the approach of our people, who had retreated, as mentioned before, and were now advancing with special orders not to fire upon the troops unless fired upon. These orders were so punctually observed that we received the fire of the enemy in three several and separate discharges of their pieces before it was returned by our commanding officer; the firing then soon became general for several minutes, in which skirmish two were killed on each side, and several of the enemy wounded. It may here be observed, by the way, that we were the more cautious to prevent beginning a rupture with the King’s troops, as we were then uncertain what had happened at Lexington, and knew [not][A] that they had began the quarrel there by first firing upon our people, and killing eight men upon the spot. The three companies of troops soon quitted their post at the bridge, and retreated in the greatest disorder and confusion to the main body, who were soon upon the march to meet them. For half an hour, the enemy, by their marches and counter-marches, discovered great fickleness and inconstancy of mind, sometimes advancing, sometimes returning to their former posts; till, at length they quitted the town, and retreated by the way they came. In the mean time, a party of our men (150) took the back way through the Great Fields into the east quarter, and had placed themselves to advantage, lying in ambush behind walls, fences and buildings, ready to fire upon the enemy on their retreat.’” [89] _Page 78, note 1._ Fifty years after his death the town erected a cenotaph to the memory of its brave young minister, whose body lies by the shore of Otter Creek, near Rutland, Vermont. On it they wrote:— “Enthusiastic, eloquent, affectionate and pious, he loved his family, his people, his God and his Country, and to this last he yielded the cheerful sacrifice of his life.” [90] _Page 78, note 2._ Town Records, Dec. 1775. [91] _Page 79, note 1._ These facts are recorded by Shattuck in his _History_. [92] _Page 79, note 2._ Bradford’s _History of Massachusetts_, vol. ii., p. 113. [93] _Page 79, note 3._ Shattuck. [94] _Page 80, note 1._ Town Records, May 3, 1782. [95] _Page 81, note 1._ Town Records, Sept. 9, and Bradford’s _History_, vol. i., p. 266. [96] _Page 81, note 2._ The Rev. Grindall Reynolds, late pastor of the First Church in Concord, wrote an interesting account of Shays’s Rebellion, and various papers concerning his adopted town which are included in his _Historical and Other Papers_, published by his daughter in 1895. [97] _Page 81, note 3._ Town Records, Oct. 21. [98] _Page 82, note 1._ Town Records, May 7. [99] _Page 82, note 2._ Town Records, 1834 and 1835. In 1903-4 the town, with a population of about 5000, appropriated for public purposes $65,752, the amount for school purposes being $28,000.