The Captain William Smith House is a historic

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

site in

Lincoln, Massachusetts Lincoln is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The population was 7,014 according to the 2020 United States Census, including residents of Hanscom Air Force Base that live within town limits. The town, located in the MetroWest region o ...

, United States. Part of today's Minute Man National Historic Park, it is associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775

battles of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, ...

. Believed to have been built in 1692 (or possibly a decade or so earlier), in what was then

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

, it is believed to be the oldest house in Lincoln. It is located on North County Road, just off Battle Road (formerly the Bay Road), a few hundred yards east of the

Hartwell Tavern Hartwell Tavern (also known as the Ephraim Hartwell House) is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. It is located on North County Road, just off Bat ...

and the contemporary

Samuel Hartwell House The Samuel Hartwell House is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. Built in 1733, in what was then Concord, it was located on North County Road,''Lin ...

. Its first known occupant was

yeoman Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century also witn ...

Benjamin Whittemore (d. 1734). It was latterly the home of Captain William Smith (1746–1787),

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the Lincoln

minutemen Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Mi ...

Captain William Smith House, 1692
–

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

and the only brother of

Abigail Adams Abigail Adams ( ''née'' Smith; November 22, [ O.S. November 11] 1744 – October 28, 1818) was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams, as well as the mother of John Quincy Adams. She was a founder of the United States, a ...

, wife of the prominent patriot

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

. The house has been restored by

to look as it would have in 1775. William and Elizabeth Dodge purchased the home as a rental property in 1758. When they moved to

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, they gave the house to their only daughter, Catharine Louisa Salmon. Catharine married William Smith in 1771. The couple lived in the house with their three children: Elizabeth, Louisa Catharine and William Jr. Their African slave, Cato, is not believed to have fought in the battles of Lexington and Concord, but on April 24, 1775, he enlisted as a soldier in Smith's newly formed company in the

6th Massachusetts Regiment The 6th Massachusetts Regiment also known as the 4th Continental Regiment was raised on April 23, 1775, under Colonel John Nixon outside of Boston, Massachusetts. The regiment would see action at the Battle of Bunker Hill, New York Campaign, B ...

commanded by Colonel John Nixon. He died in New Castle, New York, in January 1777. Smith died in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

on September 3, 1787, aged 40, after abandoning his wife and (now six) children and becoming an alcoholic.''John Quincy Adams''
Paul C. Nagel – ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' Smith's father, Revd. William Smith, had assumed ownership of the family house in 1780. Catharine, who left Lincoln in 1795, survived her husband by 37 years; she died in 1824. The house had a series of owners before it was added to the Minute Man National Historic Park in 1975. (Manuel Silva purchased the property in 1924. A hog farmer, Silva had about four hundred swine at the time of his 1945 death. It is believed his wife divided the interior into four apartments around 1956.)

Architecture

The cove

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

visible below the roofline of the front façade is one of only four surviving examples remaining in Massachusetts (the others are the nearby Whittemore-Smith House, and also in Danvers and Marblehead).CAPTAIN WILLIAM SMITH HOUSE, Minute Man National Historical Park, Lincoln, Massachusetts
–

File:Period_reenactor_at_the_Captain_William_Smith_House.jpg, A period reenactor in the house's west parlor

Battles of Lexington and Concord

Captain William Smith House Minute Man National Park

The

took form before dawn on April 19, 1775. Soldiers passed by the house on their way to

, and again on their way back to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Three of Ephraim and Elizabeth Hartwell's children — Samuel, John and Isaac — were in the Lincoln minutemen that fought at

Old North Bridge Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

and on the battle road. All three later served in the Revolutionary War.

Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot and Founding Father. He is best known for his midnight ride to a ...

and

William Dawes William Dawes Jr. (April 6, 1745 – February 25, 1799) was one of several men who in April 1775 alerted colonial minutemen in Massachusetts of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the outset ...

were detained by a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

patrol nearby during the "Midnight Ride" to Concord of April 18.

Samuel Prescott Samuel Prescott (August 19, 1751 – ) was an American physician and a Massachusetts Patriot during the American Revolutionary War. He is best known for his role in Paul Revere's "midnight ride" to warn the townspeople of Concord, Massachusetts ...

, who was also riding with them, escaped by jumping his horse over a wall and into the woods. Prescott emerged at the Hartwell Tavern, awakened Ephraim and informed him of the pending arrival of the British soldiers. Ephraim sent his black slave, Violet, down the road to alert his son and his family. Mary then relayed the message to Captain William Smith.''Battle Road: Birthplace of the American Revolution'', Maurice R. Cullen (1970) The minutemen received the notice in time, and arrived at Old North Bridge before their enemy. Prescott made it to Concord.

References

Bibliography

External links

Captain William Smith House, Virginia Road, Lincoln, Middlesex County, MA
–

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith House, Captain William Buildings and structures completed in 1692 Residential buildings completed in the 17th century Houses in Lincoln, Massachusetts Massachusetts in the American Revolution American Revolutionary War sites in Massachusetts 1692 establishments in the Province of Massachusetts Bay Minute Man National Historical Park