‘When the British troops had arrived within about a hundred rods of the meetinghouse, as I was afterwards told by a prisoner, which we took, they heard our drum, and supposing it to be a challenge, they were ordered to load their muskets, and to move at double quick time.’

-A portion of the deposition given by William Munro March 7, 1825

How peculiar the 80-year-old William Munro must have felt on April 19th 1822 as he celebrated with a beverage at the local tavern with twenty survivors of the original Lexington Militia, which made history that same day in 1775. Munro and his friends possibly did the first re-enactment of the Battle of Lexington 47 years to the day while attracting hundreds of spectators to the event. Playing the late Captain Parker, Munro faced a group of ‘British re-enactors’ commanded by Col. Benjamin Wellington who uttered the words ‘Disperse ye rebels and ye will not be harmed’. It was arranged that a man should run from the meetinghouse and fall dead as in the original battle; but he was criticized (jokingly) that he recovered from his death too fast.

Here was ‘Will’ Munro who had seen his generation found a nation, establish a new type of government and survive another war in 1812. Munro was a man who had given much service to his country first as the orderly sergeant in Parker’s Company and then a brief stint of duty in Cambridge during May and June of ’75. Enlisting as a private, Munro would later become a 1st Lieutenant in Captain John Bridge’s 3rd Middlesex Company. During Shay’s Rebellion, Munro would ride with the rank of Colonel in the Massachusetts Militia.

After the war there would be service to the Town of Lexington as a Selectman and Representative to the Massachusetts General Court.

Financially, Will was a simple Tavern keeper who nonetheless would amass a sum of real estate and personal assets of over $1700 as early as 1796 making him one of the wealthiest men in Lexington. The Munro Tavern was a going concern servicing ‘herds’ of drovers who brought their livestock to Boston from as far away as New Hampshire. There would be many a cold New England night where the weary and hungry traveler might feast and drink heartily by the warm fires the Tavern provided.

The women of the day would die from various ailments, primarily as a result of childbirth. Surprisingly, embers from the hearth igniting petticoats and dresses would come in a close second. Will Munro married Anna Smith who bore him William, Anna, Sarah, Lucinda, Jonas, and Edmund. Anna would succumb in 1781 from an unknown cause. A second marriage to Mary (or Polly) Rogers gave him a feisty partner who would help him run the Tavern for many years. It was Mary who lavishly entertained in grand fashion the newly elected President George Washington who visited Massachusetts (and Lexington) in the fall of 1789.

As the muffled conversations and laughter amplified in the tavern of 1822, Will tried to recall the face of his older brother Edmund. More a soldier than he, Edmund went off to fight gallantly in the French & Indian War with distinction. Will stood with his brother that fateful day in Lexington, as all hell would break loose. Later, the Munro family would grieve after learning of Edmund’s untimely death at the Battle of Monmouth.

Of Munro’s children not much is known of the girls, however Will’s sons would encounter various success and hardship. William would become a merchant in Boston but later die in Richmond Virginia as a result of a stagecoach mishap. Jonas would run the Tavern for many years until the stagecoach trade would dry up due in part to the introduction of the railroads. ‘Uncle Jonas’ as he was affectionately called would later drown while swimming in the nearby town of Somerville. Edmund founded the New England Glass Company, which would later be bought by Mr. W.L. Libbey who would move the company to Toledo, Ohio. Libbey Glass survives and prospers to this day.

A lifetime had passed for Will as he welled up and thought selfishly of his own mortality. The new country for which he had fought and later contributed to for these many years was beginning to flex its muscle as a North American power. Might the original survivors that April day in 1822 comprehend the United States becoming a world power during the beginnings of the next century?

Will sat back and reflected on the day’s events, the re-enactment, the cheering spectators and how the ‘embattled farmers’ all shook hands with the ‘Kings Troops’ when it was done. The comfort and closeness of Will’s old friends and family made him feel warm and brought a smile to his face as he signaled to the barkeep for another of his favorite beverage. Yes, Munro thought, he had as productive and interesting a life as a man could ask for.

Old Will lived another five years all the while weaving stories of his experiences from those first days of our independence. Finally in 1827 the old orderly sergeant would join the rest of his compatriots who had gone before him, that small band of Parker’s Company.

-Prepared by PCC James D. Roberts