Without preamble he said, “Nathanael, I was just informed by the courier you met at the ferry your brother Joshua was killed on Wednesday in a skirmish with British troops in Concord, ­Massachusetts.”

Denial is the first response to the delivery of terrible news. I recall drawing a deep breath and saying, “Oh dear God. How can this be? In Joshua’s letter we received on Monday he said he was preparing for his final examinations and would be home next month after graduating in just three years from Harvard.”

Father nodded and said quietly, “All true. But your brother Joshua was more than a student. He was also a secret member of Boston’s Committee of Correspondence. Samuel Adams, the founder of the whole committee network, personally asked Joshua to join shortly after your brother arrived for his first year at Harvard.”

“Did you know Josh was part of this?”

“Yes. Joshua told me about it when he came home for Christmas that first year. He brought with him a letter from Mr. Adams—also a Harvard alumnus—urging me to encourage members of our House of Burgesses to form similar committees in Virginia. It took six months for our legislators to bring it to a vote, but thanks to the skills of Messer’s Richard Henry Lee and Patrick Henry, the measure passed and now there are near-identical committees throughout all thirteen colonies.”

“But how did Josh get killed by British soldiers in this place you called Concord?”

“Because he could ride and shoot, Joshua was a Trusted Courier for a surveillance group headed by a gentleman named Paul Revere. The messenger you met at the ferry told me that very early Wednesday morning Mr. Revere summoned his couriers to alert Patriots in Lexington and Concord—two towns about fifteen miles west of Boston—700 British troops were coming to confiscate militia supplies of arms, gunpowder, and lead shot.

“There were two fights, the first in Lexington and a second that afternoon at a bridge near Concord. Joshua was apparently killed in this second engagement. Mr. Adams was kind enough to dispatch the courier with this dreadful message that very evening.” Father then handed me a folded piece of parchment.

Concord, Massachusetts, 19th, April, 1775

To Mr. James Henry Newman, Esq.

My Dear Sir:

It is my sad duty to inform you that your brave Patriot son, Joshua Newman, was Killed in Action today at Concord, Massachusetts while serving as a Trusted Courier in Mr. Paul Revere’s Special Unit of my Committee. Your son was struck in the head by a musket ball fired by the British Invasion Force at a bridge being defended by our Minutemen.

I was there and can confirm Joshua died the instant he was shot. He and the other Patriots who fell in Concord will be interred with honors on the morrow at First Parish Church Burial Ground with Rev. William Emerson, Sr. presiding.