Abel Prescott Jr.

Last updated
Abel Prescott Jr.
DiedSeptember 21, 1775(1775-09-21) (aged 25)
Known for Midnight Ride
Relatives Samuel Prescott (brother)

Abel Prescott Jr. was one of the Americans who rode to warn that British troops were coming to Concord, Massachusetts on the eve of the American Revolution. While his brother Samuel Prescott was warning Concord about the British march to Concord, Abel rode south to warn the towns of Sudbury and Framingham. He was fired on by a British regular who spotted him as he was returning from the[ which? ] neighboring town. He was slightly wounded in his side but succeeded in escaping by hiding himself in a house belonging to Mrs. Heywood.[ who? ] Within four months he died of the wound and from dysentery at the age of 26. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Bunker Hill</span> Battle of the American Revolutionary War

The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved. It was the original objective of both the colonial and British troops, though the majority of combat took place on the adjacent hill which became known as Breed's Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Prescott</span> American colonel in the Revolutionary War

William Prescott was an American colonel in the Revolutionary War who commanded the patriot forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Prescott is known for his order to his soldiers, "Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes", such that the rebel troops may shoot at the enemy at shorter ranges, and therefore more accurately and lethally, and so conserve their limited stocks of ammunition. It is debated whether Prescott or someone earlier coined this memorable saying.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Dawes</span> American militiaman (1745–1799)

William Dawes Jr. was an American soldier, and was one of several men who, in April 1775, alerted minutemen in Massachusetts of the approach of British regulars prior to the battles of Lexington and Concord at the outset of the American Revolution. For some years, Paul Revere had the most renown for his ride of warning of this event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Warren</span> American physician and patriot (1741–1775)

Joseph Warren, a Founding Father of the United States, was an American physician who was one of the most important figures in the Patriot movement in Boston during the early days of the American Revolution, eventually serving as President of the revolutionary Massachusetts Provincial Congress. Warren enlisted Paul Revere and William Dawes on April 18, 1775, to leave Boston and spread the alarm that the British garrison in Boston was setting out to raid the town of Concord and arrest rebel leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Warren participated in the Battles of Lexington and Concord the following day, the opening engagements of the American Revolutionary War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Prescott</span> American physician and patriot

Samuel Prescott was an American physician and a Massachusetts Patriot during the American Revolutionary War. He is best known for his role in Paul Revere's "midnight ride" to warn the townspeople of Concord, Massachusetts, of the impending British army move to capture guns and gunpowder kept there at the beginning of the American Revolution. He was the only participant in the ride to reach Concord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Smith (British Army officer)</span> British army officer

Major General Francis Smith (1723–1791) was a British Army officer. Although Smith had a lengthy and varied career, he is best known as the British commander during most of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts on 19 April 1775. The fighting ignited the American War of Independence that would see thirteen of Britain's American Colonies become a separate nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin F. Prescott</span> American politician (1833-1895)

Benjamin Franklin Prescott was an American lawyer, newspaper editor, and politician from Epping, New Hampshire, who served as the 36th governor of New Hampshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battles of Lexington and Concord</span> First military engagements of the American Revolutionary War (1775)

The Battles of Lexington and Concord was the first major military campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in an American victory and outpouring of militia support for the anti-British cause. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy, and Cambridge. They marked the outbreak of armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Patriot militias from America's thirteen colonies.

Isaac Bissell was a patriot post rider who delivered mail between Boston and Hartford, Connecticut. On April 19, 1775, the British made an attack on Lexington and Concord, igniting the American Revolutionary War. He was assigned to alert American colonists of the news and rally them to assist the Massachusetts minutemen. Traveling from Watertown, Massachusetts, on the Upper Post Road to Hartford, Connecticut, and through Connecticut Colony, he carried the Lexington Alarm message from Joseph Palmer. He rode again in July 1779 to deliver the New Haven Alarm. Bissell served the Connecticut Militia throughout the Revolutionary War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Davis (soldier)</span> American gunsmith

Isaac Davis was a gunsmith and a militia officer who commanded a company of Minutemen from Acton, Massachusetts, during the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. In the months leading up to the Revolution, Davis set unusually high standards for his company in terms of equipment, training, and preparedness. His company was selected to lead the advance on the British Regulars during the Battle of Concord because his men were entirely outfitted with bayonets. During the American advance on the British at the Old North Bridge, Davis was among the first killed and was the first American officer to die in the Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Revere's Ride</span> Poem by Longfellow

"Paul Revere's Ride" is an 1860 poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that commemorates the actions of American patriot Paul Revere on April 18, 1775, although with significant inaccuracies. It was first published in the January 1861 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. It was later retitled "The Landlord's Tale" in Longfellow's 1863 collection Tales of a Wayside Inn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Robinson (militiaman)</span> American soldier

John Robinson was a Massachusetts militia and Continental Army officer from Westford, Massachusetts during the American Revolutionary War. On April 19, 1775, during the Battle of Concord, Robinson was the second highest-ranking officer in the field after Colonel James Barrett. Robinson marched next to Major John Buttrick at the head of the American column which advanced on and defeated the British Regulars at the Old North Bridge that day. Robinson would later fight at the Battle of Bunker Hill, serve under General George Washington during the Siege of Boston and, in 1786, he would take part in the agrarian insurrection known as Shays' Rebellion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reuben Brown House</span> House in Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.

The Reuben Brown House is a colonial style house located in Concord, Massachusetts.

Thaddeus Bowman was the last scout sent out by Capt. John Parker at Lexington, Massachusetts, but the only one to find the approaching British troops and get back to warn the militia on the first day of the American Revolution.

<i>The Minute Man</i> 1874 sculpture by Daniel Chester French

The Minute Man is an 1874 sculpture by Daniel Chester French in Minute Man National Historical Park, Concord, Massachusetts. It was created between 1871 and 1874 after extensive research, and was originally intended to be made of stone. The medium was switched to bronze and it was cast from ten Civil War-era cannons appropriated by Congress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Revere's Midnight Ride</span> 1775 event of the American Revolution

Paul Revere's Midnight Ride was an alert given to minutemen in the Province of Massachusetts Bay by local Patriots on the night of April 18, 1775, warning them of the approach of British Army troops prior to the battles of Lexington and Concord. In the preceding weeks, Patriots in the region gained wind of a planned crackdown on the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, then based in Concord, by the British occupational authorities in the colony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Captain William Smith House</span> Colonial building in Massachusetts

The Captain William Smith House is a historic American Revolutionary War site in Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States. Part of today's Minute Man National Historic Park, it is associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. Believed to have been built in 1692, in what was then Concord, it is believed to be the oldest house in Lincoln.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Job Brooks House</span> Historic house in Lincoln, Massachusetts

The Job Brooks House is a historic American Revolutionary War site in Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of today's Minute Man National Historic Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Whittemore House</span> House in Lexington, Massachusetts

The Jacob Whittemore House is a historic American Revolutionary War site in Lexington, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of today's Minute Man National Historic Park. It is located on Airport Road, just off Battle Road. It is the only house of the "witness" houses of the April 19, 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord to fall inside the Lexington town line; the others are in Lincoln or Concord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Brooks House (Massachusetts)</span>

The Samuel Brooks House is a historic American Revolutionary War site in Concord, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of today's Minute Man National Historic Park. It is located on North Great Road, just off Battle Road.

References

  1. Ryan, Michael (August 2001). "The Tale of Two Families Joined by Love, Shattered by War". Concord Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 July 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2023.