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Minutemen ride horses on the Battle Road in Concord during the Commemorating the Patriot Day.
Stories from the Battle Road
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The Battle at the North Bridge on April 19, 1775, was well documented, but the running battle of the Minutemen and militia companies chasing the Regular Army out of Concord back to Charlestown along what we now call Battle Road is lesser-known. Records are incomplete and make the first five miles of the retreat impossible to reconstruct accurately. Nevertheless, the National Park Service has hunted down slender clues to provide a more complete history to the forgotten families who experienced fighting on their front lawns. Minute Man National Historical Park Ranger Jim Hollister was able to share some stories about families that lived on the Battle Road. When you start to explore the Battle Road at Meriam’s Corner you will see Nathan Meriam’s house. However, two 22
Discover CONCORD
| Fall 2020
BY BETH VAN DUZER
houses stood on Meriam’s Corner on April 19, 1775. The house that no longer stands belonged to Josiah Meriam, whose household most certainly saw the line of Redcoats pass their home in the early morning hours. While Josiah Meriam and his older sons fought at North Bridge, his wife and youngest son remained home, for a while. According to William Emerson, most of the women and children of Concord fled into the woods and other places for safety. The Meriams do exactly this and take refuge behind a hill. When they returned to their home, the youngest son was distraught to find some unbaked pies that had been in the oven were gone. The young lad blamed the Regulars; however, it is highly unlikely the Redcoats had taken the pies.
One person that did leave at least a partial record of the fighting along Bay Road was Ensign Jeremy Lister of the 10th Regiment of Foot. As he marched over the hill to Meriam’s Corner he recorded, “immediately as we descended the hill into the Road the Rebels begun a brisk fire but at so great a distance it was without effect, but as they kept marching nearer when the Granadiers found them within shot they returned their fire…it then became a general Firing upon us from all Quarters, from behind hedges and Walls we return’d the fire every opportunity which continued till we arriv’d at Lexington…”1 Thanks to Lister’s entry, we can return to the pilfered pies. The Redcoats were much too busy trying to cross a narrow bridge just past the Merriam homes and dodge the volley
