LEXINGTON, Mass. –
As the crowd gathers to see the militia stand their ground against the British, one Army Reserve Soldier reflects on his role during the 250th anniversary of the re-enactment of the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the “Shot Heard Round the World.”
Army Reserve Sgt. James Doucette, a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning mechanic at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, attended the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party in December 2023.
“I noticed a gentleman wearing a Revolution250 scarf and googled it,” he said. “That led me to the Revolution250 organization, which has been promoting awareness of the 250th events for several years.”
Doucette’s father was a Bicentennial-era re-enactor in Knowlton’s Rangers, a 1776 unit of select light infantry fighters in Connecticut.
“I always knew I would pick it up one day. I’m a big history nerd,” he said. “The 250th anniversary is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the Revolution with the exact chronology of events as those who lived through it. I googled and found the Lexington Minute Men, reached out and was sworn in April 12, 2024, inside the tap room of Buckman Tavern.”
Buckman Tavern is best known as the headquarters of the militia.
Thomas Hadley Jr.
Doucette portrays Thomas Hadley Jr., a private in Capt. John Parker’s company who stood on the Lexington Battle Green April 19, 1775.
The Lexington Battle Green, also known as Lexington Common, was the site of the opening shots of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which started the American Revolutionary War.
“My criteria for choosing someone was that he had fought on April 19, spent most or all of the war as a Continental and preferably had been at some point,” he said.
Hadley’s older brother, Samuel, was one of the eight men killed on the Green.
“I didn’t know it when I requested the role, but Samuel Hadley is portrayed by my mentor, Dan,” he said. “I’ve been told that I most closely resemble Thomas Hadley Jr.’s physical description. It was meant to be.”
Hadley, 20, served in the Siege of Boston from May 4 through Dec. 31, 1775, as part of the Massachusetts Grand Army, later adopted into the Continental Army.
“He enlisted as a corporal, which tells me there was something about his service that inspired confidence,” he said.
Hadley went on to serve in the Lexington Militia that guarded Col. Henry Knox’s artillery train from Lexington to Cambridge in the Spring of 1776. He re-enlisted for three years in April 1777 in Edmund Munro’s Company of the 15th Massachusetts, part of Brig. Gen. John Glover’s brigade.
His unit served at Saratoga, Valley Forge, Monmouth and the Battle of Rhode Island. He re-enlisted Dec. 21, 1779, to serve the duration of the conflict and promoted to sergeant and transferred to the 5th Massachusetts.
In 1781, he joined 1 of 2 Provisional Light Infantry Battalions that led Washington’s army south to Yorktown.
“I’m currently researching whether he was in the Assault on Redoubt 10,” Doucette said. “The possibility that Hadley was at both the first and last major engagements of the Revolution is tantalizing. Then he drops out of the record.”
Doucette said Hadley’s wife remarried in 1785, which indicates Hadley died sometime prior, but they don’t know when.
“After living through all those world-changing events, he didn’t live to enjoy the fruits of his service and his brothers’ sacrifice, possibly not even seeing his 30th birthday,” he said. “I’m working to determine if his widow or daughters ever submitted a pension claim in his name.”
Doucette said he’s fortunate to portray someone like Hadley.
“Studying him and the world he lived in has taught me so much,” he said.
Lessons
Doucette said having events like Lexington250 are important.
“You have to walk a mile in someone’s shoes to understand them,” the Soldier said. “Re-enacting gives you a chance to walk several miles in those shoes. You discover the things that summary history doesn’t tell you about, like the noise, the smell of black powder, the concussion of artillery, what it feels like to get hit in the face with powder flash from someone else’s musket, and the joy of burning your hand on your musket after firing 30 shots in 10 minutes.”
“If we lose the ability to connect with what they experienced and felt, then the actual history has died,” he continued. “To stand there and give and receive simulated fire the way they did, you realize that these guys were tough. Black powder re-enacting has a different level of realism.”
Doucette said re-enacting allows Soldiers to walk the same ground the militia and British walked while replicating what they did and saw.
He said when he joined the re-enacting hobby, his goal was to connect with the men of that era. He said they had more in common with the military of today than he thought.
“The Continentals’ experience is family, especially to those who have deployed: … exhaustion, hurry up and wait, camaraderie… shenanigans to fight boredom, it’s all there,” he said. “And that’s before you enter combat. You can see their humanity in the accounts that survive. The only difference is our access to technology.”
Doucette said throughout his current training and research into the Continental Army, he sees the correlation of their military tactics.
“I was surprised at how much sense the tactics made when you factor in the limitations of the weapons they were using and the combined arms branches of the day: infantry, cavalry and artillery,” he said. “Different formations are optimal for facing each arm, and it gets complicated, based on the enemy’s disposition and actions. The Militia knew what they were doing. Even the shooting stances, while certainly not modern, were not all that different from today.”
He said the Army has taken lessons learned from the Revolutionary War.
“Higher ranks walk on the right of junior soldiers because that was their position in the formation during this period,” he said. “It’s the same reason we dress to the right during the Drill and Ceremony. Even some of the commands during DNC are the same, although the facing movements are performed differently.”
Doucette said Army units are still organized similarly to how they were during the Revolutionary War. The “battle buddy” concept originated during this time. Open ranks inspection interval at arm’s length also comes from this era.
“It made sense tactically at this time,” he said. “The Brits had no cavalry. We were under artillery fire and attack by infantry in close order. We didn’t need to be in close order. Open order would reduce our casualties from the artillery and infantry and at the same time, we could still inflict casualties on their infantry.”
Doucette said most of what survives in the Army from the Revolution today is ceremonial.
“The strongest thread beyond the DNC is the heavy reliance on NCOs,” he said. “The British Army already had that, and we took it further because it worked.”
Doucette said he is excited to participate in the 250th anniversary before the crowds.
“There is no better education than watching how things were. We are a live-action, open-air museum,” he said. “The public loves us. Sometimes they seem to forget we aren’t the real thing. It’s pretty special.”
He said the public shouldn’t be afraid to approach the re-enactors and ask questions.
“We are huge history nerds. We will talk your ear off,” he said.