Major Pitcairn: Offered or Ordered to command?

[TruTenacity]

This might be a little thing, but I really want to know.

I've heard people say as they tell the First Strike that Major Pitcairn offered to go with Smith.  I've read in two places that this is not so.

1) "On the 19th  April 1775 John was placed in second command of 400 troops sent to destroy a cache of Rebel stores in the village of Concord."
(http://www.timegun.org/major-pitcairn.html)

2) From the book, Lexington and Concord: The Beginning of the War of the American Revolution, by Arthur B. Tourtellot.
In the middle of the first paragraph on page 105: "For second in command Gage selected Major John Pitcairn, of the Second Marines Regiment."

Is there any documentation available that states Pitcairn offered his services rather than his services being required?

Sincerely,
Tru T
(A stickler for detail.)

[crak]

I've never heard of him "offering" either.

The most famous Redcoat "volunteer" of the day was probably Lt. William Sutherland, who decided to join the march even though he wasn't officially ordered to.  Since he didn't have any particular place he had to be, he was in the thick of things at both the Green and the North Bridge.  He caught a bullet on the way home and was the one who was using a horse for cover by switching sides depending on where the fire was coming from.

Much of the detail we have about the redcoat side of the day comes from him.

[TruTenacity]

crak,

I found that out about Sutherland just recently and started to wonder if Pitcairn's assumed "volunteer" wasn't being mixed up with Sutherland's.

Tru T,
who is hitting the books some more.

[crak]

Yep, I think the two are getting confused somewhere.

[siglite]

According to what I've read, as the Army mustered and moved across to Cambridge Marsh, even officers remained in the dark as to the nature of their mission.   I haven't read anything that indicates that anyone other than Smith knew what was going on, making it impossible for Pitcairn to have volunteered for that particular exercise prior to its execution.

And personal experience tells me that Marines generally get the mushroom treatment from the Army.   Some things haven't changed in 200 years.

[TruTenacity]

Here is another quote from Liberty! The American Revolution, by Thomas Fleming.
Page 106, "To command these 700 troops Gage chose fifty-two-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith of the Tenth Regiment, one of his most experienced officers.   As Smith's second in command he selected fifty-three-year-old Major John Pitcairn of the marines, a stout, likable Scot with nineteen years' service afloat and ashore."

So, why is this a big deal to me?  Because in telling the First Strike I say "General Gage put his secret plan into action.  Col. Francis Smith is to command the expedition with 400 Grenadiers under him.  Major John Pitcairn is to serve second-in-command with 300 Light Infantry under him."

It was gently brought to my attention that that isn't quite correct as Major Pitcairn "volunteered" or went along on his own volition.  If that is the case then I'm curious.  Is what I say in the First Strike acceptable?

Tru T,
hoping for an answer.

[Fred]

     Not quite acceptable, as Col Smith was in charge of the entire unit; Pitcairn, being second-in-command, was second-in-command of the entire unit.

     Smith as they neared Lexington (or at some point during the early AM) did put Pitcairn in direct charge of the Light Infantry, as they could move faster, and he wanted to move as fast as possible.

      I'd have to go back and look at that part of the historical data to see if there were any other factors which entered into Smith's decision to split into a 'fast' column and a 'slow' column. There prob were.

[4merUSMC1803]

I'm not exactly sure about Major Pitcairn serving as a volunteer vs being ordered to serve as Lt Col Smith's second in command (SIC).  But, I assume that he was a volunteer, based on the fact that General Gage had sent sealed (secret) orders to Maj Pitcairn's quarters, alerting him to have the Royal Marine battalion ready to march early on the morning of April 19, as part of Gen Percy's reinforcements. 

Gen Gage didn't know that Maj Pitcairn had already gone with the initial force under Lt Col Smith.  The sealed orders were delivered to Pitcairn's quarters and remained there throughout the events of the entire day.  Pitcairn never received the orders from the commanding general!

Unless Lt Col Smith ordered Maj Pitcairn to accompany him as SIC, Maj Pitcairn must have volunteered to go along, leaving the balance of the Marine battalion back in Boston.  It was mainly the absence of the Marine battalion, commanded by Maj Pitcairn, and the debacle of mustering them out of their barracks, that delayed Gen Percy's relief unit from leaving Boston until after 9 am. 

Maj Pitcairn wouldn't be the first military man to have volunteered for an unknown mission, just to break the monotony of military life in garrison.   In my opinion, Lt Col Smith was fortunate to have Maj Pitcairn on this mission.  He was highly influential in the force not being routed by the colonists until they got back to Percy's protection.

Not solid documentation you're seeking; just my opinion.

[crak]

Very interesting observation about the letter.  It never quite made sense to me that Gage made such a silly error as to forget Pitcairn was already out there and I assumed Smith (and not Gage) picked him.

[Earl]

I am of the opinion that General Gage selected Col. Smith to command because he was steady, and picked Major Pitcairn as second in command to add a bit of fire and experience to balance Smith's slowness. Then when building the command of Lord Percy he told is adjutant to add the Marines to the force - and the adjutant had no idea who was in the first force, but wrote the orders for the Commander of the Marines, Major Pitcairn. which has always given rise to the idea that the Major had volunteered his services - but a second in command would have been appointed by General Gage. Once the secret of the first force was gone, since they had departed Boston General Gage would have used his whole staff on Lord Percy's force, the more people knew about it the better.

Only an opinion from years of watching staff work, or not work too well, for Commander's intent.

[TruTenacity]

I see what you all are saying and it is making sense even without documentation that I can go to and actually read myself.

Because Fred suggests in his Guideposts that we don't get bogged down with detail would something like this be an acceptable change to my notes? "General Gage put his secret plan into action.  Having divulged his plans to Col. Francis Smith, Smith was selected to command the expedition with Major John Pitcairn serving as second-in-command.  There were a total of 700 handpicked men, 400 Grenadier and 300 Light Infantry."

I do say later on that Smith sent Pitcairn on ahead with the Light Infantry after Smith received the report from his scouts that there were militiamen waiting on the Green to welcome them.

By the way, thanks for taking time to consider and post folks.

Tru T

[slim]

Is there any documentation available that states Pitcairn offered his services rather than his services being required?

4merUSMC1803 covered this quite nicely. His opinion is probably not far from the truth. I believe Pitcairn's participation was somewhat of a combination of orders and volunteering. We have written evidence that Gage didn't order him to go. The fact that Percy couldn't account for him in the morning supports that he didn't order him to go either.

Smith was put in commmand of a force composed of men from various different units and probably welcomed someone that could help him mesh all these units into a fighting force. Having a Marine Major support his mission was probably something he welcomed, especially considering he thought it possible he'd encounter armed resistance. He probably "requested" Pitcairn's support in a gentlemanly sort of way.

It's also possible that Admiral Graves "ordered" Pitcairn to accompany Smith in a "Gage has me getting all this food to his troops at midnight... go with 'em, see what they're up to." sort of way.

The fact that Pitcairn had Lt. Adair with him (who was probably his right hand man) suggests both men were bored with garrison life, had the blessing of their superior(s) and were indeed, both ordered and volunteers at the same time! 

I'd have to go back and look at that part of the historical data to see if there were any other factors which entered into Smith's decision to split into a 'fast' column and a 'slow' column. There prob were.

Smith was worried they'd lost too much time assembling in the marsh and ordered Pitcairn to take the first six companies of light infantry ahead to Concord to secure the bridges so the grenadiers could pass later.

It's interesting to note this was shortly before 4:00 AM. The main force covered a mile every sixteen minutes after getting under way but were so far behind schedule Smith worried he'd lost the element of surprise. I'm sure his aim was to be at Concord before sunrise - not Lexington. There's really nothing to suggest Lexington was even "on the agenda" except that possibly John Hancock and Sam Adams were there (which has never been officially confirmed as part of Smith's orders). The 77 or so men standing on the green were probably never part of Gage's plan. Or Smith's, for that matter!   

Shortly after ordering Pitcairn to advance ahead, Smith sent an aide back to Boston to inform Gage the element of surprise had been lost. They'd found many in Monotomy to be awake, numerous riders along the road, and even a few of the scouts and expresses that were actively spreading the word. Also in Monotomy, Smith began to hear church bells and signal guns and could see fires burning in the distance. It became apparent to him that he'd lost the element of surprise.

Smith's decision to send Pitcairn ahead seems to have been made because of his desire to capture the bridges in Concord and have somewhat of an armed presence there before daybreak. His complete force was moving at a mile every 16 minutes. Pitcairn and the light infantry, moving at the double-quick could probably cover the remaining 8 miles or so in about 90 minutes. It was possible they could've secured the bridges around 5:30 AM, a little before sunrise.

But.... we had those 77 or so men standing on the green... and the rest, is history!



Keep in mind when you're telling the story you know 1,000 times more information and facts than your audience. The average Appleseed participant hasn't heard this story since grade school and they're not going to notice (and may not even care) if Pitcairn was ordered or volunteered. You should use facts to convey feelings and motivations "Pitcairn said he could merely show his sword from his scabbard and the colonials would run away scared - that's how much he didn't respect them." but don't get hung up on the facts too much. Make them feeeeeeel the story. Make them remember the story. Make it touch their personal lives and tug at their heartstrings. Make them remember the story all the way home and all the way into next week, next month, next year.

I've seen quite a few instructors deliver the story and many of them were sticklers for detail. But, some of the most memorable stories were not stories that were "100% fact-based, peer-reviewed, confirmed to be true and verbatim from this source" - they were the stories that moved me.

Make your stories move people first. Nobody's going to check your facts if they don't care about what you said.   

[TruTenacity]

Thanks, Slim.

I just read that bit you posted under "Quote from Fred" a couple days ago in Fisher's book.

Thanks for the encouragement regarding how to tell the story.  From being told I had quite a few folks in tears when I told the First Strike for the first time since being an IIT I'm thinking I did all right.  The reason I was looking for an answer to my question is because it came up when my Shoot Boss and I were going over my IIT4 PC.  I'm looking forward to the opportunity to tell the Second and Third Strike when called upon.

Again, thanks for your time and input.

Tru T.

[slim]

I just read that bit you posted under "Quote from Fred" a couple days ago in Fisher's book.

The part about the orders is toward the back in the "A CIRCLE OF FIRE - Lord Percy's Long Retreat" chapter. It's page 233 in my book.  While I have no evidence of Graves' desire to "spy" on Gage's troops, there are several instances of them disagreeing and quarreling throughout the book. The men despised each other and were rivals throughout their time in Boston.

Thanks for the encouragement regarding how to tell the story.  From being told I had quite a few folks in tears when I told the First Strike for the first time since being an IIT I'm thinking I did all right.  The reason I was looking for an answer to my question is because it came up when my Shoot Boss and I were going over my IIT4 PC.  I'm looking forward to the opportunity to tell the Second and Third Strike when called upon.

Sounds like you've got it! I've been known to wear my sunglasses during the history because sometimes the smoke from the campfire starts floating over....

The other bit of advice I like to share is - Read the book ALL THE TIME. Read it once. Read it again. Read it a little more. Simply open it to a random page and start reading. Every single time you do you'll learn something new. You'll remember something more. You'll have a little more to add to your story.

I keep a copy of PRR on the back of my throne right under FM 7-8 and The Good Book. Every single time I'm conducting my business, I flip through one of those and every single time I retain a little more.