AFA Autumn 2021

2021 Antiques & Fine Art 63 at the North Bridge. The undecorated horn (Fig. 4) was preserved by his family, complete with its woven wool strap and wooden stopper engraved “IH” (Jonathan Hosmer), until given to the museum in the twentieth century. A letter written by Jonathan Hosmer on April 10, 1775 (private collection), proved woefully prophetic with its prediction that if the Regulars came to Concord there would be “bloody work.” In common with several other horns with histories of use on April 19, the Hosmer horn has an earlier form of attachment for the strap, a tab integral to the horn. Two of the horns in the collection with North Bridge associations were decorated by the same carver. The first of these (Fig. 5) belonged to Amos Barrett, a twenty-three-year-old corporal in David Brown’s minute company on April 19. Fifty years later Barrett vividly recalled what transpired at the bridge, including his orders not to fire unless fired on, then to fire as fast as possible; the splashes of three warning shots in the river; and the volley that killed Abner Hosmer. The second (Fig. 6) belonged to thirty-four-year-old blacksmith Samuel Jones who was a member of one of Concord’s two militia companies and, like Amos Barrett, had mustered at Wright Tavern when the town bell rang the alarm at two in the morning. Jones’s horn is inscribed “Samuel Jones Fig. 5: Amos Barrett powder horn, Concord, Mass., 1775. Concord Museum Collection; Gift of Frederick S. Richardson, Peter H. Richardson, and Joan R. Fay (1994.63). Photograph by Gavin Ashworth. Fig. 4: Abner Hosmer powder horn, Acton, Mass., 1745–1755. Concord Museum Collection; Gift of Miss Elizabeth S. Hosmer (1936) (A2053). Photograph by Gavin Ashworth.

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