Riddled with Bullets: Applying Shooting Incident Reconstruction Techniques to American Colonial Structures and Architectural Elements Associated with the British Retreat to Boston, April 19, 1775

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Documenting the Built Environment (General Sessions)" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The British Regulars retreat from Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 is legendary in American history. Colonial militias and the famous Minute Men ambushed the British column along the retreat route back to Boston. Colonists’ usws local homes as ambush points. The British reached the Village of Arlington, Massachusetts, with intermixed units and essentially without command and control. They fired, almost indiscriminately, into homes along the route. One home, the Jason Russell house, is still standing from that era. It is preserved by the Arlington Historical Society. At least fourteen bullet holes are still evident in the walls and around doors and windows. Shooting incident reconstruction techniques were applied to the Russell house and several other structures to the study of the bullet holes to determine the origin of the musket fire. Lead residue testing was also preformed to confirm the holes’ origins as bullet holes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Documenting the Built Environment (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology