Arlington 250 Stories; Menotomy on April 19

Some of the bloodiest fighting on April 19, 1775 happened in the village of Menotomy, the community lay along the main road from Cambridge to Concord.  It had numerous mills, taverns and a meetinghouse and burial ground along this road, some of which still show scars from that day.  We talk with Matthew Beres, Executive Director of the Arlington Historical Society, based in the Jason Russell House, about the fighting there and in the rest of Arlington, and the town's commemorations of those events'

Transcript

WEBVTT
 
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 Good morning, everyone.
 
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 Welcome to the Revolution
 
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 two fifty podcast.
 
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 I'm Bob Allison.
 
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 I chair the Rev two fifty advisory group.
 
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 We are a consortium of
 
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 seventy five organizations
 
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 in Massachusetts looking at
 
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 ways to commemorate the
 
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 beginnings of American independence.
 
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 And our guest today is Matt Beers.
 
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 Matt Beers is the executive
 
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 director of the Arlington
 
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 Historical Society,
 
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 also a curator of the
 
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 Wilmington Town Museum,
 
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 a long time public history professional.
 
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 And we're here to talk about
 
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 what's happening in
 
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 The Forgotten Town of Monotony.
 
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 Matt, thanks for joining us.
 
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 Thanks for having me.
 
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 So untold stories, you know,
 
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 we know about Lexington and Concord,
 
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 but what we don't know is
 
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 that most of the fighting
 
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 actually happened in Monotony.
 
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 So.
 
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 Correct.
 
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 So can you tell us a bit
 
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 about what's going on in
 
 00:00:46.591 --> 00:00:47.792
 Monotony on April
 
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 nineteenth of seventeen seventy five?
 
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 So monotony at the point of
 
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 the eighteenth century was
 
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 a very small village.
 
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 It used to encompass a much
 
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 broader geographical range.
 
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 It ate into towns like Cambridge, Belmont,
 
 00:01:07.001 --> 00:01:08.081
 parts of Somerville.
 
 00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:09.701
 It was much broader.
 
 00:01:10.481 --> 00:01:12.501
 But population-wise, very small.
 
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 You had periodic houses that
 
 00:01:15.082 --> 00:01:16.763
 were all spread apart.
 
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 was mainly farming town
 
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 mainly mainly an
 
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 agricultural town uh and
 
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 that changed during the
 
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 eighteen hundreds but um
 
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 Most of the houses in the
 
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 area were along Concord Road,
 
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 which is now Mass Ave.
 
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 And I happen to be the
 
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 director of the Jason Russell House,
 
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 which we'll talk about in a moment,
 
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 but saw one of the majority
 
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 of the fighting that
 
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 happened on that day.
 
 00:01:47.685 --> 00:01:47.844
 Okay.
 
 00:01:48.906 --> 00:01:49.046
 Yeah.
 
 00:01:50.655 --> 00:01:52.620
 So can you tell us a bit
 
 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:54.322
 about who Jason Russell was
 
 00:01:54.403 --> 00:01:55.725
 and why his house is so important?
 
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 Of course.
 
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 So Jason Russell,
 
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 he was in his fifties at
 
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 the time of the battle.
 
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 Rumor has it that he had an
 
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 injury or a disability in his leg.
 
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 However, frankly,
 
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 I've never been able to
 
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 verify that story in itself.
 
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 But Jason Russell was
 
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 sitting on a house built
 
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 around about forty acres or so.
 
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 He had an apple orchard,
 
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 and he was a sheep shepherd, and mostly,
 
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 again, very agricultural.
 
 00:02:34.580 --> 00:02:36.563
 I would say roughly around
 
 00:02:36.623 --> 00:02:38.145
 approximately middle class,
 
 00:02:38.747 --> 00:02:39.907
 not very wealthy.
 
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 But on April nineteenth,
 
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 he quite literally defended
 
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 his own property, calling it his castle.
 
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 And unfortunately,
 
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 he lost his life as the
 
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 British regulars were
 
 00:02:54.138 --> 00:02:56.520
 coming into Menominee.
 
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 Now, why did they attack him or his house?
 
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 General Percy was coming as
 
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 the reinforcement column to
 
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 meet Colonel Smith in Lexington.
 
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 They regroup early afternoon
 
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 into Lexington.
 
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 And then Percy's reinforcements,
 
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 they surround Colonel
 
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 Smith's group who saw the
 
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 shot heard around the world
 
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 as well as the first shot
 
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 over in Lexington.
 
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 So these are the guys who
 
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 have been on the march all
 
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 night and then they went
 
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 out and fight in Lexington and Concord.
 
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 Now they're on their way back.
 
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 Exactly.
 
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 They've been awake since ten
 
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 thirty the night previously.
 
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 They've had to endure almost fifteen,
 
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 twenty miles of hiking.
 
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 And then, of course,
 
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 not to mention enemy
 
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 gunfire on either sides of them.
 
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 Yeah.
 
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 But then they eventually get
 
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 into monotony around four
 
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 o'clock in the afternoon.
 
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 Mm hmm.
 
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 And at this point, it gets,
 
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 the battle increasingly
 
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 gets more chaotic as it goes on.
 
 00:04:02.243 --> 00:04:04.606
 It wasn't previously very
 
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 regimental as what you may
 
 00:04:06.389 --> 00:04:08.411
 have seen in Lexington or in Concord.
 
 00:04:08.831 --> 00:04:11.395
 But at this point, you have so many people,
 
 00:04:11.495 --> 00:04:13.877
 provincials, militia in Minutemen,
 
 00:04:14.538 --> 00:04:16.199
 from all surrounding towns.
 
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 You have people from Danvers,
 
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 people from Framingham, Lynn, Dedham,
 
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 Needham,
 
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 all of these other surrounding towns.
 
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 And at this point,
 
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 it was sort of the
 
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 cataclysm of when all these
 
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 alarm riders finally get to their spots,
 
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 and these towns finally get
 
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 to this point.
 
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 And when they meet this
 
 00:04:41.115 --> 00:04:42.536
 group of almost four
 
 00:04:42.596 --> 00:04:44.257
 thousand provincials versus
 
 00:04:44.937 --> 00:04:47.759
 about fifteen hundred regulars or so,
 
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 give or take, chaos essentially ensues.
 
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 At this point,
 
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 Percy recognizes that some members,
 
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 some provincials are hiding
 
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 into other houses to seek shelter,
 
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 possibly also to fire onto
 
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 the returning British
 
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 column as they retreat back into Boston.
 
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 And what he does is he
 
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 orders his men to go into
 
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 these residences and
 
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 essentially eliminate these provincial,
 
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 we call them snipers,
 
 00:05:19.843 --> 00:05:23.146
 but provincials firing on either side.
 
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 And if you go to the Jason Russell house,
 
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 we're right alongside Mass Ave.
 
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 The house has never moved.
 
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 And we know that with ground
 
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 penetrating radar analysis
 
 00:05:35.752 --> 00:05:36.774
 we did a few years ago.
 
 00:05:37.694 --> 00:05:40.437
 We have no evidence of the house moving.
 
 00:05:40.497 --> 00:05:41.819
 So this is the site in which
 
 00:05:41.939 --> 00:05:42.980
 that actually happened.
 
 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:45.461
 So the story is...
 
 00:05:47.004 --> 00:05:50.487
 about nine militia, excuse me,
 
 00:05:50.507 --> 00:05:52.891
 provincials from Danvers
 
 00:05:53.572 --> 00:05:55.093
 and a couple from surrounding towns.
 
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 They go and seek shelter
 
 00:05:56.495 --> 00:05:57.658
 into the Jason Russell house.
 
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 They hide into the cellar,
 
 00:06:00.927 --> 00:06:02.528
 pointing their muskets upward,
 
 00:06:03.028 --> 00:06:04.088
 waiting for any British
 
 00:06:04.168 --> 00:06:05.869
 regulars to come and enter the door.
 
 00:06:06.829 --> 00:06:08.170
 The story, as it goes,
 
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 is two British regulars enter the house,
 
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 and they are shot dead
 
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 completely on the spot.
 
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 From downstairs?
 
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 From downstairs.
 
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 Wow.
 
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 Yep, yep.
 
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 And then eventually they
 
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 potentially go out into the
 
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 second story of the house.
 
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 They go into the first story
 
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 and they are essentially seeking shelter.
 
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 The regulars or the provincials?
 
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 Provincials.
 
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 Okay.
 
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 And so what happens then is
 
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 they may have fired return shots,
 
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 but the British regulars,
 
 00:06:41.733 --> 00:06:43.475
 they surround the Jason
 
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 Russell house and fire onto
 
 00:06:45.156 --> 00:06:46.038
 the actual house.
 
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 Now, we have about thirteen,
 
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 possibly even more, scars, we call them,
 
 00:06:53.603 --> 00:06:55.324
 but essentially bullet holes,
 
 00:06:56.165 --> 00:06:57.706
 most of which were from
 
 00:06:58.206 --> 00:06:59.528
 British regular muskets
 
 00:07:00.209 --> 00:07:02.271
 firing directly onto the house.
 
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 Had there been anyone firing from inside?
 
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 I mean, had there been snipers inside,
 
 00:07:06.824 --> 00:07:07.625
 or it was just they knew
 
 00:07:07.665 --> 00:07:08.564
 that there were provincials
 
 00:07:08.605 --> 00:07:09.625
 hiding inside?
 
 00:07:09.665 --> 00:07:10.466
 You know, that story,
 
 00:07:10.925 --> 00:07:12.206
 we can't really verify.
 
 00:07:13.406 --> 00:07:14.567
 You know, it's likely,
 
 00:07:14.607 --> 00:07:17.067
 to put in perspective, you know,
 
 00:07:17.387 --> 00:07:18.627
 to humanize these folks.
 
 00:07:19.209 --> 00:07:21.428
 If you saw a returning
 
 00:07:21.769 --> 00:07:24.569
 column of enemy troops, essentially,
 
 00:07:25.449 --> 00:07:26.930
 you might do your duty to
 
 00:07:28.011 --> 00:07:28.831
 return fire,
 
 00:07:29.850 --> 00:07:30.992
 we don't really have any
 
 00:07:31.312 --> 00:07:32.351
 specific evidence
 
 00:07:32.512 --> 00:07:34.052
 suggesting that any of the
 
 00:07:34.072 --> 00:07:35.812
 bullet holes would have
 
 00:07:35.851 --> 00:07:39.312
 been from provincials, you know,
 
 00:07:39.353 --> 00:07:40.492
 but... Well,
 
 00:07:40.512 --> 00:07:41.872
 if they're firing out of the house,
 
 00:07:41.892 --> 00:07:43.653
 they wouldn't be hitting the house,
 
 00:07:43.733 --> 00:07:43.954
 right?
 
 00:07:44.053 --> 00:07:44.293
 Right.
 
 00:07:44.973 --> 00:07:45.754
 And exactly.
 
 00:07:46.093 --> 00:07:47.194
 And the windows that we have
 
 00:07:47.233 --> 00:07:47.995
 are not original.
 
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 And so if they were to fire,
 
 00:07:50.894 --> 00:07:51.634
 they probably would have
 
 00:07:51.675 --> 00:07:53.475
 fired from these windows.
 
 00:07:54.735 --> 00:07:55.776
 We do have specific
 
 00:07:56.670 --> 00:07:56.889
 you know,
 
 00:07:56.949 --> 00:07:59.273
 musket ball holes around the
 
 00:07:59.432 --> 00:08:01.154
 windows and where the
 
 00:08:01.194 --> 00:08:02.596
 points of where the windows are.
 
 00:08:02.636 --> 00:08:04.398
 So that makes it more likely,
 
 00:08:04.437 --> 00:08:06.060
 but really we- Someone was
 
 00:08:06.100 --> 00:08:07.821
 firing at the window to hit
 
 00:08:07.880 --> 00:08:10.024
 a sniper who might be in the window.
 
 00:08:10.124 --> 00:08:10.624
 Exactly.
 
 00:08:12.812 --> 00:08:15.154
 So what's Jason Russell up
 
 00:08:15.175 --> 00:08:16.596
 to while all of this is happening?
 
 00:08:17.175 --> 00:08:18.976
 Unfortunately, he loses his life.
 
 00:08:19.737 --> 00:08:21.499
 The story is that he is
 
 00:08:21.559 --> 00:08:22.899
 bayoneted on his front
 
 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:24.221
 doorstep as he seeks
 
 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:26.343
 shelter into his house.
 
 00:08:26.802 --> 00:08:27.843
 So he had been outside?
 
 00:08:28.564 --> 00:08:28.843
 Yes.
 
 00:08:29.165 --> 00:08:29.464
 Yeah.
 
 00:08:29.485 --> 00:08:30.526
 So he was outside.
 
 00:08:30.565 --> 00:08:31.446
 He was with the other
 
 00:08:31.867 --> 00:08:33.607
 militia and Minutemen from
 
 00:08:33.668 --> 00:08:34.828
 the surrounding towns.
 
 00:08:35.789 --> 00:08:37.510
 And the story is that he
 
 00:08:37.551 --> 00:08:39.793
 goes in to his house and
 
 00:08:39.893 --> 00:08:41.293
 suffering potentially from
 
 00:08:41.474 --> 00:08:43.054
 a disability in his leg.
 
 00:08:43.936 --> 00:08:45.876
 He's unable to keep up and
 
 00:08:45.937 --> 00:08:46.898
 unfortunately loses his
 
 00:08:46.957 --> 00:08:49.200
 life and gets bayoneted on his doorstep.
 
 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:50.860
 So he was not part of the
 
 00:08:50.880 --> 00:08:52.783
 militia or was he...
 
 00:08:53.893 --> 00:08:55.053
 So from what I understand,
 
 00:08:55.134 --> 00:08:56.475
 I don't think he was part
 
 00:08:56.615 --> 00:08:58.076
 of a specific unit.
 
 00:08:58.956 --> 00:09:00.337
 He stayed with his house.
 
 00:09:00.418 --> 00:09:01.058
 And he has a,
 
 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:03.000
 he has a interesting quote
 
 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:04.922
 you can read in David
 
 00:09:04.942 --> 00:09:06.702
 Hackett Fisher's polar bears ride.
 
 00:09:07.764 --> 00:09:11.586
 But essentially says paraphrasing, but
 
 00:09:12.346 --> 00:09:13.727
 It's the Englishman's duty
 
 00:09:13.768 --> 00:09:14.947
 to protect his castle.
 
 00:09:16.347 --> 00:09:18.408
 And with his age,
 
 00:09:19.028 --> 00:09:20.049
 it could seem likely that
 
 00:09:20.090 --> 00:09:21.509
 he was part of some sort of
 
 00:09:21.570 --> 00:09:22.710
 standing militia,
 
 00:09:22.769 --> 00:09:24.191
 but the fact that he stood
 
 00:09:24.370 --> 00:09:25.571
 at his property,
 
 00:09:26.150 --> 00:09:27.432
 it makes it more likely
 
 00:09:27.471 --> 00:09:28.672
 that he probably wasn't
 
 00:09:29.111 --> 00:09:30.432
 involved in any such.
 
 00:09:30.452 --> 00:09:31.533
 And also, since he has a disability,
 
 00:09:31.552 --> 00:09:33.754
 it would be unlikely.
 
 00:09:33.894 --> 00:09:34.313
 Exactly.
 
 00:09:34.754 --> 00:09:36.638
 So he sees these provincial troops,
 
 00:09:36.658 --> 00:09:37.740
 so he's going out to see
 
 00:09:37.779 --> 00:09:38.721
 what they're doing,
 
 00:09:38.761 --> 00:09:39.803
 or maybe he's been standing
 
 00:09:39.864 --> 00:09:41.086
 out there all day watching
 
 00:09:41.125 --> 00:09:42.969
 the troops going back and forth.
 
 00:09:42.989 --> 00:09:43.350
 Yeah.
 
 00:09:44.385 --> 00:09:44.625
 Yeah,
 
 00:09:44.706 --> 00:09:46.147
 I mean he may go to a neighbor's
 
 00:09:46.187 --> 00:09:46.846
 house as well,
 
 00:09:47.607 --> 00:09:50.609
 but he does ask his wife
 
 00:09:50.649 --> 00:09:53.591
 Elizabeth to go to neighboring towns,
 
 00:09:53.910 --> 00:09:56.231
 I don't know exactly which one,
 
 00:09:56.393 --> 00:09:58.013
 to essentially seek shelter
 
 00:09:58.072 --> 00:09:59.053
 as the British regulars are
 
 00:09:59.114 --> 00:10:00.274
 coming through monotony for
 
 00:10:00.294 --> 00:10:02.696
 the first time into Lexington Concord.
 
 00:10:02.716 --> 00:10:04.956
 So that was earlier in the morning?
 
 00:10:04.976 --> 00:10:05.697
 Earlier in the morning.
 
 00:10:06.912 --> 00:10:08.894
 And unfortunately, she does come back.
 
 00:10:09.014 --> 00:10:10.335
 And the story is that she
 
 00:10:10.394 --> 00:10:12.917
 does see about the thirteen
 
 00:10:13.096 --> 00:10:15.099
 dead bodies in her kitchen,
 
 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:18.061
 including that of Jason Russell,
 
 00:10:18.100 --> 00:10:19.783
 her husband.
 
 00:10:21.403 --> 00:10:23.365
 The story with that is we
 
 00:10:23.385 --> 00:10:25.246
 believe some bodies may
 
 00:10:25.307 --> 00:10:27.089
 have been relocated from
 
 00:10:27.129 --> 00:10:30.051
 where they passed to inside
 
 00:10:30.110 --> 00:10:31.952
 this house as a means to
 
 00:10:32.033 --> 00:10:33.394
 preserve the body in some
 
 00:10:33.533 --> 00:10:34.274
 form or fashion.
 
 00:10:34.294 --> 00:10:35.075
 I see.
 
 00:10:36.216 --> 00:10:37.517
 We're talking with Matt Beers,
 
 00:10:37.537 --> 00:10:38.738
 the executive director of
 
 00:10:38.778 --> 00:10:40.558
 the Arlington Historical Society,
 
 00:10:40.619 --> 00:10:41.620
 also a curator of the
 
 00:10:41.659 --> 00:10:43.020
 Wilmington Town Museum,
 
 00:10:43.701 --> 00:10:44.481
 and we're talking about
 
 00:10:44.542 --> 00:10:46.082
 untold stories of monotony,
 
 00:10:46.123 --> 00:10:47.283
 the place where most of the
 
 00:10:47.323 --> 00:10:49.186
 fighting happened on April
 
 00:10:53.327 --> 00:10:55.249
 And so the Jason Russell
 
 00:10:55.269 --> 00:10:56.809
 House is the home of the
 
 00:10:56.889 --> 00:10:58.291
 Arlington Historical Society,
 
 00:10:58.331 --> 00:11:00.231
 or is it just a property you manage?
 
 00:11:00.251 --> 00:11:01.312
 Can you tell us a bit about it?
 
 00:11:01.793 --> 00:11:02.874
 Yeah, so we are,
 
 00:11:03.293 --> 00:11:04.294
 the Arlington Historical
 
 00:11:04.335 --> 00:11:07.197
 Society is headquartered at
 
 00:11:07.216 --> 00:11:08.898
 the Jason Russell House and Museum.
 
 00:11:09.738 --> 00:11:11.019
 Right now where my office is,
 
 00:11:11.359 --> 00:11:12.700
 we have an exhibit hall
 
 00:11:13.419 --> 00:11:15.240
 where we will be putting on
 
 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:17.381
 a two hundred fiftieth
 
 00:11:17.522 --> 00:11:20.043
 anniversary exhibition,
 
 00:11:20.744 --> 00:11:22.825
 which I'll talk a bit in a second.
 
 00:11:22.904 --> 00:11:25.605
 But we do also have some other exhibitions,
 
 00:11:25.645 --> 00:11:27.868
 of course, one about the battle itself.
 
 00:11:28.648 --> 00:11:31.208
 But also we do tours in the
 
 00:11:31.249 --> 00:11:32.149
 Jason Russell House, of course.
 
 00:11:32.169 --> 00:11:36.251
 So how does someone come and visit?
 
 00:11:37.570 --> 00:11:37.769
 Yeah,
 
 00:11:37.830 --> 00:11:41.272
 so we are open now officially every
 
 00:11:41.331 --> 00:11:42.873
 Thursday and Friday from one to four.
 
 00:11:44.254 --> 00:11:45.474
 And on the weekends,
 
 00:11:45.514 --> 00:11:47.375
 we'll be open seasonally
 
 00:11:47.956 --> 00:11:50.277
 from June to October,
 
 00:11:50.297 --> 00:11:51.638
 the end of October from one
 
 00:11:51.658 --> 00:11:52.979
 to four as well.
 
 00:11:52.999 --> 00:11:55.299
 We're working on extending our hours,
 
 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:56.620
 hopefully soon.
 
 00:11:56.660 --> 00:11:58.981
 But I think starting slow, small,
 
 00:11:59.062 --> 00:12:00.982
 and then broadening through
 
 00:12:01.003 --> 00:12:02.803
 there is our strategy.
 
 00:12:03.844 --> 00:12:04.965
 You mainly volunteers or do
 
 00:12:04.985 --> 00:12:06.326
 you have a paid staff?
 
 00:12:07.053 --> 00:12:09.815
 So we have three other paid staff members,
 
 00:12:11.895 --> 00:12:13.657
 two of which are working in
 
 00:12:13.677 --> 00:12:14.376
 the collections.
 
 00:12:15.517 --> 00:12:17.477
 They're great,
 
 00:12:17.557 --> 00:12:19.739
 but they mostly work in
 
 00:12:20.739 --> 00:12:22.899
 archiving and making sure
 
 00:12:22.940 --> 00:12:24.380
 we preserve Arlington's
 
 00:12:24.421 --> 00:12:25.461
 history and stuff.
 
 00:12:26.361 --> 00:12:28.682
 Most of the tour guides that we have,
 
 00:12:28.743 --> 00:12:29.763
 they're all volunteers.
 
 00:12:30.143 --> 00:12:31.143
 And they're all great.
 
 00:12:31.364 --> 00:12:32.043
 Each one of them,
 
 00:12:32.683 --> 00:12:34.065
 I learn something new just
 
 00:12:34.085 --> 00:12:35.845
 from speaking with them every single day.
 
 00:12:36.946 --> 00:12:39.647
 And they all have their own interests.
 
 00:12:40.787 --> 00:12:42.427
 And so I highly recommend
 
 00:12:42.548 --> 00:12:43.868
 even if you do come for a tour,
 
 00:12:44.648 --> 00:12:45.448
 come for a tour on a
 
 00:12:45.509 --> 00:12:46.788
 different day and you might
 
 00:12:46.808 --> 00:12:48.789
 get a completely different perspective.
 
 00:12:48.809 --> 00:12:49.429
 That's great.
 
 00:12:49.529 --> 00:12:51.051
 Very good.
 
 00:12:52.370 --> 00:12:53.131
 So some of the other,
 
 00:12:53.532 --> 00:12:54.773
 I know Arlington has a
 
 00:12:54.812 --> 00:12:56.513
 history beyond what happened on April,
 
 00:12:57.134 --> 00:12:58.874
 but that's going to be our focus today.
 
 00:12:58.933 --> 00:12:59.754
 So I'm wondering what are
 
 00:12:59.774 --> 00:13:01.095
 some of the other untold
 
 00:13:01.134 --> 00:13:02.515
 stories that you have of
 
 00:13:02.615 --> 00:13:04.017
 Arlington on April?
 
 00:13:05.150 --> 00:13:05.510
 Of course.
 
 00:13:06.030 --> 00:13:07.991
 So one of which is my
 
 00:13:08.052 --> 00:13:10.114
 personal favorite is the
 
 00:13:10.153 --> 00:13:11.855
 story of Samuel Whittemore.
 
 00:13:13.134 --> 00:13:14.655
 And I'll tell you what we
 
 00:13:14.716 --> 00:13:16.256
 know and what we don't know
 
 00:13:16.317 --> 00:13:17.638
 about this specific story.
 
 00:13:18.418 --> 00:13:20.399
 So it is known and widely
 
 00:13:20.438 --> 00:13:21.899
 known that Samuel
 
 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:23.660
 Whittemore is reportedly to
 
 00:13:23.681 --> 00:13:25.100
 be the oldest combatant
 
 00:13:25.282 --> 00:13:26.761
 during the Revolutionary War.
 
 00:13:27.702 --> 00:13:28.602
 And ironically,
 
 00:13:28.643 --> 00:13:29.903
 it's the first battle of
 
 00:13:30.283 --> 00:13:31.284
 the Revolutionary War.
 
 00:13:32.144 --> 00:13:33.105
 But Samuel Whittemore,
 
 00:13:33.206 --> 00:13:36.126
 there's a question about, A, his age,
 
 00:13:36.547 --> 00:13:39.768
 but also where he was specifically born.
 
 00:13:40.428 --> 00:13:42.009
 There's reason to believe he
 
 00:13:42.028 --> 00:13:43.649
 was either born either in
 
 00:13:43.710 --> 00:13:45.431
 Charlestown or he may have
 
 00:13:45.471 --> 00:13:47.552
 been born in England and
 
 00:13:47.572 --> 00:13:49.332
 then eventually moved over here.
 
 00:13:50.633 --> 00:13:52.714
 But we do know that he was,
 
 00:13:54.434 --> 00:13:56.576
 he passed away in seventeen ninety three,
 
 00:13:57.436 --> 00:13:57.755
 of course,
 
 00:13:57.897 --> 00:14:00.618
 years after seventeen seventy five.
 
 00:14:01.744 --> 00:14:04.246
 And the story is Samuel Whittemore.
 
 00:14:04.447 --> 00:14:05.587
 He's, again,
 
 00:14:05.849 --> 00:14:07.529
 roughly around anywhere
 
 00:14:07.570 --> 00:14:09.913
 between seventy two to seventy eight,
 
 00:14:10.113 --> 00:14:10.573
 eighty two.
 
 00:14:10.953 --> 00:14:13.836
 He's he's an older gentleman.
 
 00:14:13.917 --> 00:14:14.697
 And the story is
 
 00:14:15.714 --> 00:14:17.716
 He grabs his French and
 
 00:14:17.817 --> 00:14:20.219
 Indian War powder horn.
 
 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:22.381
 He grabs a cavalry sword.
 
 00:14:22.442 --> 00:14:24.183
 He grabs his musket and
 
 00:14:24.224 --> 00:14:26.486
 potentially maybe even a couple pistols.
 
 00:14:26.907 --> 00:14:28.389
 And he goes out into Town Square,
 
 00:14:29.330 --> 00:14:30.572
 excuse me, actually the foot of the rocks,
 
 00:14:30.591 --> 00:14:32.774
 which is sort of on the border between us,
 
 00:14:33.034 --> 00:14:34.817
 Lexington, around there.
 
 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:38.522
 And he hides behind a stone wall.
 
 00:14:39.022 --> 00:14:40.403
 And as the British regulars
 
 00:14:40.583 --> 00:14:42.385
 are entering monotony,
 
 00:14:43.245 --> 00:14:44.908
 he pops up out of a stone wall,
 
 00:14:44.947 --> 00:14:45.788
 behind a stone wall.
 
 00:14:46.208 --> 00:14:46.970
 He fires,
 
 00:14:48.510 --> 00:14:50.413
 allegedly killing a British regular.
 
 00:14:51.673 --> 00:14:53.275
 And then he takes out his two pistols,
 
 00:14:53.696 --> 00:14:56.238
 shoots, and kills another provincial,
 
 00:14:56.499 --> 00:14:58.360
 excuse me, regular.
 
 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:00.861
 And then eventually, unfortunately,
 
 00:15:00.961 --> 00:15:02.884
 suffers a gunshot wound to
 
 00:15:03.144 --> 00:15:05.585
 the cheek and then is bayoneted.
 
 00:15:06.666 --> 00:15:09.707
 And even that story in
 
 00:15:09.748 --> 00:15:11.288
 itself is up in the air
 
 00:15:11.308 --> 00:15:11.970
 because we don't know the
 
 00:15:12.009 --> 00:15:13.191
 specifics on his wounds.
 
 00:15:14.126 --> 00:15:15.788
 He eventually is transported
 
 00:15:15.908 --> 00:15:17.149
 after British regulars leave,
 
 00:15:17.208 --> 00:15:17.928
 go down the road.
 
 00:15:18.308 --> 00:15:20.791
 He's transported over to Medford,
 
 00:15:21.291 --> 00:15:22.692
 President Medford of the
 
 00:15:22.731 --> 00:15:26.573
 house of Dr. Tufts, who heals him.
 
 00:15:27.833 --> 00:15:29.836
 And again, he's relatively old.
 
 00:15:30.035 --> 00:15:30.456
 Yeah,
 
 00:15:30.475 --> 00:15:32.017
 he's in the seventies and he's
 
 00:15:32.037 --> 00:15:33.758
 shooting at these soldiers.
 
 00:15:33.837 --> 00:15:34.378
 Exactly.
 
 00:15:34.518 --> 00:15:36.979
 And the story is he survived.
 
 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:38.340
 And we do know for a fact
 
 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:39.400
 that he did survive.
 
 00:15:39.880 --> 00:15:40.020
 Now,
 
 00:15:40.100 --> 00:15:42.461
 the reason why a lot of these stories
 
 00:15:42.481 --> 00:15:43.062
 that I'll say
 
 00:15:44.451 --> 00:15:46.351
 We don't have a whole lot of, frankly,
 
 00:15:46.371 --> 00:15:47.793
 a whole lot of primary sources.
 
 00:15:48.854 --> 00:15:50.696
 We have a lot of oral history.
 
 00:15:51.635 --> 00:15:52.476
 It's sort of like a game of
 
 00:15:52.537 --> 00:15:53.498
 telephone where it's,
 
 00:15:54.398 --> 00:15:56.480
 I've heard it from this guy
 
 00:15:56.779 --> 00:15:58.301
 who apparently heard it
 
 00:15:58.341 --> 00:15:59.542
 from Sam Whittemore.
 
 00:16:00.722 --> 00:16:03.424
 And this is from a book
 
 00:16:04.166 --> 00:16:06.827
 that's a nonfiction, or excuse me,
 
 00:16:06.847 --> 00:16:08.149
 a fictional book,
 
 00:16:08.828 --> 00:16:10.811
 which is based off of these stories.
 
 00:16:11.431 --> 00:16:12.610
 I see.
 
 00:16:12.671 --> 00:16:12.870
 Wow.
 
 00:16:13.030 --> 00:16:14.491
 And because of that, I mean,
 
 00:16:14.511 --> 00:16:16.032
 we have obituaries and such.
 
 00:16:17.072 --> 00:16:17.812
 But even then,
 
 00:16:19.852 --> 00:16:21.273
 even though that seems more
 
 00:16:21.352 --> 00:16:23.472
 likely that these things
 
 00:16:24.193 --> 00:16:27.913
 were more specific, it could be, you know,
 
 00:16:27.953 --> 00:16:32.095
 family trying to embellish a little bit.
 
 00:16:32.134 --> 00:16:32.934
 I wouldn't say embellish,
 
 00:16:32.955 --> 00:16:34.355
 but from the story that
 
 00:16:34.375 --> 00:16:36.275
 they've heard passed down.
 
 00:16:37.135 --> 00:16:38.017
 they recorded it.
 
 00:16:38.356 --> 00:16:39.418
 And that's unfortunately the
 
 00:16:39.437 --> 00:16:42.019
 most accurate information that we have.
 
 00:16:42.059 --> 00:16:43.561
 Did Samuel Whittemore have a family?
 
 00:16:44.562 --> 00:16:45.261
 Um, yes, yes.
 
 00:16:45.322 --> 00:16:46.342
 Samuel Whittemore, uh,
 
 00:16:46.503 --> 00:16:49.424
 he had a range of family members, um, in,
 
 00:16:49.585 --> 00:16:50.306
 in monotony.
 
 00:16:50.625 --> 00:16:50.806
 Um,
 
 00:16:51.147 --> 00:16:52.508
 I'm almost certain that the Whittemore
 
 00:16:52.528 --> 00:16:53.889
 family is still around today.
 
 00:16:54.649 --> 00:16:56.250
 Um, but, but yeah,
 
 00:16:56.289 --> 00:16:58.292
 very extensive family that, that, um,
 
 00:16:58.392 --> 00:16:59.373
 throughout Massachusetts.
 
 00:16:59.432 --> 00:16:59.673
 So,
 
 00:16:59.712 --> 00:17:02.595
 so he's living in monotony and he's in
 
 00:17:02.615 --> 00:17:03.635
 his seventies veteran of
 
 00:17:03.655 --> 00:17:04.596
 the seven years war.
 
 00:17:04.676 --> 00:17:04.876
 And he,
 
 00:17:06.438 --> 00:17:07.618
 So this is how the British
 
 00:17:07.679 --> 00:17:09.019
 agreed as they march into
 
 00:17:09.058 --> 00:17:11.099
 monotony on their retreat back to Boston.
 
 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:11.519
 They have this
 
 00:17:11.819 --> 00:17:13.540
 seventy-year-old man shooting at them.
 
 00:17:13.701 --> 00:17:15.162
 Exactly.
 
 00:17:15.182 --> 00:17:16.201
 Kind of see why when they
 
 00:17:16.241 --> 00:17:17.682
 get to the Jason Russell house,
 
 00:17:17.702 --> 00:17:18.963
 they're not in the mood to
 
 00:17:19.384 --> 00:17:20.463
 simply march on.
 
 00:17:21.023 --> 00:17:22.805
 Exactly.
 
 00:17:22.865 --> 00:17:23.224
 Yeah,
 
 00:17:23.365 --> 00:17:26.346
 I'm a huge fan of humanizing and
 
 00:17:26.807 --> 00:17:29.387
 getting the sociology and the psychology
 
 00:17:29.950 --> 00:17:31.730
 of their minds.
 
 00:17:32.911 --> 00:17:34.731
 As you mentioned, they're tired.
 
 00:17:35.672 --> 00:17:36.813
 They've already walked fifteen,
 
 00:17:36.853 --> 00:17:37.512
 twenty miles.
 
 00:17:37.573 --> 00:17:38.554
 Now they've got to walk back
 
 00:17:39.013 --> 00:17:41.855
 while also suffering on
 
 00:17:42.234 --> 00:17:45.336
 either side of them with return fire.
 
 00:17:46.457 --> 00:17:50.718
 To put it in perspective, you're cold,
 
 00:17:50.798 --> 00:17:54.400
 you're tired, your morale is very low.
 
 00:17:55.220 --> 00:17:56.401
 Mistakes are bound to happen
 
 00:17:56.461 --> 00:17:57.060
 because of that.
 
 00:17:58.549 --> 00:17:59.549
 How many, you know,
 
 00:17:59.589 --> 00:18:00.529
 you mentioned that there's
 
 00:18:00.569 --> 00:18:01.651
 a kind of a scattering of
 
 00:18:01.691 --> 00:18:04.111
 houses most are along this Concord Road.
 
 00:18:04.131 --> 00:18:05.551
 About how many would you say, I mean,
 
 00:18:05.571 --> 00:18:09.031
 how close are the houses to each other?
 
 00:18:09.071 --> 00:18:09.732
 So at least,
 
 00:18:10.252 --> 00:18:12.192
 I don't know specific on the
 
 00:18:12.272 --> 00:18:13.133
 number of houses.
 
 00:18:13.693 --> 00:18:16.314
 The next closest house would have been,
 
 00:18:16.473 --> 00:18:17.114
 or structure,
 
 00:18:17.193 --> 00:18:18.315
 would have been the Cutter Mill.
 
 00:18:19.115 --> 00:18:23.556
 That was on the other side of Mass Ave.
 
 00:18:24.758 --> 00:18:26.479
 Probably about half to a
 
 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:28.580
 quarter mile from distance.
 
 00:18:29.362 --> 00:18:30.423
 And I might say the same
 
 00:18:30.462 --> 00:18:32.284
 thing between that and
 
 00:18:32.344 --> 00:18:34.125
 Deacon Joseph Adams House,
 
 00:18:35.666 --> 00:18:36.907
 which was before,
 
 00:18:37.848 --> 00:18:39.170
 if you're coming back into
 
 00:18:39.269 --> 00:18:40.951
 Boston on Mass Ave,
 
 00:18:41.251 --> 00:18:43.493
 it was before the Jason Russell House.
 
 00:18:44.280 --> 00:18:45.821
 Do any of these houses still
 
 00:18:45.862 --> 00:18:46.982
 stand the way the Jason
 
 00:18:47.042 --> 00:18:47.782
 Russell house does today?
 
 00:18:49.003 --> 00:18:51.085
 So there's speculation.
 
 00:18:51.625 --> 00:18:52.405
 Unfortunately,
 
 00:18:52.787 --> 00:18:54.807
 during the twenties and the
 
 00:18:54.827 --> 00:18:55.488
 nineteen twenties,
 
 00:18:55.949 --> 00:18:57.028
 a lot of these houses got
 
 00:18:57.088 --> 00:18:58.549
 torn down for development.
 
 00:18:59.330 --> 00:19:00.571
 Some have been relocated.
 
 00:19:01.380 --> 00:19:03.040
 There's a story of Cooper's
 
 00:19:03.080 --> 00:19:05.821
 Tavern where two provincials,
 
 00:19:06.603 --> 00:19:08.202
 older provincials, instead of fighting,
 
 00:19:08.282 --> 00:19:11.384
 they stayed at the tavern
 
 00:19:12.204 --> 00:19:13.405
 and then they unfortunately
 
 00:19:13.445 --> 00:19:15.186
 lost their life through a
 
 00:19:15.227 --> 00:19:16.867
 skirmish from the British regulars.
 
 00:19:17.208 --> 00:19:18.567
 There's stories of that
 
 00:19:18.728 --> 00:19:22.890
 structure having moved and originally...
 
 00:19:24.310 --> 00:19:25.531
 at least part of the actual
 
 00:19:25.551 --> 00:19:26.392
 structure is intact.
 
 00:19:26.412 --> 00:19:28.113
 But other than that,
 
 00:19:28.133 --> 00:19:29.354
 there's not really a whole
 
 00:19:29.394 --> 00:19:30.894
 lot of buildings that are left.
 
 00:19:30.914 --> 00:19:32.715
 Interesting.
 
 00:19:33.195 --> 00:19:34.477
 We're talking with Matt Beers,
 
 00:19:34.537 --> 00:19:35.877
 Executive Director of the
 
 00:19:35.938 --> 00:19:37.438
 Arlington Historical Society,
 
 00:19:37.478 --> 00:19:38.999
 which is located at the
 
 00:19:39.098 --> 00:19:40.660
 Jason Russell House in
 
 00:19:40.900 --> 00:19:42.441
 Arlington along Mass Ave,
 
 00:19:42.500 --> 00:19:43.821
 formerly the Concord Road.
 
 00:19:44.750 --> 00:19:45.932
 And we're talking about some
 
 00:19:45.952 --> 00:19:47.996
 of the untold stories of monotony,
 
 00:19:48.016 --> 00:19:49.096
 a town that saw most of the
 
 00:19:49.116 --> 00:19:50.259
 fighting on April,
 
 00:19:50.278 --> 00:19:51.881
 the nineteenth of seventeen seventy five.
 
 00:19:51.921 --> 00:19:52.781
 Because, as Matt said,
 
 00:19:52.801 --> 00:19:54.263
 this is the time when the
 
 00:19:54.324 --> 00:19:55.885
 various militia troops,
 
 00:19:55.925 --> 00:19:56.826
 the provincials who have
 
 00:19:56.846 --> 00:19:58.368
 been alerted by the alarms
 
 00:19:58.409 --> 00:20:00.672
 the night before, then converging,
 
 00:20:00.731 --> 00:20:01.594
 knowing the British
 
 00:20:02.034 --> 00:20:03.335
 who had gone west are now on
 
 00:20:03.355 --> 00:20:05.035
 their way back into Boston.
 
 00:20:05.536 --> 00:20:06.855
 And this is the place where
 
 00:20:06.875 --> 00:20:09.116
 they meet most of the enemy,
 
 00:20:09.176 --> 00:20:10.458
 as they're now calling them.
 
 00:20:10.518 --> 00:20:12.558
 They had been just these
 
 00:20:12.618 --> 00:20:14.199
 misguided folks in the morning.
 
 00:20:14.239 --> 00:20:16.000
 But in General Gage's report back,
 
 00:20:16.019 --> 00:20:17.661
 he refers to the enemy and
 
 00:20:17.681 --> 00:20:19.001
 how Lord Percy is helping
 
 00:20:19.041 --> 00:20:20.961
 to fight their way through
 
 00:20:21.001 --> 00:20:22.262
 this hostile territory.
 
 00:20:23.215 --> 00:20:23.316
 Now,
 
 00:20:23.336 --> 00:20:25.156
 you mentioned the deacon Joseph Adams.
 
 00:20:25.176 --> 00:20:25.936
 I wonder if we could talk a
 
 00:20:25.957 --> 00:20:28.979
 little bit more about these Adamses.
 
 00:20:29.038 --> 00:20:29.439
 Of course.
 
 00:20:29.858 --> 00:20:33.381
 So this is, again, an interesting story.
 
 00:20:33.580 --> 00:20:37.281
 And this story comes from an account,
 
 00:20:37.382 --> 00:20:38.502
 a testimony from
 
 00:20:39.144 --> 00:20:40.345
 Hannah Hall Adams,
 
 00:20:40.384 --> 00:20:41.865
 which I'll get to in just a second.
 
 00:20:43.006 --> 00:20:46.846
 Deacon Joseph Adams, he was, of course,
 
 00:20:47.027 --> 00:20:49.067
 part of the First Parish
 
 00:20:49.146 --> 00:20:52.488
 Church Meeting House in Menotomy.
 
 00:20:53.528 --> 00:20:54.469
 And he was very close with
 
 00:20:54.489 --> 00:20:55.669
 the Reverend Samuel Cook.
 
 00:20:56.269 --> 00:21:00.750
 And both of them are patriots,
 
 00:21:00.950 --> 00:21:02.490
 and they've given patriot
 
 00:21:02.510 --> 00:21:03.471
 sermons and such.
 
 00:21:04.817 --> 00:21:06.480
 And as the British regulars
 
 00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:08.721
 are entering and then
 
 00:21:08.821 --> 00:21:12.385
 subsequently retreating, Joseph Adams,
 
 00:21:13.007 --> 00:21:14.648
 he believes that they're
 
 00:21:14.689 --> 00:21:16.790
 out there to arrest him as
 
 00:21:16.830 --> 00:21:18.332
 well as other patriots to
 
 00:21:18.452 --> 00:21:20.193
 suppress the revolution.
 
 00:21:20.454 --> 00:21:21.296
 Why would he think they're
 
 00:21:21.336 --> 00:21:22.115
 going to arrest him?
 
 00:21:23.123 --> 00:21:26.443
 So there's word on the street.
 
 00:21:26.743 --> 00:21:27.644
 You hear things,
 
 00:21:28.223 --> 00:21:30.384
 especially with meetings
 
 00:21:30.404 --> 00:21:31.105
 with the committees of
 
 00:21:31.164 --> 00:21:32.246
 safeties and other things,
 
 00:21:32.306 --> 00:21:36.967
 and a lot of hearsay that you pick up.
 
 00:21:37.047 --> 00:21:39.428
 And so with his rhetoric of
 
 00:21:39.488 --> 00:21:43.568
 him saying these patriotic things,
 
 00:21:44.932 --> 00:21:45.993
 Rhetoric, I guess.
 
 00:21:48.778 --> 00:21:49.898
 He's under the impression
 
 00:21:50.058 --> 00:21:51.000
 that the British regulars
 
 00:21:51.121 --> 00:21:52.682
 are out there to arrest all
 
 00:21:52.702 --> 00:21:53.805
 of these people who are
 
 00:21:53.865 --> 00:21:55.988
 spreading what I believe
 
 00:21:56.028 --> 00:21:57.509
 they've thought nonsense.
 
 00:21:58.551 --> 00:21:58.872
 But
 
 00:22:00.373 --> 00:22:01.114
 But really,
 
 00:22:01.634 --> 00:22:03.275
 so what he does is he
 
 00:22:03.556 --> 00:22:07.398
 eventually decides to escape.
 
 00:22:07.459 --> 00:22:09.701
 And he tells his wife,
 
 00:22:10.141 --> 00:22:12.103
 they're probably not going to harm you.
 
 00:22:12.242 --> 00:22:14.545
 I've got six other children, six children.
 
 00:22:15.125 --> 00:22:15.945
 The British regulars,
 
 00:22:15.986 --> 00:22:17.507
 they would never dare to
 
 00:22:17.567 --> 00:22:18.969
 harm any women or children.
 
 00:22:20.054 --> 00:22:21.134
 And so what he does is he
 
 00:22:21.193 --> 00:22:23.075
 leaves stories that he
 
 00:22:23.115 --> 00:22:26.336
 hides behind a giant rock near his house.
 
 00:22:26.915 --> 00:22:28.096
 And then he eventually finds
 
 00:22:28.136 --> 00:22:30.237
 and she seeks shelter at his friend,
 
 00:22:30.416 --> 00:22:33.137
 Reverend Samuel Cook's house.
 
 00:22:33.258 --> 00:22:34.378
 And as the British regulars
 
 00:22:34.459 --> 00:22:35.679
 are going again,
 
 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:37.079
 retreating in their order
 
 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:38.299
 to go into these houses,
 
 00:22:38.779 --> 00:22:41.740
 the stories from Hannah Hall Adams,
 
 00:22:41.820 --> 00:22:42.280
 his wife,
 
 00:22:45.215 --> 00:22:45.836
 Let me back up.
 
 00:22:46.477 --> 00:22:47.817
 So Hannah Hall Adams,
 
 00:22:49.198 --> 00:22:50.857
 she recently gave birth
 
 00:22:50.959 --> 00:22:53.839
 about ten days prior to April nineteenth.
 
 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:56.701
 Just back up, Matt.
 
 00:22:56.721 --> 00:22:58.221
 Here's a guy who leaves his
 
 00:22:58.281 --> 00:23:00.863
 wife a ten day old and five
 
 00:23:00.923 --> 00:23:02.644
 other children because he
 
 00:23:02.663 --> 00:23:04.744
 has to seek refuge somewhere else.
 
 00:23:04.805 --> 00:23:05.045
 I mean,
 
 00:23:05.525 --> 00:23:09.406
 it doesn't make him sound like a hero.
 
 00:23:09.507 --> 00:23:10.446
 I think the British would
 
 00:23:10.467 --> 00:23:12.008
 like to have more guys like
 
 00:23:12.347 --> 00:23:14.189
 Deacon Adams around because
 
 00:23:15.471 --> 00:23:17.382
 He seems like, to me, a coward.
 
 00:23:17.402 --> 00:23:18.105
 I don't know what I would do
 
 00:23:18.145 --> 00:23:19.050
 in this situation.
 
 00:23:20.119 --> 00:23:20.740
 Yeah.
 
 00:23:20.839 --> 00:23:21.861
 And again, you know,
 
 00:23:21.881 --> 00:23:23.102
 it's all about humanizing.
 
 00:23:23.402 --> 00:23:25.103
 People obviously aren't perfect.
 
 00:23:25.123 --> 00:23:26.903
 You know,
 
 00:23:26.923 --> 00:23:28.944
 we can make the judgment as far as,
 
 00:23:29.285 --> 00:23:29.605
 you know,
 
 00:23:29.625 --> 00:23:31.066
 it probably wasn't the correct
 
 00:23:31.105 --> 00:23:33.067
 thing to do.
 
 00:23:33.167 --> 00:23:34.087
 So he didn't think anyone
 
 00:23:34.107 --> 00:23:35.709
 was going to arrest the minister?
 
 00:23:36.328 --> 00:23:36.569
 Yes.
 
 00:23:36.769 --> 00:23:36.950
 Yes.
 
 00:23:36.970 --> 00:23:38.351
 He didn't believe any or at
 
 00:23:38.391 --> 00:23:40.271
 least he was hiding out with him.
 
 00:23:41.592 --> 00:23:43.272
 But why he chose his house
 
 00:23:43.493 --> 00:23:46.535
 to hide out there is beyond me, frankly.
 
 00:23:46.555 --> 00:23:46.674
 Okay.
 
 00:23:48.981 --> 00:23:49.541
 So what happens?
 
 00:23:49.582 --> 00:23:50.843
 He's then at the Reverend
 
 00:23:50.883 --> 00:23:52.883
 Cook's house and now the
 
 00:23:52.903 --> 00:23:53.903
 British are coming back.
 
 00:23:54.364 --> 00:23:54.544
 Yeah,
 
 00:23:54.663 --> 00:23:56.744
 so the story is that he stays there
 
 00:23:56.865 --> 00:23:58.766
 and he hides and he
 
 00:23:58.826 --> 00:24:00.526
 essentially escapes the revolution.
 
 00:24:01.646 --> 00:24:03.646
 Not really much has happened
 
 00:24:03.666 --> 00:24:04.907
 to him afterwards.
 
 00:24:06.189 --> 00:24:09.009
 What about Hannah Hall Adams?
 
 00:24:09.029 --> 00:24:10.431
 The story with Hannah, again,
 
 00:24:10.471 --> 00:24:11.810
 I mentioned that she
 
 00:24:11.871 --> 00:24:13.071
 recently gave birth about
 
 00:24:13.152 --> 00:24:15.031
 ten days prior to the battle.
 
 00:24:16.192 --> 00:24:19.874
 With eighteenth-century medicine,
 
 00:24:20.493 --> 00:24:21.875
 that essentially meant you
 
 00:24:21.894 --> 00:24:25.276
 were bedridden for weeks.
 
 00:24:25.615 --> 00:24:27.257
 Hannah, she's bedridden.
 
 00:24:27.957 --> 00:24:31.077
 She can move, but very, very slowly.
 
 00:24:33.135 --> 00:24:36.478
 And she holds her newborn, Anna,
 
 00:24:38.179 --> 00:24:40.420
 while the British regulars are entering.
 
 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:42.241
 The five other kids,
 
 00:24:42.541 --> 00:24:44.482
 they hide underneath her bed.
 
 00:24:46.743 --> 00:24:48.904
 And they seek shelter just there.
 
 00:24:49.425 --> 00:24:50.946
 According to Hannah Adams...
 
 00:24:51.933 --> 00:24:52.976
 Three British regulars,
 
 00:24:53.016 --> 00:24:55.058
 they enter her home while
 
 00:24:55.098 --> 00:24:58.144
 holding a bayonet fixed at
 
 00:24:58.765 --> 00:24:59.625
 Hannah herself.
 
 00:25:00.567 --> 00:25:05.074
 There's some exchange of words.
 
 00:25:05.134 --> 00:25:06.537
 Other parties are yelling at each other.
 
 00:25:08.606 --> 00:25:10.347
 And the story is that one of
 
 00:25:10.387 --> 00:25:12.867
 the British officers, he orders his men,
 
 00:25:13.327 --> 00:25:15.469
 do not harm the children, kids or women,
 
 00:25:15.669 --> 00:25:16.489
 women or children,
 
 00:25:18.130 --> 00:25:20.089
 as long as they cooperate.
 
 00:25:21.490 --> 00:25:23.631
 And the story is that they
 
 00:25:23.671 --> 00:25:25.612
 eventually loot a lot of
 
 00:25:25.632 --> 00:25:26.531
 things in the house.
 
 00:25:26.592 --> 00:25:26.852
 You know,
 
 00:25:26.872 --> 00:25:29.132
 there's silver that has been repatriated,
 
 00:25:29.152 --> 00:25:31.532
 that was sold and then
 
 00:25:31.813 --> 00:25:33.294
 eventually repatriated back
 
 00:25:33.334 --> 00:25:34.574
 to the church.
 
 00:25:35.193 --> 00:25:35.795
 Okay,
 
 00:25:35.875 --> 00:25:38.176
 so you mean they took silver from her
 
 00:25:38.217 --> 00:25:40.798
 house, but then the church got it back?
 
 00:25:40.838 --> 00:25:41.519
 Yes, yes.
 
 00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:42.760
 So I don't know, frankly,
 
 00:25:42.780 --> 00:25:43.801
 I don't know the specifics
 
 00:25:43.862 --> 00:25:44.583
 of the provenance,
 
 00:25:45.042 --> 00:25:46.003
 but they did figure out
 
 00:25:46.044 --> 00:25:47.566
 that this is the silver
 
 00:25:47.625 --> 00:25:51.509
 pitcher that was taken on April,
 
 00:25:51.848 --> 00:25:52.869
 by British regulars,
 
 00:25:53.550 --> 00:25:55.772
 then subsequently sold at
 
 00:25:56.574 --> 00:25:57.954
 another market or such.
 
 00:25:59.336 --> 00:26:00.576
 stories that someone found
 
 00:26:00.676 --> 00:26:02.638
 it and did identify that it
 
 00:26:02.719 --> 00:26:06.181
 is indeed the Adams family silver.
 
 00:26:06.942 --> 00:26:08.162
 There's other stories where
 
 00:26:08.201 --> 00:26:11.084
 they may have taken other silverware,
 
 00:26:11.164 --> 00:26:11.884
 things like that,
 
 00:26:12.846 --> 00:26:14.886
 but they also looted and
 
 00:26:14.926 --> 00:26:18.430
 took out the Adams family clock,
 
 00:26:19.130 --> 00:26:20.810
 meaning it's a grandfather clock,
 
 00:26:20.851 --> 00:26:21.771
 it's an eight-day clock,
 
 00:26:21.932 --> 00:26:23.334
 But they stole the inner
 
 00:26:23.374 --> 00:26:24.816
 workings of the clock,
 
 00:26:25.757 --> 00:26:26.739
 including the metals,
 
 00:26:26.939 --> 00:26:30.063
 possibly to melt it down as
 
 00:26:30.143 --> 00:26:31.345
 a means to just sell.
 
 00:26:32.778 --> 00:26:34.420
 So they didn't actually pull out the clock,
 
 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:36.299
 but they took the inside out.
 
 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:36.900
 Exactly.
 
 00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:41.201
 So we actually have the case
 
 00:26:41.622 --> 00:26:43.603
 of the clock on display in
 
 00:26:43.643 --> 00:26:44.883
 the Jason Russell house.
 
 00:26:45.563 --> 00:26:47.663
 And if you see, it's very ornate.
 
 00:26:47.763 --> 00:26:51.065
 It's a perfect example of
 
 00:26:51.125 --> 00:26:53.286
 eighteenth-century Asian art.
 
 00:26:53.905 --> 00:26:55.346
 And we believe it was imported,
 
 00:26:55.826 --> 00:26:58.448
 potentially, over to Boston,
 
 00:26:59.048 --> 00:27:00.188
 where the Adams family
 
 00:27:00.208 --> 00:27:01.409
 eventually purchased it.
 
 00:27:02.189 --> 00:27:03.710
 But it's a remarkable piece,
 
 00:27:04.450 --> 00:27:05.589
 and I tell this story when
 
 00:27:06.830 --> 00:27:08.550
 the rare chance I give guides,
 
 00:27:08.592 --> 00:27:10.092
 but we had a consultant
 
 00:27:10.152 --> 00:27:11.132
 over here one time,
 
 00:27:11.192 --> 00:27:13.012
 and she said that you
 
 00:27:13.032 --> 00:27:13.952
 should really think about
 
 00:27:14.233 --> 00:27:15.294
 replacing the inner
 
 00:27:15.334 --> 00:27:16.713
 workings of the clock to
 
 00:27:16.753 --> 00:27:17.434
 make it run again.
 
 00:27:17.714 --> 00:27:19.556
 And I was like, well, I thought about it,
 
 00:27:19.596 --> 00:27:20.236
 and it's like...
 
 00:27:21.016 --> 00:27:21.096
 Well,
 
 00:27:21.115 --> 00:27:22.136
 that kind of defeats the whole
 
 00:27:22.196 --> 00:27:23.196
 purpose of it, right?
 
 00:27:23.237 --> 00:27:25.317
 That defeats the whole story of it.
 
 00:27:25.337 --> 00:27:26.438
 That's right, yeah.
 
 00:27:26.478 --> 00:27:26.999
 But anyway,
 
 00:27:28.098 --> 00:27:30.579
 the story is while the British
 
 00:27:30.599 --> 00:27:31.881
 regulars are entering her home,
 
 00:27:32.280 --> 00:27:33.520
 holds her up by gunpoint,
 
 00:27:34.942 --> 00:27:36.382
 they eventually start a
 
 00:27:36.422 --> 00:27:38.383
 fire in her kitchen.
 
 00:27:38.403 --> 00:27:41.924
 And they tear out pieces of
 
 00:27:41.964 --> 00:27:42.964
 the family Bible,
 
 00:27:43.204 --> 00:27:44.586
 pages of the family Bible,
 
 00:27:45.125 --> 00:27:46.606
 to light this fire and
 
 00:27:46.686 --> 00:27:49.567
 leave it burning in her house.
 
 00:27:50.838 --> 00:27:53.259
 As this happens, Hannah grabs Anna,
 
 00:27:53.319 --> 00:27:56.480
 her newborn, and runs out of the house.
 
 00:27:56.960 --> 00:27:58.401
 The kids stay hidden.
 
 00:27:59.161 --> 00:28:00.141
 Of course, the British regulars,
 
 00:28:00.181 --> 00:28:01.020
 they know they're there,
 
 00:28:01.201 --> 00:28:03.260
 but they try to stay hidden.
 
 00:28:04.422 --> 00:28:05.582
 They come out as the British
 
 00:28:05.622 --> 00:28:06.981
 regulars are leaving,
 
 00:28:07.442 --> 00:28:08.962
 and they douse the fire
 
 00:28:09.242 --> 00:28:10.583
 with homebrew beer.
 
 00:28:11.863 --> 00:28:13.743
 And that specifics, again,
 
 00:28:14.084 --> 00:28:15.703
 it's one of those stories where it's...
 
 00:28:16.163 --> 00:28:17.766
 That probably specifically
 
 00:28:17.806 --> 00:28:18.646
 can't be made up,
 
 00:28:18.686 --> 00:28:21.711
 but the end of the story is
 
 00:28:21.730 --> 00:28:23.332
 that they did douse it and
 
 00:28:23.412 --> 00:28:25.755
 Hannah returned back to her house.
 
 00:28:25.775 --> 00:28:27.297
 Okay, interesting.
 
 00:28:28.678 --> 00:28:30.059
 Did they ever search the
 
 00:28:30.099 --> 00:28:32.241
 Reverend Samuel Cook's house?
 
 00:28:32.863 --> 00:28:36.007
 Not that I know of, but...
 
 00:28:37.388 --> 00:28:37.528
 Now,
 
 00:28:37.890 --> 00:28:39.351
 another thing that's happening in this
 
 00:28:39.431 --> 00:28:40.412
 expedition, of course,
 
 00:28:40.612 --> 00:28:43.515
 is Lord Percy was reinforcements.
 
 00:28:43.674 --> 00:28:44.756
 We're talking with Matt Fierce,
 
 00:28:44.776 --> 00:28:45.797
 the executive director of
 
 00:28:45.817 --> 00:28:47.318
 the Arlington Historical Society,
 
 00:28:47.338 --> 00:28:48.839
 about some of the untold
 
 00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:49.980
 stories of monotony.
 
 00:28:50.662 --> 00:28:52.903
 And there's also a resupply
 
 00:28:52.963 --> 00:28:54.465
 wagon that's making its way
 
 00:28:54.546 --> 00:28:55.906
 to help out the British.
 
 00:28:55.926 --> 00:28:59.130
 And it runs into trouble in monotony,
 
 00:28:59.150 --> 00:28:59.770
 I understand.
 
 00:29:00.733 --> 00:29:03.115
 yes so there's a story about
 
 00:29:03.296 --> 00:29:04.916
 a patriot of color uh his
 
 00:29:04.957 --> 00:29:07.659
 name is david lamson um and
 
 00:29:07.900 --> 00:29:11.863
 while the um the the the
 
 00:29:11.883 --> 00:29:13.324
 british regulars are still
 
 00:29:13.483 --> 00:29:15.265
 in lexington there's a
 
 00:29:15.325 --> 00:29:17.446
 story about a transport
 
 00:29:17.547 --> 00:29:19.848
 wagon who has asked for
 
 00:29:19.969 --> 00:29:21.730
 supplies to go from
 
 00:29:21.950 --> 00:29:23.391
 cambridge really from
 
 00:29:23.451 --> 00:29:25.212
 boston then to cambridge um
 
 00:29:25.353 --> 00:29:26.693
 and then through monotony
 
 00:29:27.592 --> 00:29:30.384
 to help resupply munitions
 
 00:29:30.765 --> 00:29:31.950
 for the British irregulars.
 
 00:29:33.035 --> 00:29:39.178
 And so what happens is a patriot of color,
 
 00:29:39.199 --> 00:29:40.358
 his name is David Lampson,
 
 00:29:41.259 --> 00:29:42.820
 he goes to the local tavern
 
 00:29:42.881 --> 00:29:45.301
 as well as the other exempts,
 
 00:29:45.541 --> 00:29:46.201
 what we call them.
 
 00:29:46.262 --> 00:29:48.023
 We call them the old men of monotony.
 
 00:29:48.403 --> 00:29:48.864
 However,
 
 00:29:49.023 --> 00:29:51.925
 they were really either too old or
 
 00:29:52.046 --> 00:29:55.107
 either had a physical
 
 00:29:55.147 --> 00:29:56.607
 disability or some such
 
 00:29:56.847 --> 00:29:58.128
 where they are not fit to
 
 00:29:58.209 --> 00:30:00.049
 serve in a standing militia
 
 00:30:00.170 --> 00:30:00.990
 or minute company.
 
 00:30:02.287 --> 00:30:03.807
 And so the story is that
 
 00:30:03.909 --> 00:30:05.170
 because of David Lampson,
 
 00:30:05.769 --> 00:30:07.291
 him being revered,
 
 00:30:07.372 --> 00:30:09.173
 even as a person of color,
 
 00:30:09.713 --> 00:30:12.796
 revered as a powerful
 
 00:30:12.836 --> 00:30:16.380
 leader and a veteran of the
 
 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:17.540
 French-Indian War,
 
 00:30:19.291 --> 00:30:20.772
 He was chosen to lead these
 
 00:30:20.813 --> 00:30:24.256
 men to go in and stop this
 
 00:30:24.655 --> 00:30:26.577
 wagon from entering and
 
 00:30:26.617 --> 00:30:28.699
 resupplying into the British column.
 
 00:30:29.219 --> 00:30:30.119
 And now the story is they
 
 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:33.281
 wait until the middle of Monotony Center.
 
 00:30:33.603 --> 00:30:35.864
 They hide behind different stone walls.
 
 00:30:36.384 --> 00:30:37.105
 David Lamson,
 
 00:30:37.144 --> 00:30:38.727
 he shoots up as soon as they
 
 00:30:38.767 --> 00:30:42.209
 see them come into their near area,
 
 00:30:42.249 --> 00:30:42.669
 vicinity.
 
 00:30:43.490 --> 00:30:44.550
 And he orders them to stop.
 
 00:30:45.692 --> 00:30:47.192
 And of course, it's an armed wagon,
 
 00:30:47.252 --> 00:30:50.375
 so they have armed regulars.
 
 00:30:51.557 --> 00:30:53.557
 And they, of course, disagree.
 
 00:30:53.678 --> 00:30:54.618
 It's only one person.
 
 00:30:55.339 --> 00:30:56.760
 They disagree and they push on.
 
 00:30:57.240 --> 00:31:00.403
 And then the other old men of monotony,
 
 00:31:00.503 --> 00:31:03.546
 they stand up and they fire onto the...
 
 00:31:04.926 --> 00:31:05.708
 Supply wagon.
 
 00:31:06.628 --> 00:31:07.990
 And from what I understand,
 
 00:31:08.049 --> 00:31:09.371
 it was never able to
 
 00:31:10.112 --> 00:31:14.076
 resupply the British regulars.
 
 00:31:15.777 --> 00:31:18.219
 So the story and this is, again,
 
 00:31:18.278 --> 00:31:19.359
 one of my favorite stories
 
 00:31:19.380 --> 00:31:20.601
 is the story is,
 
 00:31:20.641 --> 00:31:23.523
 is that they escape the British regulars.
 
 00:31:23.544 --> 00:31:24.085
 They escape.
 
 00:31:24.949 --> 00:31:27.789
 They go into the local lake
 
 00:31:28.509 --> 00:31:29.431
 called Spy Pond.
 
 00:31:30.050 --> 00:31:32.152
 They throw their muskets into the Spy Pond,
 
 00:31:32.531 --> 00:31:34.313
 which frankly may actually
 
 00:31:34.353 --> 00:31:35.073
 still be there.
 
 00:31:36.432 --> 00:31:38.614
 But they go into Spy Pond,
 
 00:31:38.653 --> 00:31:40.434
 throw this into the pond.
 
 00:31:41.400 --> 00:31:42.881
 They see an elderly woman,
 
 00:31:43.580 --> 00:31:44.981
 and her name is Mother Batherick.
 
 00:31:46.603 --> 00:31:48.022
 And the story, six of them,
 
 00:31:48.703 --> 00:31:51.005
 they go in and they run to her,
 
 00:31:51.444 --> 00:31:54.527
 and they essentially
 
 00:31:54.586 --> 00:31:56.468
 surrender to Mother Batherick.
 
 00:31:57.596 --> 00:31:59.498
 And the story is Mother
 
 00:31:59.518 --> 00:32:00.559
 Batherick saw them while
 
 00:32:00.579 --> 00:32:01.760
 she was picking flowers.
 
 00:32:02.101 --> 00:32:04.784
 And I think these people are
 
 00:32:04.824 --> 00:32:07.287
 very – they're real people in my opinion.
 
 00:32:07.787 --> 00:32:08.488
 Mother Batherick is
 
 00:32:08.528 --> 00:32:09.449
 definitely still around.
 
 00:32:10.470 --> 00:32:11.892
 I find it odd that Mother
 
 00:32:11.932 --> 00:32:12.731
 Batherick would have been
 
 00:32:12.913 --> 00:32:15.315
 picking flowers during a
 
 00:32:15.355 --> 00:32:18.238
 battle right very locally.
 
 00:32:18.699 --> 00:32:18.838
 Yeah.
 
 00:32:20.059 --> 00:32:22.099
 But eventually she gets them
 
 00:32:22.221 --> 00:32:25.201
 over to a militia.
 
 00:32:25.260 --> 00:32:28.281
 His last name is Ephraim Frost, his house.
 
 00:32:29.382 --> 00:32:31.442
 And she tells the six
 
 00:32:32.182 --> 00:32:33.542
 British regulars that you
 
 00:32:33.563 --> 00:32:35.282
 can tell King George that
 
 00:32:35.403 --> 00:32:40.865
 you just surrendered to an old woman.
 
 00:32:41.065 --> 00:32:41.184
 Wow.
 
 00:32:41.204 --> 00:32:41.265
 Wow.
 
 00:32:41.285 --> 00:32:42.484
 So you have a lot of things happening,
 
 00:32:42.505 --> 00:32:42.664
 you know.
 
 00:32:42.978 --> 00:32:44.358
 I mean, a lot of things happened then,
 
 00:32:44.519 --> 00:32:45.759
 and so I'm wondering what
 
 00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:46.601
 you'll be doing to
 
 00:32:46.641 --> 00:32:47.461
 commemorate the
 
 00:32:47.521 --> 00:32:49.344
 two-fiftieth anniversary of these events,
 
 00:32:49.364 --> 00:32:51.045
 which is coming up.
 
 00:32:51.085 --> 00:32:51.444
 Of course.
 
 00:32:51.826 --> 00:32:55.429
 So we have a number of things going on.
 
 00:32:56.349 --> 00:32:56.910
 Like I mentioned,
 
 00:32:56.930 --> 00:32:57.971
 the Jason Russell House
 
 00:32:57.990 --> 00:32:59.673
 will be open from tours on
 
 00:32:59.792 --> 00:33:00.593
 April nineteenth,
 
 00:33:01.013 --> 00:33:03.236
 extended tours from eleven to four.
 
 00:33:04.155 --> 00:33:05.297
 And it's completely free,
 
 00:33:05.738 --> 00:33:07.900
 thanks to our sponsor, Liberty Bank.
 
 00:33:08.200 --> 00:33:10.401
 um but it'll be free for for
 
 00:33:10.461 --> 00:33:11.582
 all visitors you can come
 
 00:33:11.642 --> 00:33:13.823
 in see the scars of of the
 
 00:33:13.903 --> 00:33:14.903
 worst fighting that
 
 00:33:15.064 --> 00:33:16.125
 happened at the jason
 
 00:33:16.144 --> 00:33:17.945
 russell house um and you
 
 00:33:17.965 --> 00:33:19.886
 can also experience our
 
 00:33:20.086 --> 00:33:21.127
 exhibition which I'll get
 
 00:33:21.147 --> 00:33:22.808
 to in just a second but
 
 00:33:22.828 --> 00:33:24.210
 we'll be open for april
 
 00:33:24.250 --> 00:33:25.349
 nineteenth the actual day
 
 00:33:25.369 --> 00:33:26.730
 of this happening as well
 
 00:33:26.810 --> 00:33:29.492
 as the the um the uh patriots day
 
 00:33:30.012 --> 00:33:31.193
 the practice Patriots Day on
 
 00:33:31.253 --> 00:33:32.595
 April twenty first on
 
 00:33:32.634 --> 00:33:34.135
 Monday again both days
 
 00:33:34.276 --> 00:33:37.357
 eleven to four but part of
 
 00:33:37.417 --> 00:33:38.798
 that we're also unveiling
 
 00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:40.059
 our two hundred fiftieth
 
 00:33:40.119 --> 00:33:40.840
 exhibition which I
 
 00:33:40.881 --> 00:33:43.021
 mentioned earlier and as
 
 00:33:43.061 --> 00:33:44.442
 the theme of this this
 
 00:33:44.502 --> 00:33:45.804
 whole year it comes out
 
 00:33:46.404 --> 00:33:47.105
 through with battle of
 
 00:33:47.144 --> 00:33:49.527
 monotony we are it's titled
 
 00:33:49.987 --> 00:33:50.887
 the battle of monotony
 
 00:33:51.107 --> 00:33:52.348
 voices of the overlooked
 
 00:33:52.489 --> 00:33:54.410
 centennial reflections and
 
 00:33:54.810 --> 00:33:58.553
 and what it will include essentially is
 
 00:33:59.534 --> 00:33:59.913
 Frankly,
 
 00:33:59.933 --> 00:34:01.134
 we don't have a whole lot of
 
 00:34:01.674 --> 00:34:03.296
 objects pertaining to April,
 
 00:34:04.096 --> 00:34:04.817
 believe it or not.
 
 00:34:05.636 --> 00:34:06.678
 But what we do have,
 
 00:34:06.817 --> 00:34:08.177
 we do have some other
 
 00:34:08.358 --> 00:34:09.778
 perspectives that may have
 
 00:34:09.798 --> 00:34:12.280
 been overlooked from the battle.
 
 00:34:12.701 --> 00:34:14.121
 So like I mentioned before,
 
 00:34:14.282 --> 00:34:15.601
 it's essentially we're
 
 00:34:15.621 --> 00:34:16.702
 going to take the
 
 00:34:16.742 --> 00:34:18.463
 perspectives of previously
 
 00:34:18.483 --> 00:34:19.264
 enslaved people,
 
 00:34:19.903 --> 00:34:22.626
 women and other of these stories.
 
 00:34:23.668 --> 00:34:25.469
 and embellish it to talk
 
 00:34:25.510 --> 00:34:26.989
 about a broader narrative
 
 00:34:27.090 --> 00:34:28.731
 about how the battle itself
 
 00:34:29.050 --> 00:34:30.652
 is an untold story.
 
 00:34:31.711 --> 00:34:32.333
 Part of that too,
 
 00:34:32.353 --> 00:34:33.233
 we're also going to talk
 
 00:34:33.253 --> 00:34:35.994
 about how Arlington, West Cambridge,
 
 00:34:36.173 --> 00:34:37.914
 and monotony has celebrated
 
 00:34:38.565 --> 00:34:40.507
 commemorated the battle throughout years,
 
 00:34:40.527 --> 00:34:43.690
 and some of which are very interesting.
 
 00:34:44.550 --> 00:34:46.550
 So it should be a very fun exhibition.
 
 00:34:46.670 --> 00:34:48.512
 It'll be open during our
 
 00:34:48.552 --> 00:34:51.253
 hours all the way until October,
 
 00:34:51.373 --> 00:34:52.954
 end of October of twenty twenty six.
 
 00:34:53.155 --> 00:34:56.036
 Very good.
 
 00:34:56.077 --> 00:34:56.818
 So I hope this will be
 
 00:34:56.858 --> 00:34:58.938
 another interesting commemoration that,
 
 00:34:59.099 --> 00:34:59.619
 you know,
 
 00:34:59.639 --> 00:35:00.599
 you said some of them have been
 
 00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:01.641
 very interesting over the years.
 
 00:35:01.661 --> 00:35:02.400
 What are some of the things
 
 00:35:02.420 --> 00:35:04.021
 that have been done to commemorate this?
 
 00:35:05.478 --> 00:35:05.657
 Well,
 
 00:35:05.777 --> 00:35:07.079
 so I will say we're going to be
 
 00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:08.139
 practicing again.
 
 00:35:08.280 --> 00:35:11.262
 Our reenactment is going to
 
 00:35:11.282 --> 00:35:13.644
 be on the twentieth and
 
 00:35:13.824 --> 00:35:16.106
 leading up to not so much this year,
 
 00:35:16.126 --> 00:35:18.469
 but leading up to April nineteenth.
 
 00:35:18.489 --> 00:35:20.731
 You feel free to check it
 
 00:35:20.811 --> 00:35:22.271
 out at the old burying
 
 00:35:22.291 --> 00:35:24.173
 ground just next to Town Hall.
 
 00:35:25.353 --> 00:35:26.675
 the Arlington Historical Society,
 
 00:35:26.695 --> 00:35:27.894
 with help of Freedom's Way
 
 00:35:27.934 --> 00:35:28.855
 National Heritage Area,
 
 00:35:30.016 --> 00:35:32.376
 we put in markers
 
 00:35:32.476 --> 00:35:34.597
 commemorating the British
 
 00:35:34.657 --> 00:35:35.876
 regulars as well as the
 
 00:35:35.936 --> 00:35:37.157
 enslaved people who were
 
 00:35:37.197 --> 00:35:38.617
 buried in mass graves
 
 00:35:39.318 --> 00:35:41.579
 around the old burying ground.
 
 00:35:42.659 --> 00:35:45.400
 And again, that was a few years in coming,
 
 00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:45.619
 but
 
 00:35:46.436 --> 00:35:47.358
 It was, again,
 
 00:35:47.637 --> 00:35:48.498
 it's important to
 
 00:35:48.518 --> 00:35:51.039
 commemorate all lives lost
 
 00:35:51.079 --> 00:35:52.460
 because at this point, again,
 
 00:35:52.501 --> 00:35:55.764
 it was a civil war until a year later.
 
 00:35:58.264 --> 00:36:00.166
 But we're also, with this year,
 
 00:36:00.186 --> 00:36:00.646
 we're also,
 
 00:36:02.394 --> 00:36:04.355
 unveiling a new lecture
 
 00:36:04.375 --> 00:36:06.215
 series coming out
 
 00:36:06.275 --> 00:36:08.115
 specifically talking about the battle.
 
 00:36:08.195 --> 00:36:09.016
 Our next one is going to be
 
 00:36:09.056 --> 00:36:10.217
 March twenty fifth with
 
 00:36:10.737 --> 00:36:12.456
 retired Brigadier General
 
 00:36:13.117 --> 00:36:14.378
 William Rapp to talk about,
 
 00:36:14.757 --> 00:36:15.677
 as I mentioned before,
 
 00:36:15.697 --> 00:36:17.157
 the sort of the sociology
 
 00:36:17.177 --> 00:36:18.518
 and the psychology of what
 
 00:36:18.559 --> 00:36:19.719
 it was like to be a British
 
 00:36:19.759 --> 00:36:21.398
 regular and a provincial on
 
 00:36:21.458 --> 00:36:22.159
 April nineteenth.
 
 00:36:24.320 --> 00:36:24.559
 Interesting.
 
 00:36:24.579 --> 00:36:24.920
 Very interesting.
 
 00:36:24.940 --> 00:36:25.679
 We're talking with Matt Beers,
 
 00:36:25.719 --> 00:36:26.840
 executive director of the
 
 00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:28.460
 Arlington Historical Society.
 
 00:36:29.139 --> 00:36:30.460
 oversees the jason russell
 
 00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:32.442
 house and uh talking about
 
 00:36:32.461 --> 00:36:34.244
 plans for commemorating the
 
 00:36:34.284 --> 00:36:36.085
 the anniversary of the
 
 00:36:36.586 --> 00:36:37.847
 untold stories of monotony
 
 00:36:38.128 --> 00:36:39.789
 now why do you suppose you
 
 00:36:39.809 --> 00:36:41.791
 know lexington and concord
 
 00:36:41.811 --> 00:36:43.092
 really have made quite a
 
 00:36:43.132 --> 00:36:44.173
 thing of telling their
 
 00:36:44.213 --> 00:36:46.275
 story how come arlington
 
 00:36:46.516 --> 00:36:47.878
 has been overlooked
 
 00:36:48.731 --> 00:36:49.833
 So historically,
 
 00:36:50.612 --> 00:36:52.793
 Arlington has always tried
 
 00:36:52.853 --> 00:36:55.675
 to get on the same level as
 
 00:36:55.755 --> 00:36:56.856
 Lexington and Concord.
 
 00:36:57.436 --> 00:37:02.079
 And if you ask me, frankly,
 
 00:37:02.318 --> 00:37:03.039
 we shouldn't be...
 
 00:37:05.340 --> 00:37:06.141
 the society,
 
 00:37:06.161 --> 00:37:08.023
 we shouldn't be the town to say, oh,
 
 00:37:08.182 --> 00:37:09.485
 actually, this happened.
 
 00:37:09.784 --> 00:37:11.045
 While we'd like to correct
 
 00:37:11.545 --> 00:37:12.867
 historical inaccuracies,
 
 00:37:14.289 --> 00:37:15.530
 it's important for us to
 
 00:37:17.030 --> 00:37:18.052
 first commemorate the
 
 00:37:18.072 --> 00:37:21.094
 people who fought and lost their lives.
 
 00:37:23.052 --> 00:37:24.253
 But at the same time,
 
 00:37:25.534 --> 00:37:26.936
 we're trying to tell our
 
 00:37:26.996 --> 00:37:30.358
 stories and tell the stories of, again,
 
 00:37:30.378 --> 00:37:33.442
 the often overlooked people in monotony.
 
 00:37:34.742 --> 00:37:36.824
 If you ask me why I think this happened,
 
 00:37:36.905 --> 00:37:40.708
 it's because of its well-known name,
 
 00:37:41.268 --> 00:37:43.030
 the Battle of Lexington and Concord.
 
 00:37:46.487 --> 00:37:48.188
 distinction and in my rhetoric,
 
 00:37:48.429 --> 00:37:49.650
 I will always say the
 
 00:37:49.690 --> 00:37:51.251
 battle of Lexington
 
 00:37:51.291 --> 00:37:53.711
 conquered and monotony as a
 
 00:37:53.731 --> 00:37:54.891
 means to honor the people
 
 00:37:54.931 --> 00:37:56.934
 who died and lost their
 
 00:37:56.954 --> 00:37:58.273
 lives in monotony.
 
 00:37:58.775 --> 00:37:59.735
 But also to point out the
 
 00:37:59.775 --> 00:38:01.695
 fact that we were, again,
 
 00:38:01.775 --> 00:38:02.777
 part of the one of the
 
 00:38:02.817 --> 00:38:04.237
 biggest portions of the battle.
 
 00:38:05.905 --> 00:38:09.525
 Do you have a sense, Matt,
 
 00:38:09.545 --> 00:38:10.467
 of how many men died on that day?
 
 00:38:10.507 --> 00:38:11.527
 So British regulars,
 
 00:38:11.586 --> 00:38:13.827
 we don't really know the entire number.
 
 00:38:15.527 --> 00:38:17.489
 Frankly, I'm blanking on it right now.
 
 00:38:17.568 --> 00:38:18.989
 But with provincials,
 
 00:38:19.409 --> 00:38:22.329
 we do know in total of the entire day,
 
 00:38:22.389 --> 00:38:23.451
 to put it in perspective,
 
 00:38:23.570 --> 00:38:24.811
 roughly forty nine
 
 00:38:24.851 --> 00:38:26.291
 provincials lost their lives.
 
 00:38:26.672 --> 00:38:28.152
 And we get this question all the time.
 
 00:38:28.291 --> 00:38:29.913
 That's not a lot for a battle.
 
 00:38:30.632 --> 00:38:31.873
 Most people think that this
 
 00:38:31.954 --> 00:38:34.054
 is a battle very similar to
 
 00:38:34.155 --> 00:38:35.795
 Gettysburg or Antietam or
 
 00:38:36.076 --> 00:38:39.538
 all these really big battles, but really,
 
 00:38:39.659 --> 00:38:39.958
 again,
 
 00:38:40.318 --> 00:38:41.920
 it's the first day of the
 
 00:38:42.719 --> 00:38:43.681
 Revolutionary War,
 
 00:38:45.202 --> 00:38:46.963
 and you really weren't preparing.
 
 00:38:46.983 --> 00:38:47.643
 I mean, you were,
 
 00:38:47.663 --> 00:38:50.385
 but you couldn't predict
 
 00:38:50.445 --> 00:38:51.304
 that this was going to be
 
 00:38:51.344 --> 00:38:52.525
 an armed conflict.
 
 00:38:54.487 --> 00:38:57.047
 So, to put it in perspective,
 
 00:38:57.588 --> 00:38:59.208
 monotony lost about
 
 00:38:59.268 --> 00:39:01.869
 twenty-five provincials just in town.
 
 00:39:02.128 --> 00:39:04.048
 So that's over half of the people.
 
 00:39:05.250 --> 00:39:06.469
 Our numbers indicate,
 
 00:39:06.489 --> 00:39:08.471
 and that number actually
 
 00:39:08.530 --> 00:39:09.650
 may actually increase,
 
 00:39:10.990 --> 00:39:12.411
 but as we do more research,
 
 00:39:12.492 --> 00:39:14.032
 we believe that roughly
 
 00:39:14.952 --> 00:39:16.733
 about twenty-one provincials
 
 00:39:16.835 --> 00:39:19.556
 died on the Jason Russell House property.
 
 00:39:19.856 --> 00:39:21.219
 That's on the forty acres
 
 00:39:21.259 --> 00:39:23.181
 but also inside the house as well.
 
 00:39:23.201 --> 00:39:23.960
 Amazing.
 
 00:39:24.961 --> 00:39:25.163
 Yeah,
 
 00:39:25.182 --> 00:39:26.864
 and forty-nine is a big number if
 
 00:39:26.884 --> 00:39:28.425
 you're one of them or if
 
 00:39:28.445 --> 00:39:29.387
 it's someone you know.
 
 00:39:29.407 --> 00:39:32.309
 So thank you so much.
 
 00:39:32.329 --> 00:39:33.610
 We've been talking with Matt Beers,
 
 00:39:33.670 --> 00:39:34.911
 executive director of the
 
 00:39:35.012 --> 00:39:36.614
 Arlington Historical Society,
 
 00:39:36.673 --> 00:39:37.635
 also curator of the
 
 00:39:37.675 --> 00:39:38.976
 Wilmington Town Museum.
 
 00:39:39.708 --> 00:39:40.648
 and planning for
 
 00:39:40.688 --> 00:39:42.668
 commemorative events in the
 
 00:39:42.708 --> 00:39:43.929
 town of Arlington,
 
 00:39:44.009 --> 00:39:45.230
 formerly the town of Monotony.
 
 00:39:45.269 --> 00:39:46.269
 Thanks for joining us, Matt.
 
 00:39:46.289 --> 00:39:48.010
 Thanks for having me.
 
 00:39:48.030 --> 00:39:48.971
 It's been great talking to you.
 
 00:39:48.990 --> 00:39:50.670
 And I want to thank Jonathan Lane,
 
 00:39:50.710 --> 00:39:52.672
 our producer, the man behind the curtain,
 
 00:39:53.251 --> 00:39:55.492
 and also our listeners here
 
 00:39:55.612 --> 00:39:57.213
 and all around the world.
 
 00:39:58.353 --> 00:39:58.534
 You know,
 
 00:39:58.574 --> 00:40:00.534
 folks are tuning in in different places.
 
 00:40:00.574 --> 00:40:01.574
 And every week we thank
 
 00:40:01.614 --> 00:40:03.155
 people who are regular
 
 00:40:03.175 --> 00:40:04.494
 listeners or new listeners.
 
 00:40:04.536 --> 00:40:05.275
 And if you're in one of
 
 00:40:05.295 --> 00:40:06.456
 these places and want to
 
 00:40:06.476 --> 00:40:07.976
 send Jonathan Lane an email,
 
 00:40:08.016 --> 00:40:09.237
 jlane at revolution two,
 
 00:40:09.804 --> 00:40:11.123
 They'll send you some of our
 
 00:40:11.605 --> 00:40:13.385
 revolution to fifty swag
 
 00:40:14.206 --> 00:40:15.346
 and if you're not one of
 
 00:40:15.365 --> 00:40:16.346
 these places and just want
 
 00:40:16.365 --> 00:40:17.427
 to connect with Jonathan He
 
 00:40:17.467 --> 00:40:18.447
 loves to hear from people.
 
 00:40:18.467 --> 00:40:19.387
 So do I in fact?
 
 00:40:20.248 --> 00:40:22.047
 So Jay Lane at revolution to
 
 00:40:22.108 --> 00:40:24.668
 five or and this week We're
 
 00:40:24.708 --> 00:40:27.170
 thanking our listeners in New Egypt,
 
 00:40:27.250 --> 00:40:29.971
 New Jersey and Helena, Montana in Germany
 
 00:40:34.202 --> 00:40:35.324
 in the state of Ohio,
 
 00:40:35.804 --> 00:40:39.445
 Ciudad del Carmen and Toluca in Mexico,
 
 00:40:39.726 --> 00:40:42.286
 and here in the United States, Detroit,
 
 00:40:42.907 --> 00:40:44.728
 and South Boston in the Bay State.
 
 00:40:44.748 --> 00:40:45.507
 Thank you all,
 
 00:40:45.568 --> 00:40:47.349
 and thank you to the folks listening in,
 
 00:40:47.748 --> 00:40:49.170
 places between and beyond,
 
 00:40:49.190 --> 00:40:50.190
 and now we will be piped
 
 00:40:50.331 --> 00:40:51.371
 out on the road to Boston.