Source #6: Thirty-four men from the Lexington company
“We Nathaniel Mulliken, Philip Russell, [and 32 other men], All of lawful age, and inhabitants of Lexington, in the County of Middlesex…do testify and declare, that on the nineteenth in the morning, being informed that…a body of regulars were marching from Boston towards Concord…we were alarmed and having met at the place of our company’s parade, were dismissed by our Captain, John Parker, for the present, with orders to be ready to attend at the beat of the drum. We further testify and declare that about five o’clock in the morning, hearing our drum beat, we proceeded towards the parade, and soon found that a large body of troops were marching towards us, some of our company were coming to the parade, and others had reached it, at which time, the company began to disperse, whilst our backs were turned on the troops, we were fired on by them, and a number of our men were instantly killed and wounded, not a gun was fired by any person in our company on the regulars to our knowledge before they fired on us, and continued firing until we had all made our escape.”
Source: A Narrative of the Excursion and Ravages of the King’s Troops. Worcester, Mass.: Isaiah Thomas, 1775.
Points to Consider
• The Lexington company’s “parade” ground was their town green. It was a triangle of land where the road from Boston split, with the road to Concord leading off to the left and another road leading right.
• Two buildings near Lexington green were particularly important on this morning. On the green itself was the town meeting-house; it stood between where the men formed up in ranks and the fork in the road from Boston. North of the fork was Buckman’s tavern, where many of the men seem to have spent the hours between when Parker dismissed them and when they formed again on the green.
• When gathering evidence, it’s a good rule to separate witnesses, take separate stories, and see how their accounts match. A deposition from thirty-four people doesn’t adhere to this basic rule. It instead represents what the signers have agreed to say; each might be sincere, but the result is less convincing.