"Disperse ! A second officer then fired his pistol. John Bateman of the Fifty-second Regiment, a British soldier, probably a prisoner, testified at Lincoln, April 23, 1775. "There was," to use his words, "a small party of men gathered. When our troops marched by I heard the word of command given to the troops to fire, and some of said troops did fire, and I saw one of said small party lie dead on the ground nigh said meeting-house." This may well offset the account given of the battle by his Excellency Governor Gage, in a letter to Governor Trumbull of Connecticut, which makes one almost despair of the veracity of history:

I ordered six companies of light-infantry to take two bridges in Concord. When two miles from Lexington they heard five hundred men were in arms to oppose the King's troops. Major Pitcairn saw about two hundred armed men. . . . He ordered his troops not to fire, but surround and disarm them. . . . The people fired behind a wall, wounded a man of the Tenth Infantry, and hit the Major's horse in two places. They also fired from a meeting-house. . . . Then the light-infantry, without order or regularity, killed several of the country-people, but were silenced as soon as the authority of the officers could make them!

I knew well Jonathan Loring, as a neighbor, his dwelling-house being some third of a mile only from my father's. father's. When it was known that several British officers had gone up toward Concord on the evening of the 18th, Loring, with two

others, volunteered to follow them and watch their movements. He was taken prisoner and detained several hours, until, on the return of the British officers, he was set at liberty on or near Lexington Common. He bore arms in the battle, and he was a brave man, as his face indicated, although quite lame and bowed, as I recall him. His courage and patriotism were tested by his marching to Cambridge with a detachment, May 6, and also taking part in the battle of Bunker Hill. He was in Cambridge again in the campaign of 1776.

His family took a prominent part on the 19th of April. The church plate was kept at the house of his father, Deacon Joseph Loring; Lydia, a sister of Jonathan, took this plate on that day and concealed it under some brush near the house, to prevent its being carried off by the British soldiers. The house was pillaged and burnt by the British on their return from Concord. Deacon Loring made out a full statement of his loss at that time :

A large mansion-house, and a barn 70 ft. long, and a corn-house, all burnt

Household goods and furniture, viz: eight good feather beds and bedding; a large quantity of pewter and brass ware; three cases of drawers; two mahogany tables, with the furniture of eight rooms

£350-0-0

230-0-0

All the wearing apparel of my family, con

sisting of nine persons

60-0-0

All my husbandry tools and utensils, with

a cider mill and press, with five tons of hay,

N. B.-The above mentioned buildings were the first that were destroyed in the town, and near the ground where the brigade commanded by Lord Percy met the detachment retreating under Lieutenant-Colonel Smith. It does not appear that any of the militia were in or near these buildings; neither could they in any way oppose or retard the British troops in their operations; therefore the destruction must be considered as brutal, barbarous, and wanton.

JOSEPH LORING.

I have spoken of Lydia Loring, the energetic sister of our subject. His daughter Polly was a frequent visitor at my father's. She dispelled my belief, as a boy, in the perfect honesty of everybody living, by saying one day in my hearing, "O Mrs. M., there is so much deception in the world." Mr. Loring died in Mason, New Hampshire, September 20, 1830, aged eighty-one years.

The committee appointed by the Provincial Congress, May 12, 1775, to estimate the losses by the British destruction of property, April 19, at Concord, Lexington, and Cambridge, report the whole loss at Concord, £274. 16s. 7d., less than one half of Mr. Loring's at Lexington; at Cambridge, £1,202. Ss. 7d.; while that of Lexington was £1,761.

1s. 15d. The details of the losses at Lexington, embracing no less than twenty-four names of those whose houses were invaded and ravaged, are, in some cases, quite touching. Lydia Winship, believed to have been a widow, testified that her household furniture and wearing apparel were destroyed, with her loss in money, to the amount of £66. 13s. 4d.-over $330, a large sum in that day; while Lydia Mulliken, a widow, with her son, lost house and shop by fire, with furniture, wearing apparel, and clocks and tools of her son, $2,155, in real and personal property. Joshua Bond lost his house, shop, and other property, to the amount of $946. The loss of William Munroe was very heavy, being in household furniture, clothing, and goods in a retail shop, over $1000.

Benjamin Wellington comes before my memory when he was at an advanced age, being thirty-two at the time of the battle. I remember his vigorous and well-knit frame; and that, though of moderate stature, he bore a commanding presence. He had the distinction of being the first prisoner taken within the town that day. He was captured early in the morning, at the foot of what is now called Mount Independence, in East Lexington. The British officer who took him asked: "What are you going to do with that firelock ? Where are you going now?" He replied, “ I am going home." "I thought within myself," he used to say, "but not until I have been upon the Common.'" The officer took his firelock from

Mr.

him, and soon released him and passed on. Wellington then left the main road, waded through swamps, and reached the Common in time to join Captain Parker's company before the engagement, having secured a gun which he doubtless used to good purpose that day. He was with a detachment of the company at Cambridge the ensuing May 6th; in the seventh campaign, 1776, at White Plains; and was a sergeant, having with him eight men from Lexington, at the taking of Burgoyne in 1777. He was honored in town, holding the office of selectman in 1785 and 1792. He died September 14, 1812, in the seventieth year of his age.

Let us next notice Daniel Mason. I premise his record by saying he had a brother Joseph in the battle, of whom I have a slight remembrance. He had a fine form, a gentlemanly appearance, and was a distinguished teacher in the town. He died October 3, 1814, aged seventy-eight years. His estate gave the name to a place still called Mason's Hollow. The house, nearly opposite the old Munroe Tavern, is still standing and occupied. Daniel Mason had little of the soldier in his bearing, as I recollect him, although he did his duty in the little band under Captain Parker. He wore long white locks, and had a grave and apostolic countenance, reminding me of pictures of John Wesley. But he could sometimes make a shrewd remark with a very sober face. One day, speaking to my father of generosity, in my hearing, he