Share This Article
Sudbury has three significant Revolutionary War stories that happened in the town itself. And I use the term “happened” loosely, the stories either march from Sudbury, or pass through the town. The most notable of these is April 19, 1775, when the Militia and Minute companies left Sudbury and marched to the Battle of Concord. The 250th anniversary of that historic day is fast approaching.
The present story takes place 250 years ago in February and March of 1775. It is the story of two British officers, Captain Brown and Ensign D’Berniere, who are disguised as country folk as they survey the land to create a map for the British to use in planning an attack. The pair undertook two trips: one to Worcester and another to Concord. The resulting map is listed as Roxbury to Concord, Roads and Distances, 1775 in the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.
Brown and D’Berniere were instructed by General Gage on February 22, 1775, to “go through the counties of Suffolk and Worcester, taking a sketch of the country as you pass”. They walked from the Golden Ball in Weston to Framingham, almost certainly along Old Connecticut Path through Wayland, which was part of Sudbury at that time. See the map of Sudbury in 1776 below.
Ensign D’Berniere describes walking through Sudbury to Marlborough on Wednesday, March 1st, starting from the Golden Ball in Weston.
“- At two o’clock it ceased snowing a little, and we resolved to set off for Marlborough, which was about sixteen miles off; we found the roads very bad, every step up to our ankles ; we passed through Sudbury, a very large village, near a mile long, the causeway lies across a great swamp, or overflowing of the river Sudbury, and commanded by a high ground on the opposite side; nobody took the least notice of us until we arrived within three miles of Marlborough, (it was snowing hard all the while) when a horseman overtook us and asked us from whence we came, we said from Weston.”
Thursday, March 2nd, they walked back through Sudbury after leaving Marlborough abruptly at 10:30 PM due to a warning of impending danger.
“we got without being perceived, as far as the hills that command the causeway at Sudbury, and went into a little wood where we eat a bit of bread that we took from Mr. Barnes’s, and eat a little snow to wash it down. — After that we proceeded about one hundred yards, when a man came out of a house and said those words to Capt. Brown, “What do you think will become of you now,” which startled us a good deal, thinking we were betrayed. — We resolved to push on at all hazards, but expected to be attacked on the causeway ; however we met no body there, so began to think it was resolved to stop us in Sudbury, which town we entered when we passed the causeway ; about a quarter of a mile in the town we met three or four horsemen, from whom we expected a few shot, when we came nigh they opened to the right and left and quite crossed the road, however they let us pass through them without taking any notice, their opening being only chance ; but our apprehensions made us interpret every thing against us. — At last we arrived at our friend Jones’s again, very much fatigued, after walking thirty-two miles between two o’clock and half-after ten at night, through a road that every step we sunk up to the ankles, and it blowing and drifting snow all the way.”
The long causeway commanded by a high ground is now River Road and Rte 27.
See Brown & DeBerniere, British Spies in Sudbury for more information.
https://jch.com/history/250/BrownDeBerniere.html