William. Oh how sorry I am! He must have wished very much to have seen his countrymen once more.
Mrs. M. He did indeed. He repeatedly said to the seamen, who were attending on him, that he had but one desire and one prayer, which was, that he might live long enough to have one interview with his friend Joseph Warren, or with Samuel Adams. His prayer was not granted, for wise purposes no doubt. Nor did he know that his predictions that blood would be shed before liberty could be attained, were accomplished, and that his countrymen had already, in the battle of Lexington, sealed their constancy in the cause of liberty "with their blood."
But I must go back a little to tell you what led to that battle. The British had been for some time aware that the Americans were determined to repel their aggressions by arms, since all other means had failed. They therefore determined to take from us the means of defence. They thought if they could get possession of our powder and balls, we of course could not fire our guns or cannon. They resolved to attempt first to gain those which were at Concord, a small town about 18 miles from Boston.
On the 18th of March, 1775, Gen. Gage despatched, as secretly as possible, eight or nine hundred soldiers, under the command of a Col. Smith, to destroy all the stores in that place, thinking this a safer plan than to try to keep them. This they hoped to effect before our people had time to make any resistance. But the Americans were not so easily taken by surprise. Gen. Warren had directed a number of men to keep watch on the motions of the British, and to let him know when there was any appearance of an attack upon us. These men discovered this plan of theirs, and immediately gave Warren information of it. He would not do any thing hastily, so he went himself to watch them. One evening he observed there was an unusual stir in the English camp. Unperceived by them he saw Col. Smith and his men embark on board some of their vessels, and he had no doubt they were going to Charlestown, and from thence to Concord. He, the same night, despatched messengers through the neighboring country, to give notice of the designed attack. He rode himself all night, and passed so near the enemy as to be several times in danger of becoming their prisoner, but escaped by his undaunted courage and self-possession. Col. Revere was one of his messengers; I think he was sent to Lexington. He had of course to pass through Charlestown. As he was turning a corner of one of the streets, he discovered a party of soldiers approaching, he knew them to belong to the enemy; for a moment he hesitated whether to turn back or proceed; but it was only for a moment; he recollected that probably the safety of hundreds depended on his executing the commission entrusted to him, he put his horse into a gallop, and, before the astonished men had time to ascertain if he was friend or foe, he had dashed through them and was nearly out of sight! In vain with their halloos and their whizzing balls they attempted to stop him; of the halloos he was regardless, and from their balls he was preserved by that Being who seemed in a most especial manner to smile upon our cause.
William. I am glad they could not stop him. I think he was a brave man, do not you mamma? I fear I should have turned back when I saw the soldiers coming.
Mrs. M. He certainly was a very brave man, and we had a great many such during the Revolution. I trust you would have been brave too, had you lived in such times, and would not have turned back from the performance of a duty, because it was dangerous to execute it. Revere executed his so faithfully, that when the British arrived at Lexington, which is six miles this side of Concord, they were met by a body of our militia, who endeavored to keep them from advancing. It was now about sunrise. Warren, although he had had no rest that night, hastened to the field of action, determined to be ready to aid and animate his countrymen, and to share every danger to which they were exposed.
The small number of men which had time to assemble were not, however, able to make much opposition to the veteran soldiers of Great Britain. When the officers of these men cried out, "Disperse, you rebels, disperse, throw down your arms and disperse," many left the field. As they were doing so, some of the enemy fired on them; this brought on an engagement, in which eight of our men were killed and seven wounded. The British pursued their march to Concord, and destroyed sixty barrels of flour, and other stores deposited there. Our men had now collected in greater numbers, and opposed them so resolutely as to drive them back to Lexington in quick march, and they continued to annoy them through the whole of their retreat to Charlestown: so that, before they arrived there, they had lost many men. Some were wounded, some taken prisoners, and others slain. Gen. Warren, from his ardor in pressing on them was near being killed. A musket-ball came so close to him as to take off a lock of his hair which curled close to his head, as was the fashion of the time. You may see how his hair was dressed if you look at his picture in Faneuil Hall.
Mary. How could it help wounding him, dear mother, when it came so near?
Mrs. M. It seems wonderful that it should not have wounded him; but he was spared a little longer by that Being, who alone can judge what is the proper time in which a valuable life should be taken.
When his mother first saw him after this escape, she entreated him, with tears in her eyes, not again to risk a life so dear to her, and so necessary to his country. "Wherever danger is, dear mother," was his reply, "there must your son be, now is no time for one of America's children to shrink from the most hazardous duty. I will either see my country free, or shed my last drop of blood to make her so." He was not permitted to see this; but he did indeed shed his life's blood, that others might be free. That blood was not shed in vain. It is probable that his death did nearly as much to animate his countrymen in the cause of liberty, as he himself could have done had he lived.