Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of Patriots' Day: Honoring the Brave Colonists of South Dedham (Norwood) April 19, 1775

Sounding the Alarm

It was reported that April 19, 1775 was a clear, cool day with a slight west wind; rain overtook the area at night. As most Americans know, early that morning British soldiers and armed colonists exchanged fire in the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord; the first shots fired in the War for Independence. An alarm was sounded for all area militia men to join the cause.

Local farmers did not think of war as an adventure. Many men in Massachusetts had engaged in armed conflict and were familiar with its horrors from personal experience; they did not take up arms gladly but had come to the sad conclusion that war was inevitable, and they had prepared for it with high seriousness and resolve.

Dressed in their usual working clothes – pants coming down and fastening just below the knee, long stockings, cowhide shoes, vests, coats, and waistcoats of various sizes and colors (except red). Most wore large weathered hats with low crowns and broad floppy brims. Each man was expected to supply his own weapon; many of these were designed for shooting fowl, not for combat.

The sprawling town of Dedham did not get the alarm until after 9:00 in the morning, when relay riders from Needham and Dover arrived by a circuitous route. Once the alarm was sounded, each of four Dedham companies traveled by a different route to Dedham center.

Around sixty men, whose ages ranged from 17 to 58, left their homes in South Dedham village and headed to Dedham center where they mustered and prepared to join the conflict. Some encountered and fired upon the British troops near today’s Arlington as the Redcoats retreated back to Boston.

In 1890, Norwood’s first historian Deacon Francis Tinker compiled a list of these men – all born British citizens – who risked their lives in defiance of their King, not knowing what the outcome of their actions would be. Twenty of these courageous colonists are interred in Old Parish Cemetery:

 Name Age Old Parish Lot Number

William Coney                    29                         228

Benjamin Dean                   58                         140

Jonathan Dean                   45                         146

William Dean                      24                         142

Oliver Ellis                           30                         100

Abel Everett                        19                         121

Asa Everett                           37                        107

William Everett                    18                        169

David Fairbanks                   44                        206

Amasa Farrington                27                        239

Aaron Guild                          47                        200

Aaron Guild, Jr.                    22                       196

Moses Guild                         19                       55

Oliver Guild                           20                       64

Jeremiah Kingsbury              45                     133

Benjamin Lewis                      35                       192

Nathaniel Lewis                     44                       261

John Morse                            22                       119

Seth Morse                             22                       176

Nathaniel Sumner, Jr.             20                      126

Enoch Talbot                            17                     105

Tinker also wrote that there was “little doubt that every able-bodied person of suitable age, was called upon to do duty at some period, during the War of the Revolution.”

Take a moment today to remember these men.

[Descriptions and details of April 19 are from: Paul Revere’s Ride by David Hackett Fischer]