The Great Tavern

As the British retreated through Menotomy, they entered several homes and buildings along the main road. The Great Tavern was not exempt. According to Smith, British soldiers forced their way into the building, vacated earlier that day as the family fled to safety.  While in the home, the soldiers pillaged and plundered: “...the soldiers carried off what they could, left the taps of the molasses and spirit casks open, destroyed furniture, drove a bayonet through the best mirror, the frame of which is still preserved, pillaged the drawers, and set the house on fire.”5 Smith credits one of Cutler’s enslaved as being the hero of the tavern, extinguishing the blaze after having watched from a safe distance. Later historical records credit this heroic act to Cuff Whittemore, another enslaved man from Menotomy.6 Cuff Whittemore is not listed among those enslaved by Cutler, and is perhaps more likely to have been enslaved by the Whittemore family. Whittemore is listed amongst those serving in the Menotomy militia under Captain Locke on April 19, 1775, and a description of his actions in battle are included in Charles Parker’s Town of Arlington Past and Present. As Whittemore was engaged in fighting, it is more likely that the fire was extinguished by an enslaved person of the Cutler family.

Above left: The Great Tavern before it was partially torn down in 1907. 

Above right: The last remaining part of the Great Tavern is a private residence at 16 Prentiss Way. 

Though the destruction at the Great Tavern was not recorded in depositions collected by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, several aspects of the recollection appear credible. First, the destruction described aligns with many of the depositions collected as well as first-hand accounts preserved from that day.7 Additionally, the Great Tavern was more than just an ordinary home along the way. Taverns along the main road in Menotomy served a variety of purposes, including hosting meetings of Patriot committees. Furthermore, the size of the building itself in 1775 would warrant investigation by British soldiers seeking to uncover hiding rebels. Finally, it is an enslaved person who is credited with extinguishing the fire that day. Cutler enslaved at least five individuals. It is not clear whether the enslaved accompanied families to places of hiding, though records suggest that they likely did not. Smith’s West Cambridge 1775 describes the arrival of Ishmael, an enslaved man held by the Cutler family, to the home of George Prentiss, where women and children had fled to safety during the Battle of Menotomy. According to Smith, those hiding in the home thought that Ishmael had arrived to kill those in the home, since a “report was spread abroad that the slaves were intending to rise, and finish what the British had begun by murdering the defenseless women and children.”8 It is likely, therefore, that the enslaved held by the Cutler family were left to fend for their own safety that day, and could very well have remained close to the tavern.