from Chronicles of Danvers: Old Salem Village by Harriet Sylvester Tapley (A copy of this book is available through the Cullen Library.  Refer to the book to compile a citation.)

"The American Revolution: Famous Officers from Danvers", p. 70-74

The Call to Arms: Battle of Lexington - Two months after the repulse at North Bridge, the British instituted a similar search for stores supposed to concealed at Concord.  This was the eighteenth of April.  Early on the morning of the nineteenth, they were met by the patriot yeoman of Lexington and Concord and forced to retreat.  The news of a battle had reached Danvers early on that warm April morning.  About nine o'clock the hurried hoof-beats of a messenger's horse were head in the streets.  The man did not dismount, but called in a loud voice, as he galloped along: "There's a battle at Lexington!  We have met the British!  Hurry to help!"  The companies of Danvers did not wait for a second call.

"Swift as the summons came they left
The plow, 'mid furrow, standing still
The half-ground corn, grist in the mill,
The spade in earth, the axe in clift.

They went where duty seemed to call,
They scarcely asked the reason why:
They only knew they could but die,
And death was not the worst of all."

Capt. Samuel Flint and Capt. Asa Prince with their men from the village, Capts. Samuel Eppesl Gideon Foster and Caleb Lowe and their companies from the south part of the town (now Peabody), Capt Jeremish Page and his minute men from the (Danvers) Plains, Capt. Israel Hutchinson with the "New Mills" and Beverly men, and Deacon Edmund Putnam and his Putnamville and Beaver Brook men, 303 in all, old and young alike, ran sixteen miles and more to the scene of carnage.  Over fences, through fields , scaling stone walls and then marching on the highway, they hastened on.  They started about 10 o'clock; they reached Menotomy (now Arlington) at about two in the afternoon.  The British were said to be on the retreat into Charlestown.  The Danvers men with others stationed themselves in the yard of Jason Russell, in the centre of Menotomy, where bundles of shingles served as a barricade, and awaited the approach of the enemy.  Rumor had deceived the men as to the force of the British.  It was their expectation to here intercept their retreat.  But suddenly and unexpectedly the enemy came in sight, descending the hill near by in solid column on their right, while on the left a large flank guard was rapidly advancing.  The Danvers men were caught in a trap, but they fought desperately and gallantly.  The British, too, were desperate.  Enraged at their defeat and harassed by the Provincials, who had fired upon them from behind stone walls and trees on their retreat, they now saw a chance for revenge.  Some of the Americans were driven into a cellar nearby, where horrible deeds were committed, and here and in the yard seven of Danvers' young men fell, and two more were wounded.  The dead were: Benjamin Daland, Jr., Samuel Cook, Jr., Eben Goldthwait, Perley Putnam and Jotham Webb.  Danvers lost ore men than any other town except Lexington.

Captain (Gideon) Foster, with some of his men on the side of the hill, finding themselves nearly surrounded, made an effort to gain the pond.  They crossed directly in front of the British column.  On the north side of the road they took position behind a ditch wall.  From this redoubt they fired upon the enemy so long as any of them were within range of their muskets.  Some of them fired eleven times, with two bullets at each discharge.

Jotham Webb, one of the killed, had been married only a few weeks.  When the call came, he put on his wedding clothes, saying, "If I die, I will die in my best clothes."

"A gallant hero, too, was Webb,
Nor deemed his nuptial suit too fine
In which to act a soldier's part
And pour his gifts at Freedom's shrine;

"But donned his best and kissed his bridge,
And sped to make the sacrifice -
The wedding garb his glory shroud
The fataql ball his pearl of price."

The house in which Webb lived is still standing, off Merrill Street, having been removed from Water Street.

It was a sorrowful group that congregated that night in Colonel Hutchinson's house at New Mills to wait for the news from the battle.  There were women whose husbands had seen many a bloody battlefield in the old wars, who knew full well what dreadful battle meant; there were young women, born and bred in an atmosphere of peace; and there were little children clinging to the older ones with childish trust, feeling that some awful thing was about to happen.  Only one man was left at New Mills that night, illness alone preventing him from joining the company.  On the evening of the 20th, several men on horseback drove up to the house.  On the kitchen floor of that house the dead were unrolled from the bloody sheets, and the next morning were taken away for burial.  Such was Danvers' part in the first battle of the Revolution.

Period of Watchfulness: The Revolution - After the battle, the town of Danvers voted to establish two watches of thirteen men each, whose duty it was to guard the town every night.  A penalty awaited any one who refused to do duty in this direction.  Strict rules were laid down against the firing of any guns except in cases of alarm or actual engagement.  The watches were discontinued in July, when Congress provided a guard for seaport towns.

The expectation of an outbreak was realized on the memorable 17th of June, when the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, in which a large number of Danvers men participated.  During the following terrible eight years struggle for independence, the men of this town bore an honorable and important part.  Money was raised and the services of hundreds of its citizens were freely given, so it was turthfully said that

"On every field where victory was won,
The sons of Danvers stood by Washington."

Dr. Amos Putnam was one of the most influential citizens of the town at this time.  He was born in Danvers, October 11, 1722.  He studied medicine and practiced in this town until the opening of the French and Indian War, when he entered the Colonial service as surgeon, serving six months.  During the Revolution he was a member of the Committee of Safety and was always a firm and outspoken patriot.  He practiced in Danvers for over half a century, and died on July 26, 1807.