Embedded Files
An illustration shows the home of Deacon Adams and family as it looked around the time of the American Revolutionary War. Part of the home has been relocated after it was purchased by a later resident. Is is now located at 35 Bailey Road.
Deacon Joseph Adams and his wife Hannah lived in a home along the Lexington Road, around the area of what is now 840-842 Massachusetts Avenue. Deacon Adams served the community at the First Parish Church. Though most of the women and children had fled for safety in homes away from the main road, the Adams family remained as Mrs. Adams had just recently given birth to a daughter, Ann.1 In testimony provided to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress on May 16, 1775, Hannah Adams described her condition on April 19, 1775: “...laid on my bed, being scarcely able to walk from my bed to the fire, not having been to my chamber door from my being delivered in child-birth to that time.”2 While in this position, several British soldiers forced themselves into the Adams home and then into the room in which Mrs. Adams was resting.
According to Mrs. Adams, a British soldier fixed their bayonet against her chest upon finding the woman in bed. As she pleaded for her life, the soldier replied, “‘we will not hurt the woman, if she will go out of the house, but we will surely burn it.’”3 Hannah Adams fled to safety with her infant daughter, Ann, hiding in a small shed outside of the house. Five of her children remained in the home, hiding, as the soldiers ransacked the home. Upon leaving the home, they set it on fire.4 Mrs. Adams’ testimony provides no further details regarding items stolen or destroyed, or information pertaining to how the fire in the home was extinguished. Samuel A. Smith provides a more detailed description of the events in West Cambridge 1775, listing items stolen or damaged in the raid: “They emptied the drawers into sheets, made bundles of the most valuable things, and even took out the machinery of the old clock…”.5 Many of these items are currently on display at the Arlington Historical Society.
A cradle belonging to the Adams family is on display at the Arlington Historical Society. It is likely the same cradle in which the infant, Ann, was resting on the afternoon of April 19, 1775.
The clock case from which the machinery was stolen, which once belonged to the Adams family, can now be viewed at the Arlington Historical Society.
Smith also includes the experience of Joel Adams, a nine year old boy in April 1775, as recounted by Mrs. Thomas Hall, granddaughter of Mrs. Adams. The story of Joel Adams expands upon Hannah Adams’ experience that day. The young boy was hiding beneath his mother’s bed with his siblings when the British soldiers forced their way into the room. Coaxed out from their hideout beneath the bed, the children watched silently as the soldiers cleaned the house of its valuables. When Joel watched the soldiers take the communion service, he shouted out for the soldiers to stop, which they disregarded. The silver was later recovered at a silversmith’s shop in Boston, who agreed to sell it back to the church for the price paid to the British soldiers. The fire started by the soldiers was extinguished by the children using beer and water, though the house sustained some damage.6
The story of the Adams family of Menotomy is one of only a few first-hand accounts preserved immediately in the historical record through the deposition of Mrs. Adams. Only one other deposition was taken from village residents. It is a shocking account, one which deviates drastically from the narrative put forth by Lieutenant Colonel Smith regarding the treatment of residents in Concord, where Smith and Pitcairn “took all possible pains to convince that we meant them no injury, and that if they opened their doors when required to search for military stores not the slightest mischief would be done.”7 By the time the soldiers reached Menotomy, even women and children were viewed with contempt if the Adams experience is to be believed.
It is important to consider the historical accuracy of each account. While Mrs. Adams provided testimony which can be assumed to be truthful and accurate, it cannot be determined if any parts were exaggerated. The records of the Provincial Congress do include an accounting of the items stolen from the Adams household: "vessels, linen, and cash... amount to £16 16 8."8 A description of the incident from the perspective of British soldiers has not yet been uncovered. The incident at the Adams home was expanded upon, beginning with the Reverend Samuel A. Smith’s West Cambridge 1775. Though the additional information provides a broader examination of how the incident unfolded, there are aspects of the story which do not fully align with the full narrative. For example, according to Smith, the young son, Joel, was able to stand by and watch as the British stole items, and at one point even shouted back to them. Mrs. Adams, a woman barely able to walk at the time, was forced from her bed and home upon threats of physical violence. The contradictory experiences of the mother and the children, while they could be completely accurate, indicates that additional resources would be beneficial in supporting an accurate historical narrative of the event.
Image Sources
Image Sources
Header Background and House Illustration:
Deacon Joseph Adams House, erected ca. 1680, ca. 1840–1992, Drawing, Digital Commonwealth, https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/br86b4797.
Crade Photograph:
Alfred C. Hill, Cradle, Photograph, Arlington Historical Society, https://arlingtonhistorical.pastperfectonline.com/Webobject/1AC0C9CE-FC1A-4262-BFB5-344300728551.
Clock Photograph:
Deacon Adams Clock, Photograph, Arlington Historical Society, https://arlingtonhistorical.pastperfectonline.com/Webobject/F1CDC8CC-4AD6-47EC-9215-106870353296.
Footnotes
Footnotes
1. Samuel Abbot Smith, West Cambridge on the Nineteenth of April, 1775, 20.
2. “Narratives of the Excursion of the Kings’ Troops, April 19, 1775,” in The Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775, and of the Committee of Safety, ed. William Lincoln, (Boston, MA: Dutton and Wentworth, Printers to the State, 1838), 677.
3. “Narratives of the Excursion of the Kings’ Troops, April 19, 1775,” 677.
4. “Narratives of the Excursion of the Kings’ Troops, April 19, 1775,” 677.
5. Samuel Abbot Smith, West Cambridge on the Nineteenth of April, 1775, 35.
6. Samuel Abbot Smith, West Cambridge on the Nineteenth of April, 1775, 35-36.
7. Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith to Governor Thomas Gage, April 22, 1775. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/Lt%20Col%20Smith%20Document%20complete.pdf.
8. “Narratives of the Excursion of the Kings’ Troops, April 19, 1775,” in The Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775, and of the Committee of Safety, ed. William Lincoln, (Boston, MA: Dutton and Wentworth, Printers to the State, 1838), 685.
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