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Discover CONCORD
| Fall 2019
finding and destroying rumored stockpiles of Colonist weapons and supplies in Concord. As Revere later wrote in a letter, “I knew right away he [Prescott] was a true Son of Liberty!” And quite likely, Prescott was! In his detailed book Legend of the Third Horseman, author Charles E. Caes theorizes that the country doctor from Concord was deeply involved in the Sons of Liberty, the secret society established in Boston in response to increasing English restrictions, and “taxation without representation” actions that were chipping away at the Colonists’ autonomy and local governments. As suggested by Caes, the Sons of Liberty membership was so secretive that it was likely that neither Revere nor Dawes had met Prescott before this encounter on the road, but it is possible all three had been directed to that place by the Sons of Liberty Leader Doctor Joseph Warren. Knowing General Gage would lead the English army to Concord at some point, Warren prepared a network of riders to stand by to carry the alarm to Concord the moment the King’s troops set forth from their encampment in Boston. Caes suggests that Warren’s riders may have included Prescott, who was summoned to stand by in Lexington until he was needed. Under the guise of a country doctor returning from a late night call, or courting a young lady, Prescott could justify
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“A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!” Thus cried Shakespeare’s King Richard the III during the Battle of Bosworth as his horse was cut out from under him during England’s War of the Roses for control of the English throne. No horse came for Richard, and his kingdom was lost to Henry Tudor (Henry VII). But 290 years later, a horse did materialize in the darkness, galloped towards Concord, Massachusetts, and once again the power of the English throne was transformed. It was April 19th, 1775, just past 1 AM when 23 year old Samuel Prescott, a young doctor from Concord, Massachusetts, stepped out of a clockmaker’s house in nearby Lexington, MA. Legend says the young doctor had been on a courtship visit to the clockmaker’s daughter, Lydia Mulliken. Upon leaving, Prescott mounted his horse and set out in the moonlight on the road to Concord, headed to his own house six miles away. As Prescott started for home, the sounds of the night surrounded him; occasional owl calls mixed with the mundane thudding clop clop of his horse’s hooves on the dirt road. Ahead of him the darkness moved, shapes formed, and Prescott shortly found himself in the company of two horsemen from Boston; Dr. William Dawes and Silversmith and Son of Liberty Paul Revere. The Bostonians were en route to Concord, spreading the word that the King’s Troops were close behind, intent on
© Jaimee
The Midnight Ride of Dr. Samuel Prescott
BY JAIMEE LEIGH JOROFF
being on the roads if stopped. Additionally, the doctor and his horse would know the backroads and paths weaving into Concord. Time ticking with the King’s troops not far behind, Prescott, Dawes, and Revere rode on together towards Concord. Revere warned his companions that they might encounter a patrol sent out by General Gage to intercept anyone carrying the message to Concord. Eyes and ears straining in the darkness, the three horsemen rode on. When they were halfway to Concord, in the town of Lincoln, Dawes and Prescott stopped at a house to rouse the owner. Revere was about 200 yards ahead of them on the road when, suddenly, two English soldiers jumped from the shadows into the moonlit road before him. Revere called back a warning to Dawes and Prescott. The two English soldiers quickly became four, and then more, as a scouting patrol on the watch for colonist spies seeking to warn Concord joined the soldiers confronting Revere. Behind them, Dawes spurred his horse to the left, galloping into the trees and away towards Lincoln, MA. Too late, Prescott’s horse skidded to halt next to Revere. Bayonets flashed in the moonlight, a pistol cocked, and a red-coated English Officer shouted, “G-d D—n you stop! If you go an inch further, you are a dead man!” Having laid a trap of fence posts, the English
