Revolutionary War Stow

 

By the 1770s, Stow’s population had grown to about 900 residents – many of them fervent patriots in the colonies’ contentious relationship with the British government. One, Henry Gardner, was a prominent lawyer active in the Committees of Correspondence and the Provincial Congress that patriots established after locking the doors of the Colonial Legislature. Gardner served as provincial treasurer through the coming Revolutionary War.
 

Stow’s support for the patriot cause ran deep. In the period leading up to April 19, 1775, colonists, fearing a British move to seize arms stored in Concord, moved a portion of them to Stow. Cannon were hidden in the woods surrounding the Lower Common, gunpowder and other armaments in the Meeting House and a small powderhouse on Pilot Grove Hill. Stow citizens made up several companies of Minutemen, training on the Lower Common and ready to move out on short notice.
 

When word came that British regulars were marching on Concord, two companies of Stow Minutemen assembled in the early hours of April 19. In all, 81 Stow soldiers made the march to Concord, taking part in the rolling battle with the British that began at the “Bloody Angle” and continued all the way along “Battle Road” back to Boston. Official records noted that Stow’s small contingent “pursued the British so as to deserve special mention.”
 

Following the battle of April 19, the need for Minutemen yielded to a need for a permanent army. Some Minutemen came home, others stayed on. About 40 Stow soldiers served at the Battle of Bunker Hill, 27 in the Battle of Saratoga, and others later in the war.
 

At a subsequent town meeting, with Henry Gardner serving as Moderator, Stow’s citizenry officially voted to support independence from Great Britain – on July 1, 1776.