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In the Preface to Mosses from an Old Manse (1846), Nathaniel Hawthorne recalls paying a visit to the Grave of British Soldiers' at the North Bridge with his friend, James Russell Lowell. It was likely on this occasion that the latter conceived of the poem which became Lines (Suggested by the Graves of Two English Soldiers on Concord Battle Ground), and which was first published in the March 29th, 1849 issue of The Anti-Slavery Standard. The last quatrain of the poem's third stanza (there are seven stanzas in all) is inscribed on a tablet atop the burial place of the two redcoats who died on April 19th, 1775 (photo above).
The 'Anonymous' Donor Revealed (Again) for the First Time Few, I think, would disagree with Eleanor Early, who wrote, "It was sweet to place a tablet here to the memory of the British boys killed so far from home... it is good to find testimony of compassion, commemorating the 'endless extinction of unhappy hates.'" (And This is Boston, 1938.)
The current "official" history of the episode mimics the Commission's conclusions by suggesting that "an anonymous donor presented the tablet marking the British soldiers' grave in 1910" (see Greg Stiles, Evolution of the North Bridge Area). But is it possible to ever know the identity of this powerful, mysterious and benevolent donor? Among the papers of historian Ruth Wheeler housed at the Special Collections of the Concord Free Public Library, I discovered two typed pages titled, Historical Markers (1965). On the first is the following entry: "Erected in 1910 at his own expense by Judge Peter Chardon Brooks on the grave of the British Soldiers - Battlefield, lines by Lowell..." Ruth Wheeler was evidently confusing Concord's own Judge George M. Brooks with Mr. Hill's elusive client - the gentleman was not a judge, though his father was - but the name of the donor was, indeed, correct. Mrs. Wheeler had derived this information I think (even though she recalled it imperfectly) from an article which had appeared in The Concord Journal eight years before. Authored by her friend, Gladys Hosmer, who had been chairman of the town's Records and Archives Committee for many years, the piece was titled, How British Grave Was Marked with Lowell's Verse. Mrs. Hosmer had been recently asked by the Historic Sites Commission, she tells the reader, if she knew anything "... about the tablet over the grave of the British soldiers?" Although she had replied honestly that "...no-one seems to know the name of the anonymous donor," she had in the meantime requested of another Committee member, Robert F. Needham, to look into the matter. At the Registry of Deeds, the enterprising researcher was able to determine quickly that "the grantee and donor of the slab was Peter Chardon Brooks of West Medford... a direct descendant of Thomas Brooks, a first settler of Concord, through his son Caleb..." When Edwin Small, Chief of Party of the Historic Sites Commission, wrote in the Interim Report (1959) that the tablet had been donated by "an anonymous donor", he was quite aware, it seems to me, who the benefactor was (Mrs. Hosmer had sent him a copy of her article, which he acknowledged with thanks). I believe that the Commission's failure to mention the donor's name was intentional, rather than due to ignorance on its part. It wished to reflect accurately the actual circumstances of the donation in 1910 when Mr. Brooks had clearly preferred (for his own reasons) to remain anonymous. The omission, however, led those who followed to assume that the Commission did not know the identity of the "client". Remarkably, the information has been readily available for more than four decades.
Descendant of 'the Wealthiest Man in New England" Peter Chardon Brooks (1831-1920) was the son of Judge Gorham Brooks, and grandson of the first Peter Chardon Brooks, "the wealthiest man in New England." His grandfather had been a vice-president of the 50th-anniversary celebration of the Concord Fight in 1825; and his uncle, Edward Everett, had been the main orator. Another celebrated uncle, Francis Adams, lived for many years in a "handsome pillared house" overlooking the Concord River. Henry Adams was his first cousin. Our Peter Chardon Brooks, in the tradition of his family, was among New England's leading philanthropists and patrons of the arts. It was due to his generosity, for example, that Dallin's maginificent Indian statue, The Appeal to the Great Spirit, stands in the forecourt of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts today. But for those who visit the battleground at Concord's North Bridge, Peter Chardon Brooks will forever be gratefully remembered for gracing an already sacred site with a great poet's moving words. The little-known closing couplet of Lowell's Lines might properly be applied not only to the British soldiers who are buried here, but also to the gentleman who sought to honor them:
Your graves send courage forth and might.
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According to the Interim Report of the Boston National Historic Sites Commission Pertaining to the Lexington-Concord Battle Road (1959), "An anonymous donor gave the
present slate tablet to the town in 1910." The Commission's statement,
it would appear, was based on a correspondence which had been
made public in the CONCORD TOWN REPORT of 1911. The Chairman
of the Road Commissioners and Public Grounds, John M. Keyes, writes to: "Ex-
District-Attorney Hill" in Boston in December 1910 that he understands that "either
a deed or lease" has been procured "from the Ripley heirs allowing the installation
of the slate slab over the British soldiers' grave...." He then adds, "...I naturally
want to protect the Town's interests in every way." In fact, the Town had been
embarrassed to discover that Mr. Hill, on behalf of a "client... (who) is extremely
desirous to remain anonymous for the present," had concluded negotiations for the
gift with the proprietors of the Old Manse without apprising the Town.
Yet although it had been presented with a somewhat patronizing fait
accompli, the town seems to have been grateful for this enhancement of the site.
Moreover, Arthur D. Hill was among Boston's most distinguished and respected
lawyers, and the "client" in question would doubtless turn out to be a gentleman
of some power and reputation.