In an engraving by Amos Doolittle, British Major John Pitcairn and Col. Francis Smith survey Concord from a hill in the town cemetery.
(December 28, 1722–June 18, 1775)
Royal Marine Officer
The gallant Pitcairn was a fearless marine who evinced great interest in the care and training of his men. Alternately profane and pious, he is best remembered for his role on that fateful morning at Lexington Green, when the first shots of the American Revolution were fired.
John Pitcairn was born in the port of Dysart, Scotland, on December 28, 1722, the son of a parson. Having matured next to the sea, he joined Cornwall’s Seventh Marines in 1746 as a lieutenant. In 1756, one year after the Royal Marines had been established as a standing force, Pitcairn became a captain. He handled himself capably and five years later advanced to major. By 1774, the political situation in Boston had deteriorated to the point where the English government resolved to reinforce Governor Thomas Gage with several thousand soldiers. Among them was a battalion of marines under Pitcairn, which was drawn from companies among the Chatham, Portsmouth, and Plymouth Divisions. These were then organized into a composite infantry battalion and deployed as such. At Boston, Pitcairn stuck many observers as coarse and profane in the line of duty. However, he took exceptionally keen interest in the well-being of his men. On one occasion, when several marines died from overindulgence in strong Boston rum, Pitcairn lived in the barracks with them continuously for several months to wean them of this destructive habit. He also drilled his marines vigorously, accompanied them on long, forced marches into the countryside, and kept all ranks in a high state of readiness. Consequently, when hostilities did erupt, the Royal Marines were one of the best battalions in the Boston garrison.
For all his brusqueness, Pitcairn was a pious Anglican and attended church regularly. Moreover, he also possessed a demonstrated flair for public relations. Pitcairn was a strong Scot Tory with little sympathy for the colonials and advocated harsh measures to keep them in line. He personally felt that burning several towns “will forever convince those foolish bad people that England is in earnest.” Nevertheless, he was personable and quite charming in dealing with civilians. When quartered in the home of Francis Shaw, an anti-British tailor, Pitcairn won the respect and affection of the entire family through sincerity and personal diplomacy. At length, he became renowned in Boston for honesty and integrity, and he became one of few British officers to enjoy cordial relations with the public at large.
All this changed in April 1775, when Governor Gage felt impelled to prevent the onset of hostilities by force. He was intent upon seizing colonial cannons and ammunition secretly stored at Concord, about 16 miles distant, thereby divesting the militia of heavy ordnance. On the evening of April 18, 1775, he dispatched 800 soldiers under Lt. Col. Francis Smith to seize the rebel supplies, destroy them, and return to Boston. Feeling that the lethargic Smith would benefit from a well-grounded subordinate, he ordered Pitcairn to accompany the column. Throughout their march, the British heard church bells and alarm cannons pealing in the distance, as riders like Paul Revere alerted the countryside of their approach. It also rained all night, increasing the soldiers’ discomfiture. Shortly before dawn, as Smith approached Lexington, he dispatched Pitcairn with six light companies to secure two bridges that the main column would have to cross. It was in the act of fulfilling these orders, on the morning of April 19, 1775, that the British encountered Capt. John Parker’s company of American Minutemen assembled on Lexington Green. Pitcairn quickly deployed his men to face them, and several tense moments ensued. Beforehand, the strict officer issued positive instructions that the soldiers were not to fire under any circumstances without orders. Several British officers then harangued the militia and ordered them to disperse and lay down their arms. Parker’s men were in the act of dispersing—still armed—when a shot suddenly rang out of nowhere. The British soldiers, wet, exhausted, and now perceiving themselves under fire, started shooting at the Americans. It took several minutes for Pitcairn to restore order, but irretrievable damage had been wrought. Eight Americans lay dead, and several more were wounded. British losses were one wounded soldier, while Pitcairn’s horse had been grazed by a bullet. Pausing only long enough for Smith to arrive, both officers then pushed on to their final objective.
The column reached Concord without further incident, destroyed some colonial supplies, and promptly executed an about-face. However, news of the “battle” at Lexington had inflamed colonial passions, and militiamen began lining the roadways, sniping at the British soldiers. As Smith and Pitcairn herded their command along, several thousand Americans showed up to take potshots at the redcoats, inflicting serious losses. Order nearly collapsed by the time Lexington was reached, and only the appearance of a relief column under Gen. Hugh Percy saved Smith from destruction. At this juncture Pitcairn’s horse panicked and threw him, and he walked the remaining distance. In this manner he lost his brace of fine pistols—still preserved at the Lexington Historical Society in Massachusetts. Considering the numbers involved and the losses sustained, it had been a close call for the British. Worse, they now found themselves at war.
For two months, nearly 15,000 colonial militia bottled up Gage’s 8,000 redcoats in Boston without further violence. The impasse broke on the evening of June 16, when rebels seized the high ground near Charlestown and began digging in. Gage, fearful that cannons posted there would cut off his access to the sea, ordered Gen. William Howe to clear the heights in a display of British force. The ensuing Battle of Bunker Hill, fought on June 17, 1775, caught everybody by surprise. The American militia stood its ground and inflicted horrendous casualties upon the neatly advancing British infantry. Pitcairn and his marines were held in the reserve until the third and final charge. Ordered to advance, he pushed aside a retreating body of infantry, yelling, “Break and let the Marines through!” The sea soldiers then fought their way onto the parapet with Pitcairn at their head, swinging his sword and shouting, “Now, for the glory of the Marines!” At that point the gallant major was shot down and fatally injured. His wound has been traditionally ascribed to Salem Prince, a free African American, who literally fired the last shot of the battle. Pitcairn was subsequently taken by his son, Lt. Thomas Pitcairn, to a house back in Boston. General Gage also dispatched his personal physician, Dr. Thomas Kast, to attend to his needs, but the patient succumbed the following morning. To his last dying moments, Pitcairn swore that he did not fire the first shots at Lexington. He was initially buried at the Old North Church, Boston, and in 1791 his remains were shipped to London for re-interment there. In the words of one rebel, Reverend Ezra Stiles, Pitcairn was “a good man in a bad cause.” A charming, if apocryphal, anecdote has survived about his passing. When son Thomas exclaimed, “I have lost a father,” some nearby marines responded, “We have all lost a father.” Pitcairn’s devotion to duty and heroic self-sacrifice were in the finest tradition of the Royal Marines.
Bibliography
Boaz, Thomas. “For the Glory of the Marines”: The Organization, Training, Uniforms, and Combat Role of the British Marines During the American Revolution. Devon, PA: Dockside Press, 1993; Bracken, Jean M. “The First to Die.” American History 31, no. 1 (1996): 24–27, 62–63; Brooks, Victor. The Boston Campaign, April 19, 1775–March 17, 1776. Conshohocken, PA: Combined, 1999; Fischer, David H. Paul Revere’s Ride. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994; Fleming, Thomas. The First Stroke: Lexington, Concord, and the Beginning of the American Revolution. Lexington, MA: National Park Service, 1978; Galvin, John R. The Minuteman: The First Fight: Myths and Realities of the American Revolution. Washington, DC: Pergamon-Brasseys, 1989; Hallahan, William H. The Day the Revolution Began, 19 April, 1775. New York: Avon Books, 1999; Hudson, Charles. “The Character of Major John Pitcairn.” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 17 (1879–1880): 315–326; Kurtz, Henry I. “Bunker Hill, 1775: A Dear-Bought Victory.” History Today 25, no. 9 (1974): 610–614; Pitcairn, Constance. The History of the Fife Pitcairns. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1905.
