Gateway to History: Conclusion

After the murder of Wyman and Winship at Cooper’s Tavern, the British continued along their retreat to Boston. Though a few conflicts erupted before marching beneath the elms to exit the village, the greater violence and destruction that was the Battle of Menotomy had largely ceased. The British would make it back to Boston that evening, though much had changed in less than twenty four hours. No longer brethren, the British and Americans were now torn apart by a newly erupted war. 

Even in the immediate moments following April 19, 1775, Lexington and Concord emerged as the focal points of discussion, and later as the center of the history that day. While their place in the history books cannot be denied, as the site of the first armed conflict and the site of the first forced retreat respectively, there remains a larger story missing from the narrative. Battle Road is a term used to describe the lengthy retreat of the British, encompassing towns from Lexington to Boston. Menotomy, if mentioned at all, is just a small point along a longer battlefield. Yet, a thorough examination reveals that the village was not just a plain upon which a few skirmishes unfolded, but a two-mile long battlefield along which ordinary townsfolk emerged as Patriots, ready to lose everything in defense of their cause. 

More blood was shed along the plains of Menotomy than in any other single spot that April day: at least twenty-six Patriots were killed, and it is estimated that the British lost double that amount.1 Several British soldiers, including Lieutenant Gould, were captured by the militia that day in Menotomy. The very first successful raid of a British supply wagon also occurred within the bounds of the small Cambridge village, notably accomplished by a group deemed ineligible for military service that day. Historian Lucius R. Page explains the importance of Menotomy, noting that “the carnage was greater in this town than in any other; greater indeed than in all others combined…”.2 Despite each and every incident and individual contribution, Menotomy has often been forgotten. 

Coming upon the two hundred fiftieth anniversary, it is time that the historical narrative is corrected. It was not just Lexington and Concord, but Menotomy, too. From the story of Menotomy emerges the many varied experiences of those witnessing the outbreak of a civil war in their own backyards. Women melting their pewter plates, women pleading with British soldiers for their lives and the lives of their children, enslaved Africans risking their lives to save the property of their enslavers, and elderly men dusting off their old rifles to defend their cause perhaps one last time: all of these stories belong to Menotomy. It is within these narratives that we can feel the pulse of a people, that even that day had called themselves English, begin to rapidly beat together now as Americans. 

This walking tour sought to bring to life the hidden stories of Menotomy, while also holding these tales up to historical scrutiny. It is not to discourage or dismiss the importance of the town, but rather to suggest additional research that is required of historians so that the stories of Menotomy can break free from lore to a final resting spot within the historical record of the American Revolutionary War. There is much within the records that supports a revision that includes the Battle of Menotomy: the initial encounter at the Foot of the Rocks, the brutality faced by innocent civilians at the Adams homes, the massacre at the Russell home, the capture of a British supply wagon, and the horrific murder of two innocent and unarmed men at Cooper’s Tavern. These were not just simple skirmishes, but incidents within a larger battle. Menotomy was not just a point along Battle Road; it was the third battle of April 19, 1775.