By Meredith Marcinkewicz

Nineteen of Shirley’s Minutemen are buried in Shirley Center. Among them are Boltons, Hazens, Holdens, and Longleys. Some of their descendants still live in Shirley. Nineteen graves are marked by small Revolutionary War flag holders.

On the 19th of April in 1775, 78 men and two drummer boys marched toward Concord and Lexington and kept marching along the Battle Road all the way to Cambridge. Some of them stayed defending the heights for a few days or a week or enlisted in the new revolutionary army that was forming. Others went back home to their daily life in Shirley and joined up later in the conflict.

One of them was James Dickenson who was a carpenter and sawmill owner. John Dwight was a stone cutter. Moses Johnson served as the town undertaker. Joseph Brown became the church deacon. Capt. Samuel Walker was a respected agriculturalist who was later chosen to become Town Treasurer and head of the town militia.

Thanks to research done by Ingrid Adam of the Shirley Cemetery Committee, a list of those nineteen men, a description of their positions in town, and a map of their gravesites are available at the Shirley Historical Society to be used for a self-guided tour. The Museum is located at #182 Center Road and is open most Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. Go to mail@shirleyhistory.org for more information.