Watson's Corner is the historical name for an intersection in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the corner of Rindge Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue. It was part of a wider area called Watson's Plain in colonial and Revolutionary War times and well into the 19th century.[1]
Watson's Corner gained notability on account of a skirmish that occurred there on April 19, 1775 in connection with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. A marker at 2154 Massachusetts Avenue commemorates the skirmish.[2] An account of this event from the Cambridge city website[3] describes the scene thus:[4]
- At Watson’s Corner (the present intersection of Rindge and Massachusetts avenues) Cambridge patriots lay in wait behind a pile of barrels, but were surprised by flanking redcoats. John Hicks and Moses Richardson of Cambridge and Isaac Gardner of Brookline were killed, as was William Marcy, a "simple-minded youth" who thought he was watching a parade.[3]
References
edit- ^ Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge: Northwest Cambridge, 1977, ISBN 0-262-53032-5, Cambridge Historical Commission, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 14-16, 39
- ^ "Watson's Corner" (PDF). Cambridge Historical Commission et al. 2000. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
- ^ a b "The American Revolution Comes to Cambridge, Part III: Retreat: Deadly Skirmishes in North Cambridge" Archived May 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 1 May 2016
- ^ An obvious typo has been corrected.