The Ride of Dr. Samuel Prescott

On his return from Lexington, in the night previous to the 19 of April 1775, where he had spent the evening in paying his addresses to the daughter of a Mr. Mulliken, he soon overtook Paul Revere and William Dawes on their way to Concord to alarm the people and apprise them of the intended expedition of British soldiers upon Concord. When the three had arrived near Hartwell's tavern in the lower bounds of Lincoln, they were attacked by four British officers of a scouting party send out the preceding evening. Revere and Dawes were taken prisoners, Prescott was also attacked and had the reins of his horse's bridle cut, but he succeeded in making his escape by jumping his horse over a wall; and taking a circuitous route through Lincoln, pushed on with the utmost speed to Concord, and gave the alarm of the approach of the British. he was subsequently taken prisoner on board of a privateer, and carried into Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he died in prison. [Source: "The Prescott Memorial" by Eben Prescott. page 66.]

Dr. Samuel Prescott (19 Aug 1751 - ?) was the 1st cousin to my 5th great-grandmother Ann Prescott Heywood. (For any Putnams reading this, you read it correctly; he is most closely related through the Heywood side of the family not the Prescott side of the family.) My grandmother had a much fuller speech on this ride that she delivered to her DAR chapter. But I don't know where that got to.

After I first posted this, Uncle Bob sent me the following addition via e-mail. - Your Dr. Sam Prescott story reminded me that I'd never shared with you the same incident as related in Allen French's book "The Day of Lexington & Concord". pp 91ff:

"In the meantime, (William) Dawes [another relative of ours, via the same branch by which Cal Coolidge enters, as I recall, but Nancy can confirm] having arrived (at the Clarke house in Lexington) Revere had set out again with him to alarm Concord. They were overtaken by a young Doctor Samuel Prescott (a Concord man who had been calling on his sweetheart in Lexington) whom they found to be a "high son of Liberty". As they rode Revere told his companions of his experience with the two officers, and his belief that still others were on the road before them. Nevertheless, they went on, arranging to alarm every house, Prescott willingly helping them, and useful because he knew the people. As Revere expected, he came upon more officers; it was when he was again alone, the others having stayed to alarm a house. Seeing before him two officers, as he thought, he called to his friends to come up: "there were two, & we would have them." In an instant he was surrounded by four, and! when young Prescott came up, the officers, with drawn pistols and emphatic oaths and threats, forced them to go through a pair of bars, which had been let down, into a pasture. [this spot is now marked by a tablet]
"When we had got in, Mr. Prescott said "put on,"" and taking to the left, while Revere took to the right, jumped his horse over allow stone wall, and escaped. Revere had no such luck. Observing a small wood, he spurred for that, intending to leap from his horse and escape on foot; but when he reached it, out started six officers, who seized his bridle, and at the muzzle of their pistols made him dismount.
Some of his captors abused him much; later, he said, they insulted him, calling him rebel, which we do not consider as much of an insult as did he. But one of his captors was a gentleman, questioned him courteously, recognized his name, and played a game of bluff with Revere, at which the Yankee had the better. "He said...they were only waiting for some deserters they expected down the road: I told them I knew better, I knew what they were after; that I had alarmed the country all the way up, that their Boats were catch'd aground, and I should have 500 men there soon."
Surprised, these officers called their leader from the road, Major Mitchel of the 5th Regiment. His questions getting no better answer from Revere, he ordered his whole party to the road, and with them Revere and four other prisoners who now appeared from the bushes. These were Solomon Brown, Hancock's messenger to Concord, and two other Lexington men; having fallen into the officer's ambush, they had waited here some two hours. The fourth man was a harmless peddler......at the sound of guns from Lexington) the major... consulted with his subordinates.
....But with Prescott escaped toward Concord, and Dawes vanished back toward Lexington, with Revere's story in their minds, and now this volley of alarm guns in their ears, they well have felt that their mission had come to a fruitless end.
.....Dawes had escaped from the two officers who pursued him by a trick characteristic of the man. Riding at full speed into the next barnyard, he shouted as if to call the inmates of the house to his aid. His horse stopped so quickly that he fell and lost his watch; but though the house was empty, his pursuers departed more quickly still, and he got safely away. The watch was later returned to him. But little more is known of his doings later that night; Dawes is out of the story."