William Smith (December 1, 1746 – September 3, 1787) was a captain of the minutemen of Lincoln, Province of Massachusetts Bay, during the battles of Lexington and Concord, which began the American Revolutionary War.^[1]

Smith's home, today known as the Captain William Smith House, still stands on North County Road, beside Battle Road, in Minute Man National Historical Park. It was there, in the early hours of April 19, 1775, that he was alerted to the impending passage of British troops en route to nearby Concord.

Early life

Smith was born in 1746 in Charlestown, Province of Massachusetts Bay, to Revd. William Smith (1707–1783) and Elizabeth (née Quincy) Smith.^[2] He was the only brother of Abigail Adams, wife of future second president of the United States, John Adams.^[3] On his mother's side, he was descended from the Quincy family, a well-known political family in the Massachusetts colony. Also through his mother, he was a cousin of Dorothy Quincy, who was married to John Hancock. Smith was also the great-grandson of John Norton, founding pastor of Old Ship Church in Hingham, Massachusetts, the only remaining 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in Massachusetts.

Battles of Lexington and Concord

Captain William Smith House (2023)

The battles of Lexington and Concord took form before dawn on April 19, 1775. Soldiers passed by Smith's house on their way to Concord, and again on their way back to Boston.

Paul Revere and William Dawes were detained by a British Army patrol nearby during the "Midnight Ride" to Concord. Samuel Prescott, 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 Hartwell and informed him of the pending arrival of the British soldiers.^[4] Ephraim sent his black slave, Violet, down the road to alert his son, Samuel, and his family. Mary Hartwell, Samuel's wife, then relayed the message to William Smith.^[5] The minutemen received the notice in time, and arrived at Old North Bridge before their enemy. Prescott made it to Concord.^[6]

The redcoats' return to Boston later in the day was also eventful:

"The running battle back to Boston passed by Smith's house around 1:30 p.m., and a British regular who was wounded nearby was left in the care of Catharine Louisa, Captain Smith's wife. Despite her best efforts and those of Lexington physician Joseph Fiske, the soldier died of his wounds two or three days later, and he was buried near the farmhouse." – National Park Service

Personal life

In 1771, Smith married Catharine Louisa Salmon,^[7] daughter of William and Elizabeth Dodge. Catharine's parents gifted their house, today's Captain William Smith House, to her. William and Catharine lived there 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 commanded by Colonel John Nixon.^[8][9] He died in New Castle, New York, in January 1777.^[10]

Death

Smith died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1787, aged 40. He had abandoned his wife and (now six) children and became an alcoholic. Smith's father 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.

References