Massachusetts Militia Companies and Officers in the Lexington Alarm

When Thomas Gage (the "mild general," as the King of England derisively called him), took up his pen on April 18, 1775, to write the order for the march to Concord, he undoubtedly knew that a page in history was turning. On the following day, the Massachusetts militia mobilized on a scale unprecedented in size in response to Gage's long-delayed action. After the early morning skirmish at Lexington and, as the alarm spread with amazing rapidity, almost simultaneously with the battle of Concord, more than twenty thousand men in arms — "embattled farmers" — gathered into their companies in towns all across Massachusetts (and later in neighboring colonies as well) and marched toward headquarters at Cambridge.

This database contains information on the companies that marched that day, including the number of officers, their commanders, and the town they marched from. The original publication can be viewed at the NEHGS research library, call number REF E241/L6/H35.

To locate additional genealogy and local history resources, search our library catalog.