Who Was There On April 19th, 1775?

Updating The Documentation on Concords Two Minute Companies

By Joel Bohy

For well over the past one hundred years, anyone looking for information
regarding the membership of Captain Charles Miles minute company, as
well as Captain John Buttrick/Captain David Browns minute company has
had only secondary sources to use as reference material. But where did the
information published in the past on these two important companies come
from? Working backwards, I had always used Ruth Wheelers Concord:
Climate for Freedom published in 1967 by the Concord Antiquarian
Society for my minute company membership rolls. In Appendix H, the
author had a listing of both of the companies with officers, NCOs, fifers
and drummers. But where did Historian Ruth Wheeler get her information
from? Did original documentation exist and where could it be found?

In the extended version of Frank Warren Coburns classic book The

Battle of April 19th, 1775 published in 1912, there is a listing of both
Concord minute companies matching Ms. Wheelers roll. But where did
Frank Coburn get his information? Coburn gives us a few clues in his text.
He states: There were four Concord companies present, commanded
respectively by Captains Brown, Miles, Minot, and Barrett [Minot and
Barrett being Captains of militia companies]. No claims for service were
filed with the Commonwealth in their behalf, therefore, I can present
no official rolls. I found in Tolmans Concord Minutemen a roster of
Browns company, and for those constituting Miles Company, I am indebted
to the rare original manuscript belonging to the late Dr. Charles E. Clark of
Lynn, and which was sold at auction by C.F. Libbie & Co., in Boston, Jan.
15 1901, for $275.00. So it seemed I needed to find more information
on Tolman and his writings if I was going to figure this out, as well as this
document that had been auctioned by Libbie in 1901.

During a visit to the Concord Museum, curator David Wood showed me

a copy of a pamphlet called The Concord Minutemen, Read Before The
Concord Antiquarian Society March 4, 1901, By George Tolman, Secretary
of the Society. In his pamphlet, Tolman lists the roll of Capt. Miles
Company from the original document mentioned in Coburn, once owned
by Dr. Clark and sold by Libbie in January 1901, as well as a roll of Capt.
Browns company. Being the eldest company as far as date of enlistment, I
decided to start with Captain Charles Miles Company. I also wanted to find
as much primary documentation on the original rolls as possible to update
the information with current research for other historians of the subject.
Figure 1: Facsimile copy of the original Capt. Miles muster roll dated January 17th, 1775,
copied from the C.F. Libbie & Co. 1901 auction catalog.

Captain Charles Miles Minute Company:

It seems there were a few historical documents fairly well known in the 19th
and early 20th centuries that we know little, if anything, about today, and
the Miles company muster roll is one of these important papers now hidden
away in a private collection. According to Coburn, the document was sold
at the Jan. 15th, 1901 Libbie auction. A search of the internet provided a
listing of the auction catalog in the collection of Peter L. Masi, a well-known
book seller from Montague, MA. Hoping there was more information
about this missing document, I purchased the catalog from Mr. Masi. In
the many pages of interesting period engravings, paintings, and documents
for sale at the 1901 auction was a great facsimile of the muster roll of Capt.
Charles Miles minute company. According to Tolman, the roll was kept by
Orderly Sergeant David Hartwell. It seems to be in the same hand as other
documents purportedly written by Sgt. Hartwell.
Tolman also states that this roll, along with two other important Miles
company documents was offered to the town of Concord during the
centennial of the Concord Expedition by Dr. Clark for $25.00. He also
mentions that he didnt know who the documents were offered to in
Concord at that time, but he thought to the trustees of the public library,
and that they didnt want to invest that kind of money into the documents
on speculation. The Town of Concord lost their chance to own this
historically important roll, as well as two other fantastic Miles company
documents! Dr. Clark showed George Tolman this missing Concord paper
collection, and he knew their importance to the history of the town. When
they came up for auction at C.F. Libbie that January of 1901, Tolman
attended as a buyer for the Concord Antiquarian Society in an attempt
to purchase the collection and bring them back to their rightful home in
Concord.
According to his historical pamphlet, the realized price was $275.00, way
over his allowed budget, and the documents were purchased by a New
York publishing house. One question that came to mind, how did these
important documents make it out of Concord to begin with? Again, we have
to go back to George Tolman who spoke with Dr. Clark about them before
his death. According to Tolman, All of these papers were bought by Dr.
Clark for a very small sum, from a Lowell junk dealer about 1863.
At that time paper and paper-stock were enormously high; more than
three times as much as before the war, and about twelve times as much as
now. Country attics were rummaged by frugal and thrifty housewives, to
whom the temptation of ten or twelve cents a pound for a lot of musty old
letters and account books that had cluttered up the garrets for years, was
irresistible. There was money in these old things, and the good, ignorant
people never stopped to think, indeed, they did not know enough to think,
that they might even have a higher value than for mere paper rags. Here
and there was a junk man who did know something, or who had fallen in
with some antiquary who had a liking for old documents, and those junk
men got rich. But for the most part the stuff was hauled away to the nearest
paper mill and converted into pulp. It fairly brings the tears to ones eyes
to think how many priceless documents, how much of the raw material of
history, was irrecoverably disposed of in that way---and how little there is
now left. Seemingly during this time, many important historic documents
were forever lost to historians, but Miles muster roll and a few others were
saved. Tolman goes on to say how these were found:All these papers
of Dr. Clarks came in a lot of such stuff cleared out as waste paper from
the house once occupied by John Hartwell, Clerk of Old Carlisle, and by
several generations of his descendants. Captain Miles muster roll is in the
hand writing of David Hartwell, orderly sergeant of the company, and son
of this JohnThis accounts for all these papers, and for their preservation
down to the time they got into the hands of the Lowell junk man, whose
acquaintance I am sorry not to have made thirty-eight years ago.
A review of the facsimile of the original document in the 1901 auction
catalog, reveals that the roll matches that as published in Tolmans
pamphlet, as well as Ruth Wheelers Appendix H. The document is dated
from the company formation, January 17th, 1775. Were all of these men
present on April 19th? More questions to try and answer. So what happened
to this document after the 1901 sale? According to Tolman, it was sold
to a New York publishing firm. As far as I can tell, it was never published,
and was sold again by Christies auction house in 2005 to an unknown
buyer. Maybe in the future this important document will be purchased
by a friend of the town and returned to Concord where it can be held for
future generations. In the town record book for those paid for service as
minutemen on April 19th there are seven men listed on the January 17th
muster roll who were not paid for service on the 19th, which would have
left this company under its full strength. This could be why the senior
Concord minute company was third in line on April 19th, however we may
never know for sure.
Captain Buttrick/Browns Minute Company:
But what about the Capt. Buttrick/Browns company rolls? How did
Wheeler, Coburn, and Tolman come up with the names that they published?
In the Concord Free Public Library, Special Collections Department is a
muster roll of Capt. John Buttricks company dated January 30th, 1775,
13 days after the Capt. Miles co. enlistment roll. Originally, the company
was commanded by John Buttrick as Captain, with David Brown and David
Wheeler as his Lieutenants. At some point prior to April 19th, Buttrick had
been promoted to Major of the minute regiment, and David Brown became
the Captain of the company.
That said, there might have been some minor adjustments to the rank
structure after Buttricks promotion to Major, but the rolls as shown in
Tolman and Wheeler seem to be confused on this subject. The Tolman
roll for Butttrick/Browns company has Silas Mann listed as a Lieutenant,
when on the Jan. 30th roll, he is listed as a 4th Sergeant. Wouldnt the 1st
Sergeant Abishai Brown have been the NCO to move into a Lieutenants
role if anyone was to be promoted? Abishai Brown did command the militia
company from Concord just weeks after April 19th as its Captain, with Silas
Mann listed as the Ensign under Abishai Brown. Using Tolman again as the
reference, he states that John Buttrick, Jr. was the Fifer of the company with
no mention of any other field music. The original Buttrick/Brown company
roll lists John Laughton, Jr. as drummer, Isaac Hoar, Fifer, and John
Buttrick, Fifer. Again, it seems that Capt. Browns company had two fifers
and a drummer, not the one fifer as listed in the early and late 20th century
histories. What was the history of the January 30th muster document in the
library, and when did it come to light? According to Leslie Wilson, Curator
of the Special Collections department, the document was found in the vault
of the town house with many other important period papers. Leslie stated
that Robert Gross, Author of The Minutemen and Their World was then
a member of the towns Records and Archives Committee, and had a part
in finding the muster document and getting it to the library for its future
preservation, along with many other important papers. An email to Bob
provided more information on how and when the muster roll was found. It
seems in late 1975, as a member of the Records and Archives Committee,
Bob and a group of students from Concord Carlisle High School, along
with their teacher went through the boxes and did a survey of what was
hidden in the long missing pages. There had been a catalog of the boxes
done in the past, but it didnt seem to go with what they were finding. In
the last few boxes, Bob found some of the goldmine of 18th century town
documents that we know today, including the Buttrick/Browns company
muster roll! But what other sources are available to verify and update the
rolls found by Bob Gross and Dr. Clark?
Also in the Special Collections Department of the Concord Library is the
town record book for the years 1746 through 1777, which lists votes by
town meeting as well as payments made by the town for various services.
After April 19th, starting at the beginning of May, are the payments by the
town to members of the minute companies for their service on, as well as
immediately after the 19th.
Figure 2: Front of the Capt. Buttrick/Browns company muster roll dated January 30th, 1775. Courtesy
Concord Free Public library.
John Laughton, listed as a drummer on the original company roll, was paid
for his services that day, as were Isaac Hoar and John Buttrick, Jr., the two
fifers. Also listed in the town book is the payment to Silas Mann, listed as
a Lieutenant in the rolls used by Tolman, Coburn, and Wheeler. The town
record book states 1775 June ye 9. Paid Ens Silas Man by an order to
Mr. Bond town treas. For his service as a Sergt. In the minute company in
this town 13 shillings & six pence. So Man (Mann) is listed as an Ensign
after April 19th as a member of Capt. Abishai Browns company, but as a
Sergeant in the minutemen, not a Lieutenant.
A search of the January 30th muster roll of Capt. Buttrick/Browns
company with the pay records for Capt. Browns company in the town
record book shows Capt. Brown had his full complement of officers with
the exception of a second Lieutenant, non-commissioned officers, drummer,
two fifers, and privates on April 19th.
Figure 3: Back page of the Capt. Buttrick/Browns co. muster roll.
Courtesy Concord Free Public Library.
Tolman must have produced his roll of Capt. Buttrick/Browns company by
taking all of the men paid for their services as minutemen on April 19th, and
taking out the members of Capt. Miles Company known by the roll sold by
Dr. Clark. This gave him an accurate list of company members, although he
didnt have some of the rank structure quite right. In the pension records of
Concord men and their service in the American Revolution in the collection
of the National Archives there is one man who doesnt appear on either
the Sgt. Hartwell list or the roll for Buttrick/Browns company. His name
is Ephraim Brown, and his records state he was a minuteman in Concord
guarding supplies and such around April 19th. He could have been missed
in the muster rolls and pay records, but more than likely may have actually
been a member of a militia company and not a minuteman at all.
Roll of Capt. Charles Miles Co. formed January 17th,
1775. Matched with pay records from the Town of
Concord record book for service as minutemen on
April 19th:
Charles Miles, Captain- Paid March 21st, 1776. Reported as wounded on
the 19th in one period document.
Jonathan Farrar, Lieutenant- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Francis Wheeler, Lieutenant- Paid March 21st, 1776.
David Hartwell, Orderly Sergeant- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Amos Hosmer, Sergeant- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Silas Walker, Sergeant- Paid May 17th, 1775.
Edward Richardson, Sergeant- Paid May 22nd, 1775
Daniel Brown, Drummer- Paid April 27th, 1776.
Samuel Darby, Fifer- Paid May 17th, 1775
Simeon Hayward, Corporal- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Nathan Pierce, Corporal- Paid March 21st, 1776.
James Cogswell, Corporal- Paid January 14th, 1777.
Joseph Cleasby- Paid May 15th, 1775.
Simeon Burridge- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Israel Barrett- Paid May 17th, 1775.
Daniel Hoar- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Ephraim Brooks- Paid May 26th, 1775
William Burridge- No listing of payment for the 19th.
Joseph Stratton- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Stephen Brooks- No listing of payment for the 19th.
Simon Wheeler- No listing of payment for the 19th.
Ebenezer Johnson- No listing of payment for the 19th.
Stephen Stearns- Paid March 21st, 1776.
William Brown- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Jeremiah Clark- No listing of payment for the 19th.
Jacob Ames- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Benjamin Hosmer- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Joel Hosmer- Paid May 15th, 1775.
Samuel Wheeler- Paid May 18th, 1775.
Wareham Wheeler- Paid May 17th, 1775.
Oliver Wheeler- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Jesse Hosmer- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Amos Darby- Paid May 17th, 1775.
John Corneall- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Levi Hosmer- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Solomon Rice- Paid May 18th, 1775.
Thaddeus Bancroft- Paid July 13th, 1776.
Amos Melvin- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Nathan Dudley- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Oliver Parlin- Paid March 21st, 1776.
John Flagg- Paid May 16th, 1775
Samuel Emery- Paid May 16th, 1775
John Cole- Paid May 17th, 1775.
Daniel Cole- No listing of payment for the 19th.
Barnabas Davis- No listing of payment for the 19th.
Major Raly- Paid May 7th, 1776.
Edward Wilkins- Paid May 17th, 1775.
Daniel Farrar- Paid May 17th, 1775.
Oliver Harris- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Samuel Jewell- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Daniel Wheat- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Roll of Capt. David Browns Co. formed January
30th, 1775. Matched with pay records from the Town
of Concord record book for service as minutemen on
April 19th:
David Brown, Captain- Paid March 21st, 1776.
David Wheeler, Lieutenant- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Abishai Brown, Sergeant- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Amos Wood, Sergeant- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Emerson Cogswell, Sergeant- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Silan Man (Mann), Sergeant- Paid June 9th, 1775 as a Sergeant.
Nathan Stow, Orderly- Paid May 30th, 1775.
Rueben Hunt, Corporal- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Stephen Jones, Corporal- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Stephen Barrett, Corporal- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Amos Barrett, Corporal- Paid March 21st, 1776.
John Laughton, Jr, Drummer- Paid May 17th, 1775.
Isaac Hoar, Fifer- Paid May 18th, 1775.
John Buttrick, Jr, Fifer- Paid March 21st, 1776.
John Brown, Jr- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Charles Flint- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Amos Davis- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Phineas Allen- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Bradbury Robinson- Paid May 15th, 1775.
Jonas Bateman- Paid May 16th, 1775.
William Mercer- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Edward Flint- Paid March 21st, 1776.
John White- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Willard Buttrick- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Joseph Davis, Jr.- Paid May 16th, 1775.
William Buttrick- Paid May 16th, 1775.
John Minot, Jr.- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Daniel Cray- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Jotham Wheeler- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Abraham Davis- Paid May 15th, 1775.
Edward Flint, Jr.- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Ezekiel Hager- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Purchis Brown- Paid May 15th, 1775 to his father, Capt. David Brown.
Reported as wounded on the 19th in one period document.
Humphrey Barrett, Jr.- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Peter Wheeler- Paid March 21st, 1776.
David Melvin, Jr.- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Thomas Prescott- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Ebenezer Stow- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Ammi White- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Joseph Dudley- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Aaron Wright- Paid March 21st, 1776.
David Hubbard- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Daniel Buttrick- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Abiel Buttrick- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Tilly Buttrick- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Nathan Flint- Paid June 12th, 1775.
Oliver Buttrick- Paid March 21st, 1776.
Jonas Brown- Paid May 16th, 1775
Elias Barron- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Thomas Thurston- Paid May 16th, 1775.
Jonas Whitney- Paid May 17th, 1775.
Other men and their service:

Ephraim Brown- No listing of payment for the 19th, but mentioned his
service as a minuteman in Concord around the 19th in his pension record.
Possibly a member of either Barretts or Minots militia company?
Major John Buttrick- Paid as a Captain of a minute company June 9th,
1775.
Lt. Joseph Hosmer- No listing of any payment for service on the 19th
although he is known to have been present on the 19th.

Figure 4 some of the payments for service as minutemen on April 19th from the town record book. Notice
the first man listed, Amma (Ammi) White, who is believed to be the hatchet man at the North Bridge
immediately after the exchange of fire and the British retreat. Courtesy, Concord Free Public Library.

Thanks to William Rose, Leslie Wilson, Curator, Concord Free Public Library, David Wood, Curator, Concord Museum,
Peter L. Masi, Books, Professor Robert Gross, University of Connecticut, and Don Troiani, Historical Art Prints for their assistance
with this research project.