James Hayward Tombstone

This headstone once marked the spot in Woodlawn Cemetery where James Hayward, a minute man who fought and died in the Battle of Concord on April 19th, 1775, was originally laid to rest. In 1851, it was relocated to Acton’s town common at the base of the Isaac Davis Monument, and Hayward’s remains were re-interred within the monument.

The tombstone’s inscription reads:

In memory of Mr James
Hayward son of Cap
Samuel & Mrs Mary Hayward
who was Killed in Concord
fight April 19 th 1775 Aged
25 years and 4 days.
This monument may unborn ages tell
How brave young Hayward like a Hero fell
When fighting for his Country’s Liberty
Was slain, & here his Body now doth lye;
He & his foe were by each other slain,
His victim’s blood with his ye Earth did stain
Upon ye field he was with victory Croun’d
And yet must yeald his breath upon that ground
He exprest his hope in God before his death
After his foe had yielded up his breath
O may his death a lasting witness lye
Against oppressors bloody cruilty.