Indians, so that it is impossible to go on shore without being scalped. The Inhabitants of Boston are delivering up their arms, and leaving the Town. The Somerset of 74 guns lays between Boston and Charlestown, which are only separated by a channel about a mile broad, and our ship lays about half a mile above her, and if she sees a particular signal hung out, she is to fire on Charlestown."

The day after the battle Dr. Warren, President of the Committee of Safety, engaged Paul Revere1 to ride messenger for that body. Revere met Dr. Church in Cambridge that same day, and was shown blood on his stocking which Church said was "spirted" on him from a man who was killed close by. Up to then Revere had felt some misgivings because Dr. Church had been so intimate with a half-pay British officer, one Captain Price, and Commissioner Robinson. He thought, however, as he says, “If a man will risk his life in a cause, he must be a friend to that cause; and I never suspected him after, till he was charged with being a traitor." On the Friday, April 21st, about sunset, as many of the Committee were sitting at Mr. Hastings' house (more recently known as the old Holmes house), Revere continues, "Dr. Church,1 all at once started up - Dr. Warren, said he, I am determined to go into Boston tomorrow. - Dr. Warren replied, Are you serious, Dr. Church? they will hang you if they catch you in Boston. He replied, I am serious, and am determined to go at all adventures. After a considerable conversation, Dr. Warren said, If you are determined, let us make some business for you. They then agreed that he should get medicine for their and our wounded officers. He left the next morning; and I think he came back on Sunday evening. After he had told the Committee how things were, I took him aside, and inquired particularly how they treated him. He said, that as soon as he got to their lines, on Boston Neck, they made him a prisoner, and carried him to Gen. Gage, where he was examined, and then he was sent to

1 Life of Revere, 208-9, 210. Goss.

Gould's barracks, and was not suffered to go home but once. After he was taken up, for holding a correspondence with the British, I came across Deacon Caleb Davis; — we entered into conversation about him; - he told me, that the morning Church went into Boston, he (Davis) received a billet for Gen. Gage (he then did not know that Church was in town) — when he got to the General's house, he was told that he was in private with a gentleman; that he waited near half an hour, when Gen. Gage and Dr. Church came out of a room, discoursing together, like persons who had been long acquainted. He appeared to be quite surprised at seeing Dea. Davis there; that he (Church) went where he pleased, while in Boston, only a Major Caine, one of Gage's aids, went with him. I was told by another person, whom I could depend upon, that he saw Church go into Gen. Gage's house, at the above time; that he got out of the chaise and went up the steps more like a man that was aquainted, than a prisoner. Sometime after . . . I fell in company with a gentleman who studied with Church (Dr. Savage, now of Barnstable); he said he did not doubt that he was in the interest of the British; and that it was he who informed Gen. Gage, that he knew for certain, that a short time before the battle of Lexington (for he then lived with him, and took care of his business and books), he had no money by him, and was much drove for money; that all at once, he had several hundred new British guineas; and that he thought at the time, where they came from."

Dr. Church was born in Newport, Rhode Island, 1734, and it is said that he built too fine a house in Raynham, which brought on money difficulties which led to his defection and receiving bribes.1 September 13th, 1775, when called before a Council of Generals, he made no defence. The Court held its sittings at Watertown Meeting-House, where he was conducted, by chaise, under guard of General Gates and twenty men. The galleries were crowded throughout the trial, 1 One Hundred Boston Orators, 39, 43. Loring.

the bar being set in the middle of the broad aisle. October 3d, he was found guilty.1

On Brattle Street in Cambridge, at the corner of Hawthorn, nearly opposite the Episcopal Divinity School, stands a house, sometimes known as the Governor Belcher house. Built about 1700, it had been lately vacated by Major Henry Vassal's widow,' Penelope Royall, who is said to have fled so hastily at the first rumor of open hostilities that a young guest was carried off in her train. This left the house available as a place of confinement for Dr. Church, who occupied a room on the second floor lit by two north and two south windows. A trace of his presence is said to remain in the letters "B. Church, Jr.," deeply cut on a closet door. He was subsequently imprisoned in Norwich, Connecticut, and finally banished. Setting sail May, 1776, in a brigantine for Martinique, he was lost at sea, and in 1788 his widow Sarah died an exile in England.

The seizing of horses was not all on one side. Some little time after the battle the Rev. William Emerson 3 of Concord requested "the use of a horse," taken from the Regulars at that time by Mr. Isaac Kitteridge of Tewksbury; two Concord men, Captain Nathan Barrett and Henry Flint, reporting favorably in committee. Parson Emerson expressed himself ready to pay a "reasonable price for keeping" the horse, and wished an order for its delivery. After some debate it was accordingly agreed, on June 5th, that Thomas Reed of Woburn should turn over to Mr. Emerson a "certain Sorrel Horse that was taken by the guards at Roxbury, from an officer of Gen. Gage's Troops, on the 20th of April."

1 Historic Mansions, 287, 286. Drake.

Historic Pilgrimages, 442. Bacon.

'American Archives, II, 4th ser., 1382, 1390. Force.

Ο

CHAPTER VI

LOSSES AND RUMORS. SIDES FINALLY TAKEN

N Thursday, April 20th, Dr. Warren wrote an urgent letter to the towns, which was sent out as a circular from the Committee of Safety. "We conjure you, therefore," he pleads,1 "by all that is dear, by all that is sacred, that you give all assistance possible in forming the army. Our all is at stake. Death and devastation are the certain consequences of delay. Every moment is infinitely

On the same date, he wrote 1 to General Gage from Cambridge, ". .. I think it of the utmost importance to us, that our conduct be such as that the contending parties may entirely rely upon the honor and integrity of each other for the punctual performance of any agreement that shall be made between them. Your Excellency, I believe, knows very well the part I have taken in public affairs: I ever scorned disguise. I think I have done my duty: some may think otherwise; but be assured, sir, as far as my influence goes, everything which can reasonably be required of us to do shall be done, and everything promised shall be religiously performed. I should now be very glad to know from you, sir, how many days you desire may be allowed for such as desire to remove to Boston with their effects, and what time you will allow the people in Boston for their removal. . . . I have many things which I wish to say to your Excellency, and most sincerely wish I had broken through the formalities which I thought due to your rank, and freely told you all I knew or thought of public affairs; and I must ever confess, whatever may be the event, that you generously gave me such opening, as I now think I ought 1 Life of Warren, 466. Frothingham.

210