Die Redcoat T (Samuel Whittemore)

True to size and 100 percent cotton, ships in 2 weeks.

In honor of Samuel Whittemore.

Whittemore’s defining moment came on April 19, 1775, during the British retreat from the Battle of Concord after opening fire on American citizens in the brief Battle of Lexington. As the Redcoats marched back toward Boston after their failed mission to seize colonial arms, they burned and pillaged homes, ravaged farms, and shot citizens along the way. As word of their atrocities spread, citizen opposition quickly increased during their return.

When Whittemore, then in his late 70s and long retired from military life, learned of the British rampage, he gathered his weapons. This included his musket along with the prized sword and two pistols he collected from the French during his earlier warfare. Alone, he crouched behind a low stone wall beside the road, readying himself to meet the oncoming enemy.

He saw a squad of five British grenadiers approaching. As they drew near, Whittemore quickly arose. He promptly felled one soldier with a musket shot, drew his pistols and dispatched another, and mortally wounded a third. He then drew his sword and charged.

But just before Whittemore reached the British, they shot him in the face at point-blank range. Crumpling to the ground, they smashed his head with a musket butt and then bayoneted him repeatedly (accounts vary from six to 13 stabs). They left him dead in a pool of his own blood. However, Whittemore wasn’t dead; they just thought he was. Four hours later, as local townsmen recovered the fallen, they found the gravely wounded Whittemore not only conscious but struggling to reload his musket to continue the fight.

Carried to the local physician, his case was pronounced hopeless. The family demanded treatment anyway, and against all medical odds and expectations, Whittemore survived. He carried terrible scars for the rest of his life but made a full recovery and lived another 18 years, dying of natural causes at age 96.