When the Patriots had gone, Jones sent the hired man to Wheaton's and had him guide Howe to Marlborough, near Worcester, over back roads. Howe bedded down at the home of a Marlborough Tory named Barnes, unaware that he had been seen walking toward Worcester by a woman up with a sick child.

Barnes, unsuspected himself, heard the news at a local tavern. The next morning, he told the sergeant that he had better stay out of sight. After dark, Howe borrowed Barnes' horse and rode to Worcester, where he met another Tory and learned the location of gunpowder and weapons collected by the Whigs. The next night, he rode back to Squire Barnes' house.

Howe and Barnes conferred about Patriot preparations, then the Englishman composed a detailed account of the militia and ammunition from there [Boston] to Weston and from this place [Marlborough] to Worcester. Barnes pointed out a safe route to Concord across the lots and road.

Just as he was about to leave, Howe heard a strange voice saying, Esquire, we have come to search your house for spies. Fortunately for Howe, the spy hunters had not thought to surround the house. Clambering out of a second-story window, he jogged across the snow to a swamp. Looking back at the house, he saw lights dodging at every window. He heard horses' feet in the road, as if great numbers were collecting at the Esq's house.

Hastily pushing on, he stumbled across a house in the middle of the swamp, knocked on the door and found that it was occupied by a black couple. They invited him to stay the night, but he offered to pay them if they could put him on the road to Concord.

The householder asked what business could possibly be so urgent that he had to travel through a swamp on such a cold night. Howe said he had to go to Concord to make guns to kill the regulars. He said he had heard that they would be out of Boston in a few weeks.

The woman said she had heard there had been a number of regulars around Squire Barnes' house a day or two earlier.

Is Squire Barnes a Tory? Howe asked. Indeed he is, said the woman. A wicked Tory. Then I hope they catch him and hang him, said Howe.

The black man then offered to guide the sergeant to Concord. He borrowed a canoe, paddled Howe across the Concord River, and took him to a tavern, where Howe spent the night. He was introduced to a Patriot named Weatherly, who, on April 11, took him to a Major Buttrick in Concord and introduced him as a gunsmith. Buttrick told Howe he was just the man he wanted to see and brought him several gunlocks. These, Howe reported, I repaired with neatness and dispatch, considering the tools I had to work with.

Convinced that Howe was what he claimed to be, the Americans took him to their munitions dumps and asked for his expert opinion on the readiness of their guns and powder.

Howe told the gullible Patriots that he had to go down east to get his gunsmith tools so he could set up shop in Concord. He went to Lincoln, looked up a Tory named Gove and wrote notes on what he had learned, including Gove's report that the Whigs were planning a new armory in Concord. The next night, Gove drove the agent to Charlestown, and by 2 a.m. he was across the river and safe in Boston.

At dawn, Howe put on his uniform and Smith took him to see Gage. Upon seeing his written report, Gage promised the sergeant a 50-guinea reward–but no commission. Gage gave Howe one guinea immediately, saying: Take that, John, and go and get some liquor. You are not half drunk enough for officers' company.

At 11 a.m., Howe returned and delivered an oral report to the staff. Gage asked if British troops could reach Worcester. Howe, impressed with the Patriots' preparations, reported that 10,000 men could not do it.

Fat Francis Smith burst out, Howe has been scared by the old women.

The opening was too good for Major John Pitcairn, the marine who would command the van of Smith's expedition to Concord.

But not by a black wench, eh, John?

The officers roared.

On April 18, Lt. Col. Smith got his orders from General Gage. That night he would march with the corps of Grenadiers and Light Infantry put under your command with the utmost expedition and secrecy to Concord, where you will seize and destroy all the artillery and ammunition you can find.

At Lexington, the British encountered colonial militia who tried to bar their progress. A shot was fired, followed by more. The British scattered the Whigs and marched on, only to be repulsed by a larger, more determined group of militia at Concord. Although no one realized it at the time, Gage's attempt to seize ammunition from the local Whigs had set off a powder keg. The American Revolutionary War had begun.

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This article was written by William Weir and originally published in the December 1995 issue of Military History magazine.

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