Prescott, Samuel
Prescott, Samuel
PRESCOTT, SAMUEL. (1751–1777). Physician. Massachusetts. Son of Dr. Abel and Abigail Brigham Prescott, he studied medicine with his father and began practicing with him in their home town of Concord, Massachusetts. An opponent of British policies, he stumbled upon the action for which he is best remembered early on the morning of 19 April 1775. Riding home to Concord from a meeting in Lexington, he met Paul Revere and William Dawes, who were carrying news that the British were on the move to confiscate provincial military stores at Concord. The trio rode on together. When they were approached by British officers on horseback, Dawes escaped, but Revere and Prescott were stopped. Both riders evaded their captors, although Revere was captured again momentarily. Prescott, thoroughly familiar with the countryside, made his escape and rode on to warn the minutemen at Lincoln and Concord, thereby enabling the activists to hide the munitions that were essential for armed resistance at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts on 19 April 1775. Prescott served as a surgeon at Ticonderoga in 1776. About a year later he was captured on board a privateer and died while imprisoned at Halifax.
SEE ALSO Lexington and Concord; Revere, Paul.
revised by Harold E. Selesky