Isaac Davis (February 23, 1745 – April 19, 1775) was a gunsmith and a militia officer who commanded a company of Minutemen from Acton, Massachusetts, during the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. In the months leading up to the Revolution, Davis set unusually high standards for his company in terms of equipment, training, and preparedness. His company was selected to lead the advance on the British Regulars during the Battle of Concord because his men were entirely outfitted with bayonets. During the American advance on the British at the Old North Bridge, Davis was among the first killed and was the first American officer to die in the Revolution.
Davis is memorialized through the Isaac Davis Monument on the Acton Town Common. He was also the inspiration behind The Minute Man (1875), the sculpture at the Old North Bridge by Daniel Chester French. The sculpture, which French attempted to model after Davis using photographs of Davis's descendants, is now an iconic national symbol.
Biography
Early life and family
Davis was born February 23, 1745, in the village of West Acton to Ezekial Davis (b. 1717) and Mary (nee Gibson) Davis (1725–1773). He married Hannah Brown (born 1746) on October 24, 1764. They had four children—two boys and two girls.
Preparations for war
During the early 1770s, many inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts Bay protested taxation policies established by British Parliament. These protests eventually resulted in the military occupation of the provincial capital of Boston, Massachusetts, which, consequently caused further unrest. In September 1774, the military governor, General Thomas Gage, dissolved the Massachusetts General Court, placing the province under martial law. Citizens of Massachusetts formed an extra-legal Massachusetts Provincial Congress to govern the province outside of the rule of the King. In October 1774, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress recommended that each town establish a company of Minutemen—specially trained militia who could be ready at short notice in the event that the British Regulars in Boston attempted any warlike movements.
In November 1774, Acton formed a company of Minutemen, and Davis was elected captain. He was determined that his company be as well-equipped as the British soldiers. Most provincial Minuteman companies, unlike professional soldiers, were not equipped with bayonets for use in close combat and they typically re-loaded using powder horns, a slow method more suited to hunting than to battle. Davis employed his skills as a gunsmith to outfit nearly every man in his company with a bayonet and saw that his men were supplied with cartridge boxes, allowing his company to re-load as quickly as the British. Finally, Davis emphasized marksmanship, training his company on an improvised shooting range behind his house. These high standards in terms of equipment and training made the Acton company one of the best prepared in Massachusetts.
According to tradition, Davis was a superstitious man who believed he had seen numerous omens that indicated that he would die if forced into battle. In 1851, Rev. James Woodbury, Acton's representative to the Massachusetts General Court, delivered a speech about Davis to the House of Representatives. During this speech, Woodbury described an incident that allegedly took place a few days before the Battle of Concord in which Davis and his family returned home to find an owl perched on Davis's musket. According to Woodbury, "It was an ill omen, a bad sign. The sober conclusion was that the first time that Davis went into battle, he would lose his life."
Battle of Concord
During the early spring of 1775, Gage planned an expedition to confiscate a large stockpile of gunpowder and weapons kept by the provincials in Concord, Massachusetts. On April 15, he issued orders to hand-picked companies of British Regulars in Boston, relieving them from their usual duties. Concluding that a British movement was imminent, Paul Revere, a messenger for the provincial Sons of Liberty, was sent to Concord on April 16 to warn the inhabitants. Most of the supplies were removed from Concord, and the Minuteman companies were on alert days before the British marched from Boston.