By Christine M. Quirk — [email protected]
Not many towns can say they own a cannon — but Concord, home of the shot heard round the world, isn’t most towns.
Here, the Concord Independent Battery has been the steward of two cannons for more than 200 years. Founded in 1804, it is, Capt. Peter Myette said, the oldest horse-drawn field artillery in the country, run entirely by volunteers.
“It’s an incredibly diversified group of people,” he said. “You have doctors, you have truck drivers, you have firefighters, you have lawyers. … You even have horse people and people that are petrified of horses, but everybody is there for the same common cause.”
The field guns are fired on Patriots Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day and at special ceremonies, such as the November 9 rededication of the Civil War Monument. Members who fire the cannons attend 20 hours of training yearly and are certified by the state.
The Battery is currently practicing for the Concord250 celebrations on April 19.
Historical origins
In early 1775, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, which President Phil Kenney called the precursor to the National Guard, ordered two brass cannons moved to Concord for safekeeping. The British military’s hunt for munitions led to the confrontation at the North Bridge on April 19, 1775, considered the catalyst for the American Revolution.
In February 1804, the state Senate resolved to form a volunteer artillery unit to maintain the cannons, and the Concord Artillery, as the Battery was then known, was born.
“The role of the cannon predates the founding of the Concord Artillery itself, so we do have a very deep connection to Concord’s history,” member Sandy Smith said.
Over the years, the state tried to retrieve the cannons, but the town was unwilling to give up such a rich piece of history. In 1887, the Concord Select Board petitioned the governor to permanently “confer upon the town of Concord the two brass field pieces heretofore used by the Concord Artillery Company.”
Family connections
The Battery has about 34 active members, as well as associate members nationwide, and it tends to be a family affair. Kenney’s father was a Battery captain; Peter and Abby Myette are father and daughter. Smith is the third of four generations.
Abby Myette is currently the only active female member.
“There’s so many of us as young people who look at the things our parents are doing, and we’re like, ‘I’m never going to do that,’” she said. “But it was an opportunity to do something with my dad and to have that common interest in that time together.”
Peter Myette was influenced to join by his father, Charles, though Charles was not in the Battery himself.
“My dad died when I was 6,” he said. “He was well known in town, so whenever I would go to the cemetery [I’d see] Battery members. Years later, they would say, ‘If you have any interest, please join the Battery.’”
READ MORE: All in the (Battery) family
Kenney joined in 1972 after serving in the U.S. Army; his father, Lawrence, was the captain and put him on a horse for the 200th anniversary parade in 1975.
“My father was very anxious to get me involved,” he said. “He said, ‘I just want to make sure I got somebody on a horse that I can trust.’”
Looking to the future
The Battery is always looking for new members; Kenney said he wants to be sure it’s perpetuated. “How do we do that? We do it with new members and younger people that want to get involved,” he said.
Peter Myette enjoys that the Battery recognizes and pays tribute to history, and his daughter cited another advantage.
“I’ve had the opportunity to learn how to fire and maintain a Revolutionary War-era cannon,” she said. “Who gets to do that? It’s my perpetual fun fact at team meetings: I know how to fire a cannon.”
For more information on the Concord Independent Battery, visit concordbattery.org.
