riders. Several horses were taken, among them one belonging to Capt. Smith of the Lincoln Company, which he had, for some reason, left at Wright Tavern, before he marched for North Bridge. Lieut. Hayward of Concord, recaptured Reuben Brown's chaise from the regulars in Arlington, and with it a horse, bedquilt, pillow, etc., for the owners of which he advertised in the Essex Gazette of Aug. 10, 1775.[218]
Besides his wounded, Lieut.-Col. Smith had his able-bodied men to consider also. They had been without sleep since the time of starting from Boston Common, at half past ten o'clock the evening before, and possibly back to the night before that. They had already marched over seventeen miles to Concord village, and those who had gone to Col. Barrett's, and to the North and South Bridges, so much farther yet. They had passed through the exciting scenes of bloodshed at Lexington Common and North Bridge, which must have added agitated minds to weary bodies. His soldiers needed rest and Smith knew it, and was justified in granting the two hours that he did.
Aside from those reasons Smith had another good one for not starting, at once. It will be remembered that when he had reached Arlington (Menotomy) realizing his march had aroused the entire community, he had sent back an urgent request to Gen. Gage for strong reinforcements. He could reasonably expect them to reach any place that he had, within three hours at least, of his time. But unfortunately for Smith the forces under Percy had not started until nine o'clock that morning, and were then less than five miles on the way, and coming over a longer route than he had taken.[219]
The destruction of the public military stores, according to the report of Lieut.-Col. Smith, hardly balanced his loss of prestige even, to say nothing of the British lives that had been and would be given up in the cause. He gives his men credit for knocking the trunnions off from three field pieces of iron ordnance; destroying by fire some new gun carriages, and a great number of carriage wheels; and throwing into the river considerable flour, some powder, musket balls and other small articles. De Bernicre in his account, adds to the list, by mentioning barrels of trenchers and spoons of wood destroyed by Capt. Pole.
While the bonfire was consuming the cannon wheels, it was discovered that the Court House, facing the Green, was on fire. It was noticed by Mrs. Martha Moulton, an elderly widow who lived close by, and who had not fled with the younger part of the population as the enemy approached. She felt that her years, seventy-one, would be her protection, as indeed they were. She has left an interesting statement of the events of those few hours,—how her home was invaded by the soldiers for food and water; how Pitcairn and other officers sat before her door, watching the soldiers in their destructive work; how she discovered the Court House on fire, and how earnestly she pleaded with them to put it out, even bringing water for them to do so. At first they were indifferent, but finally yielded, and extinguished the flames. Thus was the Court House saved, and possibly some of the adjoining homes, by Martha Moulton.[220]
The provincial Congress, in their published account of the damages sustained in Concord, aside from the public stores, set the value at £274, 16s. 7d. of which £3, 6s. was for broken locks in His Majesty's Jail.[221]
[LIEUT.-COL. SMITH'S RETREAT THROUGH CONCORD.]
It was about twelve o'clock when Lieut.-Col. Smith gave the order to march. As the neighboring hills were covered with provincials,[222] he ordered out even larger bodies of flankers, and farther away from the main body in the highway. The march along the Lexington road for a little more than a mile to Meriam's Corner, was uneventful, but at that place the struggle was renewed. There the men of Concord, Acton, Lincoln, and Bedford, came within rifle shot of the highway. They had passed along the Great Meadow, so called, northerly from the range of hills near the highway, and reached Meriam's Corner at about the same time that Smith did.