HONORING THE PAST:
The Concord Independent Battery
It’s six o’clock in the morning and you just heard a loud boom pierce the silence as dawn breaks on a crisp spring day in Concord. If you’re new to town you probably just spilled your coffee. But if you’re a longtime resident, you just smile and say to yourself, “the Battery is back.” The Concord Independent Battery is a symbol of Concord’s rich revolutionary history. Founded in 1804, it is America’s oldest ongoing active horsedrawn artillery unit. Its two six-pound brass cannons are the focal point of the group’s mission; but you may ask where those cannons came from. They trace back to late 1774, when the Massachusetts Committee of Safety ordered several cannons Old Manse Field, April 19, 2021 to be secreted out of Boston and hidden from the British in the parade on April 19, starting a tradition that countryside. In January 1775, the continues today. In 1846 new cannons were Committee ordered that two brass cannons commissioned from the Watervliet Arsenal belonging to the provincial militia be sent to in upstate New York, as the original guns Concord. Several weeks later, Concord’s Town were no longer safe. The new cannons, still Meeting voted to form an artillery unit. We used today, bear the same inscription as the all know what happened on that fateful day originals: just three months later – April 19, 1775 – when British regulars who had marched to Concord The Legislature of Massachusetts to find the hidden munitions were defeated consecrates the names of Major John by minutemen and militias from Concord and Buttrick and Captain Isaac Davis, whose surrounding towns at the North Bridge. valor and example excited their fellowToday’s Battery got its start in February citizens to a successful resistance of 1804 as the Concord Artillery when the a superior number of British troops Massachusetts Senate, in recognition of the at Concord Bridge, the 19th of April, tradition of cannons in Concord, resolved to 1775, which was the beginning of a form an artillery unit from citizens of Concord contest in arms that ended in American to maintain two brass field pieces. Just eight independence. years later, the Battery was called to active duty in the War of 1812 and sent to guard Over the years, the State tried several the entrance to Boston Harbor from British times to retrieve the cannons from Concord. warships. When the war ended, the men of Unwilling to relinquish a key piece of local Concord continued to fire the cannons and 26
Discover CONCORD | Spring 2023
history and pride, in 1887 the Town Board of Selectmen petitioned the State to give the cannons to the Town. Shortly thereafter, the Legislature granted its request. The Battery continued to fire salutes at town celebrations and memorials. In 1898, it welcomed home the Concord Company from the Spanish-American War. It has been a regular presence every Memorial Day. Soon after America’s entry into World War II, many Concordians found themselves again serving overseas, which caused the cannons to go silent; but not for long. When the war ended, dedicated veterans reinvigorated the Battery, restoring it to full engagement in Town ceremonies. The Battery admitted women as Active Members in 1993 and incorporated as a nonprofit historical organization in 1999. Active members of the Battery train regularly every year to ensure that the cannons are fired safely and correctly. It takes
All photos courtesy of the Concord Independent Battery
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BY PHIL KENNEY, BOB EATON, ABBY MYETTE, AND SANDY SMITH