Veteran of The Day – 5-04-26
SPOTLIGHT: Hezekiah Wyman
Massachusetts Militia — American Revolutionary War
1741 – 1775
Hometown: Woburn, Massachusetts
Hezekiah Wyman
A Farmer in the Fight
Hezekiah Wyman was a farmer—like so many who answered the alarm on April 19, 1775.
He didn’t wait for orders.
He joined the militia moving to confront the British.
On the 19th of April in 1775, when news of the British advance came to the Winchester area (then
mostly part of Woburn and Medford), a number of men responded. Lt. Caleb Brooks and John
Symmes joined the Medford minutemen. Others, including company captains Samuel Belknap
and Jonathan Fox, belonged to the Woburn militia that went to Lexington.
Then there was the man who became legendary as the “white horseman.”
When the word was spread to gather in Lexington, Hezekiah Wyman, then 55 years of age,
mounted his white horse and, with musket in hand, set off from his Cambridge Street home for
Lexington. Like other men from Woburn, he was too late for the fighting at Lexington Common
but, continuing up the road, met with British soldiers returning from Concord.
The Running Battle
As British forces retreated from Concord, militia units harassed them along the route.
Wyman took part in this relentless, dangerous fight:
- Firing from cover along the roadside
- Advancing between volleys
- Pressing the British column mile after mile
This was not a single battle.
It was a moving storm of resistance.
Sacrifice
During the fighting, Wyman was killed in action.
He gave his life in the first day of the Revolution.
One of many.
But never forgotten.
Reflection
Nations aren’t built by armies alone…
They’re built by ordinary men who refuse to back down.
Hezekiah Wyman stood when it mattered.
And paid the price.
The Micky Spano Show proudly honors Hezekiah Wyman, Massachusetts Militia, as Veteran of the Day for May 4, 2026.
Leave a Reply