It was a momentary, thoughtless, atrocious act committed by a young man in the aftermath of the North Bridge fight. But both the incident and its perpetrator, long shrouded in silence, would profoundly impact remaining events on 19 April 1775.

As the British Regulars fled the bridge, Col. Barrett's men pursued a short distance. According to Rev. Emerson's account, a wounded British soldier, left behind, attempted to rise and was assaulted by a young fellow going to join his American countrymen. The culprit "not under the feelings of humanity, barbarously broke his (soldier's) skull" with a small hatchet. Acton's Thomas Thorp would note that he was horrified by the sight.

Ens. Jeremy Lister, among the British troops returning from Barrett's farm, came upon his comrade and later wrote, "4 men...killd who afterwards scalp'd their eyes goug'd their noses and ears cut of, such barbarity execut'd upon the Corps could scarcely be paralelled by the most uncivilised savages". Five other soldiers would declare seeing the wounded man with the skin over his eyes cut and also the top part of his ears cut off. As word spread among the British troops in Concord that Americans were scalping and mauling the dead and wounded, attitudes turned from contempt to fear and hate.

Various explanations for the cause of this deed were advanced. The culprit was "half-witted"; excused only by excitement and inexperience; startled by the soldier and acted out of fear; acting to end the soldier's suffering. Extreme claims noted that the victim was trying to drown himself in a water puddle and begged someone to kill him; had thrust at the American with his bayonet; or was an escaping prisoner. None of these theories have a basis in fact and had such mitigating circumstances existed, would certainly have been mentioned by the witness Rev. Emerson.

A long guarded secret was the name of the young culprit who tradition acknowledges as Ammi White. Emerson knew it and might have told Rev. William Gordon during interviews the latter conducted a few days after the battle. Yet as late as 1932, Allen French interviewed an elderly women who was reluctant to mention the ax wielder's name. Stories abounded that the person was a wood-chopping chore boy of the Emerson's or their African servant, Frank. The former did not exist and the latter was accounted for by the family members.

The British troops returning to Boston would remember the "scalping" with fear, anger and a sense of revenge. This coupled with civilian hostility in Boston and cowardly tactics of the colonials along the retreat route would lead to bloody reprisals and British atrocities (house burnings, killing of unarmed men, bayoneting of wounded and dead colonials, etc.) especially in the village of Menotomy. Lord Percy's relief column had been informed of the "scalping" and Gen. Gage would later use it to off-set atrocity charges against his troops.

Thus did an inauspicious incident, on 19 April 1775 near North Bridge by a little known private have a major impact on the culprit's life, later military actions and propaganda efforts by the British.