The annual reenactment of the Acton Minutemen’s march from the Isaac Davis home site at 39 Hayward Rd in Acton to the Old North Bridge in Concord, took place earlier than usual this year, on Friday, April 18. One longtime veteran of the walk commented that the mild weather was about the most ideal they had ever seen. A former Boy Scout recalled that one year the wind and rain were deemed too dangerous and the marchers were bused for the last section.
About three hundred people participated in the four-hour event this year, with many first-time walkers honoring the 250 year anniversary of the historic march. Past Captain of the Acton Minutemen Steve Crosby spoke at the start of the march and in Acton’s town center.
Town Manager John Mangiaratti also spoke, acknowledging the group of descendants of the Willard and Davis families, who traveled from all over the world to join this year and whose donations funded new signage and markers as well as a sign in the town center with the names of all the men who marched to Concord. Mangiaratti also thanked the Acton 250 Committee and the Minutemen “for the vital role you play. You are keeping Acton’s story – and Acton’s role in our history – alive.”
Crosby posed the question that many visitors ponder, about whether they would be as brave as the men who set out that morning 250 years ago. “They were courageous beyond probably anything that I have in me…I try to think of what was going through their minds as they set off for Concord.” Isaac Davis said at the time, “I have not a man that is afraid to go.” Davis left his wife at home with four sick children. He was the first American officer to die in the Revolution, shot through the heart at the Old North Bridge. Also killed that day were 16-year old Abner Hosmer and Private James Hayward. Hayward was not able to formally join the Minutemen because he had been injured in a wood chopping accident. However, Hayward “hobbled” to Concord by himself, Crosby said, and continued on to Lexington. At Fiske Farm in Lexington, a British soldier emerged from around a corner of a house and declared, “You are a dead man.” Hayward replied, “And so are you,” and the two simultaneously shot each other. The soldier died on the spot but Hayward survived long enough that day to relate this story. The bodies of Davis, Hosmer, and Hayward were all moved to Acton’s Town Center 174 years ago and remain at rest beneath the monument.
The April 18 commemorative march ended at Old North Bridge, at Daniel Chester French’s 1875 statue of Isaac Davis, “The Minute Man”.
Along the way, marchers following the Minutemen shared their stories with the Acton Exchange.
- Bob Davis, relative of Isaac Davis, helped to organize the reunion of 60 of his fellow descendants of Simon Willard and Simon’s brother-in-law Dolar Davis (b. 1599 in Kent, England). Members of the family traveled from as far as London, Alabama, California, Florida, Washington state, Illinois, and as close as Gardner, MA. The Willard Family Association was founded in 1909. Davis spoke with great respect for the “42 men who loaded up to fight against the greatest army in the world at that time. In addition to the three men who died and are buried at the Isaac Davis Monument in Acton, the other 39 men were also ready to die.” This, he said, was the impetus for the new monument in Acton’s center that his family donated. They wanted to honor all 42 men, including those not officially members of the Minutemen militia. As the marchers on Friday descended toward Nashoba Brook in the woods purchased in 2023 from the Conant family by the Acton Water District, Davis told stories of relatives who were Concord’s founders, governors of Massachusetts, presidents of Harvard College, and opposers of the Salem witch trials. This week’s reunion included trips to the Freedom Trail, Harvard, the Willard House and Clock Museum in Grafton, MA, Concord, Acton’s historic houses, and the Lexington Green. Davis said more information about Dolar Davis and his descendants can be found on Wikipedia.
- Keith Batchelder grew up in Acton and now lives in Narragansett, RI. His father, Jack Batchelder, was one of the original Acton Minutemen reenactors in the 1960s and 1970s, and Keith used to join in as a child. Keith mentioned Walter Johnson, Earl Nadeau, Dick Bedford, and others who were engaged early on with Jack. Jack passed away in 2005. After the march, Keith sent further information about his family to the Acton Exchange by email. Jack rose to the rank of Colonel in the 1970s. Apparently, the Acton Minutemen no longer have that high a rank; the top rank is Captain, which matches Isaac Davis’s rank. After the Bicentennial, Jack got involved in Civil Defense and spent a lot of time in the 3 School Street building, organizing training, police support, and town events. On top of his electronics job, he became part of Acton’s police force and printed the Beacon newspaper every Tuesday night for many years, passing it on to the paper boys for Thursday delivery. Keith’s mother, Maureen, passed away a year ago. Keith wrote about her jobs as a nursery school teacher and, like many in his family, at Digital Equipment Corporation.
- Bill Spencer traveled from San Diego to walk in honor of his dad, also Bill Spencer, one of the Jaycees of Acton (Junior Chamber of Commerce – professional men in their 20s and 30s) who organized the first march in 1963, following in the footsteps of the Boy Scouts who researched the route in the 1950s and started marching to Concord in 1957. The younger Bill still displays his father’s musket over his mantelpiece. The elder Spencer marched to Concord on crutches, as he was healing from a mower accident, bringing to mind James Hayward’s story. When the Jaycees joined in 1963, they found some 160-year-old musket parts in a warehouse in Belgium. Liège, Belgium, was the world’s center of firearm production. A local gunsmith took the circa 1802 Belgian musket parts – literally lock, stock, and barrel – and assembled them into muskets for the first march to Concord of the modern Acton Minutemen. In 1964, the modern Acton Minutemen organization was formally chartered, Spencer said.
- Sarah Shamel wrote, after the march, “I’ve done the Acton to Concord Patriot’s Day Minuteman March at least 20 times! As a kid, a high-schooler, a new mom, all the way from Beverly dressed up and with all three of my kids, and now as an Acton resident.” Sarah’s grandfather, Ray Shamel, was one of the early Acton Minutemen. He marched in the Bicentennial parade and for many decades afterwards, and he helped save the Hosmer House. He was on the Library Board of Trustees when the library was remodeled. He also made two other contributions of note to the Minutemen’s march. First, he helped secure the right-of-way for the woods portion of the walk near Brooks St. Second, Sarah’s mother (Ray’s daughter-in-law) wrote, “There used to be a fence on the Buttrick Mansion side off the Old North Bridge, behind the Isaac Davis Statue, so you couldn’t walk straight through. Papa said, ‘You’ve got to remove this fence, because the Acton Minutemen have to March through here!’” “Though not a morning person, it has become a favorite springtime tradition of mine to walk to Concord with the Acton Minutemen,” Sarah said. “I love marching to the drum and fife, seeing all the daffodils coming up along the route, and getting to the Old North Bridge in the morning, having already walked so far … Every year I consider becoming an Acton Minute-person, but I haven’t made the leap yet!”
- Oliver and Margee Will, adult kids of longtime Acton volunteer Joe Will and ‘92 and ‘97 graduates of Acton-Boxborough, completed the march with a two-and-a-half year old in tow in a wagon. Joe and his wife didn’t participate as they were away on grandparenting duties. Oliver and Margee planned at least a year in advance to come home from Pennsylvania and Washington to participate in the Acton 250 celebration.
- Mike Conoby, is a former member of Boy Scout Troop 1, which is called the Isaac Davis troop, because they researched the line of march. Conoby said, “It’s nice to be involved in remembering a thing like this. It is also nice to be mindful of the trouble they went through to start – to keep mindful of what sparked, actually – a global change, if we are to be honest.”
- Devon Miller (AB ‘18), a former member of Troop 284 in Acton, joined the march many times along with two other Acton troops. “Aside from a tradition I have been doing since I was a kid, it’s obviously important to keep alive the spirit of fighting for freedom against oppression because that never ends, you know?” Miller recalled the giant Boy Scout jamboree on School St. in Acton.
- Sally Sun and Peng Shao moved to Acton last year. Their kids, Andrew and Aiden, finished the walk still full of spirit, climbing trees as they waited for the bus back to Acton. Sally said they joined the walk because they “want the kids to learn Acton history, cultural history, and traditions.” Peng waxed enthusiastic about the connections of Boston history to our present day world, from the beginning of the American Revolution to Alexander Graham Bell’s first transmission of sound over wire, which led to the development of the telephone.
- Rob Gogan, organizer of Acton Cleanup Week and perpetual litter collector, filled a bag with trash he found along the march. He said the most common type of trash people toss along roads are liquor nips, cigarette butts, and (losing) lottery tickets.
Littleton resident Karen O’Neil sent historic photographs to the Acton Exchange this week. A hundred years ago, in 1925, at the Sesquicentennial, or 150th, anniversary, Karen’s husband Jim O’Neil’s father, Dick O’Neil, was 16 years old. He and his father dressed in historic uniforms in preparation for the Minutemen and posed for photographs in front of their barn at 32 Wetherbee St., East Acton. Jim, who now lives in Littleton, wrote, “My father, Dick O’Neil, was also on the steering committee for the formation of the current Acton Minutemen in 1963. I believe other members of the steering committee were Walter Johnson, Theron Lowden, Clark McElvein, Clayton Hagy, Frank Weatherbee and Dr. David Smith.” Karen said that Jim and his brother, Tom O’Neil, also served as Acton Minutemen and were among the Boy Scouts who were the first to do the Line of March from Acton to Concord in 1957.
Please tell us your story about the march and other Acton 250 events. Send it to editors@actonexchange.org.
Franny Osman is the Editor-in-Chief of the Acton Exchange and a local history buff.
