The Leadership Experience Blog

Samuel Whittemore: The Minuteman who Proved You're Never Too Old to Fight

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War, fought On This Day, April 19, 1775.

One of the more colorful veterans of that opening engagement was Samuel Whittemore.

Samuel Whittemore was in his mid-40s when he enlisted as a private in Colonel Jeremiah Moulton’s Third Massachusetts Regiment. He had fought in the French and Indian War, again fighting the French in Canada, and he even spent a brief period on board a ship that was hunting for a pirate.

He was always ready to drop his farming tools, pick up his weapons and march off to battle.

At the age of 64, in 1745, he was among the forces that stormed the French fortress at Louisburg, Nova Scotia, where he captured a fine, albeit gaudy and overdecorated, French saber that he would treasure the rest of his long life. As legend has it, Whittemore said that the former owner of the saber had "died suddenly," but furnished no further details.

As a young married man Sa

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Casualties of the Battle of Lexington and Concord

When the smoke cleared on this day, 245 years ago, April 19, 1775, here were the casualties of the Battle of Lexington and Concord:

KILLED.

Of Lexington.

* Mr. Robert Munroe,
* Mr. Jonas Parker,
* Mr. Samuel Hadley,
* Mr. Jonan Harrington,
* Mr. Caleb Harrington,
* Mr. Isaac Muzzy,
* Mr. John Brown,
Mr. John Raymond,
Mr. Nathaniel Wyman,
Mr. Jedediah Munroe.

Of Menotomy.

Mr. Jason Russel,
Mr. Jabez Wyman,
Mr. Jason Winship,
Of Sudbury.
Deacon Haynes,
Mr. ----- Reed.

Of Concord.

Capt. James Miles,
Of Bedford.
Capt. Jonathan Willson,
Of Acton.
Capt. Davis,
Mr. ----- Hosmer,
Mr. James Howard.

Of Woburn.

* Mr. Azael Porter,
Mr. Daniel Thompson.
Of Charlestown.
Mr. James Miller,
Capt. William Barber's Son.
Of Brookline.
Isaac Gardner, Esq;

Of Cambridge.

Mr. John Hicks,
Mr. Moses Richardson,
Mr. William Massey.
Of Medford.
Mr. Henry Putnam.

Of Lynn.

Mr. Abednego Ramsdell,
Mr. Daniel Townsend,
Mr. William Flint,
Mr. Thomas Hadley.

Of Danvers.

Mr. Henry Jacobs,
Mr. Samuel Cook,
Mr. Ebenezer Goldthwait,
Mr. George Southwick,
Mr. Benjamin Dalan...

The Shot Heard Round the World

245 years ago, On this Day—April 19, 1775—the American Revolution begins with the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

Minute Men and militias rush to confront the British Regulars early that morning.

Robert Munroe is one of the first eight Patriot casualties in that opening engagement of the Revolutionary War—and the first officer killed on Lexington Common.

He is a soldier from Cambridge Farm who was born in 1712, who later had moved to Lexington, Massachusetts. Robert married Anna Stone on July 28, 1737, in Lexington. They have 6 children. Their first and last children did not survive childhood.

Robert is one of the 77 men present when the Company meets the British on Lexington Common. He is the third-highest ranking militia officer in the action there.

At the time of his death, at 63 years of age, he is one of sixteen Munroe's who are members of Captain John Parker's Company of Minute Men, and holds the rank of Ensign, the lowest infantry officer rank.

His wife, Anna, passes away f...

Samuel Whittemore: The Minuteman who Proved You're Never Too Old to Fight

Casualties of the Battle of Lexington and Concord

The Shot Heard Round the World

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