James Barrett (colonel)

James Barrett (Concord, Middlesex County; July 31, 1710 – April 11, 1779) was an American colonel in the Concord, Massachusetts militia during the Battles of Lexington and Concord that began the American Revolutionary War.[1] His farm was the storage site of all the town of Concord's militia gunpowder, weapons[2] and two pairs of prized bronze cannons, according to secret British intelligence.[3]

James Barrett
Col. James Barrett Farm in Concord, Massachusetts.
Born(1710-07-31)July 31, 1710
Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts Colony, British America
DiedApril 11, 1779(1779-04-11) (aged 68)
Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States
RankColonel
Battles/warsFrench and Indian War
American Revolutionary War

On the morning of April 19, 1775, the British Regulars were ordered by General Thomas Gage to march from Boston to the town of Concord, about 20 miles inland, and seize the cannon and raid the arsenal at the provincial farm. The British met resistance at both Lexington, Massachusetts and Concord. Before the British arrived and searched, the stores had been concealed in a field nearby, and the British never found them.[2] He is buried in Old Hill Burying Ground, Concord, Massachusetts.[4]

References
  1. Frothingham, Jr., Richard (1903). History of the Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill: Also an Account of the Bunker Hill Monument. Little, Brown & Company. p. 65.
  2. French, Allen (1925). The Day of Concord and Lexington: The Nineteenth of April, 1775. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. pp. 156, 179.
  3. Bell, J. L. (7 April 2017). "Cannon Moved from Salem to Concord". Boston 1775. Blogspot. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  4. Thomsen, Eric (29 April 2003). "Col James Barrett, Sr". Find a Grave. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
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