Samuel Whittemore Marker

An 80-year-old farmer and decorated officer of the French and Indian War, Samuel Whittemore was living in Menotomy (present day Arlington) when the British arrived on April 19, 1775. As the British troops retreated from Concord via Menotomy, Whittemore joined the scuffle. He fired upon the British troops, first with his musket and then his pistols, killing two soldiers and mortally wounding another. Whittemore then pulled out his sword and began slashing at other British soldiers even after receiving multiple bayonet wounds and being shot at point-blank range.

The Samuel Whittemore Marker was originally sited on the northerly corner of Russell Park, at the junction of Mystic and Chestnut streets, but it has been relocated several times since it was erected in 1878. Today, the marker commemorates the event rather than marking the precise point where Whittemore was wounded.

The inscription indicates that Whittemore passed away at age 98. Contemporary research records Whittemore’s death as occurring in 1793 at the age of 96. Nonetheless, he is remembered as the oldest known Patriot to fight in the Revolutionary War. A 2005 proclamation named Whittemore the official state hero of Massachusetts and named February 3, the day after his death, an annual day of commemoration in his honor.

The marker’s inscription reads:

NEAR THIS SPOT
SAMUEL WHITTEMORE,
THEN 80 YEARS OLD,
KILLED THREE BRITISH SOLDIERS
APRIL 19, 1775.
HE WAS SHOT, BAYONETED,
BEATEN AND LEFT FOR DEAD,
BUT RECOVERED AND LIVED
TO BE 98 YEARS OF AGE.