SAM WHITTEMORE

SAM WHITTEMORE


In 1775, 80-year-old farmer Sam Whittemore was placidly working in his fields at Menotomy (now Arlington), Mass. He knew nothing of the British invasion and the deaths at Lexington. In younger days, Whittemore had been a soldier, and a good one. He became a captain in His Majesty's Dragoons stationed in America, and fought against the French, the Indians, and renegades of all types. He even spent a brief period on board a ship that was hunting for a pirate. He was always ready to drop his farming tools, pick up his weapons and march off to battle.

Most men below the rank of general have had their fill of war by the time they reach their 50th year. Not Whittemore! In 1745, he was among the forces that stormed the French fortress at Louisburg, Nova Scotia, where he captured a fine, albeit gaudy and overdecorated, French saber that he would treasure the rest of his long life. As legend has it, taciturn Sam said that the former owner of the saber had "died suddenly," but furnished no further details.