2 to his wife "and kissed her silently;" then, as he reached the door, he turned and looked at her and said "Farewell." "Oh Mr. Gardner," she exclaimed, "don't say that word!" Then he went up to her again—again he silently kissed her, and left the house never to return." On the way to the Green he passed Mrs. Ebenezer Davis,' with the children in her chaise, seeking a place of safety, and besought her to comfort his wife. Mrs. Captain Corey1 and her children took shelter in the woods at this time, in the "upper part" of the town. The whole neighborhood was in motion and one of the Kendrick family 1 on South Street remembered seeing men leap fences back of Walnut Hill, going through Newton to Lexington. Once off, the Brookline companies headed for Cambridge, "going as the bee flies" across the fields, trying to reach the pickets at Lexington while the troops were halted. As the day went on they scattered, to fight as they best could. Dr. William Aspinwall, a brother of the Colonel, was starting in his usual red coat, when it was suggested that its color might expose him to the American fire, so he hastily made a change. During the pursuit, it seems, the doctor preferred posting himself against a tree and chancing the British fire to running the risk of a ball from his excited countryHe was blind of an eye and forced to aim from the left shoulder, but did good service notwithstanding, and when Ebenezer Davis 2 called attention to the effect of one shot, and pointed out the soldier's weapons as fair spoil, Aspinwall continued in hot pursuit, leaving the stripping of the fallen to other hands. men. When the Brookline men first came in sight of the main body of the British, Colonel Aspinwall is said to have ordered them to defile over the stone walls. Squire Gardner posted himself with a few others behind some dry water-casks, his son, Isaac Sparhawk, a lad of seventeen 1 History of Brookline, 201, 181-2, 393-5. Woods. Boston Evening Transcript, June 15, 1857. "Brookline in the Revolution." Brookline His. Pub. Soc., No. 3. May. years, fifer in Captain White's company, being near. This spot was on the south side of North Avenue, east of Spruce Street, commonly known, from its being in Mr. Jacob Watson's neighborhood, as Watson's Corner. Here the flank guard surprised Gardner, as it had so many more, and was "like to have scooped up"1 all the Brookline men. One story makes the Squire drinking at a well when attacked. He received twelve ball and bayonet wounds, and next day his body was found under an apple tree by his cousin, Mr. John Heath, and Dr. Aspinwall, who "went to Lexington to see what had become of Mr. Gardner." 3 He was 4 2 the first Harvard graduate killed in the War. His loss to Brookline at the early age of forty-nine could not be replaced. He bore many offices, being justice of the peace, school committeeman, town surveyor, and town clerk. He left a widow and eight children, one daughter subsequently marrying Dr. Aspinwall. His eldest son alone, of his family, saw "the dear remains," which forty years after it affected him to allude to. The body was brought across the trestles of Brighton bridge and taken to the old Aspinwall house, opposite the present St. Paul's church. On the second night after the battle he was secretly buried in the Walnut Street cemetery, not far from the Unitarian Church, to prevent the agony the sight would have occasioned his townsmen. Close by the place where Gardner fell stood Snow's tavern, later known as Davenport's, a portion of which still stands, having been removed to Eustis Street near Beacon. Edmund Foster," who had not checked in the pursuit since Merriam's Corner and indeed Reading, was fairly worn out on reaching here and glad to put up for the night despite the house being emptied of furniture. From the tavern he could see one of the enemy 1 The late Mr. A. W. Goddard of Brookline. * History of Brookline, 201. Woods. "Brookline in the Revolution." Brookline His. Pub. Soc., No. 3. May. "The First Harvard Graduate killed in the Revolution." Charles Knowles Bolton. New England Magazine, March, 1895. A History of the Fight at Concord, 36. Ripley. 2 2 lying on the same side of the road, and Gardner of Brookline directly opposite. A British deserter is said to have taken shelter in Jacob Watson's cellar, and the Abraham Watson house in the same lot was used as a hospital.1 Three Cambridge men were also killed near the easterly end of Spruce Street. John Hicks, fifty years of age, is said to have been shot through the heart. He had taken part in the Boston Tea Party two years previously. The house he built and occupied is still standing on Dunster Street, at the corner of Winthrop, close by the colleges. When he failed to come home his fourteen year old son was sent by his mother to look for him, and found him lying by the others. William Marcy William Marcy was a laborer employed by Dr. William Kneeland. Being but half-witted, he sat on a fence to enjoy the supposed sham fight, until shot by the flank guard. Moses Richardson, fifty-three years old, a housewright, lived in a house still standing on the northeast angle of Holmes Place. He and Hicks were both exempt from service by their age, but both actively engaged as volunteers. Hicks and Marcy and Richardson were all buried the same night by torch-light in a common grave, without coffins. Moses Richardson's son Elias thought it too bad that the earth should fall directly on their faces and, getting into the trench, spread over his father's face the cape of his coat. A tablet to their memory is inscribed: AT THIS PLACE 2 FOUR CITIZENS WERE KILLED BY BRITISH SOLDIERS RETREATING FROM LEXINGTON. Lieutenant Bowman met at North Cambridge a soldier who had straggled from the ranks. Neither had loaded guns and the Regular charged with his bayonet fixed. Bowman awaited him with clubbed musket and warded off the thrust, then felled him with a blow and took |