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Concord Bridge, 19 April 1775
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Several of our kin seem to have been involved in the first official battle of the rebellion that we now call our Revolution:
- First cousin (1C8R) Lieutenant
James Russell commanded Carlisle’s contingent of
Minute Men at the Bridge.
- Oliver Wheeler, apparently
the second of the name in our direct line, was a member of the
Acton Militia and wore a sword that was displayed at the centennial
festivities in 1875. Though called “of Acton,”
Oliver’s listed among the Concord Minute Men, not among
those of Carlisle. Acton’s men were prominent (fatally so)
in the action at the Bridge.
- Munroe-by-marriage Lieut. Isaac
Wilkins may not have been there in person, but “his
people” seem to have participated.
Wilkins1 notes:
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“One further comment might to [sic] made about
the Carlisle Minutemen of 1775. It has been suggested in some
histories that the Minutemen in the Revolutionary War were
‘mostly enthusiastic youths who were attracted by
dangerous service.’. [punctuation sic] This was
not apparently the case in Carlisle. Here, two of the Minutemen
were 19, five were in their twenties, five in their thirties,
two in their forties, one was 54, and one, 59. They were
unquestionably enthusiastic in the defense of lives and
liberties, but the majority of them were presumably not
motivated by the recklessness of youth…
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1Ruth Chamberlin Wilkins, Carlisle, Its History and Heritage
The Carlisle Historical Society, Inc. (Carlisle:1976), pp. 68-9.