Paul Revere's Ride (71 page)

Brookline:
Muddy River and Brookline Records, 1634-1839
(Brookline, 1875). Charles Knowles Bolton,
Brookline, the History of a Favored Town
(Brookline, 1897); John W. Curtis
History of the Town of Brookline, Massachusetts
(Boston, 1933). David Hackett Fischer (ed.),
Brookline: The Social History of a Suburban Town, 1705—1850
(Waltham, 1986).

Cambridge,
Town Records of Cambridge, 1630-1703
(Cambridge, 1896). J. W. Freese,
Historic Houses and Spots in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Near-by Towns
(Boston, 1897); Lucius Paige,
History of Cambridge, 1630-1877
(Boston, 1877).

Carlisle: Sidney,
History of Carlisle
(Cambridge, 1920).

Charlestown: Richard Frothingham, Jr.,
The History of Charlestown, Massachusetts
(Boston, 1845). James F. Hunnewell,
A Century of Town Life: Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1775— 1887.
2 vols. (Boston, 1888).

Chelsea:
A Documentary History of Chelsea.
2 vols. Ed. Mellon Chamberlain (Boston, 1908).

Concord: David Hackett Fischer,
Concord: The Social History of a New England Town, 1750-1850
(Waltham, 1983); Robert Gross,
The Minutemen and Their World
(New York, 1976); Lemuel Shattuck,
History of the Town of Concord to 1832
(Concord, 1835); Ruth Wheeler,
Concord, Climate for Freedom
(Concord, 1967); Ezra Ripley,
History of the Fight at Concord
(Concord, 1827; 2nd ed., 1832); Alfred S. Hudson,
History of Concord
(Concord, 1904);
Social Circle Memoirs,
vols. I, II.

Danvers: Daniel P. King,
Address Commemorative of Seven Young Men of Danvers Who Were Slain in the Battle of Lexington
(Salem, 1835). J. W. Hanson,
History of the Town of Danvers
(Danvers, 1848).

Dedham: Robert Brand Hanson,
Dedham, Massachusetts 1635-1890
(Dedham, 1976); Erastus Worthington,
The History of Dedham
(Boston, 1827); Erastus Worthington II,
Proceedings at the 250th Anniversary … of the Town of Dedham
(Cambridge, 1887).

Deerfield: George Sheldon,
A History of Deerfield, Massachusetts.
2 vols. (Deerfield, 1896).

Dover: Frank Smith,
A History of Dover, Massachusetts
(Dover, 1897).

Dudley:
Town Records of Dudley, 1732-1754
(Pawtucket, 1893).

Duxbury:
The Records of Duxbury, 1642-1770
(Plymouth, 1893).

Framingham: William Barry,
History of Framingham
(Boston, 1847); Josiah Temple,
The History of Framingham
(Framingham, 1887).

Fitchburg: James F. D. Garfield, “Fitchburg’s Response to the Lexington Alarm,”
Fitchburg Historical Society Proceedings
1 (1892-94): 113-122.
idem,
“Fitchburg’s Soldiers of the Revolution,”
ibid.
4 (1908): 172-232.

Groton: Caleb Butler,
The History of the Town of Groton
(Boston, 1848); Samuel Abbot Green,
Groton During the Revolution’, Groton Historical Series
(4 vols., 1887—99).

Harvard: H. S. Nourse,
History of Harvard, Massachusetts, 1732—1893
(Harvard, 1984).

Ipswich: Joseph B. Felt,
History of Ipswich, Essex and Hamilton
(1834); Arlin Ira
Ginsberg, “Ipswich, Massachusetts, during the American Revolution,” diss., University of California, Riverside).

Lexington: Elias Phinney,
History of the Battle of Lexington …
(Boston; 1825, rpt. 1875). Charles S. Hudson,
History of the Town of Lexington, Mass. …
(Boston, 1868; 2 vols., 1913).

Lincoln: Paul Brooks,
Trial by Fire: Lincoln, Massachusetts, and the War of Independence
(Lincoln, 1975); John C. Maclean,
A Rich Harvest; The History, Buildings, and People of Lincoln, Massachusetts
(Lincoln, 1987).

Lynn: Alonzo Lewis and James R. Newhall,
History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts …
(Boston, 1865; Lynn, 1890, 1897); Howard K. Sanderson,
Lynn in the Revolution. …
2 vols. (Boston, 1919).

Lynnfield: Thomas B. Wellman,
History of the Town of Lynnfield, Massachusetts, 1635— 1895
(Boston, 1895).

Medford: Charles Brooks and James M. Usher,
History of Medford
(Boston, 1886); Helen Tilden Wild,
Medford in the Revolution; Military History of Medford, Massachusetts, 1765-1783
(Medford, 1903); Richard B. Coolidge, “Medford and Her Minute Men,”
Medford Historical Society Register
28 (1927): 40-51; Jason L. Tiner, “The Role of Medford, Massachusetts, in the Revolutionary War,” paper, Brandeis University, May 7, 1992, includes a quantitative study of Medford men serving in the War of Independence.

Melrose: Elbridge H. Goss,
The History of Melrose
(Melrose, 1902).

Natick: Oliver Bacon,
History of Natick from Its First Settlement in 1651
(Boston, 1856).

Needham: George K. Clarke,
History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711—1911
(Cambridge, 1912).

Newton: S. F. Smith,
The History of Newton
(Boston, 1880); Francis Jackson,
A History of the Early Settlement of Newton
(Boston, 1854).

Roxbury: Francis S. Drake,
The Town of Roxbury
(Boston, 1905);
idem, The Town of Roxbury; Its Memorable Persons and Places
(Roxbury, 1878).

Salem: Sidney Perley,
History of Salem.
2 vols. (1924—26); James Duncan Phillips,
Salem in the Eighteenth Century
(Boston, 1937).

Sudbury: Alfred Sereno Hudson,
The History of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1638—1889
(Sudbury, 1889);
Idem, The Annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard
(n. p., 1891);
The War Years in the Town of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1765—1781
(Sudbury, 1975), extracts from military records.

Waltham: David Hackett Fischer (ed.),
Waltham: A Social History
(Waltham, 1994); Charles A. Nelson
Waltham, Past and Present …
(Cambridge, 1882); Edmund L. Sanderson,
Waltham as a Precinct of Watertown and as a Town, 1630—1884
(Waltham, 1936).

Watertown:
Watertown Records, Fifth Book, 1745-1769;
and
Sixth Book, 1769-1702,
ed. William McGuire (Newton, 1928). G. Frederick Robinson and Ruth Robinson Wheeler,
Great Little Watertown; A Tercentenary History
(Watertown, 1930);
Watertown’s Military History: Authorized by a Vote of the Inhabitants of the Town of Watertown, Massachusetts
(Boston, 1907).

Weston:
Weston Town Records, 1754—1803
(Boston, 1893); Brenton H. Dickson and Homer C. Lucas,
One Town in the American Revolution; Weston, Massachusetts
(Weston, 1976).

Westford: Rev. Edwin Hodgman,
History of the Town of Westfield, 1659—1883
(Lowell, 1883).

Henry S. Chapman,
History of Winchester, Massachusetts
(Winchester, 1936).

Woburn: Samuel Sewall,
The History of Woburn, 1640—1860
(Boston, 1868).

Town Histories: New Hampshire

Many people who participated in the events of April 19 later moved to New Hampshire. Local histories with primary materials include: William Willes Hay ward,
The History
of Hancock, New Hampshire, 1764—1889.
2 vols. (Lowell, Mass., 1889); Charles Henry Chandler,
The History of New Ipswich, New Hampshire
(Fitchburg, Mass., 1914); Henry Ames Blood,
The History of Temple, New Hampshire
(Boston, 1860).

County Histories

By comparison with the wealth of town histories, and the abundance of county studies in other parts of the United States, county histories in New England tend to be impoverished. But there are important exceptions. Two works of Duane Hamilton Hurd,
History of Essex County, Massachusetts
(Philadelphia, 1888) and
History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
3 vols. (Philadelphia, 1890), are careful, informed, and accurate. They reproduce much reprinted primary material that can be found nowhere else—for example, the diary of Loammi Baldwin, a leading source for the fighting at the Bloody Curve. Hurd is specially valuable for the spread of the Lexington alarm, which he followed with more attention than any other work. Also useful in a heuristic way is Samuel A. Drake,
Historic Fields and Mansions of Middlesex
(Boston, 1873), also published as
Old Landmarks and Historic Fields of Middlesex
Drake scooped up vast quantities of material and published them in his many antiquarian volumes. Used with caution, his writings are still valuable as a source of leads and possibilities. Also very helpful is Ronald N. Tagney,
The World Turned Upside Down; Essex County During America’s Turbulent Years, 1763—1790
(West Newbury, Mass., 1989).

Political History of the Revolution

In a very large literature, the following monographs were specially helpful for this inquiry: David Ammerman,
In the Common Cause: American Response to the Coercive Acts of 1774
(Charlottesville, 1974); Bernard Bailyn,
Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
(Cambridge, 1967);
idem, Faces of Revolution
(New York, 1990); Richard D. Brown,
Revolutionary Politics in Massachusetts: The Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Towns, 1772— 1774
(Cambridge, 1970); Oliver M. Dickerson,
The Navigation Acts and the American Revolution
(Philadelphia, 1951); Francis S. Drake,
Tea Leaves: Being a Collection of Letters and Documents …
(Boston, 1884); Bernhard Knollenberg,
Origin of the American Revolution, 1759—1766
(rev. ed., New York, 1961); Benjamin Labaree,
The Boston Tea Party
(New York, 1964); Pauline Maier,
From Resistance to Revolution
(New York, 1972, 1974); Edmund S. and Helen M. Morgan,
The Stamp Act Crisis; Prologue to Revolution
(Chapel Hill, 1953); Arthur M. Schlesinger,
The Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution
(New York, 1957); Hiller B. Zobel,
The Boston Massacre
(New York, 1970).

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