Help on Hezekiah Wyman

[IXOYE]

I've heard people tell two different variations regarding Hezekiah Wyman. The distinguishing difference is whether he was one of the few people with a rifle or whether he had a smooth bore musket. Does anyone know where there is documented historical evidence to one or the other? Another aspect of that is that people generally had a musket built for them, that is, for their height. Its length was to the bottom of their chin so they could load it. Since he was a tall gaunt man he probably would have had a longer weapon (rifle or musket), which would have added to his ability to make long shots.

Just wanting to make sure I don't embellish his story with false information.

Thank you!

[FiremanBob]

Rifles were made and used in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Can't prove a negative, but there is no reason to believe that anyone in Massachusetts had one in 1775. They were introduced to the colonies by German immigrants who developed them from the rifled Jaeger guns used back home - and the Germans concentrated in south-central Pennsylvania and the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia. All accounts I have read said Wyman had a fowling piece. But even worse, the historical evidence of the Hezekiah Wyman story indicates that it may be a legend: http://boston1775.blogspot.com/search/label/Hezekiah%20Wyman

The first written evidence of the Wyman story appears in 1835 and considering all the depositions and reports from Battle participants, you would think that a figure who made such an emotional impact as the Hyman of the story would have figured in them. It seems that Wyman did live in Winchester and was almost 55 on April 19 (his 55th birthday was August 5, 1775), and he did have a white mare. As to the rest, who knows?

[dreamerofdreams]

Indeed, most of the Wyman story, as far as I have been able to determine, is legend, at best.  I make sure to say as much when I tell it.

[slim]

The book says there's no evidence anyone used a rifle that day. Wyman was said to have been seen numerous times/places throughout the battle harassing the redcoats.

As for telling the story, I try to stick to the book or verifiable historical record for the facts but I tell a story. An entertaining, interesting, story. Who knows whether 100% of the details are accurate (we cant know since much of the record came many years later, sometimes by family members telling stories passed down) but I know the folks who hear it will remember.

[armaborealis]

There's a blog with some links to some interesting primary sources on this issue:
http://boston1775.blogspot.com/search/label/Hezekiah%20Wyman

It is unclear whether Wyman even was involved in the action, much less what long arm variant he carried.  I like telling Wyman but I make it clear that this is more on the "legend and heritage" side of the equation, with just enough primary historical sourcing to make it plausible.

If he did have a long arm I find a fowling piece (long barreled smoothbore) to be more plausible than a rifle given the location and other typical arms found on the field.  A smoothbore fowler with long barrel and tight wadding/round fired from a rest is still significantly more accurate than a British-issue Brown Bess 0.69 cal ball bouncing down a 0.75 cal bbl fired off hand.

The best source I've found for most of the juicy details is "The White Horseman" published in Aug 1835 in the Boston Pearl and Literary Gazette.  The primary sourcing is thin for the tale...  The newspaper article was written decades after the event and was written anonymously.

The source for Hezekiah's other military service seems to be the Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts (1908), Vol 4.  The issue is that this was financed by the families involved who had an incentive to "pad" their genealogical resumes.

The authors over at Boston 1775 conclude:

As I've noted, there was a Hezekiah Wyman with a white horse who lived within riding distance of the fighting. But there's no contemporaneous evidence or reliable family lore that he took part in the battle.

There are hints that the author of "The White Horseman" was aware of some Middlesex County oral traditions about 19 Apr 1775. But even if a story was going around about an old marksman striking fear into soldiers as "Death on the pale horse," that was inspired by what Americans wished the British had felt. At most, the real Hezekiah Wyman would have been riding along with a bunch of other farmers on horseback, creeping down to a house or wall near the road, and shooting with "generally good" results.

In the end, I don't see big contradictions or anomalies in the tale of Hezekiah Wyman to show that it must be fiction. But it's not up to us to disprove any story we inherit from the past. The weight of the evidence has to be there for us to believe it. Barring new discoveries, I think the evidence for this tale is too light to shift it from literary legend to historical episode.

*Edited to add BL from Boston1775 and clean up links

[scuzzy]

Man - I was just talking about Mr. Whittimore to another instructor this weekend at a shoot. We were discussing the number of time Mr. Whittimore was run through with a pig sticker. How the heck to know the whole truth? The truth is many times obscured by the passage of time. And how does this relate to Wyman? It's because it's hard to know exactly what happened.

1. I never say he was run through X amount of times. I just say that he was run through a few times. Myself I can't believe he was run through 13 times and part of his jaw blown off. I figure he was kinda jabbed , and not wholeheartedly, a few times. Prob just a wee bit of jaw blown off.

2. He was a tough old coot. Evidence seems to say he did do something. But who's to know exactly what. But considering his age he at least got out the front door to try and do something. I'll tip my hat to him for that alone.

3. And I tell the story that after the war  'and he never had to buy another pint at the local tavern again.' I grin at that point so hopefully they know I'm kidding.

So I don't fill in X number on any of my stories. Since I have no way of knowing exactly what happened. I've heard the war stories from friends back from Iraq/Afghanistan. I know they've been embellished a bit. But there is truth in there too. And for sure a bunch of Americans did show up on April 19th. We know that's true. And it appears ol' Mr. Wyman at the very least got out the front door.

Update - thanks eaglescouter. I'd typed Wyman above and meant to type Whittimore. My typos are corrected.

[asminuteman]

Hornswalop......

Documentation has been posted numerious times,          ... with cites....

[BD]

I have always described Wyman's weapon as a fowling piece.
It''s more logic than anything else.  Even if he was a great shot, that will only get you so far with a smooth bore musket.
A smaller caliber fowling piece with a really long barrel would give him the advantage over the oncoming Regulars.
There is a reason they used them the hunt birds.  Many of the fowlers sported barrels well over 40" in length.
Even at "only .40 caliber", a hit beats a miss every time.

In the end, the point of the dangerous old men stories is to wake up the older gents in attendance who are starting to think that time had left them unable to affect things in our Republic.  We tell the stories to remind them that they are not out of the game.   

[FiremanBob]

I'm going to keep telling the story of Wyman, and believing it, for these reasons:

1. He was an odd duck. Just because he isn't listed among the militia members who marched that day doesn't mean he didn't fight in his own way.

2. Several British reports describe Americans on horseback who ambushed the column, then rode ahead to the next good ambush point.

3. The formal reports were from the British officers. Many of them were non-op by the time the column reached Menotomy. The conversations among their own enlisted men did not interest them much, so they wouldn't have reported it.

4. Wyman's records prove he did have in 1775 a white mare and a long gun, and he did turn 55 that year.

5. It is most probable that he had a fowling piece - ducks and geese were as good to eat back then as they are today. Maybe better...

[asminuteman]

-Wyman served for five months at Fort Ticonderoga, also three months in New Jersey. He was paid thee thee amount of 8 pounds 16 shillings for his services, in 1777.

-Wyman died in 1779, leaving in his will a white mare to his son Daniel.

-Wyman was baptized 28th of June, thee year of our Lord 1779, just a few days before passing. Both passing and baptized in thee Township of Arlington

-Wyman was mentioned by Capt John Parker, that fate filled morning, as arriving upon thee green, but never speaking,... even though asked by Parker himself to muster with thee militia.

-Wyman's cousin Nathanial is shot and killed in thee first exchange with thee regulars on thee green that morning.

-Wyman's sister is married to Benjamin "Amie" Cutter, best friend and second in command to Capt David Lamson of Menotomy. (thee folks who took thee supply wagon)

- In Amie's writings, Hezekiah is mentioned as being part of powder raid,... at least to thee effect that he (Hezekiah) filled every pocket and sack with powder he could, from thee captured wagon.
(Hezekiah lore is that by thee time he reached Lexington on thee retreat, he had run out of powder)

*Note* according to historian Charles Bahne, in his research, he found among Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's papers, a first draft of thee famous "Paul Reveree's Ride" with an entire lost stanza, about a tall, grey rider, (possibly Hezekaih Wyman). Thee lost lines were first read aloud, publicly in 2007 at a lecture Bahne presented at thee Old South Meeting House, "Paul Reve Ride Revisted".

-Hezekiah Wyman, Born 5 August year our Lord 1720 in WOBURN Mass.

-Married 20 Feburary year of Lord 1744/45 in Woburn to Sarah Reed, daughter of Israel Reed.
(she passes in fall of 1775)

-Remarried , 1776 to Hannah

Hezekiah is in thee bloodline of Francis Wyman (B-1594 Westmill England - D1658 Westmill) a known warrior

AND for thee tough one..... there "ARE" bits n pieces of evidence that suggest a rifled musket.

Thee rifle HAS been out since thee turn of thee century (1700)....... Hezekiah is a KNOWN hunter, and supplier of meat in thee commonwealth, It would be of good logic, that a man that makes a living with a firelock would invest in such a tool,...... A common fowler of that day cost $3.00, ... a rifle $12.....

So yes it is a "kings wages"...... however ALL documents  suggest Hezekiah could and would invest in such a tool,.. he was not destitute, nor poor in that ages vernacular . Thee family wasn't "rich" or wealthy, but had been on that land for a century. And had thee means.

Rifled muskets had passed through thee area, on several occasions during thee F & I wars.
There are references,... however no second, nor thirds to back up... such is stitching history back together centuries after thee fact ....

Know that for every legend, a pound of truth lays within..... thee treasure is ferreting it out

Quite sorry this is long.... A quickie of thee top of my head.........

many sources out there... best is thee family bible.......

[asminuteman]

I did not mention items already spoken about.....

[Camljr]

Just wanting to make sure I don't embellish his story with false information.

Sometimes, Unverifiable facts can get in the way of a good story......

[asminuteman]

Yep! another thing........

Considered last man shot that day was a salior boy onboard..you guess it the HMS Somertset
trying to roll out cannon to cover thee retreat....

one guess as to whom is rumored to have ended him.......

18th century research is not possible with 20/21st century rose colored glasses.......
last tid bit.....its about culture of that day.
One would NEVER brag about kiling another human!
even if it was warrented, santioned, reguired, neccessary, or justifed.....
Thee church, religion.........hell and damnation
folks knew who, but would not speak of this "behavior".........nor would you

wanta tempt fate?

[Shooter30-06]

"This is the West Sir.  When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

The Man who Shot Liberty Valance

[Niskibum]

As a new IIT I also struggled with HW when preparing to tell it. I felt that presenting it as fact when I didn't have enough evidence to back it up would discredit our organization. I have changed the way I tell it now by ending with saying that there are different versions of the story and some say it is just a legend, but the important thing is that it certainly couldn't have been true if Hezekiah hadn't had the skills of a rifleman.

[dreamerofdreams]

Just wanting to make sure I don't embellish his story with false information.

Sometimes, Unverifiable facts can get in the way of a good story......

The words "Legend has it..." go a long ways.

[hogfamily]

http://boston1775.blogspot.com/search?q=Hezekiah+Wyman

[fisherdawg]

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/04/hezekiah-wyman-and-legend-of-white.html

[fisherdawg]

http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/the-legend-of-the-white-horseman-at-the-battle-of-lexington-and-concord-20847/

[fisherdawg]

http://books.google.com/books?id=JnFMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA323&lpg=PA323&dq=hezekiah+wyman+death+on+a+pale+horse&source=bl&ots=cBxi1Marw8&sig=ppF5ZUywL92iM6_Awny6vBlR4wM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4cohVLu7LoWoogSniIGgBA&ved=0CEcQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=hezekiah%20wyman%20death%20on%20a%20pale%20horse&f=false

[fisherdawg]

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/AMERICAN-REVOLUTION/2001-12/1007754961

[SteelThunder]

Call me a heretic, but I don't much care what kind of long arm that old HW used (and he's my favorite DOM).  In fact, I don't really even spend that much time stressing his marksmanship.

What I DO spend my time talking about is that ONE MAN rode out that day, to do what he could.  I always ask if anyone in the audience has been in the military and ask if rumors tend to fly in the ranks.  Inevitably that person says yes.  Then I stress that ONE MAN probably caused the soldiers in that column to start grumbling...first with anger, then with caution, then with anxiety and finally with downright panic. 

I start walking through the audience, tell them to imagine being a trooper in the column...a point man...and rounding a bend.  Seeing a white mare through the trees, seeing the puff of black powder smoke and your mate going down next to you.  Then behind you at the next bend.  Pretty soon you aren't marching around the bend...you are creeping, with your officers screaming at you to move, maybe even prodding you with their sword.  And the fear in your heart that the next time you see that "ghost" on the pale mare...it might be you.

What can ONE MAN do?  How about strike fear in a column of 1600 men?  How about change a country?

[fisherdawg]

Call me a heretic, but I don't much care what kind of long arm that old HW used (and he's my favorite DOM).  In fact, I don't really even spend that much time stressing his marksmanship.

What I DO spend my time talking about is that ONE MAN rode out that day, to do what he could.  I always ask if anyone in the audience has been in the military and ask if rumors tend to fly in the ranks.  Inevitably that person says yes.  Then I stress that ONE MAN probably caused the soldiers in that column to start grumbling...first with anger, then with caution, then with anxiety and finally with downright panic. 

I start walking through the audience, tell them to imagine being a trooper in the column...a point man...and rounding a bend.  Seeing a white mare through the trees, seeing the puff of black powder smoke and your mate going down next to you.  Then behind you at the next bend.  Pretty soon you aren't marching around the bend...you are creeping, with your officers screaming at you to move, maybe even prodding you with their sword.  And the fear in your heart that the next time you see that "ghost" on the pale mare...it might be you.

What can ONE MAN do?  How about strike fear in a column of 1600 men?  How about change a country?

+1

[slim]

From the book (Page 254 in mine) -

"Many on both sides remembered a middle-aged militiaman named Hezekiah Wyman, from the outlying hamlet of Woburn that is now the town of Winchester. This day was his birthday. On the morning of April 19, 1775, Hezekiah Wyman turned fifty-five. His wife told him that he was too old to fight, but he saddled his "strong white mare" and galloped away. He collided with the British column on the Road east of Lexington, fired at an advancing Regular and brought him down. Hezekiah Wyman became highly visible on the battlefield- a "tall, gaunt" man with long gray locks, mounted on a white horse. The British infantry saw him many times from Lexington to Charlestown, and grew to dread the sight of him. Wyman was a crack shot. Again and again he rode within range of the British vanguard, jumped off his horse, and laid the long barrel of his musket across his saddle. As the Regulars approached he took careful aim, and squeezed off a shot with slow deliberation. Then he remounted and rode ahead to a new position- a grim, gray-headed messenger of mortality, mounted on death's pale horse."

I'm not sure how much more credible a source you'll find than the works of Dr. Fischer.

[armaborealis]

From the book (Page 254 in mine) -

"Many on both sides remembered a middle-aged militiaman named Hezekiah Wyman, from the outlying hamlet of Woburn that is now the town of Winchester. This day was his birthday. On the morning of April 19, 1775, Hezekiah Wyman turned fifty-five. His wife told him that he was too old to fight, but he saddled his "strong white mare" and galloped away. He collided with the British column on the Road east of Lexington, fired at an advancing Regular and brought him down. Hezekiah Wyman became highly visible on the battlefield- a "tall, gaunt" man with long gray locks, mounted on a white horse. The British infantry saw him many times from Lexington to Charlestown, and grew to dread the sight of him. Wyman was a crack shot. Again and again he rode within range of the British vanguard, jumped off his horse, and laid the long barrel of his musket across his saddle. As the Regulars approached he took careful aim, and squeezed off a shot with slow deliberation. Then he remounted and rode ahead to a new position- a grim, gray-headed messenger of mortality, mounted on death's pale horse."

I'm not sure how much more credible a source you'll find than the works of Dr. Fischer.

Except Dr. Fisher gets a few things incorrect.

Fisher says 55.  The vital records of Woburn (primary source data) say the man by the name of H Wyman was 54.  More importantly, the citation for this passage goes back to an essay by Henry Chapman, which was written in 1936.  Chapman's citation in turn goes back to the anonymous newspaper article from the Boston Pearl described above.

The historical case, from a factual point of view, is only as strong as the citations provided.  Weak sourcing results in a less credible historical case.

It is not unfair to tell the story with a caveat of "According to Dr. Fischer," or "According to popular lore," but this particular incident is more thinly sourced than others we commonly tell.  The fun thing about history is that things are not black and white.  Once you start digging deep enough you often find multiple sources with varying degrees of credibility which have different takes on a situation.  Luckily the broad outlines of our April 19 story are well established, in large part due to deliberate Patriot efforts to document it at the time as well as British report-writing followed up by pension applications decades later.  When you start diving into more niche tales like this one the evidence is a lot thinner.

From a heritage and motivational point of view the story is perfectly usable.  I like telling it myself with a few caveats.

[asminuteman]

Except Dr. Fisher gets a few things incorrect.

Fisher says 55.  The vital records of Woburn (primary source data) say the man by the name of H Wyman was 54.  More importantly, the citation for this passage goes back to an essay by Henry Chapman, which was written in 1936.  Chapman's citation in turn goes back to the anonymous newspaper article from the Boston Pearl described above.

The historical case, from a factual point of view, is only as strong as the citations provided.  Weak sourcing results in a less credible historical case. I say weak understanding and interruption of thee culture, customs of that day and age.

*20/21 century rose colored glasses*
Once again, lack of cultural understanding........
In thee 18th century twas common place to say "In your 55 th year"........many folks a century later will/would interpt this statment incorrectly..........
"a common pit fall" and why an education on how to do research for a given period is required......aka schooling........

[Shooter30-06]

My Liberty Valance quote aside, I think reliance on Slim's  quoted material from DHF is the correct approach for AS presenters.  One of the clearest lessons I learned as an undergraduate history major is that serious historians will argue and contest any fact.  The easiest and best way to respond to that dynamic in our presentations is to openly indicate that our source material comes from the esteemed work of DHF and simply leave it at that if someone wants to contest a fact.  That is why I relied almost exclusively on DHF for the source material for the Spirit of 1776 presentation that I have been doing.  Sticking to one source also helps with a uniform presentation throughout the AS organization.

[FiremanBob]

Aside from the phony baloney period dialect, I am irritated by as minuteman's insinuations that, in our serious discussion of the facts of the Wyman legend, doubting the irrelevant points he made in his first post is "hornswalop" and evidence of inferior schooling and a lack of ability to do research.

I have heard multiple versions of the Sam Whittemore story also as to his age on the day, what he said about his acquisition of the pistols and saber, how long he lived, and his procreational activities following the war. I think it hurts us when people who come to multiple events hear different stories of the Battle, each presented as historical fact, with different facts.

I think that incontrovertible command of the facts and myths of the story is important to our credibility when we talk about the urgent condition of our Republic and what our students must do to protect their freedom and restore the Republic as it was given to us.  Merely re-telling hearsay, whether the source is another RWVA instructor, DHF, or one of the many mid-19th-century storybooks, undermines us all.

[slim]

Please post these "facts" you speak of.

Even today when there are big shooting cases in the news several different witnesses will see several different things. Fast-forward 200 years and what is fact, what is myth? Where do the "facts" come from?

Anyone who gets bent out of shape over "facts" when it comes to a 200+ year old story is missing the point. We need to tell a similar story at every event but if button counters want to go home and do research, good! That means they'reparticipating in the otherwise unknown heritage thats been lost to the ages.

When we get our story straight from the book then someone cant argue against us. They can only argue against our source.

[asminuteman]

Ha hahahahahaha..... Wow.....

Someones ignorance is showing............(perhaps look up thee word first before responding)

Have fun.... do as you please.....