History Minutiae: Lexington and Concord

Presently I'm deep in the throes of writing chapter 3 of my book on the Australian connection with the American Revolution and the War of American Independence. The chapter is about 20 year old Ensign Francis Grose (Commander of the New South Wales Corps in 1792 and Lieut. Governor of New South Wales from 1792). And in the process I've got bogged down (briefly) in some historical minutiae which by itself is vaguely purposeless, but for purposes of historical accuracy one sort of has to get right.

The first of these was the vexed question of how many officers and rank and file went on the Concord expedition. We know it was somewhere between 700 to 800 troops overall but I got this bug trying to work out exactly how many troops were in the detachment of the 52nd. Light Infantry (Grose's company) that went to Concord. Helpfully, David Hackett Fischer provided some records in the appendices of his excellent Paul Revere's Ride. According to one list which was partly drawn from pay rosters there were 2 officers and 35 other ranks in the 52nd. Light Infantry. But another list provided in Fischer's appendices which showed the Returns of of Strength of the British Army in Boston which did not include commissioned officers, sergeants or musicians showed that in April 1775 there were 299 soldiers fit to march, 30 unfit, and that the company was down 61 effectives. Finally, looking at British casualty figures a captain and 2 lieutenants were killed along the Battle Road, which, one might note is more than the total complement of officers supposed to be attached to the 52nd. according to the pay rosters. At this point, I just threw my hands up in the air, and gave up. (I hate numbers anyway, even if I do have to deal with them sometimes.)

The second piece of minutiae I became temporarily obsessed with was why was there such a negative and angry reaction from the Americans in the powder scares in late 1774, (which partly arose out of the fact that one of the things the British were out to destroy at Concord was gunpowder.) when the British confiscated American powder in Massachusetts. The answer to that one was easy enough to find. It was in one of the books I have here, Robert Harvey's A Few Bloody Noses. The main ingredient to gunpowder was saltpetre, mined in Bengal and exported to Europe. The Americans had to import all their gunpowder as they didn't have all the ingredients to make it. (And, from early December, 1774, importation of gunpowder into the thirteen rebellious colonies, but especially Massachusetts was prohibited.

The final piece of minutiae I got caught up with was - exactly where in Boston was the 52nd. Light Infantry stationed? This was actually of some significance for the paragraph I was currently working on as I wanted to know the time it took Grose's 52nd. Light Infantry to march from their quarters to Back Bay where the Concord expedition began. It could have been from near Back Bay, from the Long Wharf or from various other places. It turns out they were encamped on Beacon Hill only ten minutes march from their embarkation point, but they were probably one of the last regiments to reach the beach, because Lt. Frederick Mackenzie of the Royal Welch Fusiliers does not note their arrival at the beach.

And if you wondering what's happening to the chapter on Bunker Hill, discussed in an earlier post, I'll be starting on it after I've completed the research and have finished chapter 3.