This commemorative work by Alfred Sereno Hudson is a historical tribute to Calvin and Luther Blanchard, two brothers who served as Acton Minute-Men during the onset of the American Revolution. Hudson explores the dramatic events of April 19, 1775, specifically highlighting Luther Blanchard’s role as the fifer who led Captain Isaac Davis’s company toward the Old North Bridge to the defiant tune of “The White Cockade.” Beyond documenting the military maneuvers and the “shot heard round the world,” the author integrates local genealogy and oral tradition to establish that Luther eventually died from wounds sustained during the conflict.
Calvin and Luther Blanchard, brothers, were born in that part of Littleton, Massachusetts, which later became the town of Boxborough, on a farm that had been in the family for generations. They were the sons of Simon Blanchard, a colonial soldier who was killed in 1759 on the Plains of Abraham during the Battle of Quebec, and were descendants of Thomas Blanchard, who settled in Charlestown in 1639. By 1775, both young men were living in Acton at the home of Deacon Jonathan Hosmer, where they were apprenticed to learn the mason’s trade. They marched to the Concord Fight as members of Captain Isaac Davis’s company of Acton Minute-men, with Luther serving as the fifer who struck up “The White Cockade” to lead the column. Luther was the first man struck by a British bullet at the Old North Bridge and, although he continued to serve at Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, he died later that year, likely from the combined effects of his wound and the hardships of camp life. Calvin Blanchard, described as a man of great physical strength, also fought at Bunker Hill and later joined Benedict Arnold’s arduous expedition to Quebec; he survived the war, married Abigail Reed, and died in 1800.
Commemorative of Calvin and Luther Blanchard, Acton Minute-Men, 1775
Contents
- Description of Illustrations, page 5
- Honor to Whom Honor is Due, 9
- Sketch of Luther Blanchard’s Life, 14
- Dedication of The Blanchard Memorial Stone, 35
- The Significance of Minute-Men Memorial Stones, 53
- The Minute-Man and the New England Meeting-House, 59
- The Design of the Blanchard Memorial Stone 66
- Ancestral Annals of Calvin and Luther Blanchard, 71
- Cause of Luther Blanchard’s Death, 89
List of Illustrations
- The Blanchard Memorial Stone, Frontispiece
- The White Cockade, 17
- The Start of the Acton Minute Company, 27
- The Old North Bridge, 35
- The Jonathan Hosmer House, 47
- Statue of the Minute-Man, 53
- Picture of the First Meeting-House, Acton, 59
- Picture of Luke Blanchard, 67
- Picture of Simon Blanchard, 71
The Start For Concord
The picture of Captain Isaac Davis leading his company of minute-men from his house, April 19th, 1775, is reproduced from a painting by Mr. Arthur F. Davis. The picture is considered natural.
The Old North Bridge, Concord, Massachusetts
The author of this book, in making a picture of the Old North Bridge and the Major Buttrick house on the hill, has followed the suggestions of a picture by Doolittle and Earle, made about three months after the Concord fight; while for the adjacent country he has followed nature as it is at the present time, which is, probably, in its main features, about as it was in 1775. The ground on the northerly side of the bridge about the causeway is low, and at high water the river sometimes overflowed it. The causeway was short, and turned easterly by the upland, and entered the highway which led to the neighborhood of Major Buttrick’s house. The point of view from which the picture was taken is on the southerly side of the river, a few rods above the bridge.
The Jonathan Hosmer House, Acton, Massachusetts
The picture of this house was sketched by the author, from a description given him by Mrs. Emeline Hall of West Acton, Mass., a granddaughter of Deacon Jonathan Hosmer. Mrs. Hall was born in the old Hosmer house in 1808, and lived there till she was eighteen years old. Her recollection of the house is quite distinct, and when the drawing was completed, she pronounced it natural. There formerly stood to the westerly of the house a shed and chaise-house; and a barn stood on the opposite side of the road. The tree on the south-easterly corner was an elm, and in the rear were several butternut trees. The house faced southerly. The front yard was large and unfenced. The present road from West Acton to South Acton was not in existence in 1775. The old road from Acton Center, so much as is represented in the picture, is the same now as formerly, and runs by the memorial stone, joining the West and South Acton road, nearly opposite the Herman A. Gould house. Formerly this road turned at a point near the Hosmer house, and went up the hill northerly of the present South Acton road; this latter section can still be traced by a cart-path. The front room to the southwesterly, which was entered by the side door, was used for the kitchen.
Source
Hudson, Alfred Sereno, Commemorative of Calvin and Luther Blanchard, Acton Minute-Men, 1775, West Acton, Mass. : L. Blanchard, 1899