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Reliving the Battle of Lexington: A Minuteman's Story

• Michele McAloon • Season 3 • Episode 132

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Steve Delity brings history alive as he prepares to portray Daniel Harrington in the 250th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Lexington. Through meticulous research and authentic reproduction, he honors the legacy of the ordinary citizens who took extraordinary action on April 19, 1775.

• Daniel Harrington was the 36-year-old clerk of Captain John Parker's Lexington Militia who lived with his wife and seven children in a house facing the Lexington Green
• The night before the battle was filled with activity—Paul Revere and William Dawes arrived to warn of British movements while militia gathered at the village green
• Captain Parker instructed his men "do not molest them, do not fire on them" and "if they mean to start war, let it begin here"
• According to Harrington's deposition, as the militia began to disperse following British demands, a shot rang out that wasn't from the Lexington Minutemen
• After the British marched to Concord, Parker regathered his men for "Parker's Revenge," setting an ambush along the British retreat route
• Delighty was inspired to become a reenactor after watching the symbolic "black fog" of musket smoke descend on Lexington Green during a previous reenactment
• The 250th anniversary celebration will include multiple events beginning with Paul Revere's ride and continuing through the largest living history reenactment ever staged

Watch the televised reenactment with your family to understand how important our founding story is to our story today.


Michele McAloon:

You're listening to Crossword, where cultural clues lead to the truth of the word, and my name is Michelle McAloon. This podcast is actually a companion podcast with my earlier podcast and that one is called Shots Heard Around the World, and this is really about the Battle of Lexington. And today I am interviewing Mr Steve Delity, who plays a character a actual, not even a character, a historical person in the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington which is happening on Patriot's Day, april 19th, this Saturday. I hope everyone gets a chance to watch and I hope everyone gets to learn a little bit about the Battle of Lexington. It was really important to the starting and the founding of our country, which is very, very important to remember these days.

Michele McAloon:

All right, thank you, god bless, thanks for listening. Hello folks, one of the treats of having a nonfiction book podcast is the people that you get to interview, who write the stories, who tell the stories, who live the stories. But today we have a special treat because we have a re-enactor, a actual, live, living, minute man of the 21st century who is going to participate in the Battle of Lexington on Saturday, april 19th, the 250th celebration of the Battle of Lexington. I'd like to make a warm welcome to Steve Delightee, aka Daniel Harrington. Steve, welcome to the show.

Steve Delity:

Thank you very much. I'm excited to participate.

Michele McAloon:

Oh, that's great. All right, Steve Delity. You hail to us from Lexington, massachusetts. That's where you live right now. Right, correct, okay, and I know you started off life as a West Point cadet and then became a very successful businessman, but now you find yourself dressing as and becoming not just dressing, but becoming one of the Lexington Minute Men. Tell us about who you will transform yourself into on Saturday, on the 250th celebration of the Battle of Lexington.

Steve Delity:

Okay, I portrayed Daniel Harrington. Daniel Harrington was the clerk of Captain John Parker's Lexington Militia Company and one of the strongest attractions for me to join the Minuteman Company is that every member portrays a character that was on the green that morning. So when I joined there was a list of half a dozen or so available slots and I looked up all the individuals and Daniel Harrington was the one I found most interesting and I'm glad I chose him. He's pretty prominent, reasonably prominent character in the grand scheme of things in the town of Lexington and there's a lot more to learn and I've begun to read a lot of books that I otherwise wouldn't have to try to pick up some nuggets about his life.

Michele McAloon:

Well, Daniel Harrington, aka Steve Delighty, tell us about your life, Daniel Harrington's life, and where he was in his life at the morning of the battle.

Steve Delity:

On that morning he was 36-year-old. He and his wife, anna Monroe Harrington, lived right on the green they just on the very west side of the Lexington Green, the Village Green, the green where the confrontation ultimately took place. He was a blacksmith. He was, for the town, reasonably well off. He was a respected member of the town. He was selected to be a member of the eruption of the conflict and then he was elected a town selectman and town assessor and served in various other roles. He and his wife, at the point of April 1775, had seven children. The oldest was a 14-year-old boy, the youngest was a 15-month-old girl and, at that point I think, three boys and four daughters who witnessed. Well, the oldest for sure witnessed, because we have affidavit that he wrote in 1825 about his experience witnessing the events of that morning from his front window of the house, overlooking the green.

Michele McAloon:

So this is a man, that is, he is really in the very tapestry of this town. He has grown up here, he has had his family here. His wife, alice Monroe, is also very much part of this town and I believe she has a couple relatives also in the battle on this morning and his cousin Jonathan Harrington Jr, and another cousin, caleb Harrington, all die from wounds suffered the hands of the British that morning. Let's position him where he was that morning. So on the 16th, 17th and 18th of 1775, april, solomon Brown.

Steve Delity:

He was one of the scouts sent out. Yes, he's the one who came in with word that the British were on their way.

Michele McAloon:

Did Daniel Harrington ever see? Do you think ever saw the regulars or the British prior to the actual battle?

Steve Delity:

It's unknown, not documented, but likely just given where he lives. So tensions were high, things were stirring and British sent patrols out ahead of the advancing columns of British that were marching. They were dispatched, the British troops, late at night they rode across the Charles River, got out in marshy boggy land on the shore. So it was miserable for these British guys. They were like water-soaked boots. They're marching but there were advanced guards. And then of course, paul Revere and moments later William Dawes both arrived in town late. There was a whole network of alarm riders. So along the way they were letting these alarm riders know that the regulars were on the move and they went out on their network. Several dozen towns got the word and the word was that they were going to Concord through Lexington. And the word was that they were going to Concord through Lexington. They knew that they were after weapons, gunpowder stores held in Concord. Concord at that point had been the provisional capital of the colonial government.

Steve Delity:

But John Hancock and Sam Adams, two prominent figures in the Sons of Liberty leading this whole, you know the Sons of Liberty were behind the Boston Tea Party and the resistance. They had fled Boston fearing that they were going to be imprisoned and were staying at a relative's house in Lexington, reverend Jonas Clark. So they were there. So Revere and Dawes were coming to Lexington, first through different routes, to first warn John Hancock and Adam to evacuate, to get out, so that they couldn't be arrested. So there was a lot of activity and beginning. Then riders went to Captain Jones Park and he came down to the Village Green. So by 1 am British riders would have gone by his house who were the advanced patrol, some of this other activity. Once Revere and Dawes were in town and he being so close to the Village Green and the Village Green being the central location for gathering of the townspeople and where the militia drilled, he probably saw a lot of things. Saw a lot of things. But by 2 am or 3 am the first muster was held out on the village green.

Steve Delity:

Don't know who was there, but there was 30 to 40 people. He probably was one of them, but we don't have documentation of exactly who was in that muster and Captain John Parker informed the militiamen who had assembled. Well, we've sent scouts out. If you live close by, you can return home. Otherwise you can rest in Buckman's Tavern, which is still standing, and you can rest there but be within earshot of the drummer's call. So he probably went home, being so close. But it's plausible he could have gone to Buckman Tavern being the clerk. There might have been business to take care of. I don't really know. What I do know is that he's documented as one of the men that were on. There were several depositions and I'm just getting my hands around all the different ones, but there was one that was written and signed by 33 members and he was one of them, so he was definitely on the green when they confronted the British.

Michele McAloon:

Okay, so you brought a couple things there. He was the clerk, so he was the clerk or the militia. Okay, so you brought a couple things there. He was the clerk, so he was the clerk of the militia. Right, so he was basically, we'd say, the S-1, or he was the admin guy for the militia at this point. Okay, he has this fabulous front row seat, literally to what is happening on the green that house. From what I understand, the Harrington house is no longer there. At least Daniel's house is no longer there. Is that correct, correct? Okay, the one next to it, though, is still there, right, correct?

Steve Delity:

There were two Harrington houses in 1775 that faced the green, Daniel and Jonathan who died that morning, and the lot to the right of Daniel Harrington's house. Later in 1794, Daniel built a house there that still stands. He built that house for his oldest son, Levi, who I mentioned earlier was 14. And Levi lived there and that house still stands and on the reenactment the morning I will start from and retreat to Levi Harrington's property.

Michele McAloon:

Okay, very good, all right, so the battle ensues, right, and actually, alexander Kane the interview that I have posted before this one, alexander, he brings up the fact that really, this, the initial skirmish, really lasted only like three to five minutes. That it was very short. Now, did Daniel ever mention anything about who fired the first shot? Because that is the big mystery of the day, isn't it?

Steve Delity:

Yeah, so I'll just back up. Parker is a remarkable man.

Michele McAloon:

This is Captain Parker.

Steve Delity:

Captain Parker is pretty remarkable for the composure he had. So he had formed the men and basically said do not molest them, do not fire on them. Again I'm paraphrasing, but essentially, if they mean to start war, let it begin here. Start war, let it begin here. And then the British two different British officers screamed at the militia to disperse and ordered his men to fix bayonet. There's three companies of British that were on the green at this point who had fixed bayonets. So I think the scene was very chaotic. What Daniel Harrington's one of he and 32 of his fellow members signed was that after the last warning from the British, parker had said all right, men disperse. Parker had said all right, men disperse.

Steve Delity:

And just as they were beginning to do that and just in his deposition, just as the men turned, a shot rang out. And what he says is that it was not the Lexington Minutemen, it wasn't that close. A shot rang out, it was not the Lexington Minutemen. But when that happened, that's when all hell broke loose and the British were three companies. So approximately 300 of the 800 were facing the approximately 70, something 77. It probably wasn't 77 on the green. Some of the men got to the green late and there's documentation that some fired like from what you call the sidelines, from the roads, as the as things started to fire, but Daniel was on the green. What it says is he knows not where the fire came from, but when it happened it was violent and Lexington people began to fall.

Michele McAloon:

Okay, what happened to Anne Monroe during this? And one of the things that Alexander Kane also brought up was that there's a lot of history now about the civilian evacuation that had not occurred before. So what happened to his wife and his children? Where did they go during this melee?

Steve Delity:

happened to his wife and his children. Where did they go during this melee? I am not sure. The only thing I have to go on right now is this deposition that Levi, who was 14 at the time, wrote when he was 39. So on the 50th anniversary of the event, those that were witnessed there was a movement to get as much recorded as possible by witnesses and he was one of them, and from that deposition all I know is that the family was in the house watching. But given that he was watching, probably they were all there, but I don't know for sure.

Michele McAloon:

Okay, fair enough. What about when the British were coming back from Concord, back through Lexington? What was Daniel Harrington's involvement then?

Steve Delity:

So the event that's now been labeled Parker's Revenge. So I think in very courageous leadership by Captain John Parker, after the brief skirmish, but after the melee, after eight Lexington militia members were slain, another 10 were wounded, and so this is all like 6.15, 6 am type of frame. By 10.30, they sounded the alarm to the British, had moved on by 10.30. Parker had the alarm sounded again and mustered all of militia and he gave another famous speech and again I'll paraphrase, but basically he said we took an oath, an oath to defend all that's precious to us, our town, our families, our life if necessary. And now blood has been spilled. Again I'm paraphrasing. He essentially said we know they have to come back through here at some point and I want to go out and fight them on their retreat. And he said something to the effect of I will not demand anyone to go, but I'm asking you all to go. And the story as I understand it is every man that mustered went out.

Steve Delity:

Again, there's no documentation of specifically who went out on Parker's revenge. We know a few names. Two more Lexington militia members died, but they went on the road between Lexington and Concord, Lexington and Concord, and there's a town called Lincoln, a piece of which intersects this road, from Lexington to Concord, and they went out and found ground right around the Lexington-Lincoln line and I think now we have evidence that Parker said he wanted to stay on Lexington ground when he confronted them. But again, what's known as Parker's Revenge? There's a lot more known since 2014. An archaeological survey was done and they changed the location of where it had been believed to have taken place.

Michele McAloon:

Oh, interesting.

Steve Delity:

Yeah, yeah, based on the fan of musket balls that they were able to recover. Yeah, based on the fan of musket balls that they were able to recover. And it turns out that Parker put the men in a very good ambush position and that this was not only a very good ambush position for cover and concealment, but it had a very good covered retreat route and so they retreated and then they harassed them further along the way. But it's not exactly clear how many interactions there were with the British. It's not clear how many of the British that they killed, but they they probably killed more than they lost overall on that day, but there's not an exact number.

Michele McAloon:

Let me ask you a question how did you decide to become a reenactor? What was the process to become Daniel Harrington? Because I know the costumes are very elaborate. This isn't a casual thing. What led you to this point?

Steve Delity:

I moved here in 2007 and I'm a history buff, probably have been more of a history buff reading on the Civil War, but I certainly read about the founding fathers and had a better than average understanding of the Revolutionary War. But I saw this reenactment the first morning. You have to get up early. They do it, you really have to get up early, they do it. You really have to get there like 4 am to get a good shot when things really kick off around 5.15 am. I just was so impressed and so moved. I watched this reenactment and I saw the British and you don't get 800 reenactors on the British side, but they still the number of British reenactors outnumber the colonial reenactors. The was just this enormous cloud of musket smoke and this black fog just descended onto the Lexington Green and I just thought this was very symbolic. This black fog was sending on the British Empire hold in North America. So I really I was interested, but kids were small. I was traveling like crazy In 2014, my neighbor joined and so I knew what I was getting into, what's required and the standards are high.

Steve Delity:

They take this very seriously living history, very authentic clothing, authentic equipment and, as documents are uncovered and as Alexander Kane uncovers more and more information not just he but things change. So I understand. Before I joined, people had different canteens than what we have now, but I have a wooden canteen and that's what they had. They didn't have some of the other types of canteens that were available at that point in colonial America, but they now have documentation of sort of what was issued. There was a proclamation made by the provisional governor that towns needed to raise militia and ordered what they needed to be outfitted with. So everything from our cartridge belts, bayonets, whatever muskets they had, they had to be taken to a blacksmith or some type of mechanic to be cut and retrofitted to accept a bayonet, and so a little network developed of creating equipment between the tanners and the shoemakers. They made these things.

Steve Delity:

So 2014 is my friend Rob Roll, who portrays a Monroe, who portrays a cousin of my Daniel Harrington's wife. There's the Harrington's. I believe there were a total of eight on the field that morning. Okay, it's a very prominent family and Monroe's were not that many, but one or two less, and so a lot of Harrington's, a lot of Monroe's, some Parker's. But I had dinner, my wife and I, and Rob and his wife and I. We got together for dinner about a year ago and I started asking him about reenacting and how big was the 250th anniversary going to be? And he's like, hey, you got time, but if you're going to do it, now's the time. So I did it, I joined and I'm one of the newest members.

Steve Delity:

This will be my first reenactment. There are three others that this will be their first reenactment. It's a lot of work. This will be the busiest year, however long I stick with reenacting. This will be the busiest year because of all the things we're doing. On April 19th, starting with Paul Revere's arrival, there's a reenactment of that. I'll take part in that Friday night. This is going to be like a mini FTX from my army days. There'll be Paul Revere's ride, which will end after midnight, and then the first pickets go out on the green by 3 am, so I'll be part of that, and then the the reenactment ends. And then we go out to what is now Minuteman National Park to do the Parker's Revenge and then we kind of just blend in as other militia firing on the British as they retreat. There's a huge reenactment the largest living reenactment ever, I guess, will take place this Saturday at Minuteman National Park.

Michele McAloon:

That is cool and, folks, I think a lot of this is going to be televised. I have kind of a schedule. I'll put it in the show notes and I really encourage you, if you get the chance to watch it, watch it with your kids. I think at this point in our history, of our modern day history, we need to understand our history and understand how important our story is to our story today. Well, mr Harrington, aka Mr Delighty, I cannot thank you enough for taking time out of your busy schedule, out of your busy pre-reenactment schedule. So I hope you get a really good, restful night tonight to be ready to go for this weekend, and I really I wish you the best of luck. Thank you for your service to West Point, but thank you for doing this. This is a service to all of us and we really appreciate it.

Steve Delity:

It's my honor to portray one of the men that was out there. That's one of the things I'll say. The fellow Minutemen, they all are drawn to this point of portraying someone that was out there, learning about them and trying to honor their memory by participating as a reenactor in the events of that day.

Michele McAloon:

That's great, all right. Well, mr Delightey, thank you very much. Thank you ¶¶ ¶¶, ¶¶ © transcript Emily Beynon.