By D. Michael Ryan is the author of the recently published Concord and the Dawn of Revolution: The Hidden Truths. He is an historian with the Concord and Lincoln Minute Men, an 18th-century volunteer history interpreter with the National Park Service and associate dean of students at Boston College.
Like the town itself, ships of the sea bearing the name Concord have created and indelibly stamped the history of our country over four centuries.
In May 1602, the bark "Concord," captained by Bartholomew Gosnold, departed England with 32 settlers. They reached land near the present Cape Elizabeth, Maine, sailed south past Cape Ann and anchored at Cape Cod (the first English name given to a place in North America). During the 1660s and 1680s, the "Concord" (often under another name) carried Dutch passengers to New Amsterdam (the future New York City), and Quakers and German Mennonites seeking religious freedom to Philadelphia.
Following dramatic events on 19 April 1775, at least two Massachusetts privateers bore the name "Concord" including a 1782 brig of 10 guns. In 1775, the merchantman "Concorde" often sped from Philadelphia to such French ports as Dunkerque always just ahead of capture by the British Navy. On 3 December 1775, the British cutter "Concord", partially owned by a Boston Tory, was seized by Gen. Washington's "navy" off Marblehead, launching a heated debate and litigation over whether the ship was a civilian trader or military vessel.
During 1780 and 1781, the French frigate "Concorde" not only carried the son of Compte de Rochambeau from RI to France on a special war mission, but also served as messenger between the allied American-French armies and the French fleet in the West Indies. She helped in coordinating the siege/fall of Yorktown and participated in the naval battle which kept reinforcements and escape from Lord Cornwallis thus leading to American independence.
The first United States ship to bear the name "Concord" was a sloop-of-war launched from Portsmouth, NH in 1828. With a crew of 190 men, the 700-ton craft carried 20 guns. Following cruises of the Mediterranean Sea, West Indies, Brazil and Madagascar (1842; protecting the whaling fleet), she ran aground on a Mozambique sandbar, lost her captain to drowning and was abandoned.
Next came the patrol gunboat "USS Concord" sponsored by the Town and commissioned on 14 February 1891 at Chester, PA. With a crew of 194 men, the 1,710-ton vessel had no armor plating and was designed to operate on rivers and inland waterways. She mounted 12 guns and cannon plus two Gatling guns and a field piece for landing parties. In keeping with prevailing tradition, the town of Concord formed a prestigious committee (1889; John S. Keyes, Charles Walcott, Edward Bartlett, Samuel Hoar, Edward W. Emerson) to find a suitable ornament from its citizens for display aboard the ship. Daniel Chester French offered and had accepted (at no cost to the town or the ship) a bronze miniature replica of the North Bridge Minute Man statue. At Town Meeting 23 March 1889, the citizens voted approval of this project.
French produced a clay model of a reduced-size Minute Man statue that was next copied in plaster. The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, MA, the same company that made the original full-sized statue, then cast the 32-inch miniature bronze statue. Melazar H. Mosman, master founder, supervised making the work of art. It was eventually placed on the quarterdeck of the patrol boat facing the bow.
Following a world cruise including duty enforcing North Pacific Ocean seal hunting treaties, "Concord" delivered munitions to Adm. Dewey's Asiatic Squadron in January 1898, patrolled with the "USS Boston", then participated in the defeat of the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay (1 May; Spanish-American War). Her captain telegraphed "7 May... Cruiser Concord... To Town of Concord... Send News of Victory".
"Concord" lived a nomadic life from 1902 to 1937 being de-commissioned and re-commissioned some three times, patrolling the Yangtze River, China (1905-08), serving in the Coast Guard (under a new name) and finally being sold. Before she disappeared from history, however, her Minute Man statue was saved for future service.
In 1923, the light cruiser "USS Concord" was christened by Helen Buttrick, the great-great-great-grand-daughter of 19 April hero Maj. John Buttrick. A miniature Minute Man statue, a flag and a silver Revere punchbowl were gifted by the Town's people to the ship's crew, contrary to new Navy policies. Designed for combat, the vessel carried 12 six-inch guns, 4 three-inch guns, 3 anti-aircraft guns, 6 torpedo tubes, 2 catapults and 2 seaplanes.
The maiden voyage of the "USS Concord" covered the Mediterranean Sea, Suez Canal, Cape of Good Hope, the Caribbean Ocean and Philadelphia. She served on three occasions as an admiral's flagship, paraded for Presidents Hoover and FDR, was based in Pearl Harbor in 1940 but was dry docked at San Diego on 7 December 1941.
During WW II, the "USS Concord" escorted Pacific convoys, transported Adm. Richard Byrd on island inspections, lost 22 men in a gas explosion, attacked Japanese shipping near the Kurile Islands (1944; sank 6 vessels) and covered the occupation troop landings on Japan. She entered Navy folklore as recorded in this dispatch by Ensign R.P. Crossley "... the shot heard 'round the world from the muskets of the minute men of Concord and Lexington on April 19, 1775 had re-echoed with even greater fury and meaning as this proud bearer of the minute men tradition fired the final naval gun salvo of WW II -- a few seconds after 8:06 pm, August 12, 1945 Japanese Time (off the Kurile Islands)".
Following several years as the flagship for a rear admiral, "USS Concord" was de-commissioned in December 1945 and sold on 21 January 1947. Her reduced-sized Minute Man statue, the silver bowl with ladle, flag and a set of dog tags were returned to Concord and housed at the Concord Free Public Library, or so says one story. There is also a belief that the statue became the property of the Navy Museum, was lent (either from the CFPL or the Navy Museum) to an exhibition on Daniel Chester French at the National Museum of American Art and has since 1996 been at residence at the Concord Museum on loan from the Navy Museum. Research for this article reveals that there seem to be two miniature Minute Men. A statuesque mystery exists, to say the least, concerning the location and travels of the French miniature bronze Minute Man statue(s) after 1945. (Can you solve this mystery? If so, please email us.)
The latest in this illustrious naval line is the "USNS Concord", a combat stores ship which re-supplies combat vessels at sea. Commissioned in 1968, she was named for the 16 American towns called Concord, and was built for speed, maneuverability and efficiency. Her insigne displays a Minute Man -- symbol of Readiness to Serve, five stars representing each ship to carry the name since 1828 and the motto "First Then First Now". On 4 November 1966, representatives of the ship visited Concord to take possession of the 1889 D.C. French replica Minute Man statue plus a set of WW II dog tags, the flag and a silver Revere punchbowl, thus continuing the almost century-old links between a ship and the citizens of her namesake Town. Among "Concord's" duty stations is listed the Arabian Sea.
Finally, as a prelude to the new century and the millennium ahead, there exists on-line a Star Trek Simulation Group (kids 18 and younger) with a "USS Concord" (NC-7124) Excelsior Class Star Ship fully crewed by "simulated people" ready to meet the challenges of inter-galactic voyage and adventure. Real cool!
Thus has the name of historic Concord found itself afloat on the seas of the American experience -- before, during and after 1775, ever poised for the future. May she and her namesakes always have fair winds and a safe harbor at journey's end. And may the Force be with them!
