It must have been just over the line into Lexington that the young man, Simon Winship, was met. He was on horseback, unarmed, and passing along in a peaceable manner, when he was halted and ordered to dismount. He questioned their right to treat him in that manner, but for answer they forced him from his horse and compelled him to march on foot in their midst. They asked him if he had been out warning the minute-men, to which he replied that he had not, but that he was returning home to his father's. He was kept as a prisoner until they arrived at Lexington Common, two and one-half miles, where he was compelled to witness the shooting of his fellow townsmen.

Half a mile farther along, and about two miles from Lexington Common, Benjamin Wellington, one of Capt. Parker's Company of minute-men, was captured. This took place very nearly at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Pleasant Street. Wellington was armed and on his way from home on Pleasant Street to join his company. Thus it is claimed, and rightly, that he was the first belligerent or armed man captured by the British. But for some reason he was allowed to depart, not towards the Common, but for home. His gun was not returned to him, however. He started towards home but when out of their sight, turned and passed northerly along the crest of the hills, parallel to the highway, and reached the Common just after Thaddeus Bowman, but ahead of the British.