Natick Minutemen &
Needham West Militia Company

Natick and Needham West Militia and Minuteman Companies

How the Christian Indian town and Needham's West Parish became today's Natick and Wellesley. Updated Sept. 11, 2007

In 1775 Natick and Wellesley together fielded three militia and two Minuteman companies. Wellesley and North Natick were formerly called the parish of West Needham. Other companies were formed in the Southern (Indian) Parish, which then included Lake Waban. Natick was not incorporated from the combined Needham and Indian parishes until 1781. The parish formed Capt. Aaron Smith's militia company under Col. William Heath.

On April 19, 1775 the company mustered at Bullard's Tavern, which was a half mile east of the former Natick Townline along what is now Route 16 at Wellesley College. General gage himself was one of the more famous visitors at Bullard's tavern. When dining here he sent a few regulars into the woods to procure him a fresh killed deer.

The Needham Minuteman company was led by Captain Caleb Kingsbury, whose home is now a country club opposite the Bullard's Tavern site. About 34 of the 40 Needham Minuteman Company were from Natick and Wellesley, i.e. the West Parish. (See Wellesley Historical Society.

The John Bacon, Moses Bacon, Isaac Underwood, Daniel Gould, Samuel Ward, David Hall, Joseph Drury, Gay, and Jenison farms were all in the Needham Leg portion of what is now North Natick. According to F. W. Coburn's Muster Rolls, these men marched with Aaron Smith's or Caleb Kingsbury's companies, as did another Natick militiaman; Abel Smith. Needham Leg was alarmed by a black Framingham man, Abel (Nero) Benson, who marched with a group of Framingham militia through North Natick on the way to the Lower Falls. (Clarke's History of Needham, 1912)

Both West Needham and Natick muster points and many of the Patriots' farms are shown on the 1750 Natick Map below. The Morse, Bacons, Underwood, Gould, Pegan (Pegun), Drury, Gay, Jenison, and other farms are also depicted. Photo right - Marker from the Aaron Smith West Needham Co. muster site on Rte. 16 in Wellesley, the former Bullard's Tavern

Other members of the West Parish militia and minute companies were from the part of Natick which was just west of Needham, on the western side of Lower Waban Brook. Aaron Smith himself and his family lived in this part of Natick, and many of his children's births are recorded in Natick as well as in Needham. This area is now part of Wellesley. Capt. Aaron Smith and his family are buried in the West Parish Cemetery in Wellesley. The Needham West Coy. fought the Regulars at Menotomy, lining up on the south side of Battle Road along with the Dover, Dedham, and Lynn companies.

Lieut. John Bacon of Natick, a veteran of the French and Indian War, was mortally wounded in Menotomy while serving Capt. Kingsbury's company of minutemen.

Another of the same company, Amos Mills of Wellesley, was also killed. Both died at the Jason Russel farm in Menotomy and are buried there in a common grave. Lieut. Bacon's home was built in 1704 and is still standing on North Main Street in Natick. Poetically it is directly opposite the entrance to the US Army Post on Kansas Street.

The Townsend Marker in Needham also memorializes the same two men at the site of where the East Needham militia company mustered, at Central Avenue and Nehoiden Street.

Natick South Companies and the Natick Praying Indians

The remainder of Natick which was not part of the Needham Leg was incorporated as a parish of Natick Praying Indians, who survive as a tribe to this day. The memorial marker to the Natick Praying Indian veterans of the War of Revolution stands on Pond Street in the center of Natick. The marker contains the names of 18 Natick Native Americans who served in the war.

Natick was incorporated as an American Town in 1781, after the War of Revolution began. Until then the area was part of Needham, and even earlier, part of Dedham. The part of Needhams West Parish was divided into two parts, one part is now North Natick, and the other is today's Wellesley.

Natick South (the Indian Parish) fielded two companies of militia and one Minute company which had been formed just six weeks before the Lexington Alarm. At about 4 AM on April 19, 1775 the alarm in Natick was sounded by Capt. Dudley of Sudbury, who had in turn gotten the alarm from Samuel Prescott's brother Abel. An unidentified Natick rider road bareheaded to Wellesley (West Needham) to spread the alarm there. The rider is suggested to have been Abigail Smith, niece of Lieut. John Bacon (of Aaron Smith's Needham company), who had arrived at the Thomas Sawin III house in Natick on the night of April 18th, 1775, having come with news of the Regulars' march out of Boston.

Muster Rolls

Seventy six Natick residents mustered for battle, including seven Natick Indians. The Natick South (Needham) militamen mustered at Natick Common across from Pelitiah Morse's tavern on Eliot Street, following the same route to Menotomy as Needham West companies, who gathered only about 1.3 miles to the east and were alarmed after Natick South.

Minutemen and Militia from Natick (Needham West and Indian Parish) and the surrounding towns of Wellesley (Needham West), Framingham, Dover (Dedham, Springvale Parish, Battelle's Co.) all fought in the Alarm at Menotomy. Sherborn's Militia and Minutemen arrived for the siege of Boston and Bunker Hill.

This 13.75 mile march took them east on Eliot St. in Natick, Washington St. in Wellesley, through Auburndale, Watertown, Belmont, and finally to the main road in Menotomy (Arlington). This march was about 3 miles shorter than the one the Regulars had to make in the same amount of time from Cambridge to Concord. In total 190 Natick men served in its militia (April 1775 Lexington Alarm and June 1775 Battle of Breed's Hill) or in the Continental Army, including no fewer than 15 African Americans and Native Americans.

The Natick Minutemen encountered British Regulars retreating from the battles at Lexington and Concord. Many Natick Minutemen and Militiamen are registered in Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, (1896) and in NSDAR records for their service in the Lexington Alarm including Caesar and John Ferrit, Oliver Whitney, Elijah Esty, Elijah Bacon, Jason Whitney, Samuel Perry, Oliver Bacon, Sgt. Hezekiah Broad, Sgt. Joshua Fisk, Capt. Joseph Morse, and Capt. James Mann, and others.

Two Natick men, Natick Praying Indians of African descent - Caesar Ferrit (Originally West Indian) and his son John Ferrit, fired on retreating Regulars from a house doorway in Lexington, where they were forced to hide from search parties under the stairs. Other reports also place them in Concord where the Acton Minutemen engaged Col. Barrett's line at the North Bridge. Another Ferrit son, Thomas Ferrit of Natick, was a hand on a farm in Dover (Dedham - Springvale Parish). He fought with Capt. Ebeneazer Battelle's Dedham Co.

After the battle, Natick Minutemen returned with several prisoners, of whom at least one was held at Peletiah's Tavern, close to where the Natick Companies normally paraded and drilled. Several of these prisoners eventually settled in Dover Farms.

For a more detailed view of the Lexington Alarm visit WPI's Revolutionary Battles website.