Captain Isaac Davis Plaque

In April 1975, the Isaac Davis Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution dedicated a plaque to their namesake near the North Bridge in Concord. Captain Davis, who led a company of minute men from the town of Acton, was killed during the first volley of British musket fire at the Concord Fight—and consequently, he was the very first Patriot officer to be killed in the American Revolution.

Captain Davis and the minute men in his command were distinguished for their fearless demeanor while they led the march as the Patriots’ designated vanguard. Seeing the men advancing in double file, the opposing British forces advanced across the Old North Bridge to take up positions. Though no order to fire had been given, a single shot rang out from one of the British Regulars, followed by a confused volley from the rest of their line. Of the Patriot casualties, Captain Davis and Private Abner Hosmer, both from Acton, were killed, and four others were injured.

In its entirety, the plaque reads:

ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 19, 1775, APPROXIMATELY
400 COLONIALS STOOD ON THE HILL OVERLOOKING THE
NORTH BRIDGE. AS SMOKE ROSE FROM CONCORD CENTER,
THE ORDER TO MARCH WAS GIVEN. IN THE EXCHANGE
OF FIRE THAT FOLLOWED, CAPTAIN ISAAC DAVIS, WHO
HAD EXCLAIMED “I HAVEN’T A MAN WHO IS AFRAID TO GO”,
WAS KILLED TOGETHER WITH ABNER HOSMER, A PRIVATE,
ALSO FROM ACTON.

THIS MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED BY THE CAPTAIN ISAAC DAVIS CHAPTER
OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, APRIL, 1975.