LYNNFIELD — Lynnfield residents turned out Saturday on the Town Common to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the April 19, 1775, Battles of Lexington and Concord with a special re-enactment of the events that transpired in Lynnfield that day.
The Lynnfield Historical Society sponsored the event. Society member Alan Foulds gave attendees a glimpse into the town’s role in the war.
He said that Joseph Warren, “a famous patriot,” had learned on April 18 that the British were planning to march to Concord to confiscate the patriots’ arms and ammunition the next day. He worried about the safety of “famous patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock,” who were in Lexington. Warren called upon express riders William Dawes and Paul Revere to go to Lexington and Concord and warn Hancock and Adams. The riders took separate routes to enhance their chances that the message would be delivered, warning residents in other communities along the way.
Foulds said Revere stopped at the home of Simon Tufts, a doctor, who had two medical students living with him, one of whom was “our hero, Martin Herrick.” Revere asked both students to ride the north route. Herrick sounded the alarm in Stoneham and Reading and then proceeded to Gowing’s Tavern in Lynnfield on Summer Street near Parsons Avenue.
“Legend has it he yelled, ‘stand to your arms, stand to your arms, the (British) regulars are out,'” Foulds said.
Foulds said 38 of Capt. Nathaniel Bancroft’s Lynn End Minute Man company assembled at the tavern, then marched to the common to seize their gunpowder housed at the Old Meeting House. From there, they marched to the battle.
No doubt, the highlight of the festivities occurred a few minutes after Foulds completed his remarks – the arrival of Herrick on horseback (played by 1983 Lynnfield High graduate Ann Marie Greenleaf), who Foulds described as “Lynnfield’s own midnight rider.”
Greenleaf said it “was pretty fun” to sound the alarm and ride onto the common.
Many people with ties to the community participated.
Fife player Jane Law led the procession to the common from the library with drummer Steve Higgins of the Musick of Prescott’s Battalion. She said many of her family’s ancestors participated in the Revolutionary War; she jumped at the chance to participate.
“Because my grandpa grew up here and this is my Lynnfield lineage, I wanted to be here today,” Law said. “My family originated here and dates back to the Revolution, so it was important to be here. It’s a great feeling to take part today in Lynnfield, where my family has its roots.”
The observance included a march from the common to the Veterans Memorial, where a “Mourn Arms” ceremony, a military tradition honoring fallen heroes, was held. Descendants of Lynnfield’s Revolutionary War militia conducted a wreath-laying ceremony. Elyssa Bjorkman, who grew up in Lynnfield, sang “The Parting Glass,” a traditional Scottish song, following which “Taps” was played.
Elyssa Bjorkman and her father, Dave Bjorkman, who grew up on Homestead Road and still lives there, played multiple roles during the observance.
“We’re here today to participate in this and celebrate Lynnfield’s part in the Battles of Lexington and Concord,” Elyssa Bjorkman said. “There is so much history in New England and in Lynnfield. It’s special that we can be touched in this way, and that while there were only 25 homes in Lynnfield at the time, 38 men took up arms.”
Three Lynnfield soldiers lost their lives on April 19 – Thomas Hadley, Daniel Townsend and William Flint. Townsend is buried at the Old Burial Grounds adjacent to the Town Common.
A Patriots Gallery relating the stories of the 38 Lynnfield residents who marched in the militia to the battles on April 19 attracted much interest. The day included several youth activities including the reading ot the “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” and a scavenger hunt that challenged participants to search the gallery to learn about Lynnfield’s role in the war.
“It’s really hard,” Lynnfield Middle School fifth-grader Nicholas DiStefano said. “I’m trying to find who lived in Willow Castle.”
DiStefano’s classmate Shane Steineo had a simple answer when asked what he knew about the war.
“We won,” he said.
