On the morning of April 19, 1775, James Hayward made his way from his father's home in West Acton, Massachusetts to the home of Captain Isaac Davis, commander of the town's Minute Company. The road along which Davis lived, ironically, is today named not for the bold leader of the Acton Minutemen who actually resided there but for the young schoolmaster. Hayward walked the route not just on that momentous April morning, but nearly every morning on his way to the town's schoolhouse. Hayward likely arrived at Capt. Davis's farm around 5 a.m., just around sunrise and about the same time, 13 miles away in Lexington, that the British Regulars reached the Green and fired on the provincial militia there. Hayward was among the first of Acton's men to report to the captain's house. But he had no business being there.
https://historicaldigression.com/2015/05/25/schoolmaster-james-hayward-and-the-battle-road/ (https://historicaldigression.com/2015/05/25/schoolmaster-james-hayward-and-the-battle-road/)
Super post. The narrative ends: But he had no business being there. Hayward had been excused from service because he was crippled. As a fat, old, arthritic, asthmatic patriot, I hope to be pictured with the pathetic group that went above and beyond in The Spirit of 76.
Keep up the good work, Engineer.
Good post - and great story.
Excellent. I had read of Hayward before in some smaller written pieces. I had not known the back story of his age and the physical handicaps. A true Son of Liberty.
Henry