Crossing the River

700 elite soldiers of His Majesty’s Foot march through Lexington to Concord, Massachusetts, April 19, 1775, to seize and destroy military stores stockpiled there by the province’s illegally formed Provincial Congress. Nine militiamen are killed at Lexington, more death occurs at Concord’s North Bridge, and the army retreats to Boston, suffering 75 soldiers killed and 174 wounded.

Crossing the River narrates the internal conflicts, hubris, stupidity, viciousness, valor, empathy, and sacrifice of many of the historical day’s participants. It investigates simultaneously the cause and consequence aspects of high-risk decision-taking.

Three characters among many stand out.

Corporal John Howe is the personal servant of an infantry captain chosen to lead a two-officer spy mission to locate the stockpiled stores. Howe demonstrates useful attributes. Commanding General Thomas Gage pairs him with Colonel Francis Smith to conduct another covert reconnaissance. Howe completes the mission alone.

General Gage orders Howe to alert prominent Tories north of Boston of the intended Concord raid and then to ride to Concord to report what he has seen on the roads.

Howe is conflicted by his regard for Gage, his desire to achieve officer rank, his disdain for Tories and brutish army life, and his growing respect for independent-minded provincials.

Acton schoolmaster James Hayworth musters in the yard of his life-long friend and neighbor, Minuteman Captain Isaac Davis. Davis is the first man killed at Concord’s North Bridge. Enraged, Hayworth parallels the British army’s retreat, endeavoring to kill at every opportunity. Physically and emotionally spent, he rests beside a two-story, red-roofed house a mile west of Lexington.

The enormity of what he has committed overwhelms him. He longs for a return of normalcy. He wants to marry the remarkable young woman he covets. A looter leaves the house and disappears down the road. Leaving his place of safety to draw well water, James is challenged by a second looter.

Conniving Simon Winsett volunteers to be the third Lexington scout to ride down the moon-lit Menotomy road to locate General Gage’s advancing force. Rejected by his family and distrusted by most of the townspeople, Simon needs to demonstrate his core goodness. He is captured by the army’s advance scouts but later escapes.

He accepts his half-brother Samuel’s invitation to travel overland to fight the regulars two miles east of Menotomy. He, Samuel, and his brother John stop by the house of their father’s no-account cousin, Jason Winsett. They discover that Jason’s wife, who has recently given birth, is desperate to have her wandering six-year-old daughter Prudence located and brought home. Simon’s brothers search one side of nearby Spy Pond, where Prudence has likely strayed. Simon is told to search the other side. He discovers a deserted soldier hiding in a burrow.

Crossing the River is historically informative. Exploring human nature, it narrates the causes and consequences of individual decision-making.