[269] See the rough or preliminary draft of his report to Gage.
[271] To be exact, for I have measured the route over which he marched, it was 15-74/88 miles.
[272] In his report he states that he "drew up the Brigade on a height." Only Mount Vernon was easily accessible for such a movement. See also Doolittle's "A View of the South Part of Lexington," for confirmation.
[273] Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass. in 1775, page 686.
[274] Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass. in 1775, page 688.
[275] Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass. in 1775, page 688.
[276] A majority of the voters of Lexington in town meeting assembled have re-named a near-by street, "Percy Road," in commemoration of his visit on that Nineteenth of April. Almost any other foeman's name would have been better, if it is thus necessary to mark a growing feeling of respect and kindliness between two nations of kindred blood. Its older name was Mt. Vernon Street!
The town has many street names in memory of that battle day, such as Adams, Clarke, Hancock, Muzzey, Revere. Percy Road starts from near the old Munroe Tavern. What better name could there be for this thoroughfare than Munroe Avenue, in memory of Sergeant William Munroe, or of his grandson James S. Munroe, who has generously left the Tavern to be forever open to the public for inspection.
[277] Lexington Historical Society Proceedings, III, 135.
[278] See Doolittle's "A View of the South Part of Lexington," for an idea of those burning Lexington homes.
[279] Lexington Historical Society Proceedings, III, 135.
[280] A carefully written newspaper clipping evidently from a Boston periodical, dated April 19, 1858, preserved in a scrap book once belonging to the Thomas Waterman collection of American History.
[281] Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Mass. in 1775.
[284] Then he had in mind to return by way of Roxbury, a longer march than to Charlestown.
[285] De Bernicre says the Light Infantry was in front, then the Grenadiers.
[286] Told to me by the venerable Charles Brown still living (1911) in East Lexington. His grandfather, Capt. Edmund Munroe, was an active participant in the events of April 19th.
[Illustration: BATTLE ROAD THROUGH ARLINGTON AND CAMBRIDGE.