Peabody in the Revolution: A Patriots Day Quiz

Today is Patriots Day, a commemoration of the men who fell on the Lexington Green when the first shot was heard round the world, to the Battle of Bunker Hill, to Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered and to the peace agreement in 1783 -- to the thousands of men who fought, died and returned home to the beginning of a new nation.

How well do you know the men of South Danvers (present-day Peabody) who fought for liberty with their fellow patriots in the American Revolution? Take our quiz and test your knowledge of local history.

The format here will be more of a live blog -- we'll add questions (and answers) as the day goes on. Please use the comment section to leave your answers to the questions.

• QUESTION: What are the names of the four Minutemen who fought the British at Lexington and Concord in 1775 and who were originally buried in the Old South Burial Ground at the Peabody/Salem line?
• ANSWER: Benjamin Deland Jr., George Southwick Jr., Samuel Cook Jr. and Ebenezer Goldthwaite. The city installed new headstones for the four men in 2007, finally paying tribute once again to the colonial patriots. Their bodies were hauled back to the cemetery in a wagon, but then as the boundaries for the burial ground changed over the years, the actual remains were lost. The Peabody Veterans Council attempted to locate the remains in the 1990s and the city even hired a researcher at one point, all to no avail. In 2006, the National Archives agreed to provide four new headstones for the Minutemen, which were dedicated the following April.
• QUESTION: Where’s the Jacobs Family Cemetery located?
• ANSWER: Off Lowell Street near Lalikos Park, which is located at the end of Nancy Avenue. The historic burial ground is also just off the and maintained by the . Henry Jacobs was 22 when he fell at the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775. He was killed during the British retreat at Concord.
• QUESTION: Who was Samuel Flint?
• ANSWER: Capt. Samuel Flint was a little known Revolutionary War hero, but one of the first responders to the Lexington Alarm – he commanded a local militia company at Lexington – and who continued to serve during the war throughout the British siege on Boston and in the New York Adirondacks with the Essex Regiment. Flint was killed in action at Venus Heights in Saratoga, N.Y. in 1777. Flint’s family owned land near Crystal Lake and what is now the Hannaford Plaza in West Peabody. A plaque in Flint’s memory was installed last year at Crystal Lake. Flint’s body was buried on the battlefield with only his pistol, sword and crossbelt returning home – local historians believe that was the main reason it took so many years to give Flint his due recognition among Peabody’s fallen heroes in the war.
• QUESTION: The Lexington Monument on Washington Street is dedicated to the men of South Danvers who gave their lives at the Battle of Lexington. Who are they?
• ANSWER: The names of the seven men inscribed on the monument are Samuel Cook Jr., Ebenezer Goldthwaite, Benjamin Deland Jr., George Southwick, Henry Jacobs, Jotham Webb and Perley Putnam. Each of the men answered the call that morning and mustered in what is now Peabody before they marched 16 miles to Arlington Heights to engage the British forces with a 350-member regiment commanded by Col. Timothy Pickering. Most of the men had wives and children; Webb, in fact, had only been married for two weeks and went to war wearing his wedding clothes. Putnam, 21, was the first South Danvers man who died in battle that day. Historians say the men would have survived their wounds, but were bayoneted by retreating British forces marching back to Boston.
• QUESTION: There are three stone monuments and a flagpole at the entrance to the behind . The memorial is a tribute to Peabody’s veterans of the War for Independence; two of the monuments are inscribed with the names of about 100 Peabody soldiers that can be historically accounted for. Who is the third marker dedicated to?
• A: Private Jonathan Wilson III, who lived on land now occupied by the . Wilson’s remains were discovered when the mall was being expanded and his body is now buried at , but city officials and Simon Property Group decided it was fitting to recognize Wilson with the new Revolutionary War Monument as well. The marker states Wilson was a Minuteman at Lexington in Capt. Samuel Eppes’ company under the command of Col. Timothy Pickering.
• QUESTION: Whose house is located at 35 Foster St.?
• ANSWER: Revolutionary War hero Gen. Gideon Foster and his family lived in this federal style home after he purchased it in 1815. It was built in 1810. The property, which is a National Historic Landmark, was purchased by the in 1916 and has since become the organization’s headquarters, located at 35 Foster St. Foster led militiamen from South Danvers in the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the siege of Boston and the Battle of Bunker Hill.