The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: MA
Qualifying Service: Non-Commissioned Officer
Author: Howard Dennis Johnson
Isaac Gardner, Jr., was born 9 May 1726, Brookline, Mass., the son of Isaac Gardner and Susanna Heath. He married 26 April 1753, Brookline, to Mary Sparhawk, born 3 January 1752, Cambridge, Mass., daughter of Thomas Sparhawk and Mary Oliver.
The town of Brookline in December 1772, chose a committee to consider the violations of the rights of colonists. In November 1773, the town voted that they were ready to provide assistance to Boston and other towns to oppose the tea scheme, by which the British crown sought to raise taxes.
By September 1774, Brookline had formed a committee to examine the state of the town’s military preparations, in case of a sudden attack. Isaac Gardner Jr. was one of the leaders of the movement which was rapidly drifting toward open rebellion.
Beginning January 1775 and continuing into April 1775, the committee for supplies directed a gathering of military supplies. Flints, sheet lead, casks of leaden balls, canteens, and powder were concealed in carts of food and linens, carted from Boston to Brookline to Concord. When the supplies were conveyed to Concord, this caused the midnight march of British Lieut. Col. Smith which brought on the battle of Lexington. Lord Percy marched to support Smith. When word came to Brookline that Lord Percy was coming, the frightened people gathered their valuables and fled to the upper part of the town. After the King’s soldiers marched through the town, the people’s fear gave way to a desire to fight.
By noon, almost all of the able bodied men were gathered on the village green in front of the meeting house. Three companies were formed, with Isaac Gardner Jr. at the head of one. The companies set out across the fields toward Lexington. After the skirmish at Lexington and Concord, the British regulars were marching back to Boston. The volunteers from Brookline were waiting for the British. Isaac Gardner and four or five others were hidden behind some dry casks near Cambridge Road. As they waited for Lord Percy to come by, the flank guard attacked them from behind they all died fighting there.
Isaac’s body was brought back to Brookline and buried very quietly the next night. His death caused a controversy in the English press between those who would not believe that His Majesty’s Justice of the Peace would have been killed fighting against the crown, and those who believed the reports and foresaw the seriousness of the conflict which Great Britain was forcing upon its colonies.
From a British newspaper of 4 July 1775: “Isaac Gardner, one of His Majesty’s Justice of the Peace was not killed as he was peaceably riding along, but was killed in the very act of attacking the King’s troops…”. Isaac Gardner Jr. died at Cambridge, 19 April 1775, and was buried in Walnut Street Cemetery, Brookline.
A Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) chapter in Brookline was named in his honor.
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