Martin Herrick: The Midnight Alarm Rider Who Became a Revolutionary War Surgeon

In This Article

His Story

Martin Herrick was a Massachusetts physician whose Revolutionary War service took him from the communities north of Boston to the Continental Army and eventually aboard an American armed vessel. His surviving pension records reveal a man who served the revolutionary cause in several capacities, including as a surgeon’s mate, a naval surgeon, and a prisoner of war.

Yet Herrick is also remembered for an event that occurred before his documented Continental Army service. According to a historical tradition preserved on a monument in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, he encountered Paul Revere during the alarm of April 19, 1775, and carried the warning in another direction.

His life extended well beyond the war. He practiced medicine, married, raised a family, and remained connected to the Massachusetts communities whose residents had taken part in the opening struggle for American independence.

A Midnight Alarm in Massachusetts

On the night of April 18–19, 1775, British regulars marched from Boston toward Lexington and Concord. Their movement triggered a network of warnings that spread through the surrounding countryside.

Paul Revere became the most famous of the riders associated with that night, but the alarm depended upon many people carrying news between communities. Some traveled by horseback, others spread the warning locally, and militia companies began assembling as word of the British advance reached their towns.

Martin Herrick was remembered as one of these messengers. In an interview published by The Reading Post in October 2023, local historian Alan Foulds described a memorial inscription in Lynnfield’s old burial ground stating that Herrick met Paul Revere and carried the alarm in another direction.

Foulds also discussed historical references connecting Herrick with Gowing’s Tavern and the communities of Lynnfield, Reading, and Stoneham. According to this local tradition, Herrick carried news of the British movement through the area.

The surviving accounts do not establish the precise time or location of Herrick’s reported meeting with Revere. The inscription is evidence of how later generations remembered the event, rather than a contemporary eyewitness record of their encounter.

Nevertheless, Herrick’s story reflects an important aspect of April 19, 1775: the mobilization of ordinary communities through a network of messengers whose individual names were not always preserved in the national narrative.

A Physician in Lynnfield

Martin Herrick was born in Massachusetts in 1747, according to published family and local histories. A genealogical history of the Felton family identifies him as the son of Benjamin Herrick and Sarah Potter. That genealogy also records his connection to an earlier Martin Herrick and Ruth Endicott, members of an established Essex County family.

Historical accounts describe Herrick as a Harvard graduate in 1772. He became a physician and was associated with Reading, North Reading, and Lynnfield during different periods of his life.

According to Foulds, Herrick practiced medicine in the Lynnfield area for several decades. A published history of Lynnfield also describes him as having worked as a schoolteacher.

The profession of medicine during the eighteenth century differed considerably from modern medical practice. Physicians frequently traveled between households, treated a wide variety of illnesses and injuries, and worked with limited medical supplies and knowledge.

Herrick’s medical training would later become the basis of his military service. When the Revolution created a growing demand for men capable of caring for sick and wounded soldiers, he entered the Continental Army as a surgeon’s mate.

From Physician to Army Surgeon

In his pension declaration of 1818, Herrick described entering Continental service in March 1776 as a surgeon’s mate in Colonel Daniel Hitchcock’s regiment, serving in General Nathanael Greene’s brigade.

A surgeon’s mate assisted with the treatment of soldiers suffering from wounds and disease. Military medicine was especially demanding during the Revolutionary War. Armies struggled with shortages of medical supplies, inadequate sanitation, and illnesses that could incapacitate large numbers of men.

Herrick reported remaining in this position until January 1777.

His widow later submitted a declaration that included additional claims about his early military participation, including reported service at Bunker Hill. Because this information was recorded many years after the battle, it should be distinguished from Herrick’s own account of his Continental Army service.

Local historical writings also associate Herrick with the fighting around Lexington on April 19, 1775. Those accounts provide valuable evidence of community memory, although they do not independently establish every detail of his battlefield participation.

A Surgeon at Sea

After his Continental Army service, Herrick entered Massachusetts naval service as a surgeon aboard the armed vessel Tyrannicide.

Life aboard an armed vessel exposed sailors and medical officers to hazards different from those encountered in a land campaign. A ship’s surgeon might treat combat injuries, accidents, fever, and other illnesses under crowded and difficult conditions.

Herrick’s pension declaration describes his capture by the British and his imprisonment at Halifax, Nova Scotia. He reported remaining a prisoner for approximately three months before being exchanged.

Local histories also remember him as having been captured more than once during the war. That broader claim should be treated separately from the specific period of imprisonment described in his pension declaration.

His experiences demonstrate that Revolutionary War service was not limited to infantrymen fighting on land. Medical officers, sailors, and other personnel also faced considerable dangers, including the possibility of capture and imprisonment.

A Life Remembered Through Pension Records

Much of what can be established about Herrick’s military career comes from pension documents prepared decades after the events themselves.

His 1818 declaration provides the principal surviving account of his Continental Army and naval service. The declaration also describes his financial circumstances and his need for assistance from the government he had served.

After his death, his widow Sarah submitted additional testimony in 1843. Her declaration preserved information concerning their marriage and his Revolutionary War service.

These records must be read carefully. A veteran’s personal recollection, a widow’s later testimony, and a local historical tradition are different kinds of evidence. Each contributes to the story, but they do not carry precisely the same weight.

Together, they preserve the outline of an unusually varied wartime career: a Massachusetts physician remembered as an alarm rider, a Continental Army medical officer, a naval surgeon, and a prisoner of war.

From His Account

Military Service

Conflict	American Revolutionary War
Allegiance	United States
Service	Continental Army and Massachusetts naval service
Position	Surgeon’s mate; surgeon
Army Regiment	Colonel Daniel Hitchcock’s Regiment
Army Service Dates	March 1776 – January 1777
Naval Vessel	Massachusetts armed vessel Tyrannicide
Captivity	Approximately three months at Halifax, according to his pension declaration
Midnight Alarm	Reported participant in the April 19, 1775 warning network
Pension File	W.5101
National Archives ID	54858270

Later Life & Burial

Following the Revolution, Martin Herrick returned to civilian life in Massachusetts. He remained connected to Reading and Lynnfield, where he practiced medicine and, according to local historical accounts, also worked as a schoolteacher.

By 1818, Herrick was experiencing financial difficulties and sought assistance through the federal pension system.

Herrick died in July 1820. His exact death date is not consistent across the surviving published accounts. A Lynnfield death-record transcription gives July 10, while other genealogical sources give July 4 or July 5. The discrepancy requires examination of the original town and church records before a definitive date can be assigned.

His burial is described in a published history of Lynnfield, which states that Herrick requested interment in the town’s old burying ground. According to that account, he was buried with Masonic honors.

The town history also provides an unusually specific description of his grave. The author reported that the burial place was a short distance from the entrance, in a straight line, but had no individual marker. The location had reportedly been shown to the author by someone who attended Herrick’s funeral.

This testimony supports the old Lynnfield burial ground as Herrick’s reported place of interment, although it does not provide a surviving marked grave that can be independently identified today.

A memorial obelisk erected in August 1901 preserves the local tradition that Herrick met Paul Revere and carried the alarm in another direction. The monument commemorates his contribution to the Revolution but should not be mistaken for his personal gravestone.

Family & Descendants

Parents and Early Family

Published genealogical research identifies Martin Herrick as the son of Benjamin Herrick and Sarah Potter, members of families established in Essex County, Massachusetts.

According to A Genealogical History of the Felton Family, Benjamin Herrick was a son of Martin Herrick and Ruth Endicott. The same genealogy identifies the younger Martin Herrick, born in 1747, as Benjamin’s son and describes his later education and medical career.

The family history therefore provides a documented published lineage connecting the Revolutionary War physician to the earlier Herrick and Endicott families of Massachusetts. However, the relationship is drawn from a historical genealogy rather than from original birth, baptismal, or probate documents independently examined for this article.

Additional research in Lynnfield, Reading, and Essex County records may provide stronger primary-source confirmation of these relationships.

Marriage to Sarah Wright

Martin Herrick married Sarah Wright, also known as Sally Wright, of Middleton, Massachusetts. The marriage is supported by the widow’s pension record and by later local historical accounts.

Sarah survived her husband and submitted a widow’s pension declaration in 1843. Her application is particularly important because it connects the surviving family to Herrick’s military service and preserves testimony concerning his Revolutionary War experiences.

The surviving pension documents identify her as his widow. The precise marriage date should be established from the original marriage record or a verified transcription before being added to the biography.

Children of Martin and Sarah Herrick

The number of Martin Herrick’s daughters is not consistent across the historical accounts examined.

Local historian Alan Foulds, discussing Herrick’s family in an interview published by The Reading Post, stated that Martin and Sally Wright raised two daughters.

However, A Genealogical History of the Felton Family reports that Herrick married and had four daughters. That genealogy does not identify all four daughters in the passage consulted.

These statements may reflect different understandings of the family, such as the number of daughters born compared with those raised to adulthood, but the available evidence does not establish an explanation. Neither number should be treated as definitive without additional documentation.

One online family-tree compilation identifies a daughter named Sarah Richardson Herrick and associates her with Oliver Swain Hartshorn. Because that information has not yet been independently connected to original birth and marriage records, it is retained as a research lead rather than presented as a verified relationship.

The names of Herrick’s other reported daughters and the identities of their spouses have not been established with sufficient confidence from the records reviewed here.

Later Generations and Descendants

The possibility of descendants through Herrick’s daughters is an important subject for further genealogical research. Because daughters frequently appear under married surnames in later records, tracing their families requires reliable connections between birth records, marriage records, census entries, and subsequent generations.

In a later Revolution 250 podcast conversation, Alan Foulds stated that researchers had not established a confirmed line of descendants from Herrick’s daughters, despite pursuing possible connections.

For that reason, no living descendants or later generations are identified as verified members of Martin Herrick’s family in this biography.

The most promising avenues for further research include Massachusetts town vital records, Sarah Herrick’s widow’s pension file, church registers, probate documents, and marriage records for daughters whose identities can be established. Until a reliable documentary chain is assembled, proposed descendants should remain unconfirmed.

Original Sources & Historical Note