Free Republic

As darkness began to set in, colonials began to attack the front of the column. There were a few cavalry units made up of older, experienced men who rode to within shot of the front of the column, dismounted and fired with great accuracy, then mounting and riding away only to reappear elsewhere. Now and then, the Regulars would fire cannon scattering the Militia who would quickly materialize again as the British column approached Menotomy. At Jason Russel’s house, British soldiers invaded the house killing eleven Americans, including Russel who was later found bayoneted at the foot of the stairs....

"Let us look back at Samuel Whittemore. Samuel was an old man -- seventy-eight years old, to be exact -- on April 19, 1775. After many years of service bearing arms for the British Crown, surely he was too old to fight, and his wife even told him so. On that fateful morning, though, he gathered up his musket, two pistols, and a cavalry saber that he acquired from a French officer who "died suddenly" and took his place to meet the British Regulars in Menotomy."