Meriam's Corner

Last updated

Meriam's Corner
Part of the battles of Lexington and Concord
Meriam's Corner, Concord, Mass (NYPL b12647398-69505).tiff
An early 20th-century postcard of Meriam's Corner, looking northeast. In view is the Nathan Meriam House
DateApril 19, 1775(248 years ago) (1775-04-19)
Location 42°27′34″N71°19′27″W / 42.4594745°N 71.324283°W / 42.4594745; -71.324283
Result Massachusetts Bay victory
Belligerents
Massachusetts Bay Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg  Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg Francis Smith
Casualties and losses
0 2
Relief map of USA Massachusetts.png
Red pog.svg
Location within Massachusetts

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. [1]

In the early afternoon of April 19, 1775, it was the site of the first offensive between the British regulars, who were retreating from Concord to Boston, [2] and the colonial militia. The regulars had made the outbound journey that morning, with the first defensive conflict of that journey having been in the dawn hours on Lexington Common.

A stone marking the nearby burial site of at least one of the two British soldiers killed during the skirmish stands on the western side of Old Bedford Road, near to the junction with Lexington Road.

Another stone marker, installed in 1885 in the wall at the apex of the corner, reads:

The British troops
retreating from the
Old North Bridge
were here attacked in flank
by the men of Concord
and neighboring towns and driven under a hot fire
to Charlestown''
[1]

Redcoats' retreat to Boston

A National Park Service map showing the redcoats' retreat from Concord Concord Retreat.png
A National Park Service map showing the redcoats' retreat from Concord

Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, concerned about the safety of his men, sent flankers to follow a ridge and protect his forces from the roughly one thousand colonials now in the field as the British marched east out of Concord. This ridge ended near Meriam's Corner, a crossroads about a mile (2 km) outside the village of Concord, where the main road came to a narrow bridge across Elm Brook, a tributary of Mill Brook. To cross the bridge, the British had to pull the flankers back into the main column and close ranks to a mere three soldiers abreast. Colonial militia companies arriving from the north and east had converged at this point and presented a clear numerical advantage over the regulars. [3] The British were now witnessing once again what General Thomas Gage had hoped to avoid by dispatching the expedition in secrecy and in the dark of night: the ability of the colonial militiamen to rise and converge by the thousands when British forces ventured out of Boston. As the last of the British column marched over the bridge, the British rear guard wheeled and fired a volley at the colonial militiamen, who had been firing irregularly and ineffectively from a distance but now had closed to within musket range. [4] The colonists returned fire, this time with deadly effect. Two regulars were killed and perhaps six wounded, with no colonial casualties. Smith sent out his flanking troops again after crossing the small bridge.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston campaign</span> Opening campaign of the American Revolutionary War

The Boston campaign was the opening campaign of the American Revolutionary War, taking place primarily in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The campaign began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, in which the local colonial militias interdicted a British government attempt to seize military stores and leaders in Concord, Massachusetts. The entire British expedition suffered significant casualties during a running battle back to Charlestown against an ever-growing number of militia.

<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">Buckman Tavern</span> United States historic place

Buckman Tavern is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution's very first battle, the 1775 Battle of Lexington and Concord. It is located on the Battle Green in Lexington, Massachusetts and operated as a museum by the Lexington Historical Society.

<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 were some of the leading 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.

William Sutherland was a British officer during the American Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lexington Battle Green</span> United States historic place

The Lexington Battle Green, also known as Lexington Common, is the historic town common of Lexington, Massachusetts, United States. It was at this site that the opening shots of the Battles of Lexington and Concord were fired on April 19, 1775, starting the American Revolutionary War. Now a public park, the common is a National Historic Landmark.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minutemen</span> American Revolutionary War militia

Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Minutemen provided a highly mobile, rapidly deployed force that enabled the colonies to respond immediately to military threats. They were an evolution from the prior colonial rapid-response units.

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.

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">Lexington–Concord Sesquicentennial half dollar</span> 1925 US commemorative coin

The Lexington–Concord Sesquicentennial half dollar, sometimes the Lexington–Concord half dollar or Patriot half dollar, is a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1925 in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which began the American Revolutionary War. It was designed by Chester Beach and features Daniel Chester French's 1874 The Minute Man statue on the obverse.

<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.

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 road runs east–west, but turns north for about 500 yards (460 m) and then east again, 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.

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. It has also been referred to as Hardy's Hill.

References

  1. 1 2 Meriam House, Minute Man National Historical Park, Concord, Massachusetts, p. 3
  2. "The Battle Road Trail"Minute Man National Historic Park
  3. Muster rolls for the militia and minute companies converging at this point are included in Coburn, pp. 7-35. However, as Coburn notes, these rolls are not a complete tally of the militiamen present, because some muster lists were either not submitted or have not been found in archives.
  4. Both the British and the local militias were armed with smooth-bore muskets that had an effective range of aimed fire of only 80-100 yards (75-90 m), although the musket ball could have serious effect at a greater distance, if it happened by chance to hit a person. There is no record that any soldiers on either side were armed with longer-range, more accurate rifles. Dr. Benjamin Church, a member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and the Committee of Safety, informed General Gage in March 1775, that the colonial militiamen "from their adroitness in the habitual use of the firelock suppose themselves sure of their mark at a distance of 200 rods". Even if Church meant yards rather than rods (600 feet versus 3300 feet), it is unclear whether he was profoundly ignorant of the capabilities of a musket, was exaggerating in order to mislead Gage (as Church later claimed when accused of being a spy), or was ridiculing the American militiamen. See Philbrick, p. 92, and French, p. 57-58. On whether Church was a spy, see French, Chapter V.