Historiography

Newspapers in Massachusetts began to publish accounts of the initial conflicts as early as April 25, 1775, when Ezekiel Russell’s Essex Gazette included several columns on page three to share the news of the first battles. Menotomy, however, was excluded from the larger narrative, and only mentioned in reference to the hometowns of the wounded or deceased.1 Shortly thereafter, The Massachusetts Spy published an account on May 3, but only mentioned the capture of the British supply wagon at Menotomy.2 Even as the Second Provincial Congress began to collect first-hand testimony from those who engaged in or witnessed events on April 19, Menotomy was represented by only two depositions.3 From the moment the historical record began, the Battle of Menotomy had almost largely been omitted, creating a noticeable lack of eyewitness evidence. 

As the first generation of American historians set to work in preserving the history of the newly established nation, Mentomy’s role on April 19 continued to remain secondary at best. Only Mercy Otis Warren considered Menotomy worth significant mention, writing several paragraphs about the place in which “barbarities were committed by the king’s army, which might have been expected only from a tribe of savages.”4 Thus, Menotomy’s history would largely be left to local historians, those who recognized the gravity of each incident that unfolded that spring day. 

Much of what has been recorded about Menotomy originates with the work of local reverend Samuel Abbot Smith, who published the first historical work solely focused on Menotomy: West Cambridge on the Nineteenth of April, 1775: An Address Delivered in Behalf of the Ladies’ Soldiers’ Aid Society of West Cambridge in 1864. Writing on the eve of the American Civil War, Smith collected first-hand accounts from the few surviving witnesses, as well as second-hand oral histories from the second generation of Menotomy’s patriots.5 The historical record continues to bear his influence, works of several later local historians, including History of the Town of Arlington, Massachusetts, Formerly the Second Precinct in Cambridge or District of Menotomy, Afterward the Town of West Cambridge. 1635-1879, a work published by Benjamin and William Cutter in 1880, and The Battle of April 19, 1775 in Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Arlington, Cambridge, Somerville, and Charlestown, Massachusetts, published by Frank Warren Coburn in 1912, recast the stories originally printed by Smith in 1864, in some ways turning legend and lore into historical truth. The story of Mother Batherick, for example, is first recounted by Smith, who describes the capture of several British soldiers by an elderly woman of the village. Smith claims, “The squib went the rounds of the English opposition papers, ‘If one old Yankee woman can take the grenadiers, how many soldiers will it require to conquer America?’”6 This quote remains unattributed to any British source, and primary sources have not been found to directly support this account. Yet, later historians continued to pass along the tale, blurring the lines between historical accuracy and local lore. 

Over time, Arlington has erected several historical markers to provide information about the significance of certain places in town. These, however, provide only a glimpse into the true value and merit of each incident. Identities are lost as varied groups are marked only as the “Old Men of Menotomy,” which does not do justice to the lived experiences of those involved. The history of Menotomy requires renewed investigation, sorting lore from truth, and bringing to light the many parts of the story of the Battle of Menotomy which demonstrate the town’s historical significance as the site of one of the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. As the experiences of soldiers, militiamen, and townsfolk alike reveal, Menotomy was more than just a mere point along a longer path, it was the site of a significant battle.