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Several of our kin seem to have been involved in the first official battle of the rebellion that we now call our Revolution:
  • First cousin (1C8R) Lieutenant James Russell commanded Carlisle’s contingent of Minute Men at the Bridge.

  • Oliver Wheeler, apparently the second of the name in our direct line, was a member of the Acton Militia and wore a sword that was displayed at the centennial festivities in 1875. Though called “of Acton,” Oliver’s listed among the Concord Minute Men, not among those of Carlisle. Acton’s men were prominent (fatally so) in the action at the Bridge.

  • Munroe-by-marriage Lieut. Isaac Wilkins may not have been there in person, but “his people” seem to have participated.
Wilkins1 notes:

“One further comment might to [sic] made about the Carlisle Minutemen of 1775. It has been suggested in some histories that the Minutemen in the Revolutionary War were ‘mostly enthusiastic youths who were attracted by dangerous service.’. [punctuation sic] This was not apparently the case in Carlisle. Here, two of the Minutemen were 19, five were in their twenties, five in their thirties, two in their forties, one was 54, and one, 59. They were unquestionably enthusiastic in the defense of lives and liberties, but the majority of them were presumably not motivated by the recklessness of youth…
1Ruth Chamberlin Wilkins, Carlisle, Its History and Heritage The Carlisle Historical Society, Inc. (Carlisle:1976), pp. 68-9.

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