They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about, having been employed as Rangers against the Indians & Canadians, & this country being much covered with woods, and hilly, is very advantageous for their method of fighting.
Nor are several of their men void of a spirit of enthusiasm, as we experienced yesterday, for many of them concealed themselves in houses, & advanced within 10 yards to fire at me & other officers, tho’ they were morally certain of being put to death themselves in an instant.26
In the account of Tory Peter Oliver, the conflict began when “the commanding Officer ordered the armed Rabble to disperse, upon which some of the armed Rabble returned an Answer from their loaded Muskets.” After fighting the entire day, British troops had expended most of their ammunition and would have been captured had not reinforcements arrived with cannon. “The Cannon checked the Progress of the Rebels; who kept at a greater Distance, & chiefly fired from Houses, & from behind Hedges, Trees, and Stone Walls.”27 Oliver described the following extraordinary event:
There was a remarkable Heroine, who stood at an House Door firing at the Kings Troops; there being Men within who loaded Guns for her to fire. She was desired to withdraw, but she answered, only by Insults from her own Mouth, & by Balls from the Mouths of her Muskets. This brought on her own Death, & the Deaths of those who were within Doors.28
Another contemporary verified that “even women had firelocks. One was seen to fire a blunderbuss between her father and husband from their windows.”29
As the militiamen marched off, some women armed themselves with guns, axes, and pitchforks. Some patrolled the roads. Prudence Cummings Wright organized a women’s guard and captured a Tory with incriminating papers.30
Boys on horseback resupplied the militia.31 Militiamen on the way to Lexington and Concord stopped at a farm in Braintree, Massachusetts. To their amusement, 8-year-old John Quincy Adams, son of Abigail and John Adams, was executing the manual of arms with a musket taller than he was.32
British troops, according to a patriot account, “pillaged almost every house they passed by, breaking and destroying floors, windows, glasses, & c. and carrying off clothing and other valuable effects. . . . Not content with shooting down the unarmed, aged, and infirm, they disregarded the cries of the wounded, killing them without mercy . . . .”33 In his diary, British Lieutenant John Barker admitted: “Our Soldiers . . . were so wild and irregular, that there was no keeping ‘em in any order; by their eagerness and inattention they kill’d many of our own People; and the plundering was shameful; many hardly thought of anything else; what was worse they were encouraged by some Officers.”34
Lieutenant Frederick MacKenzie recorded that, having been fired at from the houses along the roadside, and several of the soldiers having been killed, “the soldiers were so enraged at suffering from an unseen Enemy, that they forced open many of the houses from which the fire proceeded, and put to death all those found in them.”35 Aside from that, “Our men had very few opportunities of getting good shots at the Rebels, as they hardly ever fired but under cover of a Stone wall, from behind a tree, or out of a house; and the moment they had fired they lay down out of sight until they had loaded again, or the Column had passed.”36 MacKenzie verified that “Many houses were plundered by the Soldiers . . . . By all accounts some Soldiers who staid too long in the houses, were killed in the very act of plundering by those who lay concealed in them.”37
The British ran low on ammunition as they retreated back to Boston. To resupply them, Gage sent two ammunition wagons with an officer and thirteen soldiers. However, a group of patriots who were too old for the formal militia, led by David Lamson, a “mulatto,” attacked a body of Redcoats. The elderly men killed, wounded, or captured all the soldiers.38
At the end of the day, the Americans would be victorious. While most British soldiers made good their retreat back to Boston, they gained a grudging respect for those previously regarded as an armed rabble. A sympathetic if embellished account averred:
The British officers and soldiers have done ample justice to the bravery and conduct of the Massachusetts Militia;—they say that no troops ever behaved with more resolution;—a soldier who had been in the action, being congratulated by a fellow solder on his safe return to Boston, declared, “That the Militia had fought like bears, and that he would as soon attempt to storm hell, as to fight against them a second time.—We are likewise further informed that the two brigades, consisting of 1800 men . . . were attacked and routed by only 500 of the Militia.”39
The patriots made good many shots at various distances. The Redcoats fired more rounds per hit than did the Americans.40 Some 50 Americans were killed, 39 wounded, and 5 missing, for a total of 94 casualties. According to Gage, the Redcoats suffered 65 killed, 157 wounded, and 27 missing, for a total of 272 casualties.41 The patriots exhibited excellent marksmanship for shooting flintlocks in anger, many for the first time in their lives. By comparison, U.S. forces in Vietnam expended 50,000 rounds to cause a single enemy casualty.42
General Gage, in a letter to Dartmouth, explained the expedition from beginning to end, and his account is worth quoting in full:
I am to acquaint your Lordship having received Intelligence of a large Quantity of Military Stores being collected at Concord, for the avowed Purpose of Supplying a Body of Troops to act in opposition to His Majesty’s Government, I got the Grenadiers and Light Infantry our of Town under the Command of Lieut Col Smith of the 10th Regt and Major Pitcairne of the Marines with as much Secrecy as possible, on the 18th at Night and with the Orders to destroy the said Military Stores; and Supported them the next Morning by Eight Companys of the 4th the same Number of the 23d, 47th and Marines, under the Command of Lord Percy. It appears from the Firing of Alarm Guns and Ringing of Bells that the March Lieutenant Colonel Smith was discovered, and he was opposed by a Body of Men within Six Miles of Concord; Some few of whom first began to fire upon his advanced Companys which brought on a Fire from the Troops that dispersed the Body opposed to them; and they proceeded to Concord where they destroyed all the Military Store they could find, on the Return of the Troops they were attacked from all Quarters where any Cover was to be found, from whence it was practicable to annoy them, and they were so fatigued with their March that it was with Difficulty they could keep out their Flanking Partys to remove the Enemy to a Distance, so that they were at length a good deal pressed. Lord Percy then Arrived opportunely to their Assistance with his Brigade and two Pieces of a Cannon, and Notwithstanding a continual Skirmish for the Space of Fifteen Miles, receiving Fire from every Hill, Fence, House, Barn, &ca. His Lordship kept the Enemy off, and brought the troops to Charles-Town, from whence they were ferryed over to Boston.43
The British attempt to disarm the militiamen and other inhabitants at Lexington and Concord could be regarded as a milestone in Second Amendment historiography. It undoubtedly helped inspire recognition of the right to keep and bear arms. Indeed, virtually every citizen was a militiaman who owned and kept his firearms at home, and the British sought to seize these private arms, as well as the stores of gunpowder and cannon held by the towns or controlled by committees of safety.
But what transpired after the day of the shot heard ‘round the world was perhaps more significant in some respects. That event was General Gage’s attempt to confiscate the arms of all the inhabitants of Boston. Disarming the militiamen in the countryside had a plausible purpose—the Crown was the “legitimate” government and the militiamen were engaged in rebellion. But to disarm every peaceable inhabitant of Boston without those inhabitants having committed any unlawful act or threatening any transgression was conclusive evidence to the colonists, including many not committed to fight for either side, that their fundamental rights as Englishmen were being destroyed.
Historians and Second Amendment scholars alike have all but ignored the disarming of the people of Boston. The following provides a detailed account of this episode and its perceived significance througho
ut the colonies.
Boston’s citizens well anticipated that they would pay a price for Lexington and Concord. John Rowe noted in his diary on April 21: “This afternoon Several Gentlemen met with the Selectmen to Consult on Our Situation & chose a Committee to draft a Memorial to Gen Gage—vizt—The Selectmen, James Bowdoin, Henderson, Inches, Alex Hill, Edward Payne & Jos Barrett—they adjourn’d until tomorrow Ten of Clock.”44
The next day, Rowe recorded the following entry: “The Same Company met & Reported upon which the Inhabitants were called together. After much Debate & some Amendments they Passed two Votes which were presented to the General by the same Committee & on delivery they asked the General to Grant their Prayer—he in some measure Complyed but made some other Proposalls.”45
The official proceedings of the meeting with Gage reveal little, other than Gage’s statement to Boston’s selectmen that “there was a large body of men in arms” hostilely assembled and that the inhabitants could be injured if the soldiers attacked.46 But Gage’s fears included Boston’s inhabitants, as suggested by historian Allen French: “knowing that many of the Boston householders had arms, he was afraid the town would rise at his back.”47
Gage reported to Dartmouth that same day: “The whole Country was assembled in Arms with Surprizing Expedition, and Several Thousand are now Assembled about this Town threatning an Attack, and getting up Artillery. And we are very busy in making Preparations to oppose them.”48 Not the least of those preparations would be the disarming of the inhabitants of Boston.
Gage promised to the town committee at their meeting the next day, April 23, “that upon the inhabitants in general lodging their arms in Faneuil Hall, or any other convenient place, under the care of the selectmen, marked with the names of the respective owners, that all such inhabitants as are inclined, may depart from the town . . . . And that the arms aforesaid at a suitable time would be return’d to the owners.”49 This benign promise that the confiscated arms would be subject only to temporary safekeeping, if sincere, was utterly naive and must have been greeted with skepticism.
Yet many of the inhabitants yearned to flee Boston, given the flare up of hostilities, the military occupation, and the scarcity of provisions—Boston was then cut off from the countryside. Gage calculated that by offering release from being held essentially as hostages, the inhabitants would have the incentive to surrender their arms, which would supposedly be carefully secured for their owners.
The committee recommended “that the town accept of his excellency’s proposal, and will lodge their arms with the Selectmen accordingly,” the minutes relate.50 “The town unanimously accepted of the foregoing report, and desired the inhabitants would deliver their arms to the Selectmen as soon as may be.”51
John Rowe added more details about the events of April 23 in his diary: “The Inhabitants met again this morning & after some Debate they came into the Generall’s Measures—which was to deliver up their Arms to be deposited in the hands of the Select Men & such of the Inhabitants as had a mind to leave the Town might go with their Effects.”52 Similarly, John Andrews wrote in a missive the next day: “Yesterday, though Sunday, we have town meetings all day, and finally concluded to deliver up all our Arms to the Selectmen, on condition that the Governor would open the avenues to the town, which is to be comply’d with tomorrow when if I can escape with the skin of my teeth, shall be glad, as I don’t expect to be able to take more than a change of apparell with me . . . .”53
While the agreement called for the temporary safekeeping of the arms in the hands of the selectmen, Gage planned all along to have his soldiers seize them. British Lieutenant John Barker recorded in his diary on April 27, the day the arms were surrendered:
The Townspeople have to day given up their Arms to the Select Men, who are to deliver them over to the Gen[era]l. I fancy this will quiet him a little for he seemed apprehensive that if the Lines shou’d be attack’d the Townspeople wou’d raise and assist; they wou’d not give up their Arms without the Gen [era]l promising that they shou’d have leave to quit the Town as many as pleased.54
The patriots outside Boston indeed considered the townspeople to be their comrades. One wrote from Roxbury the day after the arms surrender that Gage and his troops were trapped in Boston but lamented that “our friends are entrapped by them. We have some hopes they will be liberated this day. General Gage has proposed, upon their surrendering their arms, that they march out. They surrendered their arms yesterday.”55
Gage promised the people of Boston, commented one writer, “that if the inhabitants of Boston would give up their arms and ammunition, and not assist against the King’s troops, they should immediately be permitted to depart with all their effects, merchandise included; finally, the inhabitants gave up their arms and ammunition—to the care of the Selectmen: the General then set a guard over the arms . . . .” Having seized the arms, Gage refused to let the inhabitants and merchandise leave Boston.56 In reaction, “the same day a town meeting was to be held in Boston, when the inhabitants were determined to demand the arms they had deposited in the hands of the select men, or have liberty to leave town.”57
How many and what types of arms were confiscated? John Rowe wrote in his diary: “This day the Inhabitants carried in their Arms. The number 2674 . . . .”58 According to Richard Frothingham, “the people delivered to the selectmen 1778 fire-arms, 634 pistols, 973 bayonets, and 38 blunderbusses.”59 The “fire-arms” were muskets (to which the bayonets attached) and other shoulder arms, with pistols being listed separately. “Blunderbusses” were shortbarreled shotguns.
Frothingham’s figures show a total of 2,450 firearms of all kinds seized, that is, one for every 5.6 inhabitants of the town population of 15,000.60 Using a slightly different estimate of the number of people in Boston, historian Page Smith commented that these quantities of arms surrendered “were a very substantial armory for a city of some 16,000, many of whom were women and children. If we take into account those weapons that had already been taken out of the city by patriots, it is probably not far off the mark to say that every other male Bostonian over the age of eighteen possessed some type of firearm.”61 Even this estimate was probably low, because the above statistics reflect only the numbers of arms actually surrendered; it cannot be determined how many arms were hidden.
The recorded lists of names of persons who surrendered arms and the descriptions of the arms are not known to be extant.62 Many inhabitants may have feigned compliance by turning in obsolete or inoperable arms while secreting their valuable weapons.
On the same day as the arms surrender, Bostonians were told at a town meeting that Gage would permit them to leave by land or sea and that they must apply to General Robertson for passes.63 A sample of one of the passes reads: “Boston, May, 1775. Permit [name illegible], together with his family, consisting of seven persons, and their effects, to pass over the lines between sunrise and sunset. By order of his Excellency the Governor. No arms nor ammunition is allowed to pass nor merchandize.”64
Procuring passes was difficult from the beginning. John Rowe noted in his diary on April 27: “The General has given Leave for All People to leave the Town that Choose with their Effects.” But the very next day he wrote: “This day I apply’d to get a Pass to go out with my Effects but could not prevail.”65
Americans were reminded of Gage’s confiscation of arms some fourteen years later, when adoption of the Bill of Rights was pending. In 1789, Dr. David Ramsay published his History of the American Revolution. A prominent federalist, Ramsay wrote this work while he was a member of the Continental Congress in the 1780s.66 He also served as a delegate to the South Carolina convention that ratified the federal Constitution in 1788. James Madison, who served with Ramsey in the Continental Congress, was aware of the book.67 Ramsey’s account of grievances leading to the Revolution was apropos, particularly in regard to what became the Second Amendment:
To prevent the people within Boston from co-operating with their countrym
en without in case of an assault which was now daily expected, General Gage agreed with a committee of the town, that upon the inhabitants lodging their arms in Faneuil-hall or any other convenient place, under the care of the selectmen, all such inhabitants as were inclined, might depart from the town, with their families and effects. In five days after the ratification of this agreement, the inhabitants had lodged 1778 fire arms, 634 pistols, 273 bayonets and 38 blunderbusses. The agreement was well observed in the beginning, but after a short time obstructions were thrown in the way of its final completion, on the plea that persons who went from Boston to bring in the goods of those who chose to continue within the town, were not properly treated. Congress remonstrated on the infraction of the agreement, but without effect.68
Frothingham had reported confiscation of 973 bayonets, while Ramsay put the figure at 273; otherwise the weapon types and quantities are the same. The original documents from which this information was taken are unknown. The referenced remonstrance of the Continental Congress was its Declaration of Causes of Taking Up Arms of July 6, 1775, which decried Gage’s seizure of the arms that had been turned in to the selectmen under false pretenses and his reneging on his promise that the inhabitants could leave Boston.69 The Declaration is discussed below.
Gage was not so gullible as to believe that the inhabitants turned in all of their arms and used such assumed failure to comply as an excuse to prevent the inhabitants from departing Boston. Ramsay noted:
The select-men gave repeated assurances that the inhabitants had delivered up their arms, but as a cover for violating the agreement, general Gage issued a proclamation, in which he asserted that he had full proof to the contrary. A few might have secreted some favourite arms, but nearly all the training arms were delivered up.70
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