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Overview
“Four companies
of British Regulars marched to Colonel Barrett’s house and mill, which
Tories had reported to hold a great store of munitions….Only a few
weeks earlier, the property, had indeed been an important arsenal.
But since April 7, when Paul Revere carried his first warning to
Concord, the town had been hard at work, moving military supplies to
safety….At the last minute, Colonel Barrett’s sons plowed a field on
his farm, planted weapons in the fresh furrows, and covered them over
again. The British soldiers
passed by without a second thought, little suspecting the crop that had
been sown there….The British troops took their time at Barrett’s
house. After the long night
march they were tired and hungry, and several demanded breakfast from
Mrs. Barrett. She gave them
food and drink, saying coldly, ‘We are commanded to feed our enemy if
he hunger.’ They offered to pay. When
she refused, the soldiers tossed a few shillings into her lap.
She told them, ‘This is the price of blood.’”
From Paul
Revere’s Ride, by David Hackett Fisher
Barrett’s Farm:
April 19, 1775
Colonel James Barrett was the senior officer and overall
field commander at the North Bridge in the first battle of the American
Revolution. British Regulars
marched to
Concord
on April
19, 1775,
to seize weapons and other military supplies stored throughout the town,
including a major stockpile on Colonel Barrett's property. The
townspeople, however, had received advance warning of the British plan. So
the soldiers who reached Barrett’s Farm that morning found neither the
weapons, which had been moved or hidden, nor Colonel Barrett, who was leading
the colonial forces as they prepared to engage the Redcoats at the North
Bridge.
General
Gage's Draft Orders
How much those cannon weighed on Gen. Gage as he made his
plans is speculative, of course. But when he listed what Lt.-Col. Francis
Smith's column should look for, the first items were Four Brass Cannon
and two Mortars or Cohorns in the Cellar or out Houses
of Mr. Barrett a little on the other side the Bridge.
Barrett’s
Farm Today
Barrett’s Farm – the historic Colonel James Barrett House and
the land surrounding it – is listed in the National Register of Historic
Places as a site of national significance. It
is the most important, unrestored Revolutionary War land-mark in
Massachusetts,
and perhaps anywhere. In
addition, it has been farmed continuously from colonial times to the
present, is one of the last remaining working farms in
Concord
,
and has been owned by only two families – the Barretts and the McGraths
– in its entire history.
The Plan to Save Barrett’s Farm
Save Our Heritage is leading this
effort, in cooperation with the Town of Concord,
Minute
Man
National
Historical
Park,
and the McGrath family, owners of the property for the past 100 years.
Save Our Heritage has acquired the historic farmhouse and 3.5 acres
of surrounding land. We are
taking the necessary steps to protect the house from further deterioration
and to preserve it for eventual restoration.
Save Our Heritage is working closely with Congressman Marty Meehan
to pass federal legislation authorizing the addition of Barrett’s Farm
to
Minute
Man
National
Historical
Park
.
Our
Vision
It is because of Barrett’s Farm that the first
battle of the American Revolution took place at the
North
Bridge
in
Concord
on
April 19, 1775
.
The weapons and munitions
stored at Barrett’s Farm were a key target of the British expedition. British
troops guarded the North Bridge to enable the safe return of the three
companies that had gone to Barrett’s Farm, the farthest point of the
British advance. It was
Colonel Barrett who commanded the colonial militia that confronted the
British line, wounded half the officers, and forced the Regulars to
retreat. Thus, Barrett’s
Farm is a direct, living, tangible link to the beginning of our nation.
Its incorporation into Minute Man
National
Historical
Park,
which is the ultimate goal of this project, will enable the park to tell
the whole story of the first day of the American Revolution.
Concord
was a farm town in colonial times – as Emerson wrote, it was “the
embattled farmers” who stood at the North Bridge and “fired the shot
heard round the world.” A
key aspect of this project is preserving the land surrounding and across
the street from the Barrett House as a working farm.
This will enable visitors to a future Barrett’s Farm Unit of
Minute Man National Historical Park to experience the site very much as it
was in 1775.
We Need Your Help!
Save Our Heritage’s role in this project is to serve as a bridge
between the former private ownership of Barrett’s Farm and its eventual
public ownership as part of Minute
Man
National
Historical
Park.
We need to raise $1.9 million to make this vision a reality. With
your help, we can transform Barrett’s Farm into a resource of
incalculable value to our communities, the citizens of Massachusetts,
and all Americans.
“Historic
sites where great events took place have the power to evoke the ghosts and
echoes of our inexpressibly wise past.
Barrett’s Farm is such a place.
Please join me in supporting the effort to save Barrett’s Farm,
so that it can take its rightful place with other Concord landmarks in
telling the story of the first day of the American Revolution."
Ken Burns
Director,
Producer, Historical Documentarian
"If there's hallowed ground
in this country, it's right there in Concord and Lexington."
David
McCullough
Pulitzer
Prize-winning author of John Adams and other works Host, The American
Experience
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