In honor of William Diamond’s 270th birthday on July 21, the following is an excerpt from “The story of our town,” by Dave Anderson, in the Peterborough’s 275th special section from the Oct. 7, 2014, Monadnock Ledger-Transcript.
William Diamond is known as the “drummer boy” of Lexington, but that’s a bit misleading.
“He was not a boy at all,” says John Franklin of Peterborough, who has done research about Diamond’s life.
“He was a man, just shy of 20. He had moved to Lexington at about age 14 and had been apprenticed as a wheelwright.”
While little is known about Diamond’s life in Lexington, he was one of the notable participants in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.
“His was really the first overt action of the Revolutionary War,” says Jim Grant of Peterborough, one of the anniversary celebration organizers.
“He was ordered to drum reveille to bring out the minutemen. That action started the entire revolution in New England.”
As word of the battles of Lexington and Concord spread, Grant says, a group of minutemen from Peterborough gathered at Wilson’s Tavern on Elm Hill Road, where a plaque marking the event now stands.
“They decided to march to Lexington,” Grant says. “They got partway there, but the battle was over. Some turned around, but others went on to fight with the Massachusetts minutemen.”
After the battle, William Diamond continued to live in Lexington until 1795. Then, at the age of 40, he pulled up stakes and moved to Peterborough. “He had five children at the time,” says Franklin. “He became an indentured laborer on a farm. Later, he purchased land from Asa Carley and had his own farm.”
According to Grant, Diamond’s farm was near where the former Carley Road meets Old Mountain Road.
“As best we can determine, the property was eventually divided between his son, William, and his son, John, with an agreement that he would live with his son, John,” says Franklin. “We don’t know a lot about his life in Peterborough. He didn’t do a lot that was in the public eye.”
William Diamond died in 1828. His grave is in the town’s cemetery on Old Street Road.
William Diamond’s legacy
Diamond is still remembered in Lexington. One of the town’s two middle schools carries his name and the William Diamond Junior Fife and Drum Corps performs regularly, not only at the annual Patriots’ Day events in Lexington, but at celebrations throughout the United States.
“We are a youth fife and drum corps, ages 8 to 18, says Tanya Morrisette, the group’s business manager. “We play instruments reminiscent of what would have been played at the time of the Battle of Lexington — 6-hole wooden fife and rope-tension drums. We wear uniforms similar to what would have been worn at the time.”
“We play a lot of songs from colonial time period, but we haven’t stopped there,” Morrisette says. “Our basic goal is to see that American’s historical music is kept alive for future generations.”