History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

312 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
Although no battle was fought within the limits
of Somerville, almost every considerable spot of
her territory is associated with tlie ojjening scenes
of tiie Eevolution. Ten Hills Farm, the old Pow-
der-House, Miller's Eiver district. Milk Eow, the
road to Charlestown, Prospect, Central, and Win-
ter hills. Mount Benedict, and the eminence on
which the Asylum stands, successively call up a
vivid series of events, from one of the first acts
indicative of the hostile policy of Great Britain, to
the time of the evacuation of Boston, — a series
almost identical with the history of the war in this
part of the country. The first of these events, tiie
incursion to Quarry Hill, will be described under
another head.
In their march to, and retreat from Concord,
April 19, 1775, the British passed through the
territory of Somerville. Landing on the marshes,
they struck the path leading from the house
on Phips' farm to Ballard's bridge, the only house
then upon the point, and located on the site of
houses now on the northern side of Spring Street,
between Third and Fourth streets. East Cambridge,
and at about two o'clock waded Willis' Creek,
emerged from the marshes at Bullard's bridge, and
entered the Cambridge and Milk Row roads. Tradition
informs us that several residents of Milk
Row were awakened by their onward passage.
They were heard to call Piper's Tavern by name as
they passed. It is also said that Samuel Tufts was
running bullets Avith his negro in a small hut back
of the house, and did not hear them ; but the Widow
Rand, who did, and was alarmed by seeing them
march by, ran in her night-clothes to his house,
when, instantly saddling his horse, he galloped
across his farm to Cambridge to spread the news.
The Hunnewell brothers were deaf, and could
not hear tliem, but Mrs. Tufts was aroused, and
-saw from the bed the gun-barrels 'glistening in the
light ol' the risen moon. She awakened her husband,
and they beheld the soldiers halt, hasten up
tlie yard, and, after drinking from the well under the
window, resume their marcli.
It was about six o'clock in the afternoon wlien
the retreating expedition re-entered Somerville,
almost upon the run. Here a body of Americans
opened a murderous fire upon them from a grove
of trees. A halt was made at Timothy Tufts', and
a cannon planted on the liigh ground l)c;lund tlie
house. Leaving a few dead, who now lie buried Iti
Mr. Tufts' lot, they soon resumed their march, with
a rear-guard, it is stated, to protect their retreat,
and a detachment in advance, which pillaged the
houses as far as the rapidity of their march would
allow. The iidiabitants had left their dwellings at
the sound of the distant firing, and taken refuge
upon the hills. " It had been a wonder of a winter,
so moderate and unfreezing," and the day was un-
usually warm, so that the thickly clothed British
soldiers wellnigh sank with exhaustion. Some
threw themselves into the old pond at the foot of
Laurel Street, and drank like dogs. Several dead
and wounded were left in the house mentioned as
being near the corner of Prospect Street. Lord
Percy received his hottest fire along the base of
Prospect Hill, and the field-pieces were again un-
limbered. A British soldier, while ransacking a
chest of drawers in the senior Samuel Shed's house,
was shot in the act, and fell over the open drawer.^
The jaded troops had now nearly reached the end
of their disastrous expedition ; but there was yet
to oppose them, and deliberately lay his life upon
his coun'try's altar, Somerville's only martyr in the
Eevolution. Some ten rods in front of the resi-
dence of Mrs. Gilson, on Prospect Hill, ou the
grassy slope that looks toward the south, is a spot
hallowed by inspiring and undying memories.
James Miller, who had known the century from
its first decade, took his gun and went fortli to do
his might against his country's oppressors. With
a companion he stationed himself behind a stone
wall; and they used the old Queen's Arm with such
efi'ect upon the passing soldiery that a platoon was
detached to drive them back. As they advanced
up the hillside, his comrade said, " Come, Miller,
we've got to go." But Miller, with a fortitude
worthy of the best days of Sparta, replied, " I am
too old to run," and kept his face toward the
enemy until, almost at the setting of the sun, he
fell, pierced by thirteen balls, — a fitting and glori-
ous seal to set upon a ripened life and an immortal
day !
During the siege of Boston, Somerville bore as
prominent a part as any of her neighbors. Nearly
all her hills were fortified, and alive with men.
Greene and other generals had their headquarters
at Samuel Tufts' house. General Lee, for a time,
lived at Oliver Tufts'. Nothing more than guards
were posted within the Somerville limits before
June 17, and those were on Prospect and Winter
hills. On the evening of the battle of Bunker
1 This interesting relic, with the maiks of the bloo