SAMHSEC meeting 12 February 2024
Franco Cilliers told us about the Battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775, which marked the start of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence.
After the Seven Years’ war, during which British were victorious and gained territory that had belonged to France and native tribes allied to France, British national debt surpassed 100% of its GDP. The British Government believed that the American Colonies should pay their share of the costs and that taxes should be raised in the Colonies.
By 1775 tensions were running high. The purpose of the British expedition to Concord was to search for reported arms caches. The Navy had collected 20 long boats and 2 boat lifts were required to move all 800 men to Lechmere Point a mile away. Once landed, the troops reached the road and set out.
The Americans sent 2 messengers, William Dawes and Paul Revere, on separate routes to warn the militia. Both made it, with Paul Revere entering Lexington about 2 hours later and Dawes half an hour after him. About 130 militia men commanded by John Parker then lay in wait as Parker had sent a scout to search for the approaching Red Coats. The scout returned at 0300, reporting that none were to be found. Parker dismissed the men, ordering them to be prepared to be recalled by the drum. Lieutenant Colonel Smith was assured by a passing teamster that 1000 rebels were under arms. Smith thus sent a courier to Boston to plead for reinforcement.
The British were about 2 miles from Lexington when a second scout warned John Parker that the British were almost there. Only about 80 men formed into 2 ranks. When the British were 50 yards from the militia, a single gunshot sounded above the clamour – it is not known who fired. According to Pitcairn, “Without any order or regularity, the light infantry began a scattered fire”.
The Battle of Lexington was a one-sided affair: the British casualties were 2 privates wounded lightly, while the militia casualties were 8 dead and 9 wounded. Only 2 bodies were found at the original position of the militia; some of the dead had taken bullets in their backs while retreating.
Paul Revere had been captured, but William Dawes had escaped British patrols. Some 200 militiamen left Concord, heading for Lexington accompanied by the music of fife and drums. Only 20 minutes later, 800 hundred British regulars came into view in the vicinity of Meriam’s Corner. The militiamen fell back towards Concord in an orderly fashion.
The British marched into Concord looking for feed for the horses and water for the men. During a search of the town, 60 barrels of flour and 500 pounds of musket balls were located and destroyed. Trunnions were knocked from some iron canon found in the gaol yard. Fires were made from wooden gun carriages, a liberty pole, spare wheels, tent pegs and a cache of wooden spoons.
Despite such slim pickings, the British search for military supplies continued and Colonel Smith ordered more than 200 men to march west toward Colonel Barrett’s farm, 2 miles across the Concord River. Seven British companies crossed the bridge and 3 remained at the bridge to protect the crossing. The British had about 100 men and kept an eye on the militia stationed on a hill about 800m from the British. As the militia approached the bridge, the British repositioned to the east of the bridge. Without command, a British soldier fired into the river followed by 2 more shots. This resulted in the British troops closest to the bridge firing into the militia. The regulars found themselves trapped in a situation where they were both outnumbered and outmanoeuvred. Lacking effective leadership, they retreated to Concord.
The militia was shocked by their success with some militia advancing while others retreated. Colonel Barrett regained control and moved the militia back to the hill where they had started. The British regulars continued to search Concord and assembled for the return march to Boston at about 1200.
As the British return march began, the men were protected by light infantry. When they reached Meriam’s Corner, however, they needed to pull in the flanking units. The militia set up ambushes along the return route at terrain features that favoured them. For example, when the British were passing Bloody Angle and Brooks Hill, they suffered 30 casualties and militia only 4. Some of the British regulars surrendered or were captured, while others broke formation and ran towards Lexington.
A British brigade with infantry and artillery under the command of Earl Percy arrived to rescue them. The relief column’s guns fired on the pursuing militia, forcing them to disperse. The return march started at 1530. The fighting became heaviest when the regulars passed through Menotomy and Cambridge. The column then moved north towards Charlestown. When they reached the hills around Charlestown, they started to dig in. They were also protected by HMS Somerset.
Scribe’s note: The internet has much about the battles and the war, often reflecting the bias of the author. The following URLs, one British and the other American, will help you form your own opinion:
https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/battle-lexington-and-concord
https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/battles-of-lexington-andconcord
Franco's p[resentatioon is recorded in the Society's video library.
SAMHSEC RPC meeting 26 February 2024
In session 1, Malcolm Kinghorn spoke about the Houthi Movement (Houthis) disruption of maritime trade in the Red Sea using drone (Water Borne Improvised Explosive Device – WBIED) boats.
Most of the population of the Republic of Yemen are Muslim, estimated at 65% Sunni and 35% Shia. The Houthis are a Shia extremist political and military organisation. There is an ongoing civil war between the internationally recognised government and the Houthis, who have controlled the national capital Sanaa and part of the Red Sea coast since 2014. Following the start of the Israel-Hamas War in 2023, the Houthis have attacked ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Drone WBIED boats were used in some attacks. The boats are modified for remote command and guidance and hosting an IED explosive train. Skiffs resembling local fishing boats were used in recent attacks. There are reports that boats were converted to WBIEDs with external components and expertise. Because of the Houthis' ideological background, the conflict in Yemen is widely seen as a front of the Iran-Saudi Arabia proxy war.
Note: this talk will be considered for posting in the SAMHS Zoom library when it becomes history. It is now current affairs!
In session 2, Jaco Pretorius spoke about Evert Kleynhans’ book “Hitler’s Spies: secret agents and the intelligence war in South Africa”. After South Africa entered the war in 1939, the German government secretly reached out to the political opposition and the leadership of the anti-war movement, the Ossewabrandwag (OB) to spread sedition in South Africa, undermine the Allied war effort and gather information about shipping around the Cape of Good Hope. A network of spies was established which relayed messages via Axis diplomats in Mozambique. The book also details the post-war efforts to prosecute OB members.
SAMHSEC AGM to be held at 1900 on 11 March 2024
Neither nominations for members to serve on the SAMHSEC committee nor agenda points for the AGM have been received. This is taken as a motion of confidence in the current branch committee.
Anne Irwin has offered to assist the Scribe with editing newsletters for language.
Thank you, Anne.
SAMHSEC meeting 11 March 2024
Dylan Fourie is to tell us about Audie Murphy.
SAMHSEC RPC 25 March 2024
SAMHSEC Requests the Pleasure of your Company to talk about military history on 25 March 2024.
RPC meetings are opportunities for you to share your knowledge of a military history subject or book with fellow military historians. Presentations should last approximately 15 minutes to allow time for sharing the pleasure of one another’s company. You can do any number of RPC presentations per year. Please contact André at andrecrozier@gmail.com if you want to share your knowledge.
SAMHSEC field trip 13 April 2024
Fred Nel has organised for the return same day field trip on 13 April 2024 to the Mount Ingwe Anglo-Boer War Relics Museum in the Elands River Valley to include firing of black powder weapons. Thanks, Fred.
2024 Membership renewal
Thank you if you have renewed membership for 2024. If you have not renewed your membership by 31 March, we look forward to welcoming you back when you decide to re-join.
Payment details are on the SAMHS website, see
Proposed Lost Over Sea Tribute (LOST) Monument Egmond aan Zee in the Netherlands (https://lostmonument.nl/)
Copied from Maasmond Maritime -Shipping News Clippings 2024-050 19 February 2024
“We have been running a bunker museum in a former German ammunition bunker in the dunes near Egmond aan Zee since 2016.
In it we tell the story of Egmond and the surrounding area during World War 2. In 2022, after the wreckage of a wartime British bomber washed ashore, we came into contact with a relative of one of the crew members still missing. This one asked if it would be possible to erect a monument to the still missing crew of this aircraft. At the time, we thought that a monument to all missing crew members over the North Sea would be more appropriate, this being some 20 000 men. So we made the plans for our LOST monument (Lost Over Sea Tribute). It should then come under the lighthouse on the promenade here in Egmond aan Zee.
Why Egmond aan Zee? Egmond aan Zee was in the middle of what the Royal Airforce called a "Gap". A relatively lightly defended stretch of coast where there was little enemy anti-aircraft fire. Many aircraft used this to fly towards Germany and back.
The memorial will be called LOST, which is an acronym for Lost Over Sea Tribute.
We want as wide a group as possible. There is not yet an (inter)national monument to all missing crew members over the North Sea in the Netherlands. The international character of the fallen deserves in our eyes an international memorial, here in the municipality of Bergen.
We want to unveil this monument this summer. The money, almost €72,000.00 is almost in. We still need at least €20,000.00 to achieve our goal: a dignified monument to all the missing.”
Translated from Dutch with www.DeepL.com/Translator
SAMHSEC