Abel Prescott, Jr.

Who was Abel Prescott, Jr.?

Abel Prescott, Jr. was one of the Americans who rode to warn that the British soldiers were coming to Concord, Massachusetts on the eve of the American Revolution. His brother Samuel Prescott was also an American patriot.

Abel Prescott, Jr. was born in Concord, Massachusetts and was the fourth child of father Dr. Abel Prescott and Abigail Prescott. He never married and died at the age of 26 years, 5 months and 3 days.

His brother Samuel Prescott who had joined Paul Revere and William Dawes later was the only one of the three to actually make it to Concord. Abel rode south to warn the towns of Sudbury and Framingham. He was fired on by British soldiers as he was returning from the neighboring town, whither he had been to apprise the people of the approach of the "regulars", and slightly wounded in his side, but succeeded in making his escape by secreting himself in the house of a Mrs. Heywood. He died from dysentery on the third of the following Sept. 1775, at 26 years, 5 months, and 9 days of age."

The rapid warning of Revere, Dawes, and Samuel and Abel Prescott alerted the Minutemen of this region in time for them to engage the British Army at the Battle of Lexington and Concord.