James Barrett (July 31, 1710 – April 11, 1779) was an American colonel in the Concord, Massachusetts militia during the Battles of Lexington and Concord that began the American Revolutionary War. His farm was the storage site of all the town of Concord's militia gunpowder, weapons and two pairs of prized bronze cannons, according to secret British intelligence.

On the morning of April 19, 1775, the British Regulars were ordered by General Thomas Gage to march from Boston to the town of Concord, about 20 miles inland, and seize the cannon and raid the arsenal at the provincial farm. The British met resistance at both Lexington, Massachusetts and Concord. Before the British arrived and searched, the stores had been concealed in a field nearby, and the British never found them. He is buried in Old Hill Burying Ground, Concord, Massachusetts.

James Barrett (colonel)

Col. James Barrett's farm is portrayed in the historical dramatization "Sons of Liberty", Season 1, Episode 2, "The Uprising".

James Barrett (colonel)

References

1710 births

1779 deaths

Continental Army officers from Massachusetts

People from Concord, Massachusetts

American military personnel of the Seven Years' War

People of Massachusetts in the French and Indian War

People of colonial Massachusetts

Burials at Old Hill Burying Ground

James Barrett (colonel)