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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of

REV. E. CLOWES CHORLEY

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Captain Oliver Brown,

AN OFFICER OF THE

REVOLUTIONARY ARMY

WHO COMMANDED THE PARTY WHICH- DESTROYED THE.

STATUE OF GEORGE THE THIRD,

IN NEW YORK CITY, JULY^Q, 177@.

Rev. HORACE EDWIN HAYDEN,
Memher of the Historical Society of Pennsylvani;
, &c.,.&'c., &c. -¦:

PRIVATELY PRINTED.

WILKES-BARRE, PA.
1882.

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Captain Oliver Brown,

AN OFFICER OF THE

REVOLUTIONARY ARMY,

WHO COMMANDED THE PARTY WHICH DESTROYED THE

STATUE OF GEORGE THE THIRD,

IN NEW YORK CITY, JULY 9, 1776.

BY THE
Rev. HORACE EDWIN HAYDEN,
Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
&c., &c., &c.

PRIVATELY PRINTED.

WILKES-BARRE, PA.

, Copyrighted, 1882,
By Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden.

E. B. Yordy,
Book and Job Printer,
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

t\,zz.zsl

TO MY YOUNG FRIEND,

JULIA CAROLINE POLSLEY,

POINT PLEASANT, WEST VIRGINIA,

DAUGHTER OF THE LATE HON. DANIEL POLSLEY,

AND

GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF CAPT. OLIVER BROWN,

THESE PAGES ARE

MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

OLIVER BROWN,
Captain of Artillery in the Continental Army,
1775-1783-

A very interesting paper from the pen of the Rev. A. B.
Muzzey, of Cambridge, Mass., entitled "The Battle of Lex
ington, with personal remininiscences of men engaged in
it," and printed in the New England Historical-Genealogical
Register for 1877 (xxxi., 377), calls to mind an active par
ticipant in the exciting events of that memorable 19th of
April, 177s, who served his country with fidelity and distinc
tion in the Revolutionary Army, but whose name escaped
Mr. Muzzey's notice entirely. Mr. M. mentions Deacon
" Solomon Brown," the patriot who drew the first British^
blood that day. Oliver Brown, who received his first bap
tism of fire on Lexington Green, was the elder brother of
Solomon. They were both born in Lexington, and were
sons of Benjamin (3), who married December 22d, 1742,
Sarah Reed, daughter of William Reed, Esq. He was a
deacon of the church at Lexington, and a justice of the
peace. He had eleven children, among whom were Oliver
(4), born July 25th, 17S3; Solomon (4), born January 15th,
1757; and James (4), born October 13th, 1758. James (4)
married, May 30th, 1780, Betty, daughter of Hammond and
Betty (Simonds) Reed, of Lexington, where his descend
ants still reside. Of Solomon, see notice at the end of this
sketch.

It has been claimed that Oliver was fourth in descent
from Peter Brown, who came to America in the Mayflower,
in 1620, through Peter, of Windsor, Conn., 1632. But the
connection between the Windsor Browns and the Mayflower
emigrant is not proven. , Chas. Hudson, in his " History of
Lexington, Mass.," makes Oliver fourth in descent from
John, of Watertown, thus : Oliver 4, Benjamin 3, Joseph 2,
John I. This John, the ancestor of Oliver, was son of
John, of Hawkedon, County Suffolk, England, mentioned
by Savage as "baptized in Hawkedon Church, October 11,
1601; arrived September 16,1632, at Boston, from London,
on the ship Lion, and settled at Watertown."
According to Savage, John Brown, of Cambridge, called
a Scotchman, married April 24th, 1653, Esther, daughter of
Thomas Makepeace, and in his father's will, eleven years
after, is called of Marlborough. He had eleven children,
of whom the youngest, Joseph, was born at Marlborough,
1677. The next year John (i) moved to Falmouth, and
probably at the second destruction of that town moved to
Watertown, where he dates his will, November 20th, 1697,
in which he mentions his son Joseph (2). Joseph (2) mar
ried November 15th, 1699, Ruhamah Wellington, and had
Ruhamah, Daniel, John, and Joseph, born at Watertown.
In 1709 he removed to Lexington, and there had James,
Josiah, Benjamin, and William. He died there, a deacon
of the church, January nth, 1766. His wife died July 1st,
1772, age 92. This genealogical problem must be left for
others to solve.
About the year 1762 Oliver Brown, while yet a youth of
eight or nine years, becaime an inmate of the family of a
Mr. Thatcher, of Cambridge, with whom he resided until he
came of age. Living thus in such proximity to the scene
of the very remarkable events which occurred in Massa-

chusetts during Gage's administration, he could not well be
ignorant of them. Although but fourteen years of age at
the time of the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766, the rejoic
ing with which this action of Parliament was received in
the colony, made an impression on his mind which subse
quent events greatly strengthened. The landing of the
British troops at Boston in 1768; the massacre of the citi
zens on the 5th of March, 1770; the dissolution of the
General Assembly by proclamation of Gage; the seizure of
the sloop Liberty, &c., were gradually preparing his mind
for the great struggle, of which these occurrences were the
forerunners. On the memorable day when the destruction
of the tea in Boston harbor occurred, he was in Boston,
drawn there by an impulse irresistible. "The very air was
'electric. In the tension of the popular mind, every sound
and sight was significant." He noticed the unusual com
motion among the inhabitants, and endeavored to learn the
cause definitely, but failing of success, he returned early to
Cambridge. His interest, however, was intensely aroused.
He could not remain at home when his personal services
were possibly needed in tlie city. He immediately returned
to Boston, and following the leading of his impulse, found
himself very soon amid the crowd that thronged the wharf,
and so became an eye witness to the party of citizens who,
dressed in the costume of Mohawk Indians, boarded the
vessels lying at anchor there, and threw overboard into the
harbor the cargo of tea which an indignant populace had
not allowed to be landed. This incident removed whatever
hesitancy Mr. Brown may have felt about espousing the
cause of the Colonies, and decided him to devote himself to
the defence of his country.
When the 19th of April dawned upon the people of
Massachusetts, the citizens of Lexington had already heard

of the approaching party of six hundred British troops
under Pitcairn, enroute for Concord to destroy the American
stores secreted at the latter place. Before the break of day,
Captain John Parker had assembled his little company of
sixty men to drill them for the conflict which each man felt
was assuredly near. The echoes of the last gun fired at
Lexington that morning had scarcely died away before
Oliver Brown was on his road, with his fire-lock over his
shoulder, to Lexington. No telegraphic wires had flashed
the messages of daiiger over that region, but before Pitcairn
had taken one step in his march towards Concord, Paul
Revere's signal had appeared in the spire of the old South
Church, and mounted minute men, sparing neither whip nor
spur, were arousing every farm house and village and hamlet
with the cry, "To arms." Col. Smith began his retreat
from Concord at noon that day. At every mile of the way
back, over the same route which the victorious troops had
stained with blood that morning, the crack of the patriot's
musket was heard, each hour bringing in from the country
around fresh accessions to the patriot force, and thinning
the ranks of the weary and now dispirited foe, many of
whom fell in their tracks exhausted, or wounded or dead.
Among the patriots that afternoon Oliver Brown was active.
When Lord Percy, who, with his twelve hundred men, had
marched from Boston that morning to reinforce the party
under Pitcairn, met the retreating column at Lexington,
and opened upon the Americans with his two pieces of
cannon, Oliver Brown stood within a few yards in immedi
ate front of the artillery. When Lord Percy began his
retrograde march towards Boston, Mr. Brown was among
the patriots who hung upon his front and rear, harassing
his column, until, as the sun sank to rest th&t evening, the
wearied invaders reached the shelter of the royal vessels

riding at anchor in Boston harbor, and the pursuit of the
patriots ceased.
After the events of this day, it was impossible that Mr.
Brown should be an idle spectator of whatever might follow.
He was among the first to enroll himself in the American
Army that besieged the City of Boston. He was also one
of the nine hundred men who, under the brave Prescott, on
the evening of the i6th of June, marched to Breed's Hill,
and that night erected the entrenchments, which, on the
following day, they so gallantly defended against more than
three times their number, that the wounded and killed of
the enemy exceeded the entire force of Americans engaged
in that battle. In this action, as well as during the long
siege of Boston, he doubtless made a reputation for himself
as a soldier, for on the i6th of January, 1776, then a private
in the ranks, he received from the Congress a commission
as "Captain-Lieutenant" of artillery, and Was placed in com
mand of two field pieces. After the evacuation of Boston,
he moved with the American Army to New York City.
There he became the principal actor in a transaction whose
perpetrators have never been known unto this day.
On Thursday, September i6th, 1770, being the anniver
sary of the birthday of Prince Frederick, second child of
George III., the Assembly of New York had caused to be
erected, in the centre of Bowling Green, on a white marble
pedestal 15 feet high, an equestrian statue of George III.
This statue was made of lead, richly gilded, and was the
workmanship of the celebrated statuary, Mr. Wilton, of
London. The erection of this statue in the Bowling Green
was the occasion of a grand public display, the members of
the Colonial and City Government, the corporations of the
Chambers of Commerce, and the Marine Society, and the
officers of the Royal Army and Navy waiting 'upon the

IO

Lieutenant Governor at the fort near by, where toasts were
drunk to the accompaniment of military music and artillery.
To protect this statue, the corporation of the City of New
York enclosed it, in 1771, with an iron railing, at a cost of
:^8oo. Mr. John Austin Stevens, in his historical address
Dn New York City, says: "The statue stood upon the
Green in all its gilded glory, the object of loyal admiration
and patriot contumely, until the evening of the 9th of July.
1776, when, after the hearing of the proclamation of inde- -
pendence, it was overthrown by the soldiery, — an act of
vandalism, for whicli they received the rebuke of General
Washington in General Orders the next morning." Captain
Brown's narration of the event is as follows: The reading
of the Declaration of Independence, occurring that day,
aroused the American soldiers to the height of enthusiasm.
Excited by the events which had already occurred, and in
which he had so largely participated, and by the known
proximity of the British forces, which landed at Long Island
on the 22d, he had already determined to remove the statue
of the King. The Declaration of Independence added
firmness to his resolution. Selecting forty men on whose
courage he could rely, one-half of them sailors, and- provid
ing them with ropes. Brown marched them secretly that night
to a dark alley opposite the statue. Several sailors mount
ing the figure of His Majesty, securely fastened the ropes
to his body, when the united strength of the entire party
was exerted for his overthrow. But so firmly had the statue
been fastened to the marble base, that the ropes broke at
the first effort. Success, however, crowned the second
attempt; the statue was pulled down over the fence, and the
image of George III. lay humbled in the dust.
The deed was not known until the next day, when the
news spread rapidly through the American Army. Coming

1 1
to the ears of General Washington, he at once condemned
the destruction of this valuable work of art in the following
severe language:
*•' Headquarters,
" New York, July lo, 1^76.
"Though the General doubts not the persons who pulled
down and mutilated the statue in the Broadway last night
were actuated by zeal in the public cause, yet it has so
much the appearance of riot and want of order in the army,
that he disapproves the manner, and directs that in future
these things shall be avoided by the soldiery, and left to be
executed by proper authority."
Whether Washington ever learned who was the leader
in this transaction is not known, but his disapprobation,
thus expressed, was so keenly felt by Captain Brown that
he was accustomed to speak of the part he played in the
destruction of the statue, as the one action of his whole life
of which he was the most ashamed.
In obedience to the orders of a superior officer. Captain
Brown separated the leaden statue from its iron support,
and sent it to the laboratory to be moulded into bullets.
Although it was impossible to conceal the deed itself, the
men engaged in this unfortunate affair prevented the part
they had individually taken from becoming publicly known,
and the stirring events which almost immediately followed
-banished the matter from the popular mind.
Mr. Stevens, in his address, states that "the mutilated
statue is said to have been taken to Litchfield, Connecticut,
and run into bullets for the use of the American Army.
Fragments of it, however, still exist, one in the possession
of the New York Historical Society, as also the bullet
mould to which the romantic story is attached. When

12
pulled down the marble pedestal remained, but the slab
disappeared. Subsequent developments prove that it was
taken to Paulus Hook, and used as a memorial stone of a
British officer, in 1783 — Major Smith, of the Highlanders.
This stone is now in the possession of the New York
Historical Society. The bed marks of the hoofs of the
horse may be seen on one side of it, and the Highlander's
epitaph on the other. Two or three years since there was
dug up in a marsh near Stamford, Conn., about two hundred
pounds of lead, evidently from the gilding, etc., belonging
to the old statue, — the tail of the horse complete, parts of
the saddle and housings,— these pieces were purchased for
the New York Historical Society, in whose care they now
remain." Captain Brown does not appear to have taken any part
in the severe battle of Long Island, but at the battle of
Harlem Heights, he commanded thirty men and two field
pieces. In the letter of General George Clinton, dated
September 21st, 1776 (to be found in the appendix, p. 54,
of the " Commemoration of the Battle of Harlem Heights,
by the New York Historical Society, 1876"), it is stated that
in this action the Americans brought a couple of field
pieces to bear upon the British light troops, "which fairly
put them to flight with two discharges only." The impet
uous attack of the Virginia troops under Major Leitch, who
came upon the field at this moment, drove the enemy four
hundred yards to the top of a hill, where they were rein
forced by the Forty-second Highlanders. After an engage
ment at this spot of two hours duration, the enemy were
punished still more severely, and driven almost up to their
own encampment. The American troops being in danger
of a flank movement by the enemy, which would have cut
off their retreat, were at once recalled, leaving the enemy

13
at the point to which he had last been driven. Until evi
dence to the contrary appears, I must believe that the two
field pieces which thus repulsed the light troops of the
enemy, and which followed them up with the infantry, until
recalled by the orders of Washington, were those com
manded by Captain Brown, who narrated the following
incident as having occurred during that battle in which his
field pieces were engaged. Having advanced too far in the
pursuit of the enemy, when the troops were recalled, he
found himself in danger of losing his pieces. He seized
hold of one of his ordnance wagons to help his men, fifteen
of whom were either killed or wounded, when Gen. Putnam
rode up and said to him, "So long as officers will, like
you, perform the duties of private soldiers there will be no
room for despairing of the American cause." The General
then dismounting, rendered personally all the aid he could,
and they saved the pieces from capture. No credit is
given by Marshall, in his "Life of Washington," to the
artillery for the important part it played in this spirited
engagement. Captain Brown was also an actor in the battle of White
Plains, where Captain Lilley was in command of the Massa
chusetts artillery. In this engagement Graydon says (p. 187)
" We had 07ie field piece with which to answer the fire of
the enemy." Bancroft says (vol. v., p. 444), "A heavy but
ineffective cannonade by the British across the Bronx was
feebly returned by the three field pieces of the Americans
on the hill." General Samuel Smith in his Autobiography
(His. Mag., vol. vii., 2d Feb., 1870, p. 84) says, "Captain
Lilley, of the Massachusetts artillery, had planted his guns
on a knoll, and the light horse made a charge on him. He
kept his fire until they were within fifty yards of him, when
he discharged his/^ar pieces, and horses and men (14) fell.

14
while those who were left fled, and he took his guns safe
into the lines."
The retrograde movement of General Howe across the
Hudson, and through New Jersey, followed the engagement
at White Plains, and made it necessary that Washington
should retreat towards Philadelphia in order to protect that
city from the enemy. This retreat was most disastrous foi-
the American cause. Desertions were constantly occurring.
Bancroft says, "The army was melting away, while Con
gress showed signs of nervousness, and felt their want of
resources."- Wilkinson says, "The Eastern militia deserted
in crowds from White Plains, and the levies from Pennsyl
vania, Maryland, and the Jerseys, whose term of service
expired December 1st and January 1st, at Brunswick, almost
to a man left Washington, until the grand army, which a
few days before had numbered 13,000 men, was reduced to
3,000." Captain Brown, who followed the fortunes of
America, undaunted by any disasters, until the close of the
war, said that although he saw hundreds desert the army in
despair during this retreat, yet he and his men remained
unshaken and uninfluenced in their devotion to the cause.
He was among the 2,400 brave men who crossed the Dela
ware on that terrible Christmas night, with eighteen field
pieces, among which were his own. What part his guns
took in the successful surprise of Trenton on the next
morning does not appear. The artillery under Captain
Forrest, according to Wilkinson, behaved with distinguished
bravery. Col. Carrington says, speaking of the artillery, "a
few skilfully handled guns determined the action." Whether
Captain Brown was under the command of Captain Forrest
is not known. He himself stated that he was an actor in
this victory, which gave new life and impetus to the declin
ing fortunes of the Americans, and also in those which

15
followed at Assanpink and Princeton. Subsequently he was
stationed with his artillery at Bound Brook, which place
General Lincoln occupied with 500 men, and where Corn
wallis nearly succeeded in surprising the entire command
on the 13th of April, 1777. Lincoln only saved his men
by a prompt retreat, with the loss of two pieces of artillery,
two subordinate officers, and twenty men.
In the following September, Captain Brown was engaged
with his guns in the long and severe battle, which lasted
from sunrise to sunset, on the banks of the Brandywine, and
which terminated in the defeat of the American Army, and
the opening of the way to Philadelphia for General Howe.
The next month he was sending his shot and canister
among the enemy's troops-at Germantown, into which battle
he entered with a command of sixty men, thirty-one of
whom he left dead or dying upon the field. In the follow
ing month (October), he was transferred to Fort Mifflin or
Mud Island, making one of that gallant band who, under
the brave Simeon Thayer, whose laurels another was allowed
to wear, made such a spirited defence of the place against
the assault of Donop and Howe.
Then followed the long, weary, and dispiriting winter rest
and starvation of Valley Forge, where Captain Brown often
suffered for the necessities of life, without abating one jot
of his patriotic devotion to the holy cause he had espoused
on that day of the baptism of blood at Lexington, in 1775.
This winter inactivity was broken up by the spring cam
paign, in which he bore a gallant part. When Lee lost his
temper at Monmouth, and ignominiously ordered a retreat,
Captain Brown was not among those who turned their backs
on the enemy, but he stood bravely by his guns, and used
them effectively. As Hamilton stated in his account of that
battle, "the artillery acquitted themselves most charmingly."

i6
After this event. Brown was ordered to Fort Schuyler,
where Gansevoort had, with such distinguished bravery,
sustained a siege by St. Leger and his Indian allies. He
must have been at Fort Schuyler at the time of Van
Schaick's expedition against the Onondaga towns in T779,
but his memoranda says nothing more of his military career
in the Revolutionary service, excepting that he continued a
Captain-Lieutenant in the artillery of the Massachusetts
line until the close of the war. Four years of his service
were passed under the personal command of General Wash
ington, hy whom he "was entrusted with many small
adventures, for the execution of which he received Wash
ington's personal thanks."
In 1776 Captain Brown married Miss Abigail Richardson,
of Massachusetts, who was born April 1st, 1756, and by
whom he had eleven children, whose descendants have been
prominent citizens of the Republic. She was the sixth
child of Edward and Abigail (Cheney) Richardson, and of
the sixth generation from Ezekiel Richardson, of Woburn,
Mass., 1630, thus: Abigail 6, Edward 5, Theophilus 4,
Ezekiel 3, Theophilus 2, Ezekiel i. Ezekiel, the emigrant,
was a man of note in his day; a Constable, appointed by
the Court in 1633, and a Deputy to the General Court, 1635.
In 1790 Captain Brown moved his family to the western
part of Virginia, near where now stands the town of Wells-
burg.* Here he served his time as an officer of the militia
* Hudson's History of Lexington, Mass., says that Oliver Brown *' moved to Vir^nia
and settled on the Ohio River, and gave his name to the place, viz., Brownsville." This
is evidently an error. If Wellsburg was ever named Brownsville, it is not so recorded in
Doddridge, or Cramer, or Jacobs. In 1790, when Patrick Gass visited the spot, where
Wellsburg now stands, he says " there was but one building to be seen ; that was a log
house on the lower end of the bottom, near midway then between the river and the hiUs.
It was built and for many years occupied by Alexander Wells, and was standing in 1858."
Wellsburg was originally named Charlestown. In 1808 Cramer notes it as " Wellsburgh,
formerly Charlestown." It stands on a high bank of the Ohio. Brownsville, Pa., 50 miles
above Pittsburg, on the Monongahela, the south point of the Ohio, was named from Thomas
Brown— no relative of Oliver. There is no other town of the name on the Ohio River from
there down to the Kentucky line.

17
for three years against the Indians. Among the early set
tlers of that section with whom he was long associated were
Colonel William McKennan, of the Revolution, father of,
Hon. T. M. T. McKennan, Secretary of the Interior under
Fillmore; Judge: Albert Caldwell, Rev. Joseph Doddridge,
D. D., Philip Doddridge, Esq., and others. Captain Brown
became in his later life a communicant of the Protestant
Episcopal Church, and his name occurs in the subscription
paper of Trinity Church, Wellsburg, in 1800, of which the
Rev. Dr. Doddridge was Rector. In 1808 he was appointed
one of the six Commissioners of the Wellsburg and Wash
ington turnpike, which connected the town of Wellsburg
with the National Road.
In 1840 he received a pension from United States Gov
ernment for his services during the Revolution. He died
February 17th, 1846, at the house of his son-in-law, Mr.
Stephen Colwell, near Wellsburg, aged nearly ninety-five,
and blind, but not infirm.

Oliver and Abigail (Richardson) Brq3vnhad issue:
I. Abigail, b. Cambridge, Mass.,  1776.
II. John, b. Cambridge, May 17, 1780.
III. Sarah, b. January — , 1782.
IV. Danforth, b. November — , 1783.
V. Catharine, b. July — , 1785.
VI. William, b. July — , 1787.
VII. Oliver, b.  1789.
VIII. George, b. Wellsburg,  1792.
IX. James, b. Wellsburg, February — , 1794.
X. Richard, b. Wellsburg,  1796; grad. Jefferson
College, Pa., A. B. 1822; was ordained to the ministry

of the Presbyterian Church ; received degree of D. D. from
Washington College, Pa., 1861; was President of Franklin
College, New Hagerstown, O.; d.  1879.
XI. Elizabeth, b. Wellsburg,  ¦ 1800.
Of these children,
II. John Brown married 1800, in Wellsburg, Mrs. Eleanor
(Doddridge) Gantt, widow of Mr. John Gantt, of Frederick,
Md., and daughter of Philip Doddridge, Sen., who emi
grated from Maryland in 1770, and settled in Western
Virginia, near the junction of Dunkard's Creek and the
Monongahela River. She was also sister of Hon. Philip
Doddridge, of Virginia, justly esteemed for many years,
" one of the most noted men of his section for his splendid
talents at the bar." He was a member of the United States
Congress from 1829 until his death, November 19th, 1832.
(Sep Am. Pioneer, vol. i., pp. 134-6). Mrs. Brown was
born in Hopewell township, Washington county. Pa., Octo
ber 26, 1780. She had one daughter by her first marriage,
Juliana Doddridge Gantt, born in Frederick, Md., February
28, 1802.
John and Eleanor (Doddridge-Gantt) Brown had issue:
I. Catharine, b. June 17, 1807; d. Jan. 11, 1809.
II. Eliza Vilette, b. June 16, 1809; d. Dec. 5, 1879;
married Hon. Daniel Polsley, of Point Pleasant, W. Va.;
lawyer; Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of West Vir
ginia, 1862; Representative to the XLth United States
Congress, 1867; d.  1875.
III. Caroline R., b. Oct. 22, 181 1; d. Sept. — , 1881.
IV. John, b. Feb. 12, 1814; d. July 19, 1814.
V. Louisa, b. Feb, 3, 18 16.

'^9
VI. Harriet, b. Nov. 20, 1818; d. Jan. 26, 1841.
VII. John Doddridge,b. Oct. 8, 1821; d. April 10, i860.
VIII. Danforth, b. Holliday's Cove, Va., June 25, 1824.
Bishop Meade, in his "Old Churches and Families of
Virginia," says (vol. ii., p. 333) the Protestant Episcopal
Church in Wellsburg "have a neat brick church, which was
built some years ago almost entirely at the expense of two
brothers, John and Danforth Brown."

EPITAPH OF CAPTAIN BROWN,
engraved upon the monument that marks his grave, at
Wellsburg: "Captain Oliver Brown, of the Artillery of the
Massachusetts Line, Revolutionary War. Born in Lexing
ton, Mass., 1752. He stood in front of the first cannon fired
by the British on the Americans in the affray at Lexington.
Witnessed the Tea Party, Boston Harbor. Was at the
Battle of Bunker's Hill. Commissioned by Congress i6th
of January, 1776. Commanded the volunteer party that
bore off the leaden statue of King George from the Battery
of New York, and made it into bullets for the American
Army. ' Bore a conspicuous part in command of Artillery
at the Battles of White Plains, Harlem Heights, Trenton,
Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. After
serving his country, he enlisted in the Armies of the Son
of God, and surrendered to the last enemy on the 17th of
February, 1846, in the full assurance of a never ending
Peace."

20

SOLOMON BROWN,
The younger brother of Captain Oliver Brown, was born at
Lexington, Mass., January 15th, 1756, or 1757. He' was
therefore but eighteen years old when the fight at Lexington
occurred. On the day preceding that event (April 18, 1775)
he is said to have been the first one who brought to Lex
ington the information that Pitcairn was about to march to
Concord. Having volunteered to watch the approach of
the British, he was taken prisoner by them, and detained
several hours. But he escaped, and as the following obit
uary notice mentions, he took an active part in the stirring
scenes of the 19th of April.
He subsequently removed to Vermont, became an officer
in the Revolution, and is mentioned in the "Government
and Council of Vermont" as, "Captain Solomon Brown."
He was also long a Deacon of the Congregational Church
of Middleburg, where he permanently located.
"deacon SOLOMON BROWN.
"The individual whose name heads this article, and a
notice of whose death appeared in this paper a short time
since, was one of the oldest inhabitants of New Haven, in
this county, and died claiming the respect of all who knew
him, for his virtues both as a man and a citizen. He was
a man of strong natural powers, of great probity, of uncom
mon firmness of mind and purpose, of severe justice, and of
Christian candor and meekness. He held for many years
stations of public trust among his fellow-citizens, which he
ever discharged with fidelity and promptness. He was an

21
active and devoted Christian, and a father in the churchy
He was, in short, one of that class of the community who
are the support of the society, the pillars of the church, and
the ornaments of the republic.
"Deacon Brown was a soldier of the Revolution, and
bore a part in that memorable struggle which should im
mortalize him in the annals of his country. He was a
participator in the first battle for freedom on the plains of
Lexington, and has the unrivaled honor of having shed the
first BritisJi blood in defence of American liberty, at the battle
of Lexington, on the morning of the igth of April, iTJS-
"This battle was the opening scene of the bloody drama
which closed with the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown,
and in this scene the subject of this notice stands forth the
most prominent actor. He wrote in blood the first word in
the charter of American freedom. Let his name be regis
tered among the noblest of his country's benefactors and
heroes, and honored by posterity as the most dauntless of
their heroic sires. Deacon Brown served five years in the
Revolution as a Sergeant of Artillery, and encountered all
the perils and hardships of that memorable and glorious
struggle. He died mourned by his friends, lamented by
the church, and respected by all. To those that came after
him, he has left a legacy of an honest name, a guiltless ex
ample, and a well spent life. He came down to the grave
'like a shock of corn fully ripe;' his body rests with the
great congregation of the dead, and his beatified spirit has
gone, we trust, to the 'bosom of his Father and his God.'
Peace be to the memory of the just and good." (From the
Middleburg, Vermont, Free Press, about 1830.)
A writer in the Historical Magazine (vol. iii., p. 113, 1859)
makes a similar claim for Ebenezer Lock, as having shed the

22
first British blood on the' 19th of April, 1775. The claim
of Solomon Brown rests on the evidence of an eye witness.
The Rev. Mr. Muzzey, in his Reminiscences (N. E. His.
Gen. Reg., vol. xxxi., p. 377), mentions " Elijah Sanderson,"
who testified that "he saw blood where the British column
stood when Solomon Brown fired at them."
It is ro^iceded that, no British soldier was wounded on
the 19th of April, 1775, before Pitcairn fired on the militia,
who were assembled on the green at Lexington, in front of
the meeting house. It is also conceded that at least one
British soldier, if not two, were wounded, and that none were
^killed before the march from Lexington to Concord. It is
in evidence that Brown was there, that he did fire on the
enemy, and did wound one. The writer who advances Mr.
Lock's claim states too much for his claimant. He says
"Lock worked valiantly for some m\n\x\.&s, bringing down
one of the' enemy at nearly every shot. Up to this time not a
shot had been fired elsewhere jby the rebels" — statements
utterly at variance with every other account of that day's
proceedings.

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