James Barrett (colonel)

{{Short description|American soldier}}

{{Infobox military person

| name = James Barrett

| image = Colonel James Barrett House.jpg

| caption = Col. James Barrett Farm in Concord, Massachusetts.

| birth_date = {{birth date|1710|07|31}}

| birth_place = Concord, Massachusetts Bay

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1779|04|11|1710|07|31}}

| death_place = Concord, Massachusetts Bay

| rank = Colonel

| battles = {{Tree list}}

• French and Indian War
• American Revolutionary War
• Battles of Lexington and Concord

{{Tree list/end}}

}}

File:Coat of Arms of James Barrett.svg

James Barrett (July 31, 1710 – April 11, 1779) was an American colonel in the Concord, Massachusetts militia during the Battles of Lexington and Concord that began the American Revolutionary War.{{cite book |last=Frothingham |first=Richard Jr.|author-link=Richard Frothingham Jr. |title=History of the Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill: Also an Account of the Bunker Hill Monument |publisher=Little, Brown & Company |year=1903 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cu9BAAAAIAAJ&q=James+Barrett |page=65}} His farm was the storage site{{cite web | url=https://www.nps.gov/mima/learn/historyculture/colonel-james-barrett-house.htm | title=Colonel James Barrett House - Minute Man National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) }} of all the town of Concord's militia gunpowder, weapons and two pairs of prized bronze cannons, according to secret British intelligence.{{cite web |url=http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2017/04/cannon-moved-from-salem-to-concord.html |title=Cannon Moved from Salem to Concord |date=7 April 2017 |access-date=30 May 2019 |work=Boston 1775 |publisher=Blogspot |first=J. L. |last=Bell}}

On the morning of April 19, 1775, the British Regulars were ordered by General Thomas Gage to march from Boston to the town of Concord, about 20 miles inland, and seize the cannon and raid the arsenal at the provincial farm.{{cite web | url=https://battleroadbyway.org/place/col-james-barrett-farm/ | title=Col. James Barrett Farm }} The British met resistance at both Lexington, Massachusetts and Concord. Before the British arrived and searched, the stores had been concealed in a field nearby, and the British never found them. He is survived by the numerous members of the Barrett family found worldwide.{{cite book |last=French |first=Allen |author-link=Allen French |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_LdorAAAAIAAJ |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_LdorAAAAIAAJ/page/n155 156], 179 |title=The Day of Concord and Lexington: The Nineteenth of April, 1775 |publisher=Little, Brown, and Company |year=1925 |location=Boston}} He is buried in Old Hill Burying Ground, Concord, Massachusetts.

Col. James Barrett's farm has appeared in works such as: "Sons of Liberty", Season 1, Episode 2, "The Uprising"{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3782838 | title=Sons of Liberty | website=IMDb }} and Assassin's Creed III.{{cite web | url=https://www.ign.com/wikis/assassins-creed-3/James_Barrett | title=James Barrett - Assassin's Creed 3 Guide | date=5 November 2012 }}