#33: “The History of Datchet”, Excerpt #2
The Lost 200
Following the battles of Lexington and Concord and the subsequent Siege of Boston, the British army was on high alert. Massachusetts governor Thomas Gage began investigations into possible Continental Army plots. In the midst of these investigations, rumors began reaching officials in Boston about a possible stockpile of arms being gathered in Datchet.
British General William Howe dispatched spies to Datchet to make inquires surrounding these rumors. While no official documents exist regarding the results of these inquires, there seemed to be enough evidence for General Howe to deploy a detachment of 200 men from the 66th Regiment of Foot to conduct a raid on the village.
The 200 British soldiers left Boston Common on June 8, 1775. It would take a day and a half to two days for the soldiers to make the 25 mile march to Datchet and about a day for a messenger to return with a report.
Several days later, officials in Boston had yet to hear from the detachment. Nor had they heard any news regarding an ensuing raid or battle. It was decided that an officer in civilian clothing would be sent to contact the deployed soldiers.
On his way to Datchet, the officer made inquiries with local loyalist informants about the military detachment and their whereabouts. Each town he passed through reported seeing the 200 soldiers on their way west. It wasn’t until the spy made his way into Datchet that the trail ran cold.
All 200 men had completely disappeared.
Additional troops were sent to Datchet to investigate the whereabouts of their comrades. The people of the village told officials that no such force had arrived. No British bodies nor supplies were found in the town and the purported cache of armaments were never uncovered.
The only evidence of any British military presence in the area were the pieces of a badly torn uniform jacket found at the top of a tree just outside of the village.
Due to escalating armed conflicts in Boston, investigations into the missing soldiers ceased, never to be followed up by the British authorities. To this day, the location of the missing British soldiers is still a mystery.
