Jason Russell House facts for kids
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Jason Russell House
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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The Jason Russell House
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| Location | 7 Jason St. Arlington, Massachusetts |
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| Part of | Arlington Center Historic District (ID85002691) |
| NRHP reference No. | 74000363 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | October 9, 1974 |
| Designated CP | September 27, 1985 |
The Jason Russell House is a really old house in Arlington, Massachusetts. It's famous because it was the place where the most fighting happened on the very first day of the American Revolutionary War. That day was April 19, 1775, during the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Today, the house is a museum run by the Arlington Historical Society. They bought it in 1923 and fixed it up in 1926. You can visit it from mid-April to the end of October. There's also a museum next door called the Smith Museum, built in 1981, which shows different exhibits about life in Arlington.
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A Home from the 1700s
Around 1740, a successful farmer and soldier named Jason Russell (who lived from 1716 to 1775) built this house. He built it on land he received from his family. To make sure the front of the house faced south, which was a common way to build in New England, he angled the north side towards Concord Road (now Massachusetts Avenue).
What the House Looked Like
The Jason Russell House looks like a typical New England farmhouse. It has five windows across the front, a door in the middle, and a big chimney in the center of its sloped roof. Some parts of the house, like the kitchen and the room above it, might have been made from wood salvaged from an even older building from 1680. The main rooms of the house are still mostly the same today. In 1814, a small porch was added to the front door. Later, around 1863, more parts were added to the sides of the house.
Inside the main part of the house, there are four rooms. To the left of the entrance, you'd find the kitchen and the children's room above it. To the right, there was the parlor (a living room) and the parlor room above it. The kitchen ceiling still has its original white paint and sponge decoration. The outside walls might have been covered in plaster originally. However, when the house was fixed up in 1924, wood panels were put on the outside.
How Old is the House?
For a while, people thought the house was built in two different stages. But in 2012, scientists from Oxford University studied the wood in the house. They used a method called dendrochronology, which looks at tree rings to find out how old wood is. Their study showed that the house was built all at once, sometime between 1740 and 1750. They also found that much of the wood used was cut in 1684–85 or even earlier. This means the wood was probably reused from an older building on the property.
The Battle at Jason Russell's Home
On April 19, 1775, the Jason Russell House and its yard became the site of the bloodiest fighting of the first battle of the Revolutionary War. More American soldiers died here than anywhere else along the "battle road." As British troops marched back towards Boston, heavy fighting broke out along their route through Arlington (which was called Menotomy back then).
British Retreat and American Attack
A British general named Hugh Percy ordered his soldiers to clear out every house. This was to get rid of American snipers (shooters hiding and firing). Houses along the way were searched and sometimes set on fire by the retreating British. The running battle continued all the way to Jason Russell's house. Here, Russell was joined by brave men from towns like Beverly, Danvers, Lynn, Salem, Dedham, and Needham.
The battle at the Jason Russell House happened late in the day, around 5 PM. British soldiers, who had fought earlier in Lexington and Concord, were marching back to Boston. They had been joined by more British troops led by Lord Percy. The Americans kept firing at the British from behind stone walls and other hiding spots as the British retreated.
A Fierce Fight
These small fights turned into a full-blown battle at the Jason Russell House. A group of American minute-men (citizen soldiers ready to fight at a minute's notice) from Danvers, led by General Gideon Foster, had arrived in Menotomy before the British. Many of them went into a walled area near the Jason Russell House. They planned to stop the retreating British soldiers there.
However, they were warned to watch out for British soldiers coming from the side. But they focused on the main group of British troops as they passed. When a British group came from the side, surprising them, the Americans quickly ran towards the Jason Russell House for safety.
Jason Russell's Sacrifice
Jason Russell was 59 years old and had a limp. Earlier that day, he had started to take his wife and children to a safer house on a hill. But he sent them on alone and went back to his own house to defend it. A neighbor, Ammi Cutter, told him to find safety, but Russell refused. He reportedly said, "An Englishman's house is his castle," meaning he would defend his home. Cutter himself almost died from British gunfire. He stumbled and fell, and the British thought he was dead and passed him by.
Russell was outside his house and joined his fellow minute-men as they ran towards it. Because he was older and slower, he was at the back. He was shot twice as he reached his own doorway, and then stabbed eleven times with bayonets. The British then rushed into the house and fought with the people inside, forcing the minute-men to find shelter. Eight minute-men made it to the basement and fired up the stairs.
When Jason's wife returned, she found her husband and all the other dead soldiers laid side by side in the kitchen. The house itself was full of bullet holes, and many are still visible today. Bloodstains on the floor were visible for many years until the floor was replaced in 1863.
Remembering the Fallen
Jason Russell and eleven other men were buried together in one grave, without coffins. A tall, plain stone monument now stands above their grave. It is said that Captain William Adams, who lived nearby, brought a sheet from his house. He couldn't bear to see his neighbor buried without a proper covering.
The words on the monument say:
Erected by the Inhabitants of West Cambridge, A.D. 1848, over the common grave of Jason Russell, Jason Winship, Jabez Wyman and nine others, who were slain in this town by the British Troops on their retreat from the Battles of Lexington and Concord, April 19th, 1775. Being among the first to lay down their lives in the struggle for American Independence.
The nine other men, whose names were not known when the monument was built, have since been identified. They were: John Bacon, Amos Mills, Jonathan Parker, Nathan Chamberlain of Needham, Massachusetts, William Flint, Thomas Hadley, Abednego Ramsdell of Lynn, Massachusetts, Elias Haven of Dedham, Massachusetts and Benjamin Pierce of Salem, Massachusetts.
The Russell Family After the War
Jason Russell's estate (his property and belongings) was sorted out in 1776. His house and 117 acres of land were divided between Noah, his only son still living at home, and his wife, Elizabeth. Elizabeth received the 17 acres where the house stood, along with half of the house. She also had the "Libberty to ues the oven when wanted" and other rights to use parts of the property, including space in the barn. Noah received the other half of the house, half of the barn, and some land. Other children received different parts of the estate. Elizabeth Russell lived in her part of the house until she died on August 11, 1786, at the age of 65.
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