Brooks Hill

Last updated

Brooks Hill
Part of the American Revolutionary War
DateApril 19, 1775(248 years ago) (1775-04-19)
Location 42°27′13″N71°18′27″W / 42.4535497°N 71.307518°W / 42.4535497; -71.307518
Belligerents
Massachusetts Bay Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg  Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Loammi Baldwin Francis Smith
Relief map of USA Massachusetts.png
Red pog.svg
Location within Massachusetts

Brooks Hill is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. It was here, beside the Battle Road, that the British regulars passed on their marches to Concord from Boston, and again on their retreat east. [1] It has also been referred to as Hardy's Hill. [2]

Contents

Named for the Brooks family, today's Brooks Village Historical Area is located immediately to the north of Route 2A (the North Great Road), near Battle Road (or Bay Road), in Lincoln, Massachusetts. It is today part of Minute Man National Historical Park. [1]

History

The area was inhabited around twelve thousand years before the arrival of European immigrants. Algonquin people lived beside the Musketaquid River prior to the establishment of the Concord plantation. [2]

Geography

The summit of the hill is around 600 yards (550 m) south of Route 2A; the Historical Area, meanwhile, is located around 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of Meriam's Corner in Concord, Massachusetts, immediately to the east (and across the Concord/Lincoln town line) of the Samuel Brooks House, on Lexington Road. [2]

Brooks Village continues east for around 660 yards (600 m), before a steep descent into Elm Brook, which marks the starting point of Elm Brook Hill. [2]

April 19, 1775

The British began their eighteen-mile journey back to Boston from Concord around noon. Around the same time, large numbers of colonial militia (known as minutemen) began to take their positions atop the Brooks Hill plateau. The first to arrive were 180 men from Woburn, who arrived via the meeting house in Lincoln. Major Loammi Baldwin took some respite at one of the farmhouses of the Brooks family. [2]

As their enemies drew nearer, but possibly before any altercation at Meriam's Corner had begun, Baldwin had his soldiers move east to Elm Brook Hill. [2] A short while later, gunfire did begin in the area between Meriam's Corner and Brook's Hill. [2]

Two companies of minutemen and militia arrived from East Sudbury and met the British column on the southern side of the Bay Road, near its intersection with Brooks Road. [2] When the British rearguard began to climb Brooks Hill, part of the colonists sprinted across the low open fields on the northern side of the road to position themselves near Elm Brook Hill. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Parker (captain)</span> American colonial farmer, smith and soldier

John Parker was an American colonial farmer, smith, soldier, and colonial militia officer who commanded the Lexington, Patriot, colonial militia at the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old North Bridge</span> Bridge in Massachusetts, U.S.

The North Bridge, often colloquially called the Old North Bridge, is a historic site in Concord, Massachusetts, spanning the Concord River. On April 19, 1775, the first day of the American Revolutionary War, provincial minutemen and militia companies numbering approximately 400 engaged roughly 90 British Army troops at this location. The battle was the first instance in which American forces advanced in formation on the British regulars, inflicted casualties, and routed their opponents. It was a pivotal moment in the Battles of Lexington and Concord and in American history. The significance of the historic events at the North Bridge inspired Ralph Waldo Emerson to refer to the moment as the "shot heard round the world."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minute Man National Historical Park</span> Historic park in Massachusetts, USA

Minute Man National Historical Park commemorates the opening battle in the American Revolutionary War. It also includes the Wayside, home in turn to three noted American authors. The National Historical Park is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and protects 970 acres (392.5 ha) in and around the Massachusetts towns of Lexington, Lincoln, and 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">Battles of Lexington and Concord</span> First military engagements of the American Revolutionary War (1775)

The Battles of Lexington and Concord, also called the Shot Heard 'Round the World, were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. 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.

<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">Battle Road</span> Historic road in Lincoln, Massachusetts

Battle Road, formerly known as the Old Concord Road and the Bay Road, is a historic road in Massachusetts, United States. It was formerly part of the main road connecting Lexington, Lincoln and Concord, three of the main towns involved in the American Revolutionary War. It was on Battle Road that thousands of colonial militia and British regulars fought during the redcoats' retreat from Concord to Boston on the morning and afternoon of April 19, 1775.

Capt. John Trull (1738–1797) was the commander of the Tewksbury, Massachusetts minuteman company on the first day of the American Revolution, at the Battle of Lexington & Concord.

Major John Buttrick was one of the leaders of the Concord militia during the Battle of Concord on April 19, 1775. Given the usual interpretation of the first stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous poem "Concord Hymn," Buttrick is the man who ordered "the shot heard around the world."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hartwell Tavern</span> Colonial building in Massachusetts

Hartwell Tavern is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. It is located on North County Road, just off Battle Road in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and operated as a historic house museum by the National Park Service as part of the Minute Man National Historical Park. Built in 1733, in what was then Concord, it is staffed from Memorial Day (May) weekend to October by park rangers dressed in colonial attire who offer programs daily.

<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">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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Road</span> Historic road in Lincoln, Massachusetts

Virginia Road, also known as North County Road, North Country Road and Bay Road, is a historic road in Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States. It was part of Concord until 1754. Today, it is in the care of the Minute Man National Historical Park.

The Bloody Angle refers to a section of the Battle Road, in Lincoln, Massachusetts, on which two battles were fought on April 19, 1775, during the battles of Lexington and Concord, in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The stretch of the mainly east–west-running road turns north for about 500 yards (460 m) and then east, as per the direction of travel during the British regulars' retreat from nearby Concord to Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathan Meriam House</span> Colonial building in Massachusetts

The Nathan Meriam House is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. Built around 1705, it stands on Old Bedford Road, near its intersection with Lexington Road, in Concord, Massachusetts; the intersection is now known as Meriam's Corner. It is one of eleven houses within the Minute Man National Historic Park that still exists today. This area was part of the former Battle Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noah Brooks Tavern</span> Colonial building in Massachusetts

The Noah Brooks Tavern is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. It stands, on the site of a previous home, on North Great Road in Lincoln, Massachusetts, just south of the former Battle Road, in an area known as Brooks Village. It is one of eleven houses within the Minute Man National Historic Park that still exists today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meriam's Corner</span> Battle of the American Revolutionary War

Meriam's Corner is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. It is located, on the former Battle Road, at the junction of today's Lexington Road and Old Bedford Road in Concord, Massachusetts, and is named for the Meriam family, who lived there. The Nathan Meriam House still stands beside Old Bedford Road and forms part of Meriam's Corner itself. Both the house and Meriam's Corner are part of the Minute Man National Historic Park. Three of the Meriam family’s homes stood here in 1775, the other two belonging to Josiah Meriam, brother of Nathan, and their nephew John.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Battle Road Trail"Minute Man National Historic Park
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Brooks Hill - Minute Man National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved November 22, 2022.