Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Davis, Isaac (patriot)

DAVIS, Isaac, patriot, b. in 1745; d. in Concord, Mass., 19 April, 1775. He was captain of the Acton minute-men, and led them against the British at Concord bridge, saying: “I have not a man that is afraid to go.” He was killed by the first volley. Bancroft describes him as “stately in his person, a man of few words; earnest even to solemnity.” His body, with those of two of his company, was brought to his home and laid in the bedroom of his wife, from whom he had parted only a few hours before. The three men “were followed to the village graveyard by a concourse of the neighbors from miles around.” Mrs. Davis lived to a great age. When she was over ninety, “the United States in congress bethought themselves to pay honors to her husband's martyrdom.”