Samuel Prescott (August 19 1751 - c. 1777) was a Massachusetts Patriot during the American Revolutionary War.
The ride
Prescott was on the road at 1 A.M. on April 19 1775 after an evening with his fiancée, Lydia Mulliken, when he met Paul Revere and William Dawes on their ride from Lexington to Concord and joined them to warn of the British attempt to seize the store of arms. 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 sent out the preceding evening. Revere and Dawes were taken prisoner. Prescott was also attacked and had the reins of his horse's bridle cut, but succeeded in making his escape by jumping his horse over a wall. Taking a circuitous route through Lincoln, he pushed on with the utmost speed to Concord. He was the only one of the three men to reach Concord and warn the town.[1] The other two men were captured before reaching Concord, but had successfully ridden all the way from Boston, spreading the alarm.
Prescott then proceeded further west to warn Acton, Massachusetts while his brother Abel rode south to warn Sudbury and Framingham. The rapid warning of Revere, Dawes, and Prescott alerted the Minutemen of this region in time for them to engage the British Army at the Battle of Lexington and Concord.
Prescott later became a surgeon in the Continental Army and joined the crew of a New England privateer. He was captured by the Royal Navy and died between November 23 1776 and December 26 (1777?) while a prisoner in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Prescott's ride is re-enacted every Patriots Day eve (observed) in the Town of Acton. The re-enactment begins in East Acton, continues through Acton Center and ends at Liberty Tree Farm, a distance of approximately five miles (8 km). The house there was owned by a minuteman, Simon Hunt, in 1775.
See also
References
- ↑ [http://www.concordma.com/magazine/julaug01/samuelprescott.html The Tale of Two Families Joined by Love, Shattered by War
- Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer (ISBN 0-19-508847-6)
- American History: Midnight Riders, Charles J. Caes, December 2004.
- "An Extraordinary Town, How one of America's smallest towns shaped the world" A book on the Prescott legacy including a section Samuel Prescott's famous ride, William Prescott, and great-grandfather John Prescott.
- Prescott Memorial 1870 by William Prescott