7. (1 soldier) Near
Folly Pond
(just past the tunnel under Hanscom
Drive and west of the Paul Revere capture site). The marker is on the north side of the road
adjacent to the walking trail.
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NEAR HERE IS
BURIED
A BRITISH
SOLDIER
APRIL
19, 1775
Hersey
(pages 26 and 27)
“Near Captain Smith’s house another
grenadier was shot. His companions,
seeing that his wound was mortal, left him by the roadside. This soldier was later carried into Captain Smith’s
house, and his wounds were dressed. Here
he lingered alive three or four days.
During this time he felt that he caused the Smiths so much trouble, and
he was suffering with such pain, that he begged them again and again to dispatch
him. Finally, when dying, he told the
maid that she would find a gold sovereign sewed in the lining of his coat. She could not find it, but he reiterated with
his last words that it was there. After
he was dead, Mrs. Smith herself found it.
He is buried in a field on the southerly side of the road a little west
of Folly Pond.”
Coburn (page 103):
“It was not a complete lull in the
battle, however, for an American bullet terminated the life of one Briton at
least."
The remains were uncovered a few years ago
when the road builders were widening and grading anew the highway. He was reinterred over the bordering wall in
the field to the southwest of the highway, a short distance westerly from Folly
Pond. Statement of Mr. George Nelson,
near-by resident, who saw the remains and pointed out to me in 1890 the
locations of the old and new graves.”
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